Budget Transparency Research Articles

Deconstructing Government Budgets through Visual Representation Software

ABSTRACT Budget visualization tools facilitate the communication of complex technical information. In this paper, the main technical, individual and organizational factors that affect its implementation and use is analysed. Through a questionnaire survey data have been collected from those responsible for the adoption and maintenance of the two principal web applications in 34 Spanish regional and local governments. Findings show that these tools have some users but that their main target are not citizens but specific groups, mainly media and political groups. Its adoption is neither a budgetary nor technological problem. The impulse for adoption is mainly political, with the focus on financial and budgetary transparency but sometimes also on participatory transparency or micro-transparency. Finally, a serious risk of governance generated by the lack of clear transparency and accountability strategies in the administrations is detected, as well as an absence of operational procedures to adapt to the changing budgetary structure.

The Sooner (and the Smarter), the Better: COVID-19 Containment Measures and Fiscal Responses

This paper finds empirical evidence that faster and smarter containment measures were associated with lower fiscal responses to the COVID-19 shock. We also find that initial conditions, such as fiscal space, income, health preparedness and budget transparency were important in shaping the amount and design of the COVID-19 fiscal response.

Natural resource curse exists in Mongolia? Focusing on budget transparency in local governments

Mongolia, a resource-rich country with a high level of corruption, is on the gray list of the Financial Action Task Force. However, the effects of natural resources on budget transparency in Mongolia have not been empirically studied. Therefore, this study applied the natural resource curse theory to examine the effects of natural resource abundance on budget transparency. We used the local government data from 2011 to 2016 to determine whether such a curse exists in Mongolia. Our findings confirmed the natural resource curse theory, showing that the mining sector's higher GDP is negatively related to budget transparency. However, as education increased, the effects of GDP from the mining sector on budget transparency showed a positive relation.

E‐transparency and government budgetary corruption: A social marketing and transformation case from Nigeria

AbstractThis article shows how Information and Communication Technology (ICT), incorporating social media, can lead to accountability and transparency in a government's budget. Specifically, it examined how a Non‐Governmental Organization (NGO) used ICT to foster citizenship engagement in the Nigerian government budgetary process. The article, using abductive reasoning, presents four citizen empowerment stages and four social marketing transition stages through which government budget transparency can be improved and corruption reduced. A model was also inferred that can help lessen the exclusivity around the government budget to encourage dialog and openness around the government budget in similar contexts. Furthermore, this article shows that the social transformative role for NGOs using ICT to increase government budget transparency and reduce corruption is a process that happens over time.

Methodological Aspects of Compiling Open Budget Rankings

Budget transparency is an effective tool in improving the quality of public budget executions. Ranking countries, regions and municipalities based on budget transparency is of interest for scientists and professionals in the whole world, including Russia. Methodologies behind budget transparency are a rather complex tool, the quality of which largely affects the results. This paper analyzes the available and applied ranking methodologies — in particular, the Open Budget Index (OBI) by the International Budget Partnership (IBP), transparency indices of local budgets in Kazakhstan and Croatia, and the ranking of the Russian Federation’s constituent territories by the level of budget data openness. During the analysis we identified the methodological principles of each of the considered approaches, their differences and similarities. Special attention was paid to problematic issues of the International Budget Partnership’s methodology. It is especially important to specify these problems, as the IBP methodology is a model in measuring the level of budget transparency. By using the ranking of Russian regions in terms of budget transparency levels, we demonstrate how to use special techniques and methods targeted at improving the quality of managing public fiscal performance.

Online Openness and Transparency of Local Budgets in Belarus

AbstractWorld experience shows that public participation in the budget process and openness in the public sector are the necessary conditions for a proper economic strategy of the State. Financial openness contributes to the efficient collection and distribution of public resources. It expands the responsibility of governments, strengthens the trust of citizens and prevents opportunities for corruption. Researchers around the world (Alt, Lassen, Skilling, Bernick, Gandía, Yannacopoulos, Darbyshire, Slukhai and others) and international organisations such as the International Monetary Fund, OECD, the World Bank, the International Budget Partnership (IBP), the Global Initiative for Financial Transparency and the Open Government Partnership have shown growing interest in financial openness issues in recent years. This paper attempts to develop and test a methodology for the operational analysis of online information openness and transparency of the budget process at the local level. The developed methodology used two criteria: (1) the level of transparency of the local budget and (2) an assessment of authority's efforts in ensuring transparency of local budgets. It is based on expert assessments of the informational significance of particular elements of websites of local authorities in issues of local finance and budget. We interpret the resulting assessment of the information content of the site with the local budget and finances data as the online openness and transparency of local budgets Online Local Budget Index of Transparency (OLBIT).

