The Irish Constitution defines the key public accountability role of the Comptroller and Auditor General in the audit of central government, reported through the forum of the Committee of Public Accounts (PAC). The purpose of the research is to consider how central government audit and their oversight and reporting mechanisms, played out in a public forum, could address any perceived expectations gap and therefore contribute to improved governance and accountability. The PAC, through its conduct of meetings, review of C&AG reports and in its subsequent reporting, may inadvertently contribute to the widening of the audit expectations gap. A documentary review of PAC meeting transcripts of scrutiny and deliberations was carried out over a period of seven years. In the review, regard was given to the audit concepts and expectations gap definitions as summarised from the international research. The absence or deficiency in the application of those concepts identified areas where expectations gap issues arise and objectively framed the consideration of what could be done to reduce the accountability expectations gap pertaining to central government audit, including internal audit. The research identified a number of factors that lead to ongoing difficulties of the PAC and C&AG in the discharge of their accountability duties and had contributed to the expectations gap. The research uniquely showed some aspects of the PAC's public examination and deliberative processes requiring improvement, with clear audit expectations gap bridging benefits. This research showed a significant deference of the PAC to media reporting of matters of public accountability of common interest. The research showed a prolific and commendable output of the C&AG with limited resources and a consequential significant workload for the PAC. Accordingly, the PAC needs to refrain from deliberations on extraneous matters or matters that it cannot influence or outside its remit.

As the principal expression of political priorities, the budget is the most important tool of government. A central proposition of gender budgeting is that budgets are also products of established gender norms within government processes and practices. These result in gender-blind policy and resource decisions that contribute to the persistent social and economic disadvantage that women experience. Gender budgeting aims to re-orientate the policy process by integrating gender analysis in budgetary procedures. In a two stage process gender budget analysis examines how resources are allocated, and aims to redistribute resources to advance gender equality objectives through a gender-aware budget. This thesis argues that certain structural and contextual factors, or favourable conditions, impede or advance the advocacy and agenda setting, formal adoption, and implementation of gender budgeting as a mechanism for feminist policy change. These conditions are formed by combinations of inside and outside actors challenging the gendered nature of formal political institutions, the accessibility of the political system, and the extent to which there is a positive climate for gender equality. The reconfiguration of political structures creates opportunities for feminist policy change, potentially contributing to the adoption of gender budgeting. Ongoing political change in the review period of 2000-2009 characterised the recently established sub-state governments of Scotland, Euskadi and Andalucfa, making them appropriate sites for investigation. Drawing on feminist institutionalism, public policy literature and experiences of gender budgeting elsewhere, the thesis develops a Framework of Favourable Conditions for the Adoption and Implementation of Gender Budgeting. The Framework assesses the adoption and implementation of gender budgeting in the three case study sites. The application of the Framework provides the first comparative analysis of these sites, and offers important insights into the conditions for adopting and implementing gender budgeting in sub-state government, thereby informing future practice and advocacy.

No description available.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the role and impact of the committee staff of the South Korean National Assembly in the scrutiny of government bills. It also explores the factors affecting their role and impact focusing on the scrutiny of government bills. Parliamentary staff globally have not drawn much academic attention with the exception of those in the U.S., and it is difficult to apply the theories and concepts in American studies to staff in the legislatures of other countries due to the peculiarity of legislatures in the U.S. Moreover, previous literature on parliamentary staff has not given much attention to the roles of staff in mediation and negotiation between policy actors. This research sets out the framework consisting of macro-level institutions, network, actors and the interaction between actors, and uses the perspectives of policy network theory and new institutionalism to derive key concepts, in the context of the South Korean National Assembly, on the features of network; the capabilities and orientations of MPs and committee staff members; and historical contexts affecting the evolution of institutions. In order to collect and analyse empirical data, this research conducted qualitative interviews with 38 committee staff members; amendment analysis on 787 amendment opinions in the scrutiny of law bills; and legislative case studies on four cases of the legislative process. The thesis argues that the committee staff provide information and guide the scrutiny; consult with and mediate between policy actors; and play a limited role in setting the items of the subcommittee meetings. Generally speaking, the impact of them is found to be strong, as evidenced through the interview data and amendment analysis. This is because the orientation structures and capabilities of MPs and committee staff members are conducive to MPs’ delegation of detailed scrutiny to committee staff members; staff members’ participation; and MPs’ agreement with them according to the interview data. In addition, political controversy affects the role and impact negatively, but technical complexity affects positively according to the interview data and amendment analysis. These findings are also supported by the legislative case study. The committee staff conducted substantive roles in the scrutiny of uncontroversial bills, but their roles in amending bills were limited to the translation of the agreement between parties in the scrutiny of controversial bills although they specified detailed amendments and conducted scrutiny in the aspects of legal structure and wording in technically complex matters. The contributions of this research are as follows: First of all, it sheds lights on the network managing function of parliamentary staff generally and in Korea in particular in their roles such as consultation and mediation. In addition, it also sheds light on the nature of issue as the factors affecting the role and impact of parliamentary staff differently. Last, but not least, it can be a base of comparative research on the legislative staff through studying non-partisan committee staff. The major limitation of this research is that it does not address whether the findings can be applied to the legislatures of other countries. This limitation is due to the peculiarity of South Korean National Assembly, although it shares some features of the legislative process with those in the U.K. and U.S. But then, this is a major problem with all kinds of comparative social science research and ought not to be an excuse not to engage with these important issues. Thus, the conduct of a comparative research about parliamentary staff of different countries with a consistent framework is suggested as the direction of future studies.

