Government relies heavily on public officials to successfully implement public financial management policies designed to respond to various challenges facing our country. The public financial management system (PFM) plays a major role in providing support and direction to public institutions. National Treasury plays a major role in addressing the PFM skills shortage facing national, provincial and local institutions. South Africa's shortage of skills is felt sharply in PFM. With the growing recognition of the importance of a sound PFM system to the delivery of a country's developmental efforts and aid effectiveness, there has been an increased focus on the need to understand what PFM and its role players are. This article starts by providing the definition of public financial management and of a PFM practitioner. Both national and international definitions of the concept are provided. The article then focuses on the state of