IFSD 360° complements other skills-based courses targeting the financial officer community with original case-based content and the participation of experts and public figures.  Attendees will gain an insider’s perspective by debating and discussing with Canadian leaders involved in all aspects of finance, including politicians, journalists, political staff, and senior public servants.

Strategic reviews are public finance tools that can be applied to consolidate spending, achieve greater alignment of spending to political goals, improve value for money, and enhance program performance. Such reviews take place in OECD countries for various reasons.  Motivation to undertake these exercises can be fiscal, economic, and performance-related, and tend to be exogenous (i.e., a reaction or response to events).  To sustain the benefits of a review, its core components should be integrated into the public budgeting process.  This course is designed to develop an understanding of strategic reviews, their methodologies, and best practices, for application through the expenditure management system.

A critical piece of the financial cycle, the estimates process is a multi-faceted effort that requires reporting by the public service, deliberations in parliament, and ultimately, approval or rejection by parliamentarians. In this course, participants will unpack the estimates process to develop an understanding of its components, its operations in an international comparative context, and proposals for its reform. They will learn from experts who participate in the system from both the executive and legislative branches of government and test the system in case-based exercises.

Election platforms, Speeches from the Throne and budgets are political documents that are equal parts vision, ambition, and assumption.  While the first ingredient can engage voters and inspire public servants, the latter two can be the cause of conflict as vision and ambition confront the realities of governance and money.

In this course, participants will explore the linkage between public money and democracy from the Magna Carta to the present day. Participants will learn from political insiders and expert practitioners who have lived at the intersection of political incentives and financial decision-making, constructed platforms, Speeches from the Throne, and budgets, and followed them all the way through parliamentary approval.  They will gain an understanding of the role of politics in financial decision-making and the checks and balances in place to ensure that both democratic purpose and public confidence are maintained.

Working in collaboration with the Association of Canadian Financial Officers (ACFO-ACAF) and the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, IFSD has designed these courses with a focus on decision support and the federal financial cycle.

Financial cost estimates and risk management are critical steps in the government decision-making process.  Before authorities are granted and programs designed, clear information on current and future costs and associated risks must be considered.

In this two-day course, participants will explore best practices to provide oversight and due diligence on policy and program proposals and apply those practices to case studies.

Value for money is essential for confidence and trust in public institutions, is central to good decision-making in public policy, and is crucial for the evaluation of government programs and services.  How can value for money be defined?  What tools and frameworks can be used to assess value for money in public policy and programming?

This course explores the connections between value for money, politics, and the role of the state. Participants will review and apply tools and frameworks to assess value for money through case studies, with special consideration of how value can be a context-dependent concept.  Beyond just a twice-yearly Auditor General’s report, value for money will be presented in the context of public well-being and the nuances of a well-functioning public financial management system.