Financial Management Reform Research Articles

Corruption and Democratization: What Is To Be Done?

The research carried out in Nicaragua suggests that there are practical ways to stem the rising tide of corruption in emerging democracies. In 1997-1998 a public awareness campaign was conducted in Nicaragua to inform the average citizen about a financial management reform project being implemented within the government. This article analyzes the comparative results of two national probability sample surveys conducted before and after the campaign. The results suggest that the campaign was a success, since it helped raise concern about the negative consequences of corruption and had a measurable impact in reducing its actual incidence—at least the incidence of corrupt acts to which the average citizen is exposed. An important finding is that widespread perceptions of corruption undermine popular support for and the legitimacy of democratic rule. This relationship has often been postulated but seldom established empirically. The findings suggest that public awareness campaigns designed to enlist the general public in the fight against corruption, in conjunction with other measures, are effective policy tools.

Hesitation and rapid action: the new public management reforms in the Norwegian hospital sector

This paper focuses on the transition of governmental management innovations from the national, political level to the local, institutional level. In order to throw some light on the complex process of two-level reforms in public sector financial management, I discuss the case of introducing prospective payment systems in Norwegian hospitals during 1987–1999. The empirical studies are based on official documents and statistics at the national level together with surveys and case studies with a view to understand how hospitals adjust to the new payment systems. The main finding can be described in terms of slow adjustments on the institutional level, and slow and rapid action on the political level. These systemic interactions between different logics at the different levels may obstruct the implementation of reforms.

Alternatives to Competitive Tendering and Privatisation: A Case Study from the Australian Health Industry

The international trend towards economic and financial management reforms is well documented with most governments now being involved in public sector restructuring programs, which have at their core the aim of improving the quality of administrative functions through a more responsive approach by state agencies (OECD 1996). In nations with administrative systems derived from British models these efforts may be generally referred to as ‘the de-Sir Humphreying of the Westminister model’ (Hood 1990:105). In essence this approach has had three aims. First, it has attempted to diminish the role of thestate and make the bureaucracy more responsive to political leaders. Second, it has aimed for greater efficiency through the use of private sector management techniques. Third, it has focused on the citizen as a customer and service recipient (Aucoin 1990:16).

Effectiveness: the next frontier in New Zealand

Central agencies face a critical test on how to approach the resolution of issues and problems related to improving the New Zealand public sector management systems from the author’s perspective. A decade has passed since the legislative changes were approved that initiated major financial management reform, and much of the initial reform energy has faded. It is time to assess what has and has not been achieved, and to search for ways to continue to move forward. There is a sense of anticipation, as well as some apprehension, across the New Zealand public sector, particularly in light of the election of a new Government. As New Zealand moves into a new phase of reform, one of the key challenges is to take advantage of what has already been achieved. New Zealand has one of the world’s leading public sector management systems, and should take advantage of that foundation. The key issue focused on in this article is effectiveness. A critical part of raising effectiveness is enhancing information. Better information is needed on outcomes, and it should be packaged in more accessible and relevant ways. More disciplined evaluation of the effectiveness of what is done is necessary. Systems that encourage public servants to raise their horizons should be improved or put in place. Managers who understand what they are doing and why are critical to reform success. Purchase agreements—or output agreements—will play a pivotal role, but they need to be improved. A fresh approach to output specification to better accommodate the range of output relationships that exist is required. Central agencies can facilitate customization of output specifications by being clearer about the basic output framework, and more flexible about how that framework is applied. Outcome measures should be refined and used along with outputs where feasible. Better ways must be found for managing problems of inter-agency coordination. Technology offers a new set of tools, but IT facilitates rather than creates effective relationships. Other coordination mechanisms that help agencies to communicate and to make trade-offs must evolve. New Zealand can move into a new phase of building a “world’s best” public sector. The public sector has an appetite for action at the moment, and a willingness to debate the issues. How this potential will be used is, to a great extent, the critical issue faced by the new Government.

Debating Developments in New Public Financial Management: The Limits of Global Theorising and Some New Ways Forward

This article provides an overview of the key findings and reflections of a detailed, two year comparative study examining experiences with, and without, New Public Financial Management (NPFM) reforms in eleven different countries. The study highlights the problems of trying to explain such developments through simplistic explanatory variables and emphasises the need for alternative modes of analysis more closely rooted in the different national traditions and values associated with the provision of public services.

