Published Article / At present municipalities in the Republic of South Africa are under pressure as a result of poor financial control and accountability that give cause to extensive corruption and financial mismanagement with the subsequent detrimental consequences for effective and efficient rendering of goods and services to inhabitants. Hence, it is of the utmost importance that serious attention be given to the implementation of effective and efficient financial control and accountability at municipalities. Financial control and responsibility are definitely of the utmost importance in determining either the success or failure of local government in the Republic of South Africa. Sound financial management will enhance a positive attitude and trust among the inhabitants towards the municipal council. Statutory financial control in the local government sphere consists of two components, viz. an external component (preparation of the budget, control over loans, expenditure, revenue, and external auditing) and an internal component (internal auditing, reporting, ethical conduct, and financial regulations).

A Constituição Federal Brasileira de 1988 trouxe diversas inovações à estrutura governamental, notadamente nos aspectos financeiros. Com relação às receitas alterou o perfil tributário entre as esferas Federal, Estadual e Municipal. Do lado das despesas alterou profundamente a Agenda Governamental, entendida como o conjunto de obrigações a que o Estado está submetido. Porém, diversos fatores, tanto de natureza ambiental - como os choques na década de 90 na economia internacional; quanto de natureza interna - principalmente os referentes à reforma do Estado, levaram os Municípios a assumirem uma série de responsabilidades que não estavam claramente definidos na Agenda , não estando, por isto, acompanhadas das necessárias transferências de recursos. A diferença entre as despesas públicas realizadas pelos municípios e o volume de recursos próprios arrecadados localmente determina o que a literatura denomina de hiato de recursos. A análise deste hiato quando parcial, pode conduzir a conclusões incorretas. Diversos trabalhos apontam distorções no sistema de financiamento público municipal, desde o superdimensionamento das despesas até as influencias causadas pelo sistema de transferências intergovernamentais nos esforços de arrecadação local, o que faz com que as receitas próprias sejam menores. Este trabalho analisa, da perspectiva da gestão municipal, a existência e dimensionamento do hiato de recursos. Para isso, busca uma aproximação inicial de dois conceitos que devem ser considerados conjuntamente : o conceito de eficiência de exploração- que refere-se à capacidade de explorar suas bases tributárias; e o de eficiência de transformação - que refere-se à capacidade de um município conseguir transformar os recursos de que dispõe em qualidade de vida. Para operacionalizar o conceito de eficiência, os municípios do Estado de São Paulo foram agrupados de acordo com o conceito de centralidade e submetidos à metodologia de análise envoltória de dados (DEA - Data Envelopment Analysis). Os resultados demonstram que os municípios possuem baixas eficiências na exploração das bases tributárias (43%) e altos valores de eficiências na transformação (91%). O estudo também conclui que a ampliação da qualidade de vida nos municípios passa pela alteração do sistema de transferências, em função dos baixos valores de receitas próprias que os municípios podem atingir. / The Brazilian Major Law from 1988 brought several innovations to the governmental structure, notably in the financial aspects. In relation to the public revenue, it altered the revenual profile between Federal, State and Municipal spheres. In relation to the public expenses, it altered deeply the Governmental Agenda, understood as the group of obligations to which the State is submitted. However, many factors, as from environmental nature – like the international economic shocks from the 90 decade; as from internal nature – principally the ones referring to State’s reform, took the Municipalities to assume several responsibilities that were not clearly defined in the Agenda, so not being accompanied by the necessary intergovernmental revenues resources. The difference between the public expenses realized by the municipalities and the volume of their own resources collected locally determine what the literature calls resources hiatus. This hiatus’ analysis, when partial, can conduct to incorrect conclusions. Many studies point out distortions in the municipal public financial system, since the expenses’ super dimensionality to the influences caused by the intergovernmental revenues system in the local collect efforts, what makes their own revenues lower. This study analyses, from the municipal management perspective, the existence and the dimensionality of the hiatus’ resources. For this, it searches for an initial approach of two concepts that must be considered together: the concept of exploration efficiency – that refers to the capacity of exploring its own revenue basis; and the concept of transformation efficiency – that refers to a municipality’s capacity of transforming the resources that it has into quality of life. To make the concept of efficiency operational, the municipalities of São Paulo State were bracket together according to the concept of centrality and were submitted to the methodology of data envelopment analysis (DEA). The results showed that the municipalities have low exploration efficiencies of the revenue basis (43%) and high value in the transformation efficiencies (91%). The study also concludes that the enlargement of the quality of life in the municipalities goes through the alteration of the intergovernmental revenues system due to the low values of their own revenues that the municipalities can reach.