Досягнення реформи децентралізації та її бюджетна ефективність на прикладі Павлівської ОТГ у Волинській області

The article discusses the topical issue of the present day: decentralization and its budget efficiency (on the example of the Pavlivska amalgamated hromada in the Volyn region). A significant feature of decentralization today is voluntary association with other territories in order to improve living conditions and development of the area. Decentralization facilitates the improvement of investment climate, forms an efficient environment for attracting investments and financing the activities of Ukrainian regions. That is why decentralization allows amalgamated hromadas to reveal their internal potentials. The result of local self-government depends on the appropriate use of financial resources, independent resolution of regional issues. The publication uses indicators of budget self-sufficiency, budget effectiveness, budget transparency to analyze the budget efficiency of the territorial community, based on an assessment of the level of implementation of the distribution and redistribution of the local budget of the amalgamated hromada. Budget self-sufficiency demonstrates how the territorial community can develop itself, budget effectiveness is responsible for the expenditure part and the result of these costs, and budget transparency — for insightfulness and openness of information for citizens. The introduction of decentralization aims to improve the system of management of territorial communities and the system of administrative and territorial structure of the country, with the improvement of the state of residence and development of citizens regardless of their place of residence. With the help of decentralization, the investment climate of the country is improving and an efficient environment is being formed to attract foreign and domestic investors. Financing of territories allows opening up new opportunities for the evolvement of amalgamated hromadas.

Agile Software Development for Housing Reconstruction: The 2017 Earthquake case in Mexico

On September 19, 2017 an earthquake occurred in Mexico with epicenter in the limits of the states of Puebla and Morelos. It had a magnitude of 7.1 on the Richter scale. 31,090 homes were affected, of which 1659 with total damage. In order to attend to the contingency, the government of Morelos formed an inter-institutional committee in the first hours to carry out an initial diagnosis of the damage and to provide emergency services. This article presents a case study and lessons learned from the software engineering support for the development of a data-driven platform in the various phases of contingency response: census of damaged homes, identification of aid beneficiaries, determination of aid packages according to a damage assessment, logistics and follow-up of aid package delivery, data-driven decision making, and a public portal for open data and budget transparency. KEYWORDS

Budget Transparency in Croatian Counties, Cities and Municipalities: November 2020 – April 2021

The average level of budget transparency in all Croatian local government units, expressed as the number of key budget documents published on their respective official websites, stands at 4.5 (out of a maximum 5). All counties published all five requested budget documents, cities published 4.7 documents on average, while municipalities’ average score stands at 4.4. However, despite high average rates, 8% of cities (10) and 16% of municipalities (68) still fail to publish all three documents required by law, while 20% of cities and 31% of municipalities fail to publish the two documents whose publication was recommended by the Ministry of Finance. Although the publishing of key budget documents does not in itself signify absolute transparency, it is considered the initial step toward higher transparency levels necessary for citizens’ constructive participation in the budgetary process and control over the collection and spending of public funds. A summary of results for all counties, cities and municipalities is provided in the text below, while more detail is available in the form of an interactive map and an Excel table.

The Sooner (and the Smarter), the Better: COVID-19 Containment Measures and Fiscal Responses

This paper finds empirical evidence that faster and smarter containment measures were associated with lower fiscal responses to the COVID-19 shock. We also find that initial conditions, such as fiscal space, income, health preparedness and budget transparency were important in shaping the amount and design of the COVID-19 fiscal response.