Accounting System Reform in Japanese Local Governments

The New Public Management (NPM), of which the change from cash accounting to accrual accounting is considered an important tool, has been in fashion in many developed countries. Japanese governments, however, have preserved control of expenditures on a cash basis, though recently financial management reforms in local government have begun to adopt NPM ideas. Using a contingency framework which views the reform of accounting sub‐systems (management accounting, financial accounting and auditing) as stimulated by a combination of internal and external pressures, this paper explores why Japanese local governments managed to survive without accrual accounting and the prospects for further reform in the future. It is suggested that system change itself can be accomplished by internal pressures, in the form of mandated policies, alone but that sustained external pressures by citizens are required in order to achieve the intended outcomes of accounting reform.

Once more into surplus: Reforming expenditure management in Australia and Canada

Canadian and Australian federal government budgets have returned to surplus. Over the past two decades both countries have undertaken financial management and budgetary reforms in an effort to control expenditure growth and public debt. They exchanged ideas, borrowed techniques, and shared reform experiences. Yet during the mid-1980s and early 1990s they displayed markedly different levels of success in expenditure control. This article explains why relatively similar instruments of expenditure control and financial management produced different outcomes in Australia and Canada. The analysis suggests that budgetary techniques will have marginal impact unless they are congruent with broader policy management systems and administrative cultures. The comparative analysis provides important lessons for budget reformers in all jurisdictions.

Don't try this at home? A New Zealand approach to public management reform in Mongolia

Abstract This article reports on proposals to implement a form of New Zealand's radical public management reforms in Mongolia, a state in transition from a Russian public administration model. The transferability of New Zealand style financial management reforms in particular is discussed in the context of a comparison of the preconditions and risks of centralized and decentralized financial management. Some observations are also made on the change process in developing or transitional economies contemplating major public management reform.

From policy entrepreneur to policy manager: the challenge facing the European Commission

The central argument of this article is that the European Commission has consolidated its role as a ‘policy entrepreneur’ but that it must pay attention also to its role as a ‘policy manager’. The Commission's capacity for management is much weaker than its power of initiative because it lacks sizeable bureaucratic resources and largely implements policies through a system of shared administration with the member states. The Commission's financial management reform programme which was launched by President Santer when he took over from President Delors provides the focus of this article. The expansion of the budget and the saliency of fraud underlined the need for the Commission to enhance its management of EU finances. The programme involves reform enhancing the self-regulation of the Commission (internal reform) and the development of administrative partnerships with the member states.

Implementing the Chief Financial Officers Act and the Government Performance and Results Act in the Federal Government

The Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 and the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993, along with other legislation passed by Congress, are stimulating major financial management reform in the federal government. This article evaluates reform implementation against nine criteria developed in previous research on this topic. The criteria are accounting system adequacy, congressional intent, ability of Congress to use financial statement data, executive branch implementation incentives, capability of the Office of Management and Budget, utility of financial statements for decision making, use of performance measures in budgeting, coordination of federal organizations charged with implementation responsibility, and executive and congressional support for reform.

Bringing HUD Back From the Brink: Financial Management and Policy Design Reforms

Bringing HUD Back From the Brink: Financial Management and Policy Design Reforms

Reply to Reed and Swain

Reply to Reed and Swain

The Great Experiment: Financial Management Reform in the NZ Health Sector

Examines the move towards a commercialized, economically driven, health sector in New Zealand. Reforms involve extensive organizational rearrangements and the creation of profit‐driven businesses in place of public hospitals. These institutional rearrangements involve the fabrication of new ways of accounting. Attempts to understand the processes involved in the development of information technologies before they become accepted “facts” of organizational life. The fabrication of new technologies cannot be understood as an autonomous sphere of activity, but has to be understood as part of a complex series of political, economic and organizational contexts. Accountants are viewed not as mere technicians reporting on what is, but as active agents contributing to change. Accounting often acts as an arbiter in social conflict. Nowhere is this more evident than in the way it is being called upon to assist in the implementation of clause 25 of the Health and Disability Services Bill, which requires hospitals in New Zealand to act as competitive profit motivated commercial enterprises while at the same time meeting unspecified social obligations. The creation of a pseudo‐market for health services presents a challenge not only for accountants, but for all New Zealand citizens. The outcomes of the radical reforms are uncertain and some fear that the massive restructuring is in the form of an experiment. It is based on an ideology lacking empirical support. In the end it may be shown to have been impractical in the New Zealand context.

