Sub-National Budget Execution, Service Delivery Benchmarks and PFM Auditing in Lisbon

Programme Overview

Sub-national administrations face continuous pressure to transform intergovernmental fiscal allocations into tangible public services. This five-day executive programme in Lisbon equips sub-national budget directors, municipal treasurers, and central inspectors with practical tools to manage devolved expenditure. Participants explore reliable cash forecasting techniques, budget execution controls, and institutional accountability frameworks essential for decentralised governance. The curriculum incorporates established international public financial management conventions to ensure municipal spending aligns directly with statutory mandates, local development plans, and approved operational appropriations.

Effective decentralisation requires robust linkages between operational disbursements and sectoral outcomes. Municipalities frequently encounter administrative bottlenecks that delay resource transfers, weaken internal controls, and obscure local service results. Through structured modules, attendees examine methods for establishing performance benchmarks in basic education, primary healthcare, and local infrastructure. The course details public expenditure tracking surveys and monitoring methodologies that expose procedural leakages. Practitioners gain the technical capability to verify service delivery standards, evaluate provider performance, and maintain transparent procurement documentation.

The programme also reinforces compliance, external scrutiny, and internal audit oversight across provincial and municipal tiers. Participants review risk-based audit methodologies aligned with the standards of the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions. Central and local inspectors learn how to assess internal control environments, execute payroll verifications, and formulate actionable audit recommendations. By connecting municipal accounting systems to national oversight architectures, the training ensures sub-national entities remain accountable to central finance ministries, local assemblies, civil society, and international development partners financing sub-national reforms.

Public sector decentralisation programmes across developing countries, such as institutional operations underpinning the US$250m Angola Strengthening Governance for Enhanced Service Delivery Project, require rapid operationalisation of local governance capacities. Central governments are actively transferring fiscal responsibilities and basic service delivery mandates to municipalities and provinces. Without robust budget execution protocols, reliable cash management, and rigorous internal audit functions at the municipal tier, intergovernmental transfers risk absorption deficits, compliance breaches, and weak local services. Strengthening sub-national public financial management capacity is therefore critical to ensure capital and recurrent resources translate into measurable local development outcomes.

Delivered by Risalat Consultants International in Lisbon, Portugal, it combines expert-led sessions, real cases and group work, so that participants can apply what they learn in their own institution.

The Programme Strengthens Institutional Capability

• Principles of fiscal decentralisation, legal mandates, and intergovernmental grant formulas
• Sub-national budget preparation, appropriation laws, and municipal operational plans
• Commitment control systems, warrant allocations, and expenditure ceilings
• Cash flow forecasting and managing municipal liquidity constraints
• Budget execution monitoring through the Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability framework
• Sub-national Treasury Single Account models and commercial bank reconciliation
• Processing municipal payment orders, verification protocols, and arrears management
• Sub-national public procurement rules, threshold compliance, and contract administration
• Fraud risk assessment and fraud risk registers
• Design and testing of internal controls
• The Three Lines model and the role of oversight
• Audit planning, evidence and documentation

It is designed for municipal and provincial budget directors, sub-national treasury managers and financial controllers, central government inspectors from finance and local administration ministries and others who want practical, current skills in fraud, audit and internal control.

The Growing Importance of Sub-National Budget Execution, Service Delivery Benchmarks and PFM Auditing in Lisbon

Public bodies and donor-financed projects are expected to show that funds are used for their intended purpose. Auditors, oversight bodies and financiers increasingly look beyond the financial statements to the controls, records and behaviours behind them.

Fraud and control weaknesses rarely come from one failure. They grow where roles are unclear, records are incomplete and warning signs are not followed up. Teams that understand how fraud happens, and how controls stop it, protect both their institution and the people it serves.

Organisations increasingly require professionals capable of:

• Identify and rate fraud and control risks in their own processes
• Design controls that are proportionate and testable
• Gather and document reliable audit evidence
• Recognise red flags early and escalate them correctly
• Turn findings into practical, agreed actions

Strong fraud, audit and internal control systems help organisations:

• Reduce losses and ineligible expenditure
• Pass external audits with fewer findings
• Strengthen trust with financiers and citizens
• Respond to allegations in a fair and documented way

This Sub-National Budget Execution, Service Delivery Benchmarks and PFM Auditing in Lisbon programme brings these elements together in a practical format, so that participants understand not only what good practice looks like but also how to introduce it in their own setting, with the people and resources they have.

Who Should Attend This Sub-National Budget Execution, Service Delivery Benchmarks and PFM Auditing in Lisbon Training?

