Value-for-Money Auditing in Public Financial Management Training Course

Course Introduction

Value-for-Money Auditing in Public Financial Management Training Course provides a comprehensive framework for examining whether public resources are acquired economically, used efficiently, and deployed effectively to achieve intended government programmes, services, outputs, and outcomes. The course connects financial stewardship with performance assurance, enabling auditors and public finance professionals to assess how well public institutions convert scarce resources into measurable public value.

The programme explores the principles, methodologies, and practical techniques required to conduct value-for-money audits across ministries, departments, agencies, local governments, public entities, development programmes, and publicly funded projects. Participants will learn how to translate government policies, strategic plans, budgets, expenditure programmes, performance targets, and service-delivery commitments into appropriate audit criteria and evidence-based performance assessments.

A major focus is placed on economy, efficiency, effectiveness, and the relationships between financial inputs, operational processes, outputs, outcomes, and longer-term public benefits. Participants will examine how to identify cost drivers, analyse resource utilisation, assess productivity, evaluate procurement and expenditure decisions, investigate programme delays, and determine whether public spending arrangements support intended results without compromising quality, equity, compliance, or sustainability.

The course also develops advanced skills for integrating financial management information, operational data, performance indicators, procurement records, programme documentation, service statistics, stakeholder evidence, benchmarking information, and analytical techniques into robust value-for-money audit work. Participants will learn how to distinguish symptoms from root causes and how to develop findings that explain not only what went wrong, but why performance gaps occurred and what improvements could strengthen public resource management.

Modern public financial management increasingly involves digital government, data-driven decision-making, results-based budgeting, public-private partnerships, climate expenditure, artificial intelligence, automated systems, and complex service-delivery arrangements. The programme therefore addresses emerging value-for-money risks associated with digital transformation, technology investments, sustainability programmes, outsourced services, infrastructure spending, public procurement, and data quality, while introducing contemporary approaches to performance analytics and continuous assurance.

By the end of the programme, participants will be equipped to plan, execute, document, report, and follow up value-for-money audits that provide credible evidence on public-sector performance and resource utilisation. The course strengthens professional judgement, analytical thinking, evidence evaluation, stakeholder engagement, recommendation development, and performance reporting capabilities required to support stronger accountability, improved service delivery, better resource allocation, and sustainable public financial management.

Duration

10 days

Who Should Attend

• Public sector internal auditors responsible for evaluating financial management, operational performance, and resource utilisation.

• Supreme audit institution professionals conducting performance, compliance, financial, and value-for-money audits.

• Government accountants and public finance officers involved in budget execution and expenditure management.

• Performance auditors responsible for assessing economy, efficiency, effectiveness, and public programme outcomes.

• Treasury and public financial management officials involved in resource allocation, expenditure control, and fiscal oversight.

• Budget officers responsible for linking public expenditure with strategic priorities, outputs, and measurable results.

• Programme and project managers responsible for delivering publicly funded services, projects, and development interventions.

• Procurement and contract management professionals assessing cost, supplier performance, and public expenditure efficiency.

• Monitoring and evaluation professionals involved in programme performance measurement and results assessment.

• Risk and compliance professionals assessing financial, operational, governance, and performance risks in public institutions.

• Audit managers and supervisors responsible for planning and reviewing public-sector assurance engagements.

• Senior government officials responsible for public accountability, service delivery, institutional performance, and resource stewardship.

• Members of audit committees and public-sector oversight bodies reviewing financial and operational performance.

• Consultants and development-sector professionals supporting public financial management reform, performance improvement, and institutional accountability.

Course Objectives

• Develop advanced knowledge of value-for-money auditing principles and enable participants to assess economy, efficiency, effectiveness, and public-sector performance using structured audit methodologies.

• Strengthen participants’ ability to connect government policies, strategic objectives, budgets, expenditure programmes, operational activities, outputs, outcomes, and public value within audit engagements.

