e-GOVERNMENT IN FINLAND - ePractice.eu

Key Points - 4
x Public administration reforms in the early 1990s brought major changes to the Finnish
administration in terms of greater responsibility, accountability and flexibility at the
agency level but also decreased central co-ordination tools and a weakened role of the
ministries.
x While NPM reforms have reduced the resources and tools for co-ordination that ministries
have at their disposal, their weakened role is also self-perceived and self-imposed. They are
not prohibited from developing their own competencies and capacities to guide the
agencies under them.
Box 2.1. Finland’s paperless accounting system
By increasing agency autonomy, Finland’s most recent public management reforms have had important implications
for implementing e-government, in terms of the reduced number of co-ordination tools available to central actors such
as the Ministry of Finance and the growth of divergent ICT systems, which reduces compatibility and increases
redundancy.
Until 1994, Finland had very centralised accounts. After the introduction of results-oriented budgeting and
management reforms, however, each agency was given an appropriation and freedom to decide how to use it. As a
result, accounting systems proliferated: the Finnish administration now has 120 “independent accountancy units”,
with staff ranging in size from ten to 10 000. Each has an independent accounting system, separate reporting and
separate appropriations and requires specific competencies and resources within each unit.
The cost of ICT integration has been a barrier to the restructuring and/or consolidation of agencies to achieve benefits
of scale. Rather than imposing a common IT infrastructure, the State Treasury developed in 2000-2001, a paperless
accounting pilot which all agencies may eventually use as a common electronic system for financial records. The
project addresses billing and bookkeeping, as well as financial accounting. Ten agencies are currently using the
system and around 20 are expected to implement it by the end of 2003. Agencies are free to choose whether or not
they want to participate in the paperless system.
The project is partly funded by the MoF, which took the initiative to have the State Treasury develop and implement
the system. The project steering group consists of representatives from the MoF, the State Treasury and the State
Audit Office. Finnish officials have not found it difficult to involve other ministries and agencies, which are generally
willing to implement the system. Nor was building a problem; a solution was found that fits all the different
bookkeeping systems used in the various agencies. The system has been designed to be very easy to use; users need
about an hour of training to get to know and use the system.
The paperless accounting project is scheduled to run from 2002 to 2010, with a monitoring and evaluation component
to determine the impact. The main savings are expected to come from gains in working time.
34. The broad consensus is that the NPM reforms have been positive. By putting responsibility and
resources into the hands of the agencies, they have encouraged government to be more efficient and
effective. In addition, having successfully dealt with improving public efficiency, the government also
began to put in place reforms aimed at improving openness, service quality and public governance. There
has been no evaluation, however, of the efficiency and productivity outcomes of the reforms, particularly
in the context of e-government implementation.
35. The arrival of e-government has affected the reform agenda in two ways. First, while egovernment
continues to be a tool for reform, ICT infrastructure and interoperability concerns have raised
the need, not simply for co-ordination, but for establishing and enforcing common standards and
approaches. Second, if e-government is to be a priority, it requires central tools to promote, catalyse and
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