No description available.

The undertaking of this thesis, to explore the history of taxation in pre-colonial and colonial Hausaland, brings us face to face with the state systems of the two periods and the burdens (or benefits) which they imposed. The central theme of this study has been the interplay of the ideological, economic and political factors which determined taxation practices in our area. It is argued in this study that an understanding of the history of the fiscal and taxation practices of an area may throw as much light on its way of life and historical evolution as an account of its wars and conquests. The pre-colonial and the colonial tax systems have been compared and contrasted in the light of the ideological, historical and technological forces at work in the two periods. The main differences between precolonial and colonial taxation systems resulted mainly from the varying aims of the two state systems. In general, however, both pre-colonial and colonial rulers used taxation to achieve economic, social and political objectives. Both sets of rulers used taxation to impose political and economic control. The manner in which these policies were implemented and their aims achieved depended on the ideological and other orientations of the two systems. In both periods, taxes on agricultural produce constituted the mainstay of the state. In this regard, the emphasis laid on trade, as opposed to, agricultural taxes has been reduced. The burdens of taxation in the two periods have been measured, in a more or less speculative way, in the light of objective criteria and also taking account of what the people thought at the time. In the conclusion, we have made a brief review of the role of taxation in economic development.

Les procédures budgétaires peuvent être définies par l’ensemble des règles et des méthodes pour l’adoption d’un budget d’un État, d’une collectivité ou des institutions publiques. Le secteur public travail dans l’intérêt général. L’objectif étant de définir les modes de fonctionnements de la procédure budgétaire. Dans le chapitre un, notre objectif était de revisiter les grands concepts qui encadre le secteur public. Ainsi nous avons repris la question de l’intérêt général, la gouvernance publique, l’introduction des outils comptables et des vocables de la performance. Dans le chapitre deux, nous avons étudié en profondeur le concept du budget. Dans ce chapitre, notre objectif est de démontrer l’intérêt et les limites du budget. Nous avons cherché les bases conceptuelles et la méthodologie de la production budgétaire. Nous avons enrichi notre réflexion à travers l’étude de certains pays de l’OCDE. Le chapitre trois, nous nous sommes intéressés plus spécialement à Djibouti car c’est notre terrain d’étude de cas. Aidé de l’étude de l’initiative Africaine concertée sur la réforme budgétaire, notre objectif est de faire une analyse comparative en y intégrant Djibouti pour mettre en évidence les faiblesses institutionnelles dans la procédure budgétaire. Le chapitre quatre est une proposition de modèle budgétaire. Le choix méthodologique de cette nouvelle procédure budgétaire s’inspire de la LOLF. Elle nous a permis de répondre à la problématique de la transparence, de la gouvernance budgétaire mais aussi à la déficience institutionnelle. On a aussi complété notre analyse en proposant la mise en place de contrôle administratif, parlementaire et judiciaire. / Budgetary procedures are defined by a set of rules and methods related to the adoption of a budget by a state, community or public institution. To the extentthat he public sector works for the public interest, the objective is to define the modes of operation of public sector budgetary procedures. In Chapter One, our aim is to revisit the major concepts that govern the public sector. Thus, we have taken up questions of public interest, public governance, and the introduction of accounting tools and their terms of performance. In chapter two, we studied in depth the concept of a budget. In this second chapter, our goal is to demonstrate the interest and limitations of a budget. We sought the conceptual basis and methodology of budgetary production. We have enriched our thinking through the study of select OECD countries. In chapter three, we have focused on Djibouti as a case study. Assisted by the study of the African Concerted Budget Reform Initiative, our objective is to make a comparative analysis by showcasing Djibouti to highlight institutional weaknesses in the budgetary process. In Chapter four, we propose a financial model. The LOLF inspires the methodological choice of this new budget process. It enables us to respond to issues of transparency, budgetary governance, and institutional deficiencies. We also completed our analysis by proposing the establishment of administrative, parliamentary, and judicial control.

