Public Sector Governance and Accountability Series: Budgeting and ...

Overview
anwar shah
B
udgetary institutions have historically played a critical role in a
gradual movement toward responsive, responsible, and
accountable public governance in industrial countries. Yet the electorate
in those countries is not satisfied with this progress because
significant problems of political opportunism and fiscal mismanagement
remain. A comprehensive budget that includes all government
operations, a results-based chain demonstrating their performance,
transparency of the budget process, and use of the budget as an
instrument for strategic management and citizen empowerment
are seen as important elements of a reform to overcome perceived
limitations of budgetary institutions. These reforms of budgetary
institutions are expected to strengthen the government’s accountability
to the electorate and ensure improved fiscal outcomes. In
developing countries, budgetary institutions are in their infancy
and are mainly used as tools for legalistic controls and micromanagement.A
reform of these institutions therefore becomes paramount
in improving public sector performance. This volume provides a
comprehensive review of budgetary institutions and practices, and
it draws lessons for reform in developing countries. The volume
provides detailed practical guidance in designing budgetary institutions
for accountable governance. The topics covered include
budgetary institutions; budget methods and practices, including
performance budgeting; budget preparation and execution; accrual
accounting; activity-based costing; information and communication
technology in budgeting; frameworks for assessing country public
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