| Technical Guides are a series of practical handbooks specifically tailored to address gaps in microfinance technical knowledge. The objective behind these guides is to provide MFIs with tools to improve their performance and to spare them and other industry practitioners the expense and burden of developing handbooks individually. (Note: Technical Tools 1-6 are available only as downloadable files through cgap.org.)
CGAP produced this Draft Country-Level Savings Assessment (CLSA) Tool to help guide analysts and researchers who wish to undertake CLSAs and to guide governments and donors who wish to commission CLSAs. The tool provides a systematic methodology for analyzing opportunities and constraints to savings mobilization at the country level.
The Appraisal Format consists of detailed instructions and Excel spreadsheets to guide an experienced microfinance analyst through a qualitative, institutional evaluation of a relatively mature MFI. The Appraisal Format evaluation process covers the core components of a final evaluation report. The executive summary has quantitative and qualitative reviews of key conclusions and recommendations. Individual sections are devoted to institutional factors, MFI services/clientele/market, strategic objectives, and financial performance, respectively. The handbook's annex provides additional information on how to calculate theoretical interest yields.
This format is designed to gather information and assess network support organizations for both comprehensive appraisals and "mini" evaluations. It has a number of possible applications, ranging from appraisals for funding decisions to internal NSO self-assessments. It is currently undergoing testing, and results of the testing will be incorporated into the final document.
A Technical Guide to Developing and Delivering Money Transfers
Structure and Documentation, A Technical Guide for Microfinance Institutions
A Technical Guide for Microfinance Institutions
Experience has shown that funding agencies' microfinance interventions produce better results when design, reporting, and monitoring focus explicitly on key measures of performance. This note, written by Richard Rosenberg for staff who design or monitor projects that fund microfinance institutions (MFIs), offers basic tools to measure performance of microfinance institutions (MFIs).
MFI portfolio reviews are critical for management, as well as regulators and the growing number of commercial investors in microfinance. External audits, ratings, and evaluations generally fail to accurately quantify the primary risk facing investors?misrepresentation of microcredit portfolio quality. This loan portfolio review tool evaluates the accuracy of reported levels of repayment and the extent to which the MFI employs sound loan management practices. It has three, gradually deepening, levels of review that give increasing degrees of certainty about the quality of loan portfolios, regardless of how they are reported. It is flexible enough for different uses and requirements for confidence in reported loan portfolio quality, and does not require specialized audit or financial analysis skills.
CGAP developed and field tested an activity-based costing tool to help MFI managers understand and analyze individual product costs, especially administrative/organizational costs. Once a product's costs are determined, the tool suggests methods for understanding why and how the costs were incurred and how the product contributes (or not) to the overall financial viability of the MFI.
The Poverty Assessment Tool (PAT) was developed for CGAP by the International Food Policy Research Institute. The multi-dimensional Poverty Index constructed by the tool is targeted at donors and investors who require a standardized, globally applicable set of poverty indicators to make poverty-focused funding decisions and to compare MFIs across regions and countries. Although it is more complex and costly than the simpler client-targeting tools used by MFIs (such as means testing, the Housing Index, Participatory Wealth Ranking, Rapid Appraisals, and Participatory Appraisals), and less comprehensive (and therefore less costly) than the World Bank's Household Expenditure Survey, the PAT nonetheless yields rigorous data that can also be used to rank large populations, determine the poorest inhabitants of large geographical regions, and make valid comparisons across regions and countries.
Volume 1 is geared towards the clients of MFI external audits: boards of directors and managers of MFIs, donors, creditors, and investors. It reviews the difference between internal and external audits, details specific audit issues associated with MFI loan portfolios, and provides concrete suggestions on how to commission an external audit, including writing the terms of reference and selecting the auditor. Volume 2 is geared towards external auditors, furnishing an overview of the microfinance industry for auditors unfamiliar with these financial institutions, and guidance on a range of audit issues specific to MFIs. to refer their auditors to the External Audit handbook.
Using Microfin 3.0 replaces the 1998 handbook, Business Planning and Financial Modeling for Microfinance Institutions. This new handbook provides detailed guidance on using version 3 of Microfin, the latest version of the Excel-based financial modeling tool specifically designed for microfinance institutions.
Definition and discussion of some of terms that are often inconsistently used in the collection, analysis, and disclosure of MFI financial information. The glossary is part of a trio of CGAP publications on financial transparency that includes Focus Note No. 22 Resource for Microfinance Assessments [French PDF], and the CGAP brochure, Focus on Transparency: Building the Infrastructure for a Microfinance Industry.
Searchable glossaries in pdf format that cover basic and more advanced terms used in microfinance. They were developed and reviewed by microfinance experts to ensure consistent translation of CGAP documents.
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