Populists in Power

We examine how populist governments influence political culture and economic outcomes. Some Austrian communities are governed by far-right populist mayors, directly elected by a majority of voters. We exploit close elections and find that the electorate becomes more polarized under populist mayors. However, polarization is not limited to politics. A major innovation of our study is using data on team members of local football teams. Our results show that diversity in local football teams decreases when populists are in power, indicating that populists infiltrate the civic society. When it comes to economic outcomes, migration and budget transparency decrease under populist governments.

ТРАНСФОРМАЦІЯ МІЖНАРОДНОГО БІЗНЕСУ У КРИЗОВИХ УМОВАХ

The subject of the study is a set of basic theoretical, scientific and methodological provisions and practical recommendations for analyzing trends in the system of international business and increase the effectiveness of institutional support for enterprises participating in international business. In the course of the research such concepts as "foreign economic activity", "international entrepreneurship", "international business" are considered. The latter is proposed to be considered as a system of business processes implemented by business entities outside of their own country and aimed at achieving strategic goals. Results . An analysis of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the activities of international market players has been made. A comprehensive analysis of the volume, commodity, geographical structure of exports and imports of goods in Ukraine in 2018–2020. It is determined that Ukraine overwhelmingly exports raw materials and imports high-tech goods. Despite the decline in foreign trade, the general trend indicates that exports and imports will grow in the long run. An objective analysis of the functioning of the Ukrainian business system with the help of many world ratings, which allow us to assess the place of Ukraine in the global conditions of development, in comparison with the economies of other countries. As a result of the study, it was determined that Ukraine is inferior to other countries in the world in trade, regulatory policy, national branding, etc., and has the best position in the field of budget transparency. The results of the analysis indicate the need to implement effective organizational and economic principles aimed at improving the quality of Ukraine's business system. The analysis and construction of the profile of the national business system allowed to identify the main problems in the system of international business and begin to form measures to address them. The practical significance of the obtained results is that the theoretical provisions and practical recommendations obtained by the author as a result of the study can be used in developing directions for the transformation of national international business in a crisis.

Ways to increase the openness of the budget of the republic of Uzbekistan

This article discusses the concepts of the budget and the budget cycle, reveals the essence of budget openness, mechanisms and principles for studying budget openness used by various international organizations, and offers suggestions for increasing budget transparency in the Republic of Uzbekistan.

The impact of budget transparency on tax compliance

The article analyzes the factors influencing tax evasion: the value of gross domestic product per capita, tax burden, corruption and openness of information on the use of budgetary funds. The correlation model includes the analysis of two groups of indicators. The first group is indicators of the individual level: education, socio-economic status, attitude to religion, gender, etc. The second group is indicators of the global or national level: GDP per capita, tax burden, the level of corruption in the country, the degree of financial transparency of public finances. The results of the study confirmed the hypothesis that law-abiding tax behavior is largely determined by the openness of information about the use of tax revenues by governments. Disclosure of information on the use of budget funds can become a powerful tool for strengthening the understanding of the legitimacy of the state tax policy, as well as act as a preventive measure to overcome existing facts of tax evasion. Increasing the transparency of public finances will make it possible to reproduce a new level of tax culture, to form an internal agreement of citizens with the fiscal policy of the state.

Advanced experiences of budget transparency and opportunities for their application in Uzbekistan

Advanced experiences of budget transparency and opportunities for their application in Uzbekistan

СОЦИАЛЬНОЕ ПАРТНЕРСТВО КАК ИНСТРУМЕНТ УКРЕПЛЕНИЯ НАЛОГОВОЙ СИСТЕМЫ РОССИИ

The article considers approaches to building relationships in the tax area, in accordance with which, the author found that the cooperation of business, society and the state in tax matters requires greater responsibilities of each participant in the tax system, and a healthy environment interaction favorable business climate, efficient, transparent budget process and a well-developed institutions of conflict resolution, including alternative dispute resolution. The directions of improvement of relations between tax authorities and taxpayers in accordance with the ideas of social partnership have been developed.

