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For this new instalment of Professional Diaries I have the pleasure to welcome Gary Bandy.

‘Helping accountants to write better’ is the statement on his Linked’In page. Not a small feat for us consultants in the PFM realm, struggling to keep a fine balance between being analytical and being clear in our assignments.

Gary is a chartered public finance accountant and has worked as a freelance consultant in public financial management for public sector and voluntary organisations since 2005. As well as advising public organisations on any aspect of their financial management he teaches at university level and he writes books, courses and articles (find out more at https://wordswithfigures.com/ and https://garybandy.co.uk/ ).

His diary, among other topics, will focus on the process that led him to publish the third edition of his book ‘Financial Management and Accounting in the Public Sector’.

Dear Gary,
The floor is yours. We, PFMBoarders, will follow your posts with great interest in the coming weeks.

[A reminder to the readers: diaries are not meant for a conversation, we have the fire-side chat for that in the PFM Board. Yet any registered PFM Boarder is free to make a comment on any of Gary’s posts below.]
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Dear John,
You have raised valid points. Whether monarchs should exists depends on culture and long history of particular country and it's choice of citizens therein.It's a highly political matter of that particular country.
As per wikipedia, as of 2022, there are 43 sovereign states in the world with a monarch as head of state. There are 13 in Asia, 12 in Europe, 9 in the Americas, 6 in Oceania, and 3 in Africa.[a]
Link for further information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_monarchies
Thank you.
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I suppose this is a good example of Cost Benefit application, but it raises the question of the legitimacy of a monarchy irrespective of the CBA.  Should a monarchy exist anywhere in the world today even if it is just a constitutional one as in this case?
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just a big or even a Short thank you to all who have contributed to the conversation and those who have read it, even if being silent or though gritted teeth.  The PFM Board, in my opinion, provides an opportunity for all PFM practitioners to share with others their experiences and insights without the confines of the more institutional Blogs.  The PFM Community should use it in that spirit!

Thank you to Alban for managing the conversation and asking a pertinent question, and also to Lasha, Paul and Mauro.  I hope I met your expectations...a rhetorical question to finish!


John
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As announced in the beginning, the time has come to close our conversation with John Short based on his just-published book Public Finance Management and Development. 

The topic will be locked and archived for reading only, as of tomorrow.

Dear John,

On behalf of all PFM Boards let me thank you for sharing your time to share your insights and discuss with us on PFM and Development. I would like to invite you to provide a closing post before the conversation is locked. 

All the best,

Albani
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MORE ON QUESTION 8

Let me add

- Strong analytical thinking,
- Capacity to absorb and filter a lot of financial data and info,
- Understanding that the PFM reform cannot be a linear process. Talking about Georgia, I felt the Government got in a bad deal when they agreed to link several specific conditions in the EU Budget Support contract to the PEFA scores!

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Response to QUESTION 8

Fun! What’s that? PFM life is far too serious!  Or maybe not!
 
So here goes in the spirit of your question and given the width of PFM as the book tries to show.

There are a few positive things: be a team player – which includes everyone involved in the project/consultancy.  As consultants we work generally with a Ministry of Finance who is the client – not the other way round.  Be able to work to tight deadlines under pressure.  Show respect and listen but there is a need to be knowledgeable!  But don’t fob people off if you don’t really know the answer.  You can point them in the right direction by searching for it.  So have humility. Don't be an expert, it is a term I dislike!

Be sociable and respect the local culture – in Georgia that may involve toasts (not the burnt bread) type. Be able to talk about non-PFM things – in my case sport and particularly rugby.  In your case obscure Jazz!  Page 231 gives a good, even a great, example.  Some of our colleagues had good taste (and skills) for Karaoke!  Stamina is good!

All of the above means be resilient, in more ways than one!

And a few nots: Don’t be preachy. Don’t be aloof. 

And above all: be a team player.

Whether all of that distinguishes the PFM from the rest I am not sure to be fair.
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QUESTION 8

John,

We have entered the last week of our conversation. Let's have a bit of fun!

Which are the professional and personal characteristics, in your opinion, that make a PFM expert apart from the pack of development consultants?

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Response to Post on Fiscal Rule/question7.

Mauro
The PFM system is underpinned by a fiscal table which should have sustainability rules. Reading the article, I was struck by Figure 2 Euro Areas Fiscal Aggregates and Reference Values (Percentage of violation incidents), Figure 6 EU fiscal Governance: Key reform areas and Table 3 Comparisons of Fiscal Councils. While sound in concept I wonder of the practicality of “persuading” certain members to toe the fiscal rule line even if it is in their fiscal interest particularly within the added constraints of the euro.  The clash between politics and sound policy might be too great!
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