The Single Audit Act of 1984: A Survey of Practitioners

The Single Audit Act of 1984 (SAA) attempted to strengthen Congress's control over disbursement and monitoring of federal funds intended for governmental and nonprofit entities. The SAA's primary agent of federal control is the auditor. This article examines the historical development of the SAA and discusses the results of a survey of auditors and accountants who are members of the Intergovernmental Auditing Forum. The survey addresses auditors' conception of the SAA and the auditor's role in achieving better control of federal disbursements.     

Local Government Procurement of CPA Audit Services: The Role of the States

Recent studies have raised serious concerns about the quality of governmental audits by independent CPAs. Part of the problem is that many governmental units do not use effective audit procurement procedures. This article examines current state guidelines for the procurement of CPA audit services by local governments and recommends an expansion of the states' role in this area.     

A Critical Survey of Subnational Autonomy in African States

This article examines the quiet yet pervasive transfer of powerfrom central governments to subnational units in Africa sincethe early 1990s. Central governments have justified this trendby arguing it promotes one or more of three goods: democracy,development, and accommodating diversity. The authors surveysix selected countries representing federal-unitary and regionaldifferences to evaluate their degree of formal and substantivepolitical, administrative, and financial autonomy. Transferof powers to subnational units, the authors conclude, is a realand nearly universal trend. However, many central governmentshave clawed back this grant of power in numerous ways, whichled to an informal recentralization of power. Moreover, centralgovernments of federations have deliberately strengthened localgovernment at the expense of regional autonomy.     

Information Resources Management Expenditures in the States: A Case for Integrating Accounting and Budgeting Systems

A recent national study has found that states may be spending $20 billion on information resources management (IRM) in FY1989. The significant findings of the study regarding financial management are highlighted to show the dimensions of the IRM expenditures in the states. The second part of the paper examines how well the states' accounting systems are able to provide data on IRM expenditures for budgetary decisions. The article expands upon an important issue raised in the study's findings: the need for better integration of accounting and budgeting systems to improve management of information resources. An Information Object Classification Scheme, first suggested by the Commission on Federal Paperwork, is proposed as an important step in helping states improve their information resources management.     

The Political Economy of Transition in Post-Socialist Systems: The Case of the Baltic States

The nature of the failed socialist systems calls for a transition which is as comprehensive in its objectives as were the systems themselves before they failed. Hence, the transition to democracy in the post-socialist systems cannot be treated as separate from the transition to a market economy and national independence. The critical part of the transition is the economic reforms inasmuch as the institutions of the planned economy are the major power base for the conservative elites. To be successful, the economic transition must be able - in both the short and the long term - to command political support, to achieve social acceptance of the distributional consequences involved and to be compatible with democratic institutions. Analysis reveals that in the case of the Baltic states widespread support for the transition to a market economy can be detected and that the democratically elected governments have so far been fairly active in establishing a legal framework for transition, but appear unable to implement the necessary stabilization policy. The reforms have produced strong social protests, and the governments have been under pressure to maintain social guarantees during the period of transition. The non-Baltic minorities in particular defend previous social privileges and are distressed by their uncertain status after independence. The ultimate outcome of political and economic transition in the Baltic states, therefore, remains in doubt.     

The Party Systems of the Australian States: Patterns of Partisan Competition, 1945-1986

There has been a longstanding interest in the relationship betweenthe party system in reflecting regional diversity and maintainingthe dispersal of power in federations. Given the relative scarcityof information on this question in the Australian federation,this article examines the extent to which the party systemsof the Australian states differ by looking at a number of indicatorssummarizing patterns of partisan support in elections and legislaturesover a period of forty years. Its findings demonstrate persistentdifferences in the structure and dynamics of the state partysystems. In particular, the study shows that, in spite of thedichotomizing tendencies of a parliamentary system, electoralcompetition in the A ustralian states is characterized by astrong tendency to dispersed multi-partyism rather than simplebipartyism, although the individual states occupy varying positionswithin this range. The charting of this partisan diversity isimportant in questioning some of the presumptions of regionaluniformity that have been applied to the study of the Australianfederal system.     

The Institutionalization of Environmental Attention in the United States and Denmark: Multiple- versus Single-Venue Systems

The European countries have surpassed the United States with regard to comprehensive and stringent environmental regulation. This policy pattern has become very visible in the international debate about reduction of CO₂ emissions. From a comparative public policy perspective, the recent difference is interesting because it restates the question about policy consequences of political institutions. This article addresses this theoretical question from the perspective of policy agenda-setting theory. We present the argument that while the U.S. political system, with its many "venues" that are relatively open to internal and external competing forces, might be quicker in generating attention to new issues like the environment, the institutionalization of attention is also less strong than in a European parliamentary system. The article substantiates this argument with empirics by comparing attention to and policymaking for environmental issues in the United States to Denmark.     

欧美经济制度模式比较--以就业失业与收入分配两个具体问题为例

在西方资本主义世界,确实存在着欧洲与美国两种主要的经济制度模式.虽然欧洲目前还谈不上有一个纯正的、统一的"欧洲模式",但随着经济全球化、欧洲一体化的发展,一个相对共同的"欧洲模式"正在形成.本文选择20世纪90年代这个时段对欧美模式进行比较,着重讨论为什么欧洲的失业问题比美国严重,为什么美国人相对能够容忍较大的贫富悬殊,以及面对内外压力欧洲正在进行什么样的改革等问题.     

