Searching for Efficiency in the Public Sector: Interim Evaluation of Performance Budgeting in New Zealand

In this article I examine the efforts to promote performance measurement in the public sector with particular reference to New Zealand. In section two I examine the State Sector Act of 1988 and the Public Finance Act of 1989, which together brought about changes in the New Zealand public sector. In section three I examine the problems of implementing the reform. In section four I discuss the experience of developing statements of performance measurement required under the Financial Administration Act of 1989 and in section five I develop an alternative scheme on the basis that a uniform approach is less likely to be applicable to a range of public sector agencies. The final section contains a brief conclusion.