Accountability And Transparency In The Public Sector

This publication presents the papers discussed at the Latin American Forum on Ensuring Transparency and Accountability in the Public Sector that took place on 5-6 December 2001. The Forum approved policy recommendations that reflect the shared experience of Member countries of the OECD and the OAS.

This paper describes the reforms introduced in the New Zealand public sector since the mid-1980s. The reforms included corporatization and privatization of most state-owned enterprises, the shift from a cash-basis to an accrual-basis accounting system and the compilation of a balance sheet for the central government and its entities, performance-based arrangements for the delivery of core government outputs; and institutional changes in expenditure control mechanisms. The paper also summarizes the impact of the reforms on government revenue and spending patterns, and discusses lessons learned from New Zealand’s experience.

Includes the following papers: Fostering Dialogue to Strengthen Good Governance / Seiichi Kondo -- Preventing Corruption in the Americas / Cesar Gaviria (and more ... )

Ethics and accountability have become important themes for modern government, as in most of the countries there is a severe crisis of legitimacy. Increasingly there is a feeling that performance management alone will not solve this crisis. Citizens also expect from politicians and public servants ethical responsible conduct. As to the ethics, however, there is a problem. Governance and new public management have raised new problems which cannot be solved by referring to the traditional bureaucratic ethics. Devolution and decentralisation processes have enhanced the responsibility of public servants. The increase of transparency and openness and the service orientation of public organisations have challenged the traditional values of discretion and equality before the rule. The growing interaction between the public and the private sector have raised the question of integrity. In light of these developments, it is important to update the ethical system, or reversibly, the traditional values of the public service can question some actual evolutions in government.

Transparency in government operations is widely regarded as an important precondition for macroeconomic fiscal sustainability, good governance, and overall fiscal rectitude. Notably, the Interim Committee, at its April and September 1996 meetings, stressed the need for greater fiscal transparency. Prompted by these concerns, this paper represents a first attempt to address many of the aspects of transparency in government operations. It provides an overview of major issues in fiscal transparency and examines the IMF's role in promoting transparency in government operations.

The recent global financial and economic crisis has had surprising effects on several economies worldwide. This global event has promoted the discussion on how ethical, transparent, and rigorous the accountability of public sector institutions is. However, public manager accountability is translated into a vision that goes beyond its sphere of activity, demanding information on how public resources have been managed based on the maximization of social welfare and sustainable development. Tools, Strategies, and Practices for Modern and Accountable Public Sector Management is an essential reference source that discusses the process behind how public resources are managed as well as how they are coordinated to achieve collective success. Featuring research on topics such as corporate responsibility, fiscal accountability, and public administration, this book is ideally designed for researchers, managers, financial authorities, auditors, public managers, public administrators, regulatory authorities, accountants, professionals, and students involved with the accountability and reform of public management in local governments.

Performance based oversight and accountability can serve as an important antidote to government corruption, inefficiency, and waste. This volume provides an analytical framework and operational approaches needed for the implementation of results-based accountability. The volume makes a major contribution to the literature on public management and evaluation. Major subject areas covered in this book include: performance based accountability, e-government, network solutions to performance measurement and improvement; institutions of accountability in governance; legal and institutional framework to hold government to account; fighting corruption; external accountability; ensuring integrity of revenue administration; the role of supreme audit institutions on detecting fraud and corruption; and the role of parliamentary budget offices and public accounts committees.