This study was commissioned by the OECD DAC Task Force on Public Financial Management, under the auspices of the Working Party on Aid Effectiveness. The study was prepared by consultant Andrew Mackie and overseen and financed by the PEFA Secretariat. As an update to PEFA’s 2004 mapping exercise “Assessing and Reforming Public Financial Management: A New Approach”, it identified and described the internationally used – or in an advanced stage of development – analytical/diagnostic tools in the Public Financial Management area at the time and identified knowledge gaps where custodians of assessment tools could improve collaboration and reduce transaction costs.

The study provided a number of entry points for the future, towards better alignment and harmonization of assessment work of PFM country systems and greater government leadership. More specifically, it made concrete proposals for development partners, professional bodies and government counterparts on how to streamline the coverage of different PFM instruments, avoid overlaps and enhance collaboration at country level to strengthen government capacity in the diagnostic process.