The aim of this thesis is the state and the dynamics of indebtedness of territorial self-governing units in the Czech Republic to evaluate. The thesis has two parts - the theoretical part and the practical part. The important information about this issue are in the theoretical part. The information are drawn from the technical literature, the information of Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic and the other sources. This part contains the tract on the returnable financial resources, the debt and its reporting, the causes of indebtedness, the problems, which the indebtedness of local governments will cause and the regulation of indebtedness of local governments. The practical part is divided into 5 parts - The analysis of debt of territorial self-governing units in relation to the public debt of the Czech Republic, The analysis of indebtedness of municipalities of the Czech Republic, The analysis of indebtedness of regions of the Czech Republic, The analysis of municipalities of the Czech Republic with higher measure of risk of municipal finance and The regulation of debt of local governments in the Czech Republic. For example it was discovered, that the public debt of the Czech Republic grow all the time, but the share of municipal debt and regional debt to the public debt is minimal. The municipal indebtedness of the Czech Republic has the growing trend. The municipalities use the credits often, the issue of municipal bonds and the approved returnable financial assistances. In 2012 the debt of municipalities with 5 000 and more inhabitants made up 73 per cent of total municipal debt. The regions has growing trend except 2010. The regions use the credits often and the approved returnable financial assistances. In 2011 and in 2012 the highest debt per 1 inhabitant had the Olomouc Region, the Karlovy Vary Region and the Pardubice Region. The Plzeň Region had the zero debt per 1 inhabitant. In category of municipalities with higher measure of risk of municipal finances was 47 municipalities from 6 244 monitored municipalities. The worst situation is in municipalities: Prameny, Turovice and Bublava.

A Constituição Federal Brasileira de 1988 trouxe diversas inovações à estrutura governamental, notadamente nos aspectos financeiros. Com relação às receitas alterou o perfil tributário entre as esferas Federal, Estadual e Municipal. Do lado das despesas alterou profundamente a Agenda Governamental, entendida como o conjunto de obrigações a que o Estado está submetido. Porém, diversos fatores, tanto de natureza ambiental - como os choques na década de 90 na economia internacional; quanto de natureza interna - principalmente os referentes à reforma do Estado, levaram os Municípios a assumirem uma série de responsabilidades que não estavam claramente definidos na Agenda , não estando, por isto, acompanhadas das necessárias transferências de recursos. A diferença entre as despesas públicas realizadas pelos municípios e o volume de recursos próprios arrecadados localmente determina o que a literatura denomina de hiato de recursos. A análise deste hiato quando parcial, pode conduzir a conclusões incorretas. Diversos trabalhos apontam distorções no sistema de financiamento público municipal, desde o superdimensionamento das despesas até as influencias causadas pelo sistema de transferências intergovernamentais nos esforços de arrecadação local, o que faz com que as receitas próprias sejam menores. Este trabalho analisa, da perspectiva da gestão municipal, a existência e dimensionamento do hiato de recursos. Para isso, busca uma aproximação inicial de dois conceitos que devem ser considerados conjuntamente : o conceito de eficiência de exploração- que refere-se à capacidade de explorar suas bases tributárias; e o de eficiência de transformação - que refere-se à capacidade de um município conseguir transformar os recursos de que dispõe em qualidade de vida. Para operacionalizar o conceito de eficiência, os municípios do Estado de São Paulo foram agrupados de acordo com o conceito de centralidade e submetidos à metodologia de análise envoltória de dados (DEA - Data Envelopment Analysis). Os resultados demonstram que os municípios possuem baixas eficiências na exploração das bases tributárias (43%) e altos valores de eficiências na transformação (91%). O estudo também conclui que a ampliação da qualidade de vida nos municípios passa pela alteração do sistema de transferências, em função dos baixos valores de receitas próprias que os municípios podem atingir. / The Brazilian Major Law from 1988 brought several innovations to the governmental structure, notably in the financial aspects. In relation to the public revenue, it altered the revenual profile between Federal, State and Municipal spheres. In relation to the public expenses, it altered deeply the Governmental Agenda, understood as the group of obligations to which the State is submitted. However, many factors, as from environmental nature – like the international economic shocks from the 90 decade; as from internal nature – principally the ones referring to State’s reform, took the Municipalities to assume several responsibilities that were not clearly defined in the Agenda, so not being accompanied by the necessary intergovernmental revenues resources. The difference between the public expenses realized by the municipalities and the volume of their own resources collected locally determine what the literature calls resources hiatus. This hiatus’ analysis, when partial, can conduct to incorrect conclusions. Many studies point out distortions in the municipal public financial system, since the expenses’ super dimensionality to the influences caused by the intergovernmental revenues system in the local collect efforts, what makes their own revenues lower. This study analyses, from the municipal management perspective, the existence and the dimensionality of the hiatus’ resources. For this, it searches for an initial approach of two concepts that must be considered together: the concept of exploration efficiency – that refers to the capacity of exploring its own revenue basis; and the concept of transformation efficiency – that refers to a municipality’s capacity of transforming the resources that it has into quality of life. To make the concept of efficiency operational, the municipalities of São Paulo State were bracket together according to the concept of centrality and were submitted to the methodology of data envelopment analysis (DEA). The results showed that the municipalities have low exploration efficiencies of the revenue basis (43%) and high value in the transformation efficiencies (91%). The study also concludes that the enlargement of the quality of life in the municipalities goes through the alteration of the intergovernmental revenues system due to the low values of their own revenues that the municipalities can reach.

