MSc Public Financial Management

Financial management encompasses all the activities within an organisation that are concerned with the use of resources and that have a financial impact. The discipline is essential for effective corporate governance and fundamental to achieving the organisation's objectives and improving its services. Recent development orientation and administrative reforms are designed to shift the system of governance from a centralized planning political system, to one that would involve the participation of all stakeholders at the area where development takes place. Sub national governments are therefore viewed as the most important facilitator of economic and social development at the grassroots. Their responsibilities hinges on sound financial resource capacity.

Financial management is not just the job of the finance executive and subordinates at the sub national level. Indeed, all functionaries and managers within a local authority are responsible for their financial circumstances, individually and collectively. Senior managers at the sub national level have to be conversant with the requirements for the efficient management of the entity’s resources.

The Msc in Local Government Financial Management is designed to stimulate creative financial management thinking and to meet the needs of participants lacking the theoretical underpinning and training required to apply financial management knowledge in practice. Its uniqueness stems from the fact that, apart from generally equipping participants with financial management principles and strategies just like any other Masters programme in financial management, it again seeks to emphasize local government issues which requires a special expertise but has been down played for a very long time in most programmes. The Institute of Local Government Studies (ILGS) as a management development institution and established under Act 647 of 2003, exists to provide management science education, training and research in local governance. This degree from ILGS is to fill the gap and produce mangers who are able to identify, analyse and derive solutions to the challenges of local authorities as well as provide implementable actions in response to emerging challenges.

Graduates of the programme should be able to initiate as well as implement policy and administrative reforms to improve local government finance, and stimulate economic and social development. This curriculum has been developed for training of senior management staff at the sub national level. It is intended to provide the candidates with the necessary skills required to plan, organize and coordinate the financial resources of the local authorities as well as execute financial policies effectively and efficiently. With the introduction of this curriculum, it is hoped that the knowledge and skills of candidates on financial management systems will be enhanced to make them more efficient in financial management practice within the scope of their operations.

Key features of the programme include ILGS’ outstanding reputation in management education in the sub region, comprehensive curriculum, diverse student body, dedicated faculty, globally networked knowledge community and the four segment programme to be covered in two (2) years.