This study focuses on analysing the financial sustainability of local government authorities (LGAs) in Tanzania with reference to decentralisation. In this context, the financial sustainability of LGAs is considered as an important aspect for decentralisation to succeed, especially in enhancing horizontal equity and public services in general. Specifically, the study attempts to: (i) assess and explain variations in financial sustainability across LGAs (ii) explore consequences of financial difficulties whenever they arise in the course of budget execution, and ways used to mitigate the difficulties. The study uses a quantitative approach, whereby financial indicators are used to analyse LGAs’ financial performance reports to achieve the first objective, and qualitative analysis of interview data from three case studies to achieve the second objective. The empirical findings suggest decentralisation in Tanzania influences financial sustainability of LGAs in different ways. First, councils with a large proportion of poor people not only have low financial sustainability, low expenditure per person and low own source revenue per person but also receive a lower average grant per person. This poses the danger of exaggerating the horizontal gap in service access. Secondly, council size and population size contribute negatively while the flow of government grants and poor financial management practices contribute positively to variations in financial sustainability. Thirdly, the findings suggest decentralisation may not discourage complacency in LGAs’ revenue mobilisation and financial management practices. On the other hand, observation from the case studies suggests financial difficulties are prevalent in LGAs. They adversely affect LGAs’ operations, especially in executing development projects in priority sectors: health, education, water and agriculture. To mitigate the difficulties, LGAs involve people in service provision, cuts or postponing activities as immediate options, and seeking alternative revenues sources for the long term. The study offers three main contributions. First, it bridges two interrelated but distinct research themes: financial sustainability and fiscal decentralisation studies. This broadens the scope of analysing both themes. Secondly, it offers insights into why decentralisation may or may not achieve its potential. This is in response to the observation from some studies, which report the outcome of decentralisation in developing countries to be limited. Lastly, it offers feedback on the way decentralisation is executed in a country that has long-standing initiatives on enhancing horizontal equity and improving provision of public services in general.

