The regulatory framework in each country reflects to an important degree its own legal, political and institutional history. However, there are some general considerations that are applicable to all regulatory frameworks for debt management. In fact, government debt management legislation, along with laws covering the operation of fiscal and monetary policy and the government's auditing functions, is a central element of the governance framework aimed at generating sound financial policies, adequate disclosure requirements and proper accountability.

An increasing number of countries have transferred the responsibility for the execution of public debt management to a unit within the Ministry of Finance or to a separate debt management office, in some cases even a private agency. Functions related to debt management can be executed by one office or distributed among different offices. On the lines of private financial institutions, functions are usually organized in a front, middle and back office.