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Budget Transparency with Open Spending Austria

2021

This entry has been realised in the framework of the H2020-MSCA-RISE-2018 project "LoGov - Local Government and the Changing Urban-Rural Interplay". LoGov aims to provide solutions for local governments that address the fundamental challenges resulting from urbanisation. To address this complex issue, 18 partners from 17 countries and six continents share their expertise and knowledge in the realms of public law, political science, and public administration. LoGov identifies, evaluates, compares, and shares innovative practices that cope with the impact of changing urban-rural relations in five major local government areas: (1) local responsibilities and public services, (2) local financial arrangements, (3) structure of local government, (4) intergovernmental relations of local governments, and (5) people's participation in local decision-making. The present entry addresses local financial arrangements in Austria. The entry forms part of the LoGov Report on Austria. T...

Austria's fiscal rules: climbing the mountain towards effective fiscal relations

2014

Summary This study of Austria's fiscal framework discusses positive aspects and weaknesses of recent reforms in intergovernmental fiscal relations by analysing from a backward and forward looking perspective some of the factors driving subnational fiscal performance. Looking back, transfer dependency has differed between various levels of government and coincided with different fiscal outcomes for State governments (Lander) and local governments. The fiscal framework has not been able to prevent State governments from consistently missing their budgetary targets from 2001 to 2009, causing a significant drag on Austria's overall budgetary position. In response, reforms going in the direction of higher tax sharing and lower transfer dependence for subnational governments have provided stronger incentives to curb expenditure, paving the way for better fiscal performance in recent years. Looking forward, the analysis focuses on the new system of fiscal rules adopted in Austria, ...

Budgeting and Budgetary Institutions

2007

Conclusions 48 Notes 49 References 49 The Budget and Its Coverage 53 Salvatore Schiavo-Campo Good Governance and Public Expenditure Management 54 The Meaning of Fiduciary Risk in Public Finance 55 The Unity of the Budget 55 Coverage, Periodicity, and Definitions 56 Principles of Expenditure Policy Choices and of Budget Coverage 60 Extrabudgetary Funds 61 Beyond Direct Expenditure 72 Basic Budget Legislation 81 Notes 86 References 87 Capital Budgets: Theory and Practice 89 A. Premchand Evolution 90 Current Practices 101 Notes 108 References and Other Sources 108 Budget Methods and Practices 109 Alta Fölscher The Nature of the Problem 109 Beyond Incrementalism: Rationality and Incentives in Budget Methods 118 Conclusion 134 Note 134 References 134 vi Contents 3 4 2 A Primer on Performance Budgeting

Is Austrian budgetary policy still “political”? A cross-time comparison of budget speeches

Österreichische Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft

This paper investigates whether and how the democratic feedback loop between the government and parliament has been affected in Austrian budgetary policy-making. The question stems from the observation that since 2009 the budgetary policymaking process has been substantially affected by both national and European reforms, with some scholars arguing that budgetary policy today has become a bureaucratic rather than a political exercise. Through a comparative content analysis of finance ministers' budget speeches we show that this is not the case and that instead-compared to the past-the share of political discourse has remained substantial. Furthermore, we find that today Austrian governments present the parliament with more detailed information about their planned expenditures and taxations, and that these plans are linked more strongly to the governing parties' manifestos rather than the European country-specific recommendations.

Gender-responsive budgeting in Austria: The narrow line between implementation and confirmation

Public Money & Management, 2021

The Austrian case emphasizes that Gender-Responsive Budgeting (GRB) is most successful if underpinned by legislation; however, overly detailed and rigorous guidelines might constrain advancements in the framework. This paper shows the 'blank spots' where GRB analyses were not undertaken, indicating the importance of formal checks and (independent) policy assessments to ensure meaningful analysis and planning of actions. Political support is crucial for diffusion; however, it is not a guarantee to fully exploit GRB's potential. Finally, training strengthens the starting basis for implementation and needs to be extended in later periods of the implementation.

Reforming the legal framework for the budget process

2017

The author is a senior research fellow at PIDS. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the PIDS or any of the study’s sponsors. he literature on public financial management (PFM) suggests that countries introduce a new law or amend existing legislation on budget systems for any one or a combination of the following reasons: (1) to correct specific problems related to budget preparation, authorization, and execution, as well as legislative review of the outcome/output of budget implementation and independent external audit of government financial accounts; (2) to clarify the powers of the legislative and executive branches of government in various stages of government budget process; and (3) to ensure that budgetary institutions promote fiscal stability and sustainability, improve budget outcomes in terms of both the allocation and spending of budget resources, and enhance transparency and accountability in the budget system (Lienert and J...

Fiscal Transparency Management in Theory and Practice: the Case of Kosovo

European Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 2018

In the framework of reforms envisaged in the Public Administration Reform (PAR), Kosovo aims to provide a modern Public Finance Management (PFM) system, in line with international standards and best practices. This will enable the efficient and effective functioning of all phases of Public Finance Management. As part of the joint dialogue between the Government of Kosovo and the European Commission (EC), in the meetings of the Special Group for PAR (GVRAP), financial support was provided through Sector Budget Support (SBS) from the funds of the Instrument of the European Union (EU) Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA). Currently, a sectoral budget support agreement for the first two pillars of the PAR is expected to be signed under IPA 2016. While the second sectoral budget support is also expected to be finalized for the PFM sector under IPA 2017. Initially, with Decision no. 105/2015, in September 2015, a Responsible Team (EP) was established for the drafting of the Strategy, in the composition of which were appointed representatives of all relevant actors of Kosovo governmental institutions. The team, with the support and expertise provided by OECD / SIGMA, initially analyzed the relevant assessment documents in the area of PFM like PEFA, SIGMA, TADAT and 2015 Report of the Office of the Auditor General (OAG). Based on the findings, four pillars and 12 strategy priorities have been agreed. Despite the results achieved, this analysis identifies many shortcomings that are needed to be addressed in order to increase fiscal transparency. Transparency should increase, inter alia, through increasing the role of Parliament in the budgetary procedure. In this context, we emphasize the need to increase the role of the Parliament on the basis of the following factors: a) increasing the parliament's ability to access important budget documents; b) increasing the role of parliamentary committees in budget control; c) Increasing parliament's capacity and opportunity for budget research and analysis; and d) enhancing the dynamics of political parties