The AAAG Guidelines for Drafting Robust Public Financial Management (PFM) Laws, 2026 provide a practical framework for countries undertaking the difficult task of drafting, reviewing or modernising PFM legislation. They respond to a common problem: when financial rules are scattered across laws and institutions, accountability weakens, and reforms become harder to implement.
The Guidelines set out the essential architecture of a modern PFM Act – from fiscal policy and budgeting to revenue, cash, debt, public investment, accounting, digital systems, audit and enforcement – while showing how these provisions can be adapted to different constitutional, legal and institutional settings across Africa.
For legal drafters, finance ministries, Treasuries, and PFM reform teams, it provides more than a template: It sets out the reasoning behind the law. Each area links its purpose, drafting requirements, and practical implementation considerations, with a final quality checklist to test whether a proposed law is comprehensive, coherent, enforceable, and capable of being put into practice.
The African Association of Accountants General has published these Guidelines in response to growing requests from member countries for practical support when drafting or modernising national PFM legislation.
