Making Cost Data Work for Public Financial Management

This paper examines the role of cost accounting in public financial management, focusing on budget credibility, performance-based budgeting, public procurement, and corruption detection. Despite demonstrated benefits, cost accounting remains underutilized in the public sector due to implementation constraints. The working paper proposes the adoption of automated cost accounting systems to streamline processes, reduce operational costs, and support complex data analyses. It further emphasizes the need for interoperability between government financial systems and administrative records to enhance the granularity of costing indicators. The paper also explores machine learning as a method to support budgetary decision-making with cost accounting data.