Politics Political Dynamics and Accountability of Regional Budgets in Creating Budget Transparency

The article discusses the politics and accountability of regional budgets, which are used as an analysis in analyzing transparency, accountability and efficiency of regional finances. In this study, the authors used a qualitative approach with descriptive-critical methods with strength analysis and in the data processing using literature study. To discuss politics and accountability for local budgets, three conceptual frameworks are used. First, supervision to control and check the performance of regional governments in the implementation of regional autonomy and regional wealth management Strategies to improve local government performance. Second, the use of agencies as legal rules that are formulated indirectly by the government to carry out budget transparency by presenting data that will become one of the pillars in shaping public management. Illustrates that the legislature as an agent of government has the authority to take action by the executive. Third, a fiscal policy which aims to accelerate the country's economic activity, namely to increase economic growth. Where the fiscal policy executive to make a sustainable regional development plan. So that conclusion can be drawn that politics has an important role in creating transparency in regional financial budgets by involving the legislative and executive institutions. Where the legislative institution has a central role in discussing regional financial plans because it has the right to comb through budget items that are deemed less useful and give criticism to the executive if many of the proposed budget plans do not make sense or are prone to being a field of corruption. In addition,

Transparency, Accountability and stakeholder Measurement Engagement on Budget Utilizaton Programs at Public Higher Education Institution of the Kingdom of Cambodia Base on Government Theory

In 2004, the Public Financing Reform Plan of the Royal Government of Cambodia was released. It comprised four phases, including the launch of the financing policy for public universities developed by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport. This study focuses on the three criteria used for implementing program budgets in public higher education institutions: transparency, accountability, and stakeholder engagement, which are implemented through twelve sub-programs. It demonstrates that the transparency and accountability of budgets are still limited, evidenced by the lack of responsiveness to budget allocations outlined in the action plans of relevant departments within higher education institutions. While financial information is widely disseminated, the participation of stakeholders in research activities is constrained as decisions about program budgets tend to be made only by the senior management, while other stakeholders are required to accept allocated budgets for implementing their action plans.

The Effect of Human Resources Capacity, Budget Planning, Political Budgeting, and Public Transparency on the APBD Documents and KUA-PPAS’s Synchronization in Musi Banyuasin District Government

This study aims to determine the effect of human resources capacity, budget planning, political budgeting, and public transparency on the synchronization between Regional Revenues and expenditures budget (APBD) document and General Policy of Regional Revenues and Expenditures Budget (KUA) and Provisional Budget Ceiling Priority (PPAS) document in Indonesia. The studied objects in this study were councilors and officer/staff involved in the preparation of the Work Plan Budget (RKA) SKPD includes 33 SKPD. The sampling method used census method, where the sample includes 127 peoples. The data obtained was analyzed through multiple linear regression tests. Hypotheses simultaneously and partially tested by F test and t test. The results of this study showed that simultaneous variable capacity of human resources, budget planning, political budgeting, and public transparency has a positive and significant impact on the synchronization between APBD documents and KUA-PPAS documents. In partial, the capacity of human resources, budget planning, political budgeting, and public transparency has appositive and significant impact on the synchronization between APBD documents and KUA-PPAS documents. The implications of this research can be useful as a conceptual contribution to policy makers, especially in West Lombok Regency Government and Parliament, in which they should be more consistent and have a high commitment dealing with budgeting and KUA-PPAS.

Partisipasi Masyarakat dalam Mengontrol dan Mengetahui Mekanisme Penggunaan Anggaran Dana Desa di Kecamatan Simalungun

Village Funds are Funds sourced from the State Revenue and Expenditure Budget allocated for villages to be used to finance government administration, development implementation, community development, and community empowerment. Village government is required to carry out governance in a transparent and accountable manner. Laws and Government Regulations have provided a clear legal umbrella so that the BPD does not need to hesitate in carrying out its function of supervising the performance of village heads. This study used qualitative research methods. Data collection was carried out through observation, in-depth interviews and discussions with related parties through snowball techniques. Data collection was carried out through observation, in-depth interviews and discussions with related parties through snowball techniques. The results showed: Village Community Kec. Panombeian Panei participates in the management of the village fund budget. Management of the village fund budget in the Village of Panombeian District Panei. How ever, the management is still inadequate due to unwise decisions, no budget transparency and a lack of accountability for the expenditure of the village fund budget itself.