• Equip participants with practical approaches for identifying performance risks, resource inefficiencies, cost drivers, service-delivery weaknesses, implementation gaps, and opportunities for improved public resource utilisation.

• Enable participants to design risk-based value-for-money audit engagements with clear objectives, scope, criteria, methodology, evidence requirements, analytical procedures, sampling approaches, and performance measures.

• Develop advanced skills for assessing whether public resources are acquired at appropriate cost, quality, timing, and conditions while maintaining compliance with applicable financial and procurement requirements.

• Strengthen participants’ ability to analyse efficiency by examining productivity, process performance, resource utilisation, service costs, operational bottlenecks, duplication, delays, and opportunities for process improvement.

• Improve participants’ ability to evaluate programme effectiveness by assessing whether government interventions achieve intended outputs, outcomes, targets, service standards, and strategic objectives.

• Develop competence in applying financial analysis, benchmarking, data analytics, trend analysis, process mapping, root cause analysis, and comparative assessment to value-for-money audit assignments.

• Enable participants to assess procurement, contract management, capital projects, grants, subsidies, public services, digital investments, and outsourced activities from an economy, efficiency, and effectiveness perspective.

• Strengthen participants’ ability to evaluate performance information, data quality, management reporting, key performance indicators, and evidence supporting public-sector results and accountability claims.

• Develop the ability to formulate evidence-based findings and practical recommendations that address root causes, improve resource utilisation, strengthen performance, and enhance public service outcomes.

• Prepare participants to address emerging value-for-money issues involving digital government, artificial intelligence, climate expenditure, sustainability, public-private partnerships, technology investment, and data-driven public financial management.

Comprehensive Course Outline

Module 1: Foundations of Value-for-Money Auditing in Public Financial Management

• Principles, objectives, scope, and evolution of value-for-money auditing within public financial management and public accountability systems.

• Relationships between public resources, financial management, government programmes, service delivery, outputs, outcomes, and public value.

• Distinctions and linkages between financial audit, compliance audit, performance audit, operational audit, and value-for-money assurance.

• Roles of internal auditors, supreme audit institutions, finance officials, programme managers, oversight bodies, and other stakeholders in performance assurance.

Module 2: Public Financial Management and Value-for-Money Governance

• Public financial management frameworks and their influence on resource allocation, expenditure control, performance, accountability, and service delivery.

• Governance structures linking fiscal policy, budgeting, financial management, procurement, programme implementation, monitoring, and public accountability.

• Evaluation of institutional responsibilities, decision rights, oversight mechanisms, performance management arrangements, and accountability relationships.

• Assessment of governance weaknesses that can create waste, inefficiency, duplication, weak prioritisation, poor expenditure outcomes, or ineffective service delivery.

Module 3: Value-for-Money Risk Assessment and Audit Planning

• Identification of value-for-money risks arising from high expenditure, weak performance, major programmes, complex projects, procurement arrangements, and service-delivery challenges.

• Development of risk-based audit plans using financial data, performance information, previous findings, stakeholder concerns, programme risks, and operational indicators.

• Establishment of audit objectives, scope, criteria, questions, methodology, materiality considerations, evidence requirements, and analytical approaches.

• Preparation of value-for-money audit programmes that integrate financial, operational, compliance, performance, and outcome-oriented testing procedures.

Module 4: Economy Auditing and Public Resource Acquisition

• Assessment of whether public institutions acquire goods, services, labour, technology, and other resources at appropriate cost, quality, quantity, and timing.

• Analysis of procurement planning, specifications, sourcing decisions, supplier selection, contract terms, purchasing practices, and expenditure commitments.

• Evaluation of cost structures, price comparisons, market conditions, framework agreements, bulk purchasing, standardisation, and opportunities for cost optimisation.

• Identification of excessive costs, unnecessary expenditure, poor purchasing decisions, avoidable charges, weak demand management, and inefficient resource acquisition practices.

Module 5: Efficiency Auditing and Resource Utilisation

• Principles for assessing relationships between financial and operational inputs, processes, outputs, productivity, service volumes, and resource utilisation.

