PARLIAMENT AND DEMOCRACY - Inter-Parliamentary Union

An effective parliament (I): The national level I 145
ment of performance targets, within much broader budgetary categories. The
French budgetary reform of 2001 provides an example of this shift:
This new nomenclature is at the same time aimed at giving the managers
more room for manoeuvre (as they can make freer use of allocations
within their programmes) and to make possible oversight of
government action aimed at the objectives and results of the policies
funded by the state budget. Results-based budgeting is supposed to
make it possible to move from a culture based on means to one based
on performance assessment.
In carrying out their financial monitoring, most parliaments are assisted by
the office of an independent Auditor General, whose role is to audit all
government accounts, including in many countries the accounts of public
corporations and non-governmental bodies spending public money. In Malta,
for example, the mandate of the Auditor General, whose appointment requires
approval by at least two thirds of Members of Parliament, prescribes ‘a full
annual financial and compliance audit of all Government Offices and other
public entities’. In an Act of 1997 this mandate was extended to include:
independent advisory and investigative powers; examination of any
matter concerning the use of public funds; performance/value for
money evaluation audits of Government Offices and public entities and
companies where Government is a major shareholder. These audits are
conducted on NAO’s initiative, upon request by the Public Accounts
Committee, or as requested by the Minister of Finance.
In the Republic of Korea, the lack of an independent organisation to assist
the National Assembly in its monitoring of government accounts was rectified
in 2003 by the establishment of a National Assembly Budget Office directly
under the Speaker.
The National Assembly Budget Office consists of around 80 non-partisan
experts where they not only analyze budget and accounts but also
calculate costs arising from the formulation or amendment of bills
including that of the legislative. Through NABO, the National
Assembly can help keep legislative activities within a reasonable cost
boundary preventing the enactment or amendment of bills that could
impose an excessive burden on the national budget.