Diffusion of Corporate Risk‐Management Characteristics: Perspectives of Chief Audit Executives through a Survey Approach

This study examines how corporate risk‐management characteristics in Australian public universities have diffused under an environment of conflicting management cultures. The findings reveal that corporate risk‐management characteristics have diffused in a pluralist form to satisfy stakeholders of different management approaches across its governance levels as opposed to a unilateral form aligned to the corporate approach. The accepted practice of this adapted version challenges the existing notion that the adoption of corporate control processes in the public sector is problematic, and provides insights into the emergence of a hybrid control process to address the needs of multiple stakeholders. These findings have policy implications for defining a new hybrid governance‐control paradigm for the public sector as an alternative to the corporate‐influenced control paradigm, and provide avenues for further research to confirm the phenomenon with other corporate control processes, public‐sector entities, and if so its impact on effective governance.     

Financial Management Grades for the States: A Prospective Use

This research examines whether financial management grades awarded to the states by the Government Performance Project (GPP) can provide some prospective gauge of fiscal performance in proximate years, particularly on the downside of the business cycle. Our findings confirm the weaker fiscal condition in both 2002 and 2003 of states that received lower financial management grades from the GPP in 2001, suggesting that these grades have the potential to be prospective as well as retrospective. These results, however, are tempered by several concerns that inform our suggestions for additional research to further assess the prospective potential of financial management performance grades.     

单一制和联邦制：中、美政府体制的宏观制度选择背景比较

中国和美国分别是单一制和联邦制国家结构模式的典型代表,两国政府体制的核心制度背景、两国的国内政府间关系、行政权的空间划分和政府结构形式都呈现出巨大的迥异之处,并且发挥出各自所具有的优势作用。从两国建国初的一段历史中,可以最清晰地看到各自的民族历史、制度渊源和理论背景等因素所彰显出的对于国家结构模式的影响和发挥出的决定作用。随着历史的发展,单一制和联邦制都在积极打破原有的制度界限,有走向融合的趋势。     

Comparative Journal Ratings: A Survey Report

The expert survey and bibliometric methods of assessing the quality of work in political science are complementary. This project builds on previous surveys of academic political science journals conducted among US political scientists. The current wave extends the survey to political scientists in Canada and the UK. Preliminary results suggest both similarities and differences across the three countries. These results matter for policy debate in any country that is considering channelling flows of funds to universities in proportion to the quality of their research, and in helping to supply objective evidence about the research quality of work submitted by candidates for academic appointments and promotions.     

The Race Among the States in Welfare Benefits: A Comment

One error in research on the welfare-magnet thesis is its focuson the poor rather than on the well-endowed and mobile economicactors who influence state policymakers. Another error is theassumption that poor people are mobile participants in the gameof locational advantage. Yet, unlike well-endowed economic actorswho move funds and goods, the poor must move themselves andtheir own bodies, rather than resources. Hence, it is unlikelythat poor people are playing much of a role in any race to thebottom in welfare policymaking.     

我国大学生审计文化探索性调查研究 ——以广州市部分高校政治类专业本科生为例

审计文化是国家审计体系的软件系统,是国家审计体系的重要构件,对国家审计发展、稳定和运行具有重要功能。借鉴阿尔蒙德的政治文化研究,将大学生审计文化划分为审计认知取向、审计情感取向、审计评价取向三个基本构成要素,以广州市部分高校政治类专业本科学生为调查对象,对当前我国大学生审计文化现状进行探索性调查研究。调查发现,大学生对国家审计这一宏观的制度设计与安排较为认同,但是对审计机关的具体作用和审计机关的履职或行政层面的评价较为谨慎,大学生审计文化类型处于依附型向参与型过渡的阶段。加强审计文化的宣传和教育是审计文化建设的基本途径,审计机关应进一步完善自身的行政水平和能力,扩大和完善大学生参与审计政治生活的渠道,提升对大学生输入的回应性。     

Comparing Electoral Systems: A Geometric Analysis

This paper constructs a game-theoretic model of elections inalternative electoral systems with three or four candidates.Each electoral system specifies how the platforms of thecandidates and their scores give rise to an outcome. Whengeometrical analysis shows that two outcomes can competeagainst each other for victory, a pivot probability isassociated to that pair. Each voter is rational and picks thecandidate that maximizes her expected utility, which resultsfrom the balancing of her preferences and beliefs about thepivot-probabilities. Candidate positioning is endogenous andthe result of a Nash game. The possible equilibria arecomputed for plurality and runoff majority systems.     

浅谈市政工程中的标底审计

对于主要使用国有资金的市政工程,标底审计有着特殊的意义和重要的作用。当前我国市政工程标底编制存在着诸多不足之处。同时标底审计的效果也很明显。标底审计是对标底编制全方位的审计,重中之重是对标底编制中定额的套用、清单的使用和工程量计算的审计。加紧推广市政工程标底审计需多种措施并举,刻不容缓。     

Central Audit Institutions and Performance Auditing: A Comparative Analysis of Organizational Strategies in the OECD

The New Public Management supplies a rationale for broadening the mandate of external audit institutions to encompass performance auditing. This article examines conceptual, empirical, and managerial issues raised by external performance auditing. Conceptually, performance auditing is a misnomer for a class of mainly evaluative review activities. Empirically, OECD countries vary in terms of the specific types of performance audits conducted by their principal external audit bodies. Explaining such variation offers some insight into the contemporary politics of public management policy. Managerially, audit bodies whose mandate includes performance auditing confront two major strategic issues: whether to conduct such evaluative reviews in an auditing style and whether to gear their work to achieving performance improvement in auditee organizations.