Rate My Professor Michael Di Francesco

Associate Professor Michael Di Francesco holds the position of Associate Professor in Policy and Governance at the Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University. He serves as Director of Education in the Crawford School and Academic Director of its Work Integrated Learning Program. Di Francesco obtained a Bachelor of Economics with First Class Honours from the University of Sydney and a PhD in Public Policy from the Australian National University. His research specializations include Australian public administration, public sector management, public budgeting, public financial management, rule frameworks in public organizations, public management policy, and Australian administrative history. With extensive career experience bridging academia and public service, he previously held a joint appointment as Associate Professor in Public Sector Management and Director of the Case Program (the John L. Alford Case Library) at the Australia and New Zealand School of Government and the University of New South Wales. He has also served in academic roles at the University of Melbourne, University of Sydney, and Victoria University of Wellington. In government, Di Francesco was Assistant Secretary for Public Sector Reform in the Australian Department of Finance in 2019 and Principal Advisor in Financial Management Policy at NSW Treasury from 2003 to 2010, where he spearheaded reforms in strategic budgeting, performance management, and corporate governance across the NSW general government sector.

Di Francesco has contributed significantly to international public financial management through technical assistance roles with the International Monetary Fund, advising finance and planning ministries in Poland, Brazil, Costa Rica, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam; the World Bank, researching multiyear budget frameworks and advising in Brazil, Indonesia, and the Dominican Republic; and the Asian Development Bank, on provincial multiyear budget frameworks in China. In 2015, he joined an international panel of experts appointed by South Africa's National Treasury to evaluate its expenditure review program. He has advised the Australian Department of Finance and NSW Treasury on performance-based budget reform. As Editor-in-Chief of the Australian Journal of Public Administration, following over a decade on its Editorial Board, and having twice served as a Councillor for the NSW Division of the Institute of Public Administration Australia, Di Francesco wields considerable influence in the field. He is a two-time recipient of the IPAA Sam Richardson Award for the most influential articles in the journal. Key publications include the book Balancing Control and Flexibility in Public Budgeting: A New Role for Rule Variability (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016, co-authored with John Alford); 'Balancing budget control and flexibility: the central finance agency as ‘responsive regulator’' (Public Management Review, 2017, with John Alford); 'A signal failure: Sports grants, public servants, and traffic lights' (Australian Journal of Public Administration, 2020); and contributions to volumes on public budgeting and evidence-informed policy.