Now in beta · Pacific, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia
IPSAS Drills
Build the reflexes. Close the books faster.
Short, focused practice questions tuned to the situations your team will actually face — opening balances that won't reconcile, donor grants under IPSAS 23, GFS mapping with a chart of accounts that wasn't designed for it. Built from current implementation work in a Pacific Treasury, not from a textbook.
Why this isn't another IPSAS course
This isn't a course. It's training the way professionals actually train.
Most IPSAS training is built around the standards. You read the standard, you watch the video, you sit the exam. That's how you get a certificate — but it's not how you get faster, more accurate, or more confident on a Monday morning when the books need closing.
Drills works the way a junior surgeon, a pilot, or an auditor in a Big Four firm trains: short, repeated, focused on the moves you'll actually make. Ten to fifteen minutes a day. Targeted at the situations that come up in real public-sector accounting — not edge cases, not exam tricks, not US-only treatments.
What's in the drills
Built around the problems that actually stop IPSAS adoption.
Each drill is graduated by difficulty and tagged to the standard, but organised around real implementation pain points:
Opening balances and transition
The unglamorous work that derails most IPSAS adoptions. First-time recognition of assets and liabilities. Restating prior-year comparatives. Opening balance sheet construction when source data is patchy.
Revenue, grants, and donor funds
Where small governments live or die. IPSAS 23 (non-exchange revenue) at the level you'll actually apply it. Grant conditions, restrictions, and timing. Consolidating donor-funded special purpose funds into the whole-of-government accounts.
Reporting and consolidation
What auditors actually look at. Whole-of-government consolidation under IPSAS 35. GFS-to-IPSAS mapping. Cash-flow statement construction in environments where the IFMIS doesn't help. Disclosure quality.
Full topic coverage
15 topics. Every standard your team will actually meet.
The pain points above are where most teams start. Here's the full topic coverage — each tagged to the standards that govern it.
DT-01
Property, plant & equipment
The biggest balance sheet item — and the biggest source of audit qualifications.
IPSAS 17 · 33 · 46
DT-02
Non-exchange revenue
Where IPSAS most differs from commercial accounting.
IPSAS 23 · 47
DT-03
Employee benefits
Pension and leave obligations done properly, with actuarial method.
IPSAS 39 · 19
DT-04
Provisions & contingencies
Legal claims, guarantees, and PPP obligations — usually under-disclosed.
IPSAS 19 · 28
DT-05
Consolidation
Defining the reporting entity, and the mechanics of consolidating it.
IPSAS 35 · 36 · 37
DT-06
Budget vs actuals
Original budget, final budget, actual — with the variance narrative auditors want.
IPSAS 24 · 1
DT-07
Financial instruments
Concessional loans, ECL staging, and government loan portfolios.
IPSAS 41 · 28 · 30
DT-08
Asset impairment
Recoverable service amount for schools, hospitals, and roads.
IPSAS 21 · 26
DT-09
Service concessions (PPPs)
Putting PPP assets on balance sheet, where they belong.
IPSAS 32 · 17
DT-10
Inventories
Distribution stock, strategic reserves, and donated goods.
IPSAS 12
DT-11
Leases
Right-of-use assets and lease liabilities under IPSAS 43.
IPSAS 43 · 17
DT-12
Financial statement presentation
The four primary statements, accounting policies, and prior-period errors.
IPSAS 1 · 2 · 3
DT-13
Opening balances & transition
First-time recognition, deemed cost, and comparative restatement.
IPSAS 33 · 3 · 46
DT-14
Revenue, grants & donor funds
Multi-year grants, in-kind contributions, and clawback risk.
IPSAS 23 · 47 · 35
DT-15
Reporting & audit readiness
Whole-of-government consolidation, GFS mapping, and audit working papers.
IPSAS 35 · 2 · 24
How it works
Three steps. Ten minutes a day.
Pick your level
Tell us your role and what you're working on. We'll start you with drills appropriate to your situation, not generic exam prep.
Drill, daily
Ten to fifteen minutes per session. Each question gives you the answer, the standard, the paragraph, and — where it matters — the implementation note from real projects.
Track the team
Solo users see their own progress. Team and ministry plans give the lead accountant a dashboard: who's drilling, where the team is weakest, and what to focus on next.
Who it's for
Built for the teams who actually have to make IPSAS work.
Government finance teams
For Ministries, line ministries, and statutory bodies adopting or applying IPSAS. Especially useful where the team is small, capacity is stretched, and external training is hard to access.
Audit firms with public-sector clients
For small and mid-size firms where government audit isn't the firm's main practice. Bring your team's IPSAS knowledge up to a level where you can confidently sign the opinion.
PFM consultants and donor-project staff
For staff supporting government counterparts on IPSAS reform. Use Drills yourself; deploy it to the teams you're supporting.
Trust signals
Built by someone currently doing the work.
Drills is written and curated by Gregg Pavitt — a public financial management specialist with 25 years of experience across Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the Pacific, and currently embedded in the Solomon Islands Ministry of Finance & Treasury. The questions come from the implementations he is running and has run, with input from the counterparts who have lived the problems.
Donors funding the underlying consulting practice
Pricing
Try it free. Subscribe when it's earning its keep.
Start with a 14-day free trial — no credit card needed to look around. Add a card to keep going past day 14. Cancel any time before the first charge.
For teams of 5 or more, ministries, or audit firms wanting a single account for the whole staff, see team and organisation pricing.
FAQ
Common questions
- Do I get a certificate?
- Drills isn't a certificate program — that's CIPFA and ACCA's territory, and they do it well. Drills makes you better at the daily work. Many teams use Drills alongside a CIPFA Certificate or Diploma, not instead of one.
- Is this aligned to the current IPSAS standards?
- Yes — Drills covers IPSAS 1 through the most recent issued standards, including IPSAS 41 (Financial Instruments), 43 (Leases), and the public-sector-specific standards (23, 24, 32). Updates are pushed as standards are revised.
- We're a Ministry — can we get a single account for the whole finance team?
- Yes. Ministry plans cover unlimited staff in one entity, with a dashboard for the Director of Accounts. We also offer donor-funded pricing for governments where adoption is being supported by an international donor.
- What if I want one-on-one help on something specific?
- That's what IPSAS Desk is for. Drills builds reflexes; Desk handles the hard cases.
Drills + Desk go together.
Drills builds your team's reflexes on routine treatments. Desk handles the hard cases when they come up.