Administrative reform in a changing political environment: The case of Hong Kong

AbstractSince 1989, the Hong Kong government has implemented a programme of public sector reform that is based on the principles of ‘new public management’. The reforms initially focused mainly on financial management reform, including delegating responsibilities for resource allocation; re‐defining the roles of the central resource branches; setting up trading funds in departments that provide services directly to the public; and instilling a new corporate culture of service throughout the government. Some progress has been made in implementing the reforms.In 1993, the government realized that further civil service reform was necessary to support the reforms. The government proposed to delegate more authority to department heads on personnel matters; give managers more freedom to manage personnel; and simplify personnel regulations and procedures. These ‘new public management’‐type reforms are usually associated with stable, relatively unchanging environments.In Hong Kong, however, the reforms have been proposed and carried out in an environment of considerable political turbulence which has both facilitated and hindered their implementation. Because of the declining legitimacy of the colonial government, British authorities may not have the political capacity to implement the reforms. Opposition from both department heads and civil service unions to aspects of the reforms has already emerged.

Financial Management Reform: Principles and Practice in New Zealand

This article explores the nature and impact of New Zealand's financial management reforms introduced by the fourth Labour Government (1984-90). These reforms, which were given legislative backing via the Public Finance Act 1989, are of interest not merely because of their scope and scale, but because of some of the concepts and principles which have fashioned their design and implementation. In particular, the article highlights the importance which has been attached to the distinction between departmental outputs and outcomes, and the distinction between the interest that a government has as a purchaser of department goods and services and its interest as an owner of departmental assets, and explains how these distinctions have been used to fashion the new framework of accountability. In evaluating the reform programme, the article draws on the results of a comprehensive review undertaken on behalf of the National Government (1990- ) and published in late 1991. This reveals overwhelming support for the new policy framework amongst senior officials and ministers. It also indicates that the reforms are beginning to achieve their intended goals of improving departmental efficiency and accountability and facilitating better expenditure control. Finally, some of the issues which the new financial management regime has either generated or failed to resolve are explored.

Federal Financial Management Reform and The Chief Financial Officers Act

This study analyzes the development of financial management reform in the federal government. A series of reform initiatives culminated in passage of the Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act that prescribes a wide spectrum of changes in federal accounting, budgeting, and financial reporting. The CFO Act may well be the most significant executive branch federal financial management reform since the adoption of the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921.

Federal budget and financial management reform

Introduction: Call for Reform by Thomas D. Lynch Presidential Power and the Budget by Joseph White Coordination of Budgeting by Ralph Bledsoe Delay, Deadlock, and Deficits: Evaluating Proposals for Congressional Budget Reform by James A. Thurber and Samantha L. Durst Federal Budget Making: A Bipartisan Failure by Thomas D. Lynch Forecasting and the Federal Budget by John Forrester Recent Developments in Federal Accounting and Financial Management by Ronald Points Federal Financial Management by W. Bartley Hildreth Data Processing in Federal Budgeting and Financial Management by Stanley B. Botner Privatization and Federal Budget Reform by Lawrence L. Martin Conclusion: Addressing the Problem by Thomas D. Lynch Index

Australia's Budgetary and Financial Management Reforms

GovernanceVolume 3, Issue 2 p. 168-185 Australia's Budgetary and Financial Management Reforms MICHAEL KEATING, MICHAEL KEATINGSearch for more papers by this authorMALCOLM HOLMES, MALCOLM HOLMESSearch for more papers by this author MICHAEL KEATING, MICHAEL KEATINGSearch for more papers by this authorMALCOLM HOLMES, MALCOLM HOLMESSearch for more papers by this author First published: April 1990 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0491.1990.tb00113.xCitations: 33AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume3, Issue2April 1990Pages 168-185 RelatedInformation

Planning and Financing Water Resource Development in the United States: A Review and Policy Perspective

Abstract. Since the beginning of the 80s, there has been a discernible decline in federal spending for water resource development. The methods of financing project development at the state level exhibit diverse characteristics across different states. The state and sub‐state level agencies and users will have to find and develop additional resources. This might also call for reduction in subsidies in water pricing which might give a greater role to market factors in conservation efforts. The present differentiated cost‐sharing formula for different uses on the basis of the federal agency involved in the project development contributes to inefficient allocation of the resource. There is urgent need for financial and water management reform in order to avert a potential water crisis. Use, efficiency and equity considerations need to play a greater role in the distribution of the resource than in the past.

Resource management and clinical budgeting

All readers of this journal will know of the Griffiths Inquiry and its Report. The main concern of Griffiths was to change the ‘management style’ of the British National Health Service (NHS). This was to be achieved by the introduction of ‘general managers’ at national, regional, district and unit levels. General managers would provide a focus of authority and accountability, and their integrating role would replace the team ‘consensus’ management which had been orthodox doctrine in the NHS since the 1974 reorganisation, if not before. But Griffiths also had advice on the reform of financial management and control in the NHS. It advocated annual cost‐improvement programmes, and also the use of ‘management budgeting’.