The budgetary process has recently attracted far less attention than the Plan and with a few notable exceptions, students of politics have shown little interest in the budgetary process. In France the budget is still the preserve of a few experts in the Faculties of Law whose research, however, is chiefly concerned with the legal aspects of the process and pays little attention to its administrative and political implications. Some have also argued that with the development of a sophisticated planning machinery the budgetary process loses most of its previous importance as a process for the taking of crucial economic and political decisions. Although it is true that the existence of the Plan has far reaching and complex repercussions on the Government bugetary policy - some of which are mentioned in the thesis - it remains that in France the Plan is not a substitute for the budget. Indeed, from the point of view of the Government, the budget is still the main and in many cases the only channel for the enactment of policies both at the governmental and parliamentary levels. The Plan's objectives can be achieved only if the policies of the annual budgets are in accordance with them. Hence, when the budget is prepared and discussed participants are conscious that much is still at stake. The aim of the thesis is to describe the French budgetary process as it operates today: how economic and financial decisions are made in the framework of that process. Who intervenes, when and for what purposes? The budgetary process needs to be approached as an administrative and governmental decision making process rather than a purely legislative or accounting process. We do not neglect the latter aspects but we consider that, in France as in many other countries, budgeting is more concerned with the question of how to take the right economic and financial decisions than with the question as to whether public funds are spent according to appropriations. Hence, our approach differs from that of most French writers who start with the assumption - legally correct - that the budget is decided in Parliament and then conclude, comparing the IVth and the Vth Republics that Parliament has lese decision making power now than under the previous Republic. As a result, they neglect the administrative and governmental parts of the process and these are now, as in England, the crucial ones. We do not pretend to be in a position to unveil every decision in the administrative and governmental stages for this is largely an internal process. But, mainly because civil servants and parliamentarians have shown great understanding for our research, we hope to have been able to make some inway into it. In some cases we have had to rely on a limited amount of information and some iinterpretations may well appear as tentative, but as G. Devaux, a former Head of the Budget Division aad author of a revealing book on the French financial administration has remarked: "Je cours le risque d'être accusé d'interpréter l'histoire. Mais je crois que les erreurs historiques les plus lourdes sont commises par ceux qui se dérobent a toute tentative d'interprétation". Budgeting is a traditional function of the State. It has given rise to well entrenched rules and habits. The progressive evolution and transformation of the budgetary process as well ae the impact of the reforms of the Vth Republic can only be understood in their historical context. Budgeting takes place within a legal and constitutional framework, for unlike planning, the budgetary process is by tradition a formal process. For example, decisions must be taken within precise constitutional time limits and must be expressed by way of well defined words and figures. These rules are known to civil servants, parliamentarians, interest groups, etc. and their skillful use may put some participants in a better position to influence decisions. Moreover, some of these rules (annuality, equilibrium of the budget, etc.) are the object of much controversy and political discussion. Occasionally, we deal with some of these questions for they deepen an understanding not only of the budgetary process but also of French politics. The process itself consists in the annual exercise of drafting and voting the budget. It is therefore necessary to follow the budget through its various stages, from the first tentative projection to the final version as approved by Parliament, and to describe the nature and functions of the various bodies which intervene in the making of the budget, during its elaboration and vote. Many jurists and economists tend to forget that budgetary decisions are answers to central political questions -"who gets what and how". However, when the budget is prepared and discussed, participants in the process fight hard either to get the funds they need for the initiation and continuation of the policies they are interested in or, as in the case of the Ministry of Finance, to maintain their control over Government activities. To see how the process looks from the inside we have interviewed more than sixty participants in the budgetary process to discover their aims, attitudes and strategies - officers of spending ministries, staff of various Division in the Ministry of Finance (particularly in the Budget Division and cabinet of the Minister of Finance), officers of the Planning Commissariat, advisers in the offices of the Prime Minister and the President, parliamentary staff and parliamentarians. We have been allowed to consult files at the Division of the Budget, in the cabinet of the Minister of Finance, and even at the Elysée, as well as in the parliamentary committees. Some of this information is secret, but we have reproduced some confidential documents in the appendix. Finally, since bugeting is an annual process, there is something to be learned from a case study of one budget. The last chapter traces the administrative, governmental and parliamentary progress of the 1967 budget. It shows how the system works when a particular budget has to be prepared and voted aud illustrates several aspects of our earlier analysis. It also deals more fully with the parliamentary stage of the budgetary process. We hope therefore, for the first time in any language, to have shown how the French budgetary process actually works as an exercise in executive and administrative decision making, how the institutions of the Vth Republic really function in this central matter of Government and how it looks to those actively engaged in the process itself.

The need for an adequate information system for the Highways Departments in the United Kingdom has been recognised by the report of a committee presented to the Minister of Transport in 1970, (The Marshall Report). This research aims to present a comprehensive information system on a sound theoretical basis which should enable the different levels of management to execute their work adequately. The suggested system presented in this research covers the different functions of the Highways Department, and presents a suggested solution for problems which may occur during the planning and controlling of work in the different locations of the Highways Department. The information system consists of:- 1. A coding system covering the cost units, cost centres and cost elements. 2. Cost accounting records for the cost units and cost centres. 3. A budgeting and budgetary control system covering, the different planning methods and procedures which are required for preparing the capital expenditure budget, the improvement and maintenance operation flexible budgets and programme of work, the plant budget, the administration budget, and the purchasing budget. 4. A reporting system which ensures that the different levels of management are receiving relevant and timely information. 5. The flow of documents which covers the relationship between the prime documents, the cost accounting records, budgets, reports and their relation to the different sections and offices within the department. A comprehensive cost units, cost centres, and cost elements codes together with a number of examples demonstrating the results of the survey, and examples of the application and procedures of the suggested information system have been illustrated separately as appendices. The emphasis is on the information required for internal control by management personnel within the County Council.