GOVERNANCE, TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY AT LOCAL GOVERNMENT LEVEL: BUDGET TRANSPARENCY OF MACEDONIAN MUNICIPALITIES
Abstract
The transparency strengthens the credibility of the government policies and improves fiscal discipline while at the same time enabling a platform for citizens’ satisfaction for the public services it provides, for participation of the citizens in the process of preparation of the public policies and an ultimately increased willingness to pay (more) for the public services. In essence, an effective local governments’ transparency is necessary for accountability and these are not an end in itself, but means to support effective and inclusive decision-making in the budgeting (national and local). The bottom-up participatory structures for enhancement of the local government transparency and accountability need to be enwoven in both the legal, political, and administrative tools for active involvement of the civic sector for participation. The legal and budgetary mechanism that enable contribution from the local communities/citizens are especially important for certain local government decisions in order to increase the accessibility to the general public i.e. the citizens at large. Furthermore, higher budget transparency enables informed public discussion and consensus on the government’s priorities, policies and programs while having a positive influence on the corrosive effect of corruption and inadequate accountability at the all government levels. Therefore, local governments’ transparency and accountability should not be viewed independently, but as a crucial part of the overall good governance and public management. This objective of this paper is to analyze the transparency of the local self-government units’ budgets and availability of the “main†budget process documents, their accessibility in order to determine whether there has been an improvement between fiscal 2014-2015 and fiscal 2016-2017.References
Bauhr, Monika and Nagmeh Nasiritousi. Forthcoming. Resisting Transparency.
Global Environmental Politics Bellver, Ana, and Daniel Kaufmann (2005) Transparenting Transparency: Initial Empirics and Policy Applications, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper. Bovens, M. (2007b).
Analyzing and assessing accountability: A conceptual framework. European Law Journal, 13(4), 447-468 Davis, J.H., Schoorman, F.D. and Donaldson, L. (1997).
Toward a Stewardship Theory of Management. The Academy of Management Review, 22(1), 20-47. Donaldson, L., & Davis, J. H. (1991).
Stewardship theory or agency theory: CEO governance and shareholder returns, Australian Journal of Management, 16(1), 49-64.
Eisenhardt, K. M. (1989). Agency theory: An assessment and review. The Academy of Management Review, 14(1), 57-74.
Greiling, D., & Spraul K. (2010). Accountability and the challenges of information disclosure. Public Administration Quarterly, 338-377 Guide to transparency in Government Budget Reports, What are Budget Reports Important and What should they include, OBI Halachmi, A. (2004.)
Performance measurement, accountability, and improved performance. Public Performance and Management Review, 25(4), 370-374.
Hood, Christopher (2006) Transparency in historical perspective In: Hood, Christopher and Heald, David, (eds.) Transparency: the Key to Better Governance?, Proceedings of the British Academy (135). Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, 3-23.
ISBN 9780197263839 Irene S. Rubin, (2010), Sixth Edition, The Politics of Public Budgeting: Getting and Spending, Borrowing and Balancing Jacobides, M., & Croson, D. C. (2001).
Information policy and shaping the value of agency relationships. Academy of Management Review, 36(2), 202-223 Law on free access to public information, Official Gazette of RM (13/2006, 86/2008, 6/10, 42/14, 148/15, 55/16) Lindstedt, Catharina, and Daniel Naurin. 2010.
Transparency is not enough: Making Transparency Effective in Reducing Corruption, International Political Science Review, 31: 301-322.
Nikolov Marjan, Borce Trenovski, Gabriela Dimovska (2015), Open and transparent budget process in Western Balkan Countries, CEA Journal of Economics, Vol 10, No 1 Nikolov Marjan, (2009), Budget process in Macedonia: Recent developments and challenges, Center for Economic Analyses OECD Best Practices for Budget Transparency, 2003 Popovikj, M & Misev, V. (2014). Budget transparency and accountability in Macedonia. Public Policy Paper, 5-7.
The Law on local self-governance (Offical Gazzette of RM (no.5/02) Trenovski, B. (2014). Improvement of the transparency and accountability through a performance based budget.
Monitoring report on the transparency and accountability of the budget users, 6-7. Trenovski, Nikolov, (2015), Cost – Benefit Analysis of performance based budgeting implementation, CEA Journal of Economics, Vol 10, No 2 Trenovski, Nikolov, Garvanlieva, Mitevski, (2016),
Fiscal transparency on local level – The case of the R. Macedonia, CEA, 7th international conference International Dialogue East West Economics,
Megjunaroden centar za slavjanska prosveta United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific What is Good Governance?
Van Slyke, D. M. (2006). Agents or Stewards: Using theory to understand the government-nonprofit social service contracting relationship. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 17, 157-187.
Van Slyke, D. M. (2006). Agents or Stewards: Using theory to understand the government-nonprofit social service contracting relationship. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 17, 157-187.
Vesna Garvanlieva, Vlatko Andonov, Marjan Nikolov, (2012), Shadow Economy of Macedonia, CEA Journal of Economics, Vol 7, No 2
