Public budgets are under pressure from rising debt service, uncertain revenue, climate events and growing demands for services. In this setting, annual line-item budgeting is no longer adequate. Finance ministries, counties, agencies and development partners need budgets that look beyond the current year, test their own assumptions and show citizens what spending achieves.

The Advanced Budgeting, Fiscal Risk & Outcome-Based Budgeting Training Course gives experienced practitioners a structured route from forecasts to results. It begins with the fiscal framework and medium-term ceilings, then covers costing, programme structures and performance indicators. It then devotes sustained attention to identifying, quantifying and disclosing fiscal risks, before closing with execution control, spending reviews and legislative scrutiny.

The course is analytical and workshop-led. Participants use sample budget data, scenario tables and programme templates to build their own medium-term proposal and risk statement, and leave with a toolkit that can be adapted to national, county or agency contexts. Special attention is given to the realities of constrained revenue, arrears and weak data, so that recommendations remain workable outside ideal conditions.

By the end of the programme, participants will be able to:

• Construct a medium-term expenditure framework consistent with a macro-fiscal forecast.
• Set expenditure ceilings and baselines and test them against alternative scenarios.
• Design programme structures and results frameworks suited to outcome-based budgeting.
• Select and defend performance indicators and targets for budget programmes.
• Identify and quantify fiscal risks, including contingent liabilities and macroeconomic shocks.
• Prepare a fiscal risk statement and propose mitigation and reserve arrangements.
• Use spending reviews to reallocate resources towards higher-value programmes.
• Strengthen budget execution monitoring and reporting to legislators and the public.

The course is designed for experienced public finance practitioners, including:

• Budget directors and heads of budget units
• Treasury and finance ministry officers
• Planning and economic analysts
• County and agency finance managers
• Parliamentary and assembly budget committee staff
• Internal and external auditors of public bodies
• Public debt and investment management officers
• Development partner advisers on public financial management
• Senior finance staff in state corporations

Participants complete the programme with:

• A template for a medium-term expenditure framework and ceiling-setting process.
• A programme budget structure with linked indicators and targets.
• A fiscal risk register and sample risk statement.
• Scenario and sensitivity tables for stress-testing a budget.
• A spending review method for identifying savings and reallocations.
• An action plan for strengthening their own budget cycle.

The course is designed for advanced practitioners and uses analytical work rather than lecture. It includes:

• Briefings on international practice in medium-term and performance budgeting
• Spreadsheet workshops with sample fiscal and programme data
• Scenario clinics where groups stress-test one another's assumptions
• Discussion of reform experience in participants' own jurisdictions
• A capstone proposal presented and critiqued by the group

Attendance at all sessions and completion of the workshop assignments lead to a CPD-accredited Certificate of Completion, issued by Vision Reach Global Consultancy.