<p>Bakgrund: År 1992 trädde en ny kommunallag i kraft vilket innebar flera förändringar av den kommunala redovisningen. År 1997 kom en kommunal redovisningslag och begreppet god redovisningssed fördes in i kommuners redovisning. Seden kantas av särregler som balanskravet och blandmodellen som är politiska beslut och inte är redovisningstekniskt motiverade. Kommunallagens krav på ekonomisk balans trädde i kraft år 2000 och är en av hörnstenarna i kommuners krav på en god ekonomisk hushållning. Balanskravet innebär att kommuner ska visa ett positivt resultat. Sedan balanskravet trädde i kraft har kommuners intresse riktats mot balanskravet i stället för mot det mer långsiktiga kravet på en god ekonomisk hushållning. För att kommuner ska nå upp till balanskravet infördes år 2000 en modell för beräkning av kommunens pensionsskulder benämnd blandmodellen.</p><p>Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka hur kommuner hanterar kravet på en god ekonomisk hushållning i skenet av den dolda pensionsskulden. Beskriva balanskravet och blandmodellen gentemot kravet på att redovisningen ska visa en korrekt bild av kommunens verkliga ekonomiska ställning och resultat, den rättvisande bilden. Samt belysa redovisningens roll och användning i en kommun.</p><p>Genomförande: Uppsatsen är genomförd med en kombination av en kvalitativ och en kvantitativ ansats. Studiens kvalitativa del bygger på besöksintervjuer hos fyra utvalda kommuner medan studiens kvantitativa del bygger på ett frågeformulär som skickades ut till 30 kommuner varav 18 svarade. Inom ramen för undersökningen har både primärdata och sekundärdata använts. Primärdata har inhämtas från besöksintervjuer, utskickade frågeformulär och expertiskunskap inom redovisningsområdet. Sekundärdata har bestått av litteratur, artiklar, tidskrifter, utredningar och årsredovisningar.</p><p>Resultat: Studien visar att begreppet god ekonomisk hushållning har haft en positiv effekt på kommuners ekonomi och där balanskravet ses som det mest centrala. Stor osäkerhet råder dock om vilka mål och policies kommuner ska sätta upp för vad som utgör god ekonomisk hushållning. Blandmodellen är ett politiskt beslut som sätter vedertagna redovisningsprinciper ur spel och går emot några av redovisningens kvalitativa egenskaper. Undersökningens respondenter sätter gärna likhetstecken mellan rättvisande bild och god redovisningssed men det skiljer sig mellan undersökningens fyra orter hur begreppen tolkas. Studien visar också att kommuner anser sig vara skuldfria när de har en ansvarsförbindelse för pensioner som i ett flertal fall uppgår till betydande belopp. Kommuner måste ta ansvar för sina pensionsåtaganden genom att fondera medel och inte skjuta över kostnader på nästa generation.</p> / <p>Background: In 1992, the new Local Government Act took effect, which implied several changes for municipal accounting. A municipal accounting law came in 1997, and the concept of generally accepted accounting principles entered into municipal accounting. This practice is marked by special rules such as the “balanced budget requirement” (balanskrav) and the “mixed model” of accounting (blandmodellen), which are political decisions not motivated by accounting. The Local Government Act’s requirement for financial balance took effect in 2000 and is one of the cornerstones in the municipalities’ requirements for good financial management. The balanced budget requirement means that municipalities should show that income exceeds costs. Since the balanced budget requirement took effect, the municipalities have focused their interest on it, instead of on the more long-term requirement for good financial management. In order for municipalities to fulfil the balanced budget requirement, the mixed model, which calculates the municipality’s pension liabilities, was introduced in 2000.</p><p>Purpose: The purpose of this essay is to (1) examine how municipalities manage the requirement for good financial management despite hidden pension liabilities, (2) to describe the balanced budget requirement and mixed model in relation to the requirement that accounting records should show an accurate view of the municipality’s true financial position and income/expenditures, the true and fair view, and (3) to illustrate the role and use of accounting in a municipality.