The Public Budget International Association: establishing links with GFOA.

• Author: Acuna, Marcelo Luis
• Position: Government Finance Officers Association

The kind invitation made by the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) to introduce the activities of the Public Budget International Association (PBIA) also provides an opportunity to focus on the institutional links between the two associations and the friendly exchanges that have made possible an active collaboration process in recent years.

The PBIA, known in the Spanish-speaking countries as the Asociacion de Presupuesto Publico (ASIP), is a private nonprofit international institution created more than a quarter of a century ago with the purpose of helping countries to modernize the techniques used in the preparation of their national, provincial, and municipal budgets. First organized as the Inter-American Public Budget Association, then expanded to become the Inter-American and Spanish Public Budget Association, the PBIA achieved its worldwide status in 1993.

PBIA's Mission and Organization

The PBIA's purposes are the study, analysis, research, and publication of matters related to public finance and similar disciplines. As a technical body, the PBIA pursues no political goals; its mission, rather, is to promote and facilitate the gathering of professional people with various backgrounds and from different countries, with the purpose of advancing the knowledge in the area of public budget. In addition to individuals, the national budget boards of participating countries are also the beneficiaries of PBIA's activities.

A nongovernmental organization, the PBIA is made up of a number of national public budget associations consisting of technicians and professional people who carry out duties in budgetary, accounting, treasury, public credit, and control areas in each country. The budget boards of interested countries also may join the institution.

Two governing bodies guide the association's affairs: the executive council and the deliberative council. These bodies are composed of representatives from various countries in the world that are PBIA's members. PBIA's headquarters are located in modern facilities located at the heart of the administrative and commercial district in the City of Buenos Aires, Argentina. There are also three PBIA offices actively working in Madrid, Caracas, and Brasilia.

Activities, Programs, and Publications

The PBIA has been developing activities aimed at promoting and intensifying the study and analysis of budgetary techniques and carrying out research into matters of strategic importance to member...