• Process mapping and analysis of workflow bottlenecks, duplication, unnecessary approvals, delays, rework, idle resources, and inefficient administrative procedures.

• Application of productivity measures, unit-cost analysis, benchmarking, trend analysis, capacity utilisation, and operational performance indicators.

• Evaluation of opportunities to improve efficiency while maintaining service quality, regulatory compliance, accessibility, equity, and organisational resilience.

Module 6: Effectiveness Auditing and Programme Results

• Assessment of whether public programmes, projects, policies, and interventions achieve their intended outputs, outcomes, targets, and strategic objectives.

• Development and evaluation of programme logic models connecting inputs, activities, outputs, immediate outcomes, intermediate outcomes, and longer-term results.

• Examination of performance indicators, programme targets, service standards, beneficiary outcomes, implementation milestones, and evidence of actual results.

• Identification of implementation barriers, weak programme design, unrealistic targets, poor coordination, inadequate monitoring, and other factors affecting effectiveness.

Module 7: Budget Performance and Expenditure-to-Results Analysis

• Analysis of approved budgets, actual expenditure, budget execution, reallocations, supplementary funding, commitments, and financial performance.

• Assessment of relationships between expenditure levels and programme outputs, service delivery, performance targets, and achieved outcomes.

• Evaluation of underspending, overspending, delayed expenditure, idle appropriations, low absorption, recurrent cost pressures, and expenditure concentration.

• Application of expenditure-to-results analysis to identify whether financial resources are translating into measurable programme performance and public benefits.

Module 8: Procurement, Contracting and Value-for-Money Assurance

• Evaluation of procurement strategies, tender processes, contract design, supplier selection, contract pricing, and purchasing arrangements from a value-for-money perspective.

• Assessment of contract management, supplier performance, deliverables, variations, extensions, claims, payment controls, and quality assurance.

• Analysis of procurement competition, lifecycle costs, total cost of ownership, supplier concentration, market intelligence, and contract performance indicators.

• Identification of cost overruns, delays, weak specifications, poor contract administration, underperformance, unnecessary variations, and other procurement-related value risks.

Module 9: Capital Projects, Infrastructure and Investment Value

• Value-for-money auditing of public infrastructure, construction projects, capital investments, technology programmes, and major development initiatives.

• Assessment of project appraisal, business cases, feasibility studies, cost estimates, financing arrangements, implementation schedules, and expected benefits.

• Evaluation of project progress, expenditure, physical outputs, quality, utilisation, lifecycle costs, delays, variations, and benefit realisation.

• Identification of cost escalation, underutilised assets, poor project design, weak supervision, delayed completion, inadequate maintenance, and sustainability concerns.

Module 10: Data Analytics and Evidence-Based Performance Auditing

• Use of financial, operational, procurement, human resource, service delivery, and programme datasets to support value-for-money audit conclusions.

• Application of descriptive analytics, trend analysis, variance analysis, benchmarking, outlier detection, correlation analysis, and exception testing in performance audits.

• Assessment of data completeness, accuracy, reliability, consistency, timeliness, accessibility, and suitability for performance measurement and audit evidence.

• Development of dashboards, analytical models, visualisations, and evidence summaries that communicate performance patterns and resource utilisation clearly.

Module 11: Root Cause Analysis and Public Sector Performance Improvement

• Identification of underlying causes of waste, inefficiency, poor performance, delayed implementation, weak service delivery, and ineffective resource utilisation.

• Application of root cause analysis, process analysis, problem trees, causal analysis, stakeholder assessment, and structured questioning techniques.

• Differentiation between immediate symptoms, contributing factors, systemic weaknesses, governance failures, resource constraints, and fundamental causes of performance problems.

• Development of improvement-oriented findings that connect root causes with financial impacts, operational consequences, service outcomes, and public accountability risks.

