Custom Edition
Your law first, not just the standard.
Small Developing Country · Cash Basis — a representative custom edition.
A custom edition grounds the training and the practitioner advisor in your own legal framework. An officer asking "how do I treat this?" is told what they are actually required to do under their own rules — with the international standard shown as the baseline and any difference flagged.
How a custom edition decides
Every answer is resolved top-down through four layers.
The highest binding instrument that addresses the point governs; the standard fills the gaps.
| Priority | Source | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Constitution — the supreme law | Supreme and overriding. Fixes the non-negotiables — all public money into one Consolidated Fund, no spending without an appropriation, an independent Auditor-General. Any statute or instruction inconsistent with it yields. |
| 2 | National legislation — the public finance act, the audit act, enabling statutes | Binding. Operationalises the constitutional principles through detailed procedures and controls; the governing act prevails over other statutes. |
| 3 | Financial instructions & regulations | The operational rules officers actually follow day to day — below the law, above the standard. |
| 4 | IPSAS (cash basis) | The international standard — applies where the Constitution, law and instructions are silent, and as the benchmark of good practice. |
How conflicts resolve
- Law requires something the standard doesn't → apply the law; show the standard, then the binding rule.
- Law prohibits something the standard permits → apply the prohibition; flag that the option isn't available here.
- Instructions make a choice the standard leaves open → apply the instruction as the default.
- Standard requires something local rules don't address → apply the standard as the baseline, flagged as good practice.
- The Constitution settles a point the statutes or the standard don't — public money must form one Consolidated Fund, spending needs an appropriation, the Auditor-General is independent → the constitutional rule governs, and any inconsistent statute or instruction yields.
Unlock the worked examples
See exactly how a custom edition answers.
Add your name and work email to reveal the full set of worked examples — each showing the international standard, then the binding local rule, then what an officer must actually do.
- Real questions, answered top-down through your own framework
- The standard vs. your law and instructions, side by side
- Instant access — no account to create
Discuss a custom edition
Tell us about your framework.
Send us the question — or the rule you're wrestling with — and we'll show you how a custom edition built from your own laws and procedures would answer it. We'll reply by email.