Chart of Accounts: a critical Element of the Public Financial Management Framework; by Julie Cooper and Sailendra Pattanayak; imf technical Notes and Manuals tnm/11/03; October 17, 2011

ting up a budgeting and its associated accounting and financial reporting systems.
The 
COA should seek to meet the information/reporting requirements of all stakeholders, not just 
the ministry of finance or treasury, e.g., members of parliament/legislature, ministers/deputy 
ministers, heads of departments/agencies, program managers, auditors, etc., who all have 
varying roles and responsibilities and require financial and non-financial data for a variety of 
purposes. The definition, use and maintenance (over time) of the COA segments are critical 
10
D. Jacobs, J. Helis and D. Bouley (2009).
11
This is, for example, the case in a number of Latin American and French-speaking African countries.
12
D. Jacobs, J. Helis and D Bouley (2009)

---

Technical Notes and Manuals 11/03
|
2011

11
to ensure data integrity and usefulness of reports coming out of the financial accounting and 
reporting system. The list of segments/classifications need not be limited, but caution must be 
taken not to overcomplicate the lists as this can lead to a loss of data integrity.
At least seven core principles can be identified for effective development, implemen-
tation and maintenance of a COA.
• Comprehensiveness. The COA should be comprehensive enough to capture all the 
required/relevant information and it needs to reflect not only the budget framework but 
also the accounting framework. The budget classifications should not be different and 
should be embedded in (or harmonized with) the government’s accounting classifica-
tions. This is because the accounting and reporting system
13
should be the primary 
source of financial information for reporting on budget execution. As discussed above, 
the accounting and reporting system may require additional classifications to meet the 
financial management needs and comply with accounting standards.