This programme is designed for:

• Municipal and provincial budget directors
• Sub-national treasury managers and financial controllers
• Central government inspectors from finance and local administration ministries
• Internal auditors operating within municipal authorities
• Officers managing intergovernmental fiscal transfers and municipal grants
• Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability assessment team members
• Sectoral service delivery coordinators for municipal health, education, and sanitation
• Project management unit specialists managing decentralisation and local governance portfolios
• State administration inspectors responsible for sub-national expenditure scrutiny
• Internal auditors and audit managers
• Finance managers and accountants
• Compliance and risk officers

The programme suits experienced professionals as well as those moving into new responsibilities. Groups that mix institutions and countries are encouraged, because participants learn a great deal from each other’s experience.

Sub-National Budget Execution, Service Delivery Benchmarks and PFM Auditing in Lisbon Training Objectives

Upon successful completion of this Sub-National Budget Execution, Service Delivery Benchmarks and PFM Auditing in Lisbon Training, participants will be able to:

• Structure robust municipal budget execution procedures compliant with intergovernmental fiscal regulations
• Implement cash commitment controls and cash forecasting models across provincial and municipal entities
• Formulate measurable service delivery benchmarks for local primary health, education, and municipal works
• Conduct Public Expenditure Tracking Surveys to detect resource bottlenecks and operational leakage
• Apply International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions within sub-national internal and external audit reviews
• Strengthen municipal procurement oversight, asset registers, and local government financial reporting
• Evaluate intergovernmental grant performance using standard public financial management assessment indicators
• Explain how and why fraud happens, using recognised fraud risk models
• Carry out a fraud and control risk assessment for a real process
• Map controls to risks using the Three Lines model

Each objective is practised during the programme through exercises, cases or group work, so that participants leave able to do it, not only to describe it.

Programme Contents and Structure

Sub-National Budget Execution, Service Delivery Benchmarks and PFM Auditing in Lisbon Training Methodology

The training is delivered through interactive lectures, practical problem-solving clinics, and institutional diagnostic exercises. Participants analyse realistic sub-national expenditure datasets, review anonymised municipal audit reports, and design sector-specific service delivery benchmarks using real-world templates. Facilitators guide peer-to-peer exchanges between central inspectors and local administrators to unpack cross-institutional compliance hurdles.

The programme combines:

• Expert-led sessions on current practice
• Regional and international case studies
• Group work and practical exercises
• Simulations and role plays where relevant
• Discussion of participants' own challenges
• Peer learning across institutions and countries
• Practical tools and templates to take back to work
• Daily reflection and action planning

Before the programme, a short pre-assessment helps the facilitators understand each participant’s role and priorities, so that examples and exercises can be adjusted to the group. Each day ends with a short reflection in which participants note what they will apply at work.

Expected Outcomes

Upon completion of this Sub-National Budget Execution, Service Delivery Benchmarks and PFM Auditing in Lisbon Training, participants will be able to:

• Capability to manage municipal budget execution through rigorous commitment and cash controls
• Proficiency in defining and tracking quantifiable service delivery benchmarks across devolved sectors
• Skill in designing and executing Public Expenditure Tracking Surveys to detect administrative delays
• Competence in applying risk-based audit methods compliant with international public auditing principles
• Capacity to reconcile municipal accounting records with central treasury and fiscal allocation systems
• Actionable institutional roadmaps to remediate internal control deficiencies in local spending units
• Assess fraud and control risks in their own processes
• Design and test proportionate controls

Participants leave with a personal action plan and practical tools they can use in their institution from the first week back. Institutions that send several participants can use the programme to agree shared methods and templates across teams, which makes improvements easier to sustain.

Institutional Application of Sub-National Budget Execution, Service Delivery Benchmarks and PFM Auditing in Lisbon Training

This programme supports organisations in strengthening:

• Fraud and corruption risk management
• Internal control frameworks
• Audit and oversight arrangements
• Follow-up of audit findings
• Integrity and reporting channels

Participants return with practical tools to improve:

• Risk registers and control maps
• Audit planning and testing
• Evidence and documentation
• Reporting to management and boards
• Prevention of ineligible expenditure

The programme is built so that learning moves from the classroom into the institution. Participants work on their own processes and documents where possible, and leave with an action plan that their managers can review and support.

Regional Relevance & Application

Europe

European institutions apply fraud, audit and internal control within detailed regulatory frameworks and reform agendas. Participants from Europe can compare their practice with colleagues from other regions and test how established methods work under different conditions.

Africa

Across Africa, ministries, agencies and project teams working in fraud, audit and internal control increasingly operate alongside donor-financed programmes that expect clear systems and evidence. The programme helps participants adapt good practice to the institutions and resources they work with.

Middle East

In the Middle East, national development strategies and diversification plans place growing demands on fraud, audit and internal control. Participants explore how to build the capability these plans need inside public bodies and companies.

Asia

Institutions across Asia combine rapid growth with ambitious modernisation programmes. Participants from Asia can share their experience of scaling systems quickly and learn from approaches used elsewhere.

