BUDGETING IN A TIME OF AUSTERITY: THE CASE OF THE ESTONIAN CENTRAL GOVERNMENT

Resulting from the global economic crisis, high budget deficits and debt burden characterise many economies looking for an exit strategy from current fiscal unbalances. The government of Estonia, having pursued a conservative fiscal policy for over a decade, reacted to the economic recession with radical budget adjustments, the latter constituting approximately 9% of gross domestic product in 2009. Consequently, Estonia took its chance and qualified for the euro in 2011. This study examines the behaviour of the Estonian central government and the basis of its budget decisions when planning drastic cost reductions through the theoretical lens of cutback management. The foremost results reveal that the crisis pushed the government to establish a different institutional framework that facilitated fast and effective decision‐making during the budget process. The savings proposals came from the Ministry of Finance; however, running a cash‐basis line‐item budgeting system in practice, the centre possessed only limited performance data for developing the proposals. Consequently, the long‐term impacts of the budget adjustments had not been assessed and are as yet unknown. A further conclusion is that the current budgeting framework should be revised and replaced step by step with a more advanced approach. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

中国预算改革:未来的挑战

1999年以来,中国启动了一场意义深远的预算改革,目标是建立现代公共预算制度。十余年的预算改革,取得了显著的成绩,中国基本上建立起现代公共预算制度的基本框架。但同时,也在预算权力结构、综合预算、总额控制、绩效预算、现金和债务管理、会计改革等方面面临着挑战。未来,中国应更加深入地推进预算改革,建立现代公共预算制度。     

试论绩效预算改革的战略规划基础

传统控制导向的预算制度由于缺乏战略视角而陷于支离破碎,绩效预算制度通过引入战略规划因素,将政策、规划和预算有机地结合起来。绩效预算制度要求政府机构在提出预算需求时必须根据本组织的战略计划(或中长程计划),明确列出组织的中长程目标、策略、预期的产出或成果,绩效评估的标准,以及前一年的绩效评估结果。战略规划的成功制定能够帮助公共机构厘清组织的计划优先权,并能够基于一种对共享目标的追求而协调机构成员的行为。这一战略视角在中期支出框架中得到了直接的体现。     

Die Reform des Bundeshaushaltsrechts

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Cultural Resistance,Output Measures,and Audit Practice: Impact on Non-Implementation of Program-Based Budgeting in Nigeria

Excessive spending on recurrent expenditure hampers economic growth. A program-based budgeting approach has been proposed to discipline fiscal excesses of agencies outside direct civil service machinery but government is inactive. This study hypothesized that difficulty in securing output measures, resistance from politicians, agency heads, and workers; current audit practice; and cost–benefit considerations, hinder implementation. Analysis of perceptual data reveals that resistance from politicians and employees is the major factor that hinders implementation of a program-based budgeting in Nigeria. In addition, difficulty in securing measures to quantify outputs thwarts implementation initiatives, and current audit practice whereby private audit firms audit operational activities of agencies only at year-end subvert program reviews. The study recommends that politicians be advised on political considerations in budgetary allocation; a performance measurement committee be set up to develop measures of outputs acceptable to workers; and a body of auditors be nationalized to undertake audit of government agencies.     

Making Citizen Participation Work: The Challenging Search for New Forms of Local Democracy in The Netherlands

Governance theory shows that governments no longer operate as actors that take unilateral decisions but instead have to share power and influence with various other actors. There is also a large body of literature that shows a growing discontent with (local) democracy. These two trends lead various local governments to either reaffirm representative democracy, or to introduce elements of direct participatory democracy. In practice the combination of the two – representative and direct participatory democracy – can be problematic. This paper describes the experiences of Hoogeveen, a medium-sized municipality in the Netherlands with a far-reaching programme of direct participatory democracy. In Hoogeveen, local residents can decide on yearly budgets for their neighbourhood and become involved in the long-term planning of its development. The Hoogeveen case shows that direct participatory and representative democracy can be balanced with the help of (1) connecting arrangements, (2) professional connectors and (3) steady political support.     

From Accountability to Decision-Making? Budgeting with Mandated Performance Measures

Government agencies in many nations, including local school districts in the United States, are under pressure to shift to an outcome-based approach to accountability. While the implications of such systems are widely debated, the use of performance measures within local school districts for budgetary decision-making has received relatively little attention. This study of school business officials finds that mandated performance measures, specifically standardized test scores, are important factors in budgetary decision-making but less influential than other factors. Variables that help explain the influence of mandated performance measures include district performance, socio-economic status, and the importance of community involvement in decision-making.     

论参与式预算实施的现实瓶颈及其在我国的构建——兼谈我国《预算法》的修改及完善

当前,参与式预算已经作为一种公民直接参与预算决策过程以提高预算民主的一种重要方式而广泛运用于各国的预算管理实践中,然而,参与预算的实践和试点并未实质性地推动我国立法的改变,在我国的《预算法》及其《修正案》中未对公民在预算过程中的权利进行规定,政府占据了过宽的预算平台而忽视了公民参与预算的重要意义。因此,在借鉴国际参与式预算经验,总结我国实践的基础上,以我国《预算法》的修改为契机构建完善的参与式预算机制极为必要。     

The Public University's Performance in State Arts Policy: Lessons from Virginia

This article investigates the extent to which public higher education institutions participate in state-level arts policy through a history of selected budgets and a textual analysis of performing arts presenting centers at public higher education institutions in Virginia. Evidence from this research suggests that the arts policy field is altered by the emergence of public higher education institutions as policy actors. The findings have financial and decision-making implications for arts policy makers, university administrators, and arts agencies as the participation of public higher education institutions affords new opportunities and challenges for the state encouragement of the arts.     

Performance Budgeting in American States: A Framework of Integrating Performance with Budgeting

The past 20 years have witnessed ongoing endeavors researching the factors that influence the implementation of performance budgeting. While various factors have been identified, the effort to build frameworks is still lacking. This research proposes a framework to study the nature of relationships among various political, economic, legal, and organizational factors with performance budgeting, as evidenced in US state governments. We found that the presence and the characteristics of the legal foundation, managing for performance, shared responsibilities with the legislature, and capacity building are the most important factors. The environmental factors, however, are not statistically significant.