Fiscal Transparency and Accountability in the Public Management Methodology

Open Access

Abstract

The growing recognition of the importance of strengthening the civic society to perform its designated role hasbeen an important factor in shaping the debate on fiscal transparency. The series of financial crises experiencedduring the last decades have raised two issues about public policy making, and the need to reduce high vulnerability.Public policy making, in general, and the national fiscal system, in particular has become a unit of analysis.Transparency enables all stakeholders in a country to see the structure and functions of the government, itspolicy intentions and fiscal projections, and accounts for past periods. The main purpose of opening these windowsis to render those inside accountable and answerable for their decisions and actions. Accountability is the obligationto render an account for the responsibility conferred.Fiscal transparency, reflecting a system of well organized windows on public policy making and policy implementation,is not an end in itself, but is a means contributing to effective and comprehensive accountability that aimsat securing full answerability from governments and their officials. Greater fiscal transparency is seen as a means ofimproving economic governance arrangements in ways, which, by promoting fiscal stability, will in turn improve thefunctioning of the government sector and facilitate improvements in the economic environment for the privatesector.Accountability imposes discipline on national authorities by ensuring that the authorities are answerable to thegeneral public and market participants for their decisions. Accountability thereby lessens the likelihood that nationalauthorities will make imprudent policy decisions. More particularly, transparency and accountability shouldresult in better–informed public debate about the design and objectives of fiscal and monetary policies and therebystrengthen the credibility and public understanding of macroeconomic policies and choices, as well as the quality ofdecisions taken. To facilitate the efficient allocation of ...