Improving budget transparency to achieve effective and sustainable governance

Stanimirović, Tatjana (author)

Purpose: The sustainable development concept implies the involvement of citizens in the budgetary process. Since the Covid-19 pandemic and its consequences have confirmed the importance of citizens’ involvement also in the future, the purpose of the paper is to assess the level of interest in budgetary issues as well as the reasons for budget transparency stagnation as reported for Slovenia by the Open Budget Index (OBI). Design/methodology/approach: The study relies on a combination of desk research and survey carried out among employees directly or indirectly connected to public finance issues in public sector organisations. The statistical analysis is based on 251 fully completed surveys. Findings: The results confirm the lack of political will as the main obstacle to budget transparency and the stagnation reported by the Open Budget Index for the past years, suggesting that the stronger the interest in budget transparency expressed by the respondents, the more likely they see political will as an important barrier. Academic contribution to the field: The findings of the paper contribute to the isolation and potential further development of the factors that influence the transparency of the central budget. Originality: The paper is a pioneer attempt to study central budget transparency in Slovenia, offering results that can be compared to other EU countries.

• Language: English
• Keywords: transparency, budget, accountability, barriers
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FU - Faculty of Administration
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2022
• Number of pages: Str. 81-100, 193
• Numbering: Vol. 20, no. 2
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-143429
• UDC: 336.14
• ISSN on article: 2591-2240
• DOI: 10.17573/cepar.2022.2.04
• COBISS.SI-ID: 132332291
• Publication date in RUL: 20.12.2022

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Central European public administration review
• Shortened title: CEPAR
• Publisher: Fakulteta za upravo
• ISSN: 2591-2240
• COBISS.SI-ID: 293849600

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
• Description: The most restrictive Creative Commons license. This only allows people to download and share the work for no commercial gain and for no other purposes.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Izboljšanje transparentnosti proračunskega procesa za učinkovito in trajnostno upravljanje

Abstract

Namen: Koncept trajnostnega razvoja predvideva vključevanje državljanov v proračunski proces. Pandemija covida-19 in njene posledice so pomen udeležbe državljanov še dodatno potrdile, zato je namen prispevka oceniti stopnjo zanimanja za proračunska vprašanja in razloge za stagnacijo na področju transparentnosti proračunskega procesa v Sloveniji, ki jo Sloveniji pripisuje raziskava Open Budget Index (OBI). Zasnova/Metodologija/Pristop: Študija temelji na kombinaciji namiznega raziskovanja in ankete, izvedene med zaposlenimi, ki se v organizacijah javnega sektorja neposredno ali posredno ukvarjajo z vprašanji javnih financ. Statistična analiza temelji na 251 v celoti izpolnjenih anketah. Ugotovitve: Rezultati potrjujejo pomanjkanje politične volje kot glavno oviro za stagnacijo na področju transparentnosti proračunskega procesa v zadnjih letih. Večje kot je med anketiranci zanimanje za transparentnost proračuna, večja je verjetnost, da politično voljo prepoznajo kot pomembno oviro. Akademski prispevek k znanstvenem področju: Ugotovitve članka prispevajo k izločitvi in morebitnemu nadaljnjemu razvoju dejavnikov, ki vplivajo na transparentnost državnega proračuna. Izvirnost: Članek je pionirski poskus proučevanja transparentnosti državnega proračuna v Sloveniji, rezultati pa so primerljivi z drugimi državami EU.

• Keywords: trasparentnost, proračun, odgovornost, ovire