Module 12: Value-for-Money Auditing Across Public Services

• Application of value-for-money methods to health, education, infrastructure, social protection, agriculture, transport, utilities, security, and other public service sectors.

• Evaluation of service accessibility, quality, timeliness, coverage, cost per beneficiary, utilisation, service standards, and resource distribution.

• Assessment of equity, inclusion, geographic disparities, vulnerable populations, and other factors affecting the public value generated by government spending.

• Use of sector-specific performance indicators and comparative evidence to evaluate whether resources are producing intended service-delivery benefits.

Module 13: Emerging Public Financial Management and Value Risks

• Value-for-money implications of digital government, artificial intelligence, automation, cloud services, data platforms, and technology-enabled public administration.

• Assessment of climate expenditure, green investments, sustainability programmes, environmental objectives, and resilience-related public spending.

• Evaluation of public-private partnerships, outsourced services, blended financing, results-based financing, and complex service-delivery arrangements.

• Emerging risks involving cybersecurity, data quality, algorithmic decision-making, technology dependence, digital exclusion, and rapidly changing operational environments.

Module 14: Value-for-Money Audit Evidence, Findings and Reporting

• Development of robust evidence frameworks combining financial records, performance data, interviews, observations, document reviews, analytical procedures, and comparative evidence.

• Evaluation of evidence sufficiency, appropriateness, reliability, relevance, consistency, and traceability in supporting value-for-money audit conclusions.

• Structuring audit findings around criteria, condition, cause, effect, financial or performance impact, and opportunities for improvement.

• Preparation of clear performance audit reports that communicate significant findings, evidence, recommendations, management responses, and expected improvements.

Module 15: Recommendations, Management Response and Follow-Up

• Development of practical recommendations addressing root causes of waste, inefficiency, poor performance, weak controls, and ineffective resource allocation.

• Assessment of recommendation feasibility, implementation responsibility, resource implications, performance measures, timelines, and expected public-sector benefits.

• Evaluation of management responses and development of mechanisms for tracking corrective actions, implementation progress, and performance improvements.

• Follow-up auditing to determine whether recommendations have produced measurable improvements in economy, efficiency, effectiveness, accountability, and service delivery.

Module 16: Advanced Value-for-Money Assurance and Future Public Finance

• Integration of financial audit, performance audit, risk assessment, data analytics, continuous monitoring, and results-based assurance into advanced value-for-money practices.

• Application of predictive analytics, automated monitoring, artificial intelligence, process mining, and emerging technologies to identify performance and resource risks.

• Development of strategic value-for-money audit portfolios aligned with fiscal pressures, national development priorities, service-delivery challenges, and emerging public-sector risks.

• Future-oriented approaches to strengthening public value, sustainable resource allocation, performance accountability, institutional learning, and evidence-based public financial management.

Training Approach

This course will be delivered by our skilled trainers who have vast knowledge and experience as expert professionals in the fields. The course is taught in English and through a mix of theory, practical activities, group discussion and case studies. Course manuals and additional training materials will be provided to the participants upon completion of the training.

Tailor-Made Course

This course can also be tailor-made to meet organization requirement. For further inquiries, please contact us on: Email: training@upskilldevelopment.com Tel: +254 721 331 808

Training Venue 

The training will be held at our Upskill Training Centre. We also offer training for a group (at a discount of 10% to 50%) at requested location all over the world. The Onsite course fee covers the course tuition, training materials, two break refreshments, buffet lunch, airport transfers, Upskill gift package, and guided tour.

Visa application, travel expenses, dinners, accommodation, insurance, and other personal expenses are catered by the participant

Certification

Participants will be issued with Upskill certificate upon completion of this course.

Airport Pickup and Accommodation

Airport pickup and accommodation is arranged upon request. For booking contact our Training Coordinator through Email: training@upskilldevelopment.com, +254 721 331 808

Terms of Payment:

Unless otherwise agreed between the two parties’ payment of the course fee should be done 3 working days before commencement of the training so as to enable us to prepare better.