Pacific

Small island and Pacific states face particular constraints of size, distance and capacity. The programme highlights practical, proportionate approaches to fraud, audit and internal control that suit smaller institutions.

Holding the programme in Lisbon, Portugal brings participants together away from their daily pressures, so they can compare how fraud, audit and internal control is handled in different settings. The same programme can also be delivered in-house for one institution, in its own country or online, with cases taken from its current work.

Host Country Profile – Portugal

Training programmes and study tours in Lisbon suit professionals focusing on public sector governance, maritime affairs, renewable energy, and urban administration. Delegates attend from across Europe, North Africa, and Portuguese-speaking nations in Africa and South America.

Studying away from their own country gives participants time to focus, a fresh view of their own institution and the chance to build a network with colleagues from other countries.

Sub-National Budget Execution, Service Delivery Benchmarks and PFM Auditing in Lisbon Training Deliverables

Participants receive support before, during and after the programme, so that preparation, learning and follow-up form one continuous experience.

Before the Programme

• Participant Pre-Assessment
• Sub-National Budget Execution, Service Delivery Benchmarks and PFM Auditing in Lisbon Readiness Assessment
• Sub-National Budget Execution, Service Delivery Benchmarks and PFM Auditing in Lisbon Resource Pack
• Preparatory Reading Materials
• Complimentary Visa Support & Advisory

During the Programme

• Airport Pickup & Welcome Assistance
• Accommodation with Breakfast
• Welcome Networking Dinner
• Risalat Training Kit (Bag, Bottle, Mug, T-Shirt, Cap, Passport Cover, Pens, Notebook, Magnet & Keychain)
• Comprehensive Sub-National Budget Execution, Service Delivery Benchmarks and PFM Auditing in Lisbon Training Manual
• Fraud Risk Register Template
• Control Mapping Matrix
• Audit Evidence Checklist
• Findings and Follow-up Tracker
• Practical Workshops & Simulations
• Group Discussions & Peer Learning
• Daily Lunch and Refreshments
• Full Access to Training Venue Facilities
• Mini Pad / Tablet with Digital Learning Materials
• Field Visit (where applicable)
• Entertaining City Tour

After the Programme

• Certificate of Completion
• Risalat Programme Participation Recognition Award
• Post-Training Reference Materials
• Fraud Risk Self-Assessment Guide
• Control Testing Checklist
• Post-Training Support & Follow-Up Guidance
• Programme Report

Institutions can also request a tailored in-house version of this programme, delivered at their premises or online. Request a proposal.

Common Challenges in Sub-National Budget Execution, Service Delivery Benchmarks and PFM Auditing in Lisbon, And How This Training Helps

How can institutions identify and rate fraud and control risks in their own processes?

The programme addresses this directly on the first day (Intergovernmental Fiscal Architecture and Sub-National Budget Execution), where participants practise the methods involved and adapt them to their own institution, then build it into their action plan.

How can institutions design controls that are proportionate and testable?

The programme addresses this directly on the second day (Treasury Operations, Accounting Controls, and Sub-National Procurement), where participants practise the methods involved and adapt them to their own institution, then build it into their action plan.

How can institutions gather and document reliable audit evidence?

The programme addresses this directly on the third day (Service Delivery Benchmarking and Public Expenditure Tracking Surveys), where participants practise the methods involved and adapt them to their own institution, then build it into their action plan.

How can institutions recognise red flags early and escalate them correctly?

The programme addresses this directly on the fourth day (Sub-National Audit Oversight, Risk Assessment, and Internal Controls), where participants practise the methods involved and adapt them to their own institution, then build it into their action plan.

How can institutions turn findings into practical, agreed actions?

The programme addresses this directly on the fifth day (Institutional Reporting, Central Scrutiny, and Corrective Action Plans), where participants practise the methods involved and adapt them to their own institution, then build it into their action plan.

Frequently Asked Questions

When and where does the Sub-National Budget Execution, Service Delivery Benchmarks and PFM Auditing in Lisbon programme take place?

It runs from 4 Oct 2027 to 8 Oct 2027, in Lisbon, Portugal. The registration deadline is shown at the top of this page.

Who should attend?

The programme is designed for municipal and provincial budget directors, sub-national treasury managers and financial controllers, central government inspectors from finance and local administration ministries, internal auditors operating within municipal authorities, and others who want practical skills in fraud, audit and internal control.

Will I receive a certificate?

Yes. Participants who complete the programme receive a Certificate of Completion from Risalat Consultants International.

Can this programme be delivered for our institution only?

Yes. We can deliver a tailored in-house version at your premises, in another city or online, built around your own cases. Use the proposal request on this page.

Do I need prior experience in fraud, audit and internal control?

No specialist background is required beyond experience in a related role. A short pre-assessment helps the facilitators adapt the sessions to the group.

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