Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh
Strengthening Public Financial Management Program to Enable Service Delivery
Scheme on “Improving Pension Management System and Quality and Timeliness of Financial Reporting”
Finance Division, Ministry of Finance
Shoheed Prokousholi Bhaban (4th Floor), IEB, Ramna, Dhaka-1000

 

1 . Background

Government of Bangladesh has approved the ‘Strengthening Public Financial Management Program to Enable Service Delivery (SPFMS)’ as a Special Sector Program for the period of 2018-19 to 2022-23 on November 10, 2018. The SPFMS aims to strengthen Public Financial Management in the areas of fiscal forecasting, budget preparation, internal and external audit, pension management, financial reporting, transparency and accountability to enable better resource availability for services delivery.

The SPFMS will implement eight components of the PFM Action Plan. The PFM Action Plan 2018-2023 was approved by the Minister of Finance and comprises fourteen components of which the following eight components (C= Component) will be implemented by the Finance Division under this Program:

(1) C-1 Revenue and Expenditure Forecasting

(2) C-3 Debt Management

(3) C-4 Planning and Budget Preparation

(4) C-7 iBAS++ /BACS Implémentation

(5) C-8 Pension Management

(6) C-9 SOE Governance

(7) C-10 Financial Reporting

(8) C-14 PFM Reforms Leadership, Coordination, and Monitoring.

‘Scheme on Improving Pension Management System and quality and timeliness of Financial Reporting’ is one of the eight schemes of the SPFMS implemented by Finance Division, Ministry of Finance. In order to implement the objectives of the C-8 and C-10, this Scheme was approved on 01 October, 2019 with the main goal to ensure improved pension service (disaggregated by gender) through facilitation of payments through EFT no later than the pension payment cycle after retirement; to improve the comprehensiveness and timeliness of in-year budget out-turn reports that will enable decision-making by budget controlling offices and enhance transparency.

2 . Objective(s) of the Assignment

The main objective of this training is to enable the participants on the most important requirements for preparing financial statements and disclosures under the cash basis of IPSASs. At the end of the course, participants will be able to adopt IPSAS goals to improve the quality and high standard of the financial reporting system in their respective departments/ institutions. This will lead to improved informed assessments of the resource allocation choice made by governments, leading to increased transparency and accountability.

Learning objectives of this training are as follows:  

  • Identify how IPSAS will fit with their respective Ministries/ Departments/ Agencies;
  • Understanding International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS);;
  • Comprehend the core IPSAS values;
  • Explain the key differences in the new standards;
  • Implement the IPSAS recognition and measurement rules for assets, liabilities, revenues, and expenses;
  • Learn the requirements for the presentation of IPSAS financial statements and related disclosures.

3 . Scope of Services, Tasks (Components) and Expected Deliverables

The client shall provide the following:

  1. Necessary tuition for IPSAS certification course, arrange test to evaluate participants progress and registration for examination to complete Certification for 50 (fifty) participants
  2. The training shall conform to the minimum world-wide standards.
  3. The participants can also avail Support at the client (until they pass) incurring no further cost (if unsuccessful in passing a module).

Courses:
The course should be provided in 20 individual sessions. Each session shall comprise (1.5 +1.5 with a 15/20-minute break in the midst of the training/lecture) 3 hours of taught study time. However, additional hours would be made available if deemed necessary (based on the participant’s needs), with no additional cost.

One-to-one session:
If needed the client shall arrange special assistance to provide one-to-one support. LCBS will create a profile for each student under its care and this record will be updated as the student makes progress. The profile will typically comprise improvement areas, specific weaknesses, suggestions and progress and it will be sent to the PEC monthly basis.

Study Resources and Tuition Support:

  1. Study Materials:

The client will ensure supply of the Study Guide for the participants before starting of the class.

  1. Online Support:

Participants will also be supplied course materials and relevant resources that they can access online and use it for exam preparation.

Special Review Classes:

Special Review class/revision classes will have to be held typically after 5 sessions. Revision lectures will comprise 1/4th of taught content of the course. The client will pay special attention to the learning needs of specific student and focus on areas of weakness specific to them. They will receive specific attention in one-to-one sessions beside revision lectures.

4 . Duration of the assignment:

6 weeks (2 days a week), Total 20 sessions.

5 . Training Approach:

Classroom Lecture, Mock test, Group discussion, Presentation, Review Classes etc

6 . Schedule Approximate:

 

SL Description LOT Topic Duration Number of Participants Location
1 Long term Training (Local) Lot-1 IPSAS Certification Course 6 weeks 25
2 Lot-2 IPSAS Certification Course 6 weeks 25

7 . Course Outline

Cert IPSAS Course Content

The syllabus contains the following topics: Financial statement presentation and accounting policy

Develops an overview of:

  • Financial statements (IPSAS 1)
  • Cash flow statements (IPSAS 2)
  • Accounting policies, changes in accounting estimates, and errors (IPSAS 3)
  • Segment reporting (IPSAS 18)
  • Disclosure standards and other topics, presentation of budget information (IPSAS 24) Financial performance Provides an understanding of:
  • Non-exchange revenue (IPSAS 23)
  • Exchange revenue (IPSAS 9)
  • Construction contracts (IPSAS 11)

Accounting for assets and liabilities Delivers teaching around a wide range of topics including:

  • Property plant and equipment (IPSAS 17)
  • Intangible assets (IPSAS 31)
  • Investment property (IPSAS 16)
  • Impairment of cash generating assets (IPSAS 26)
  • Impairment of non-cash generating assets (IPSAS 21)
  • Borrowing costs (IPSAS 5)
  • Inventories (IPSAS 12)
  • Leases (IPSAS 13)
  • Financial instruments (IPSAS 28, 29, 30)
  • Provisions
  • Contingent liabilities and contingent assets (IPSAS 19)
  • Events after the reporting date (IPSAS 14)
  • Employee benefits (IPSAS 39)
  • Social benefits (IPSAS 42)
  • Agriculture (IPSAS 27)
  • Concessions
  • Foreign operations and hyperinflationary economies (IPSAS 4, 10)
  • Service concessions (IPSAS 32)
  • Translation of financial statements of foreign operations (IPSAS 4)
  • Financial reporting in hyperinflationary economies (IPSAS 10)

Consolidation Delivers training around:

  • Separate Financial Statements (IPSAS 34)
  • Consolidated Financial Statements (IPSAS 35)
  • Investments in Associates and Joint Ventures (IPSAS 36)
  • Joint Arrangements (IPSAS 37)
  • Disclosure of Interests in Other Entities (IPSAS 38)
  • Public Sector Combinations (IPSAS 40)

Disclosure standards

  • Related party disclosures (IPSAS 20)
  • Disclosure of financial information about the general government sector (IPSAS 22)

Cash basis IPSAS

Teaches students about Part 1 of the cash basis IPSAS, covering required information in:

  • The statement of cash receipts
  • Payments
  • Disclosures
  • Consolidation under the cash basis
  • Presentation of budget information in the financial statements
  • The additional (non-mandatory) disclosures encouraged in Part 2 of the cash basis IPSAS

First-time adoption of accrual-based IPSAS

Delivers training cover the following areas:

  • Migrating from cash to accrual basis
  • First time adoption of IPSAS (IPSAS 33)
  • Change management and the adoption of IPSAS