As part of its ongoing effort to review financial development plans, enhance the skills and expertise of its human resources in the financial field, and ensure the alignment of performance budget standards with the SFD's adopted experience since 2013, in line with the best global practices, the Sharjah Finance Department (SFD) concluded a discussion workshop on developing performance budgets, according to the best practices and global experiences, attended by His Excellency Waleed Al Sayegh, Director General of Sharjah Finance Department, His Excellency Sheikh Rashid bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Director of Sharjah Finance Department, along with several department heads and representatives from various government entities.

Thoughtful Investment in Human Resources

In this contextHis Excellency Sheikh Rashid bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Director of Sharjah Finance Department, stated that the SFD adopts a range of initiatives and developmental programs to achieve its promising vision of reaching financial leadership on a global scale. These programs target thoughtful investment in the UAE’s human capital through continuous education and linking the best financial management experiences and practices applied worldwide in the field of public finance, thereby enabling these elements to cooperate with government entities in the emirate for the benefit of achieving a dignified life for people and providing the best services to them.

Outstanding Successes in Implementing Performance Budgeting

He added that the SFD has made significant qualitative strides in the field of implementing performance budgeting, successfully preparing and applying it in an exemplary manner that meets government requirements. This aligns with measuring financial performance, achieving a qualitative leap that matches the annual plans of government entities, and their ability to provide outstanding services to citizens and residents that meet government aspirations. The department has successfully prepared the budget according to the activity and result budgets model, an example of performance budgeting. The department has excelled in preparing and approving the budget annually well before the beginning of the year, which is considered a distinctive achievement at the state and regional levels. This has been achieved by relying on scientific and practical methods, using the best digital financial systems and applications. As a result, it positively supports the capabilities of government entities in managing their financial resources, linking government spending to performance indicators, and facilitating decision-makers in evaluating, monitoring, and judging the financial performance of government entities.

His Excellency Sheikh Rashid bin Saqr Al Qasimi,continued by saying that achieving this distinguished level in applying and developing performance budgeting requires further efforts to refine the expertise of our human resources, enhance their financial and strategic skills, and continue the process of regular and planned institutional and individual improvement and innovation.

Linking Budgets to Government Programs and Activities

The workshop was presented by Dr Falah Al Husseini, a Tax affairs consultant at Sharjah Finance Department, where he briefly reviewed the journey of construction and development in the financial field within the Sharjah Government and the achievements made in recent years. He then addressed the concept and importance of performance budgeting and provided a general background about it as an advanced approach to managing financial resources in modern governments, focusing on achieving results and measuring performance. This ensures that financial resources are allocated and linked to programs and activities, thereby ensuring the achievement of set goals and results.

The workshop agenda also included a presentation on the world's best practices in performance budgeting, the practical framework for developing activity- and result-based budgets in the public sector, and an explanation of the basic pillars for the successful application of this budgeting in light of these practices and experiences.

At the end of the workshop, participants were briefed on a detailed analysis of the current situation of performance budgeting application and a roadmap for improvement opportunities concerning activities and results.