When it comes to parliamentary oversight of government spending, Public Accounts Committees (PACs) tend to be viewed as the go-to committee for keeping an eye on government spending ex-post. PACs are viewed as the ‘final stop’ in the public financial management (PFM) cycle. PACs are essentially the last line of defence in the end-to-end public financial management process. As part of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy’s (WFD) briefs on financial accountability, this brief examines:
Anticorruption
While there is a rich body of literature on parliaments and parliamentary development per se, and an increasing number of research outputs on anti-corruption agencies (ACAs), surprisingly little has been written on the relations between these two actors, neither in general nor on specific issues or case studies.
Given that ACAs have to be independent, particularly of the government, it is the parliament’s responsibility to provide them with a strong mandate, guarantees of independence, security of tenure, but also to hold them accountable for their activities.
This guide is an introduction to independent oversight institutions and their relationship with parliament. It addresses institutions’ mandates, leadership, reporting, and budgeting, from the perspective of parliaments with their role to establish, oversee, and collaborate with independent institutions in order to strengthen democratic governance
The Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) has commissioned this study as part of a research stream exploring how enhancing the collaborative relationship between Inde- pendent oversight institutions and Parliaments can strengthen democratic accountability and improve governance outcomes.