World Bank analysis of a country's public financial management system is typically undertaken both to help the client country strengthen its system and to safeguard funds that the Bank provides against misuse, and is an important component of fiduciary diagnostics. The Bank's instruments for such analysis have generally been relevant
the resulting diagnostics have been of satisfactory quality and have fostered reform agendas in client countries. Country Financial Accountability Assessments (CFAAs) have contributed substantially, and Country Procurement Assessments Reports (CPARs) modestly, to development outcomes in a sample of 10 countries examined. Client consultation and donor collaboration in the preparation of CFAAs and CPARs have been increasing, but internal Bank coordination among the three sets of units dealing with public financial management has lagged, resulting in fragmented action plans for clients. Both instruments have had a more limited effect on managing risks to Bank assistance, owing to the lack of a sound analytical framework for assessing fiduciary risks and of associated guidance on how identified risks should be reflected in the design of country assistance strategies. The evaluation recommends: (i) ensuring that fiduciary instruments use an integrated risk analytical framework that includes a common approach to defining fiduciary risk
(ii) issuing revised guidelines along with implementing an integrated training program for relevant staff
and (iii) supporting the client in preparing a single integrated, prioritized, costed, and monitorable set of actions within an agreed framework for Public Financial Management (PFM) reform.