</p><p>Methods: This essay was carried out through a combination of a qualitative and a quantitative approach. The study’s qualitative component is based on interviews in four selected municipalities, whereas the quantitative component is based on a questionnaire that was sent to 30 municipalities, of which 18 submitted answers. Both primary and secondary data have been used within the framework of the study. The primary data were collected from interviews, mailed questionnaires, and expert knowledge in the accounting field. Secondary data consisted of literature, articles, journals, studies, and annual reports.</p><p>Results: The study shows that the concept of good financial management has had a positive effect on the finances of municipalities, and the balanced budget requirement is viewed as the core. There is great uncertainty, however, as to which goals and policies the municipalities should set up to constitute good financial management. The mixed model is a political decision that eliminates generally accepted accounting principles and goes against some of the qualitative properties of accounting. The study’s respondents gladly equate the true and fair view with generally accepted accounting principles, but there are differences in interpretation of the concepts in the four selected municipalities. The study also shows that the municipalities consider themselves free from debt when they have contingent liabilities for pensions, which in several cases total significant amounts. The municipalities must take responsibility for their pension commitments by reserving funds for them, and not shift the costs to the next generation.</p>

Bakgrund: År 1992 trädde en ny kommunallag i kraft vilket innebar flera förändringar av den kommunala redovisningen. År 1997 kom en kommunal redovisningslag och begreppet god redovisningssed fördes in i kommuners redovisning. Seden kantas av särregler som balanskravet och blandmodellen som är politiska beslut och inte är redovisningstekniskt motiverade. Kommunallagens krav på ekonomisk balans trädde i kraft år 2000 och är en av hörnstenarna i kommuners krav på en god ekonomisk hushållning. Balanskravet innebär att kommuner ska visa ett positivt resultat. Sedan balanskravet trädde i kraft har kommuners intresse riktats mot balanskravet i stället för mot det mer långsiktiga kravet på en god ekonomisk hushållning. För att kommuner ska nå upp till balanskravet infördes år 2000 en modell för beräkning av kommunens pensionsskulder benämnd blandmodellen. Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka hur kommuner hanterar kravet på en god ekonomisk hushållning i skenet av den dolda pensionsskulden. Beskriva balanskravet och blandmodellen gentemot kravet på att redovisningen ska visa en korrekt bild av kommunens verkliga ekonomiska ställning och resultat, den rättvisande bilden. Samt belysa redovisningens roll och användning i en kommun. Genomförande: Uppsatsen är genomförd med en kombination av en kvalitativ och en kvantitativ ansats. Studiens kvalitativa del bygger på besöksintervjuer hos fyra utvalda kommuner medan studiens kvantitativa del bygger på ett frågeformulär som skickades ut till 30 kommuner varav 18 svarade. Inom ramen för undersökningen har både primärdata och sekundärdata använts. Primärdata har inhämtas från besöksintervjuer, utskickade frågeformulär och expertiskunskap inom redovisningsområdet. Sekundärdata har bestått av litteratur, artiklar, tidskrifter, utredningar och årsredovisningar. Resultat: Studien visar att begreppet god ekonomisk hushållning har haft en positiv effekt på kommuners ekonomi och där balanskravet ses som det mest centrala. Stor osäkerhet råder dock om vilka mål och policies kommuner ska sätta upp för vad som utgör god ekonomisk hushållning. Blandmodellen är ett politiskt beslut som sätter vedertagna redovisningsprinciper ur spel och går emot några av redovisningens kvalitativa egenskaper. Undersökningens respondenter sätter gärna likhetstecken mellan rättvisande bild och god redovisningssed men det skiljer sig mellan undersökningens fyra orter hur begreppen tolkas. Studien visar också att kommuner anser sig vara skuldfria när de har en ansvarsförbindelse för pensioner som i ett flertal fall uppgår till betydande belopp. Kommuner måste ta ansvar för sina pensionsåtaganden genom att fondera medel och inte skjuta över kostnader på nästa generation. / Background: In 1992, the new Local Government Act took effect, which implied several changes for municipal accounting. A municipal accounting law came in 1997, and the concept of generally accepted accounting principles entered into municipal accounting. This practice is marked by special rules such as the “balanced budget requirement” (balanskrav) and the “mixed model” of accounting (blandmodellen), which are political decisions not motivated by accounting. The Local Government Act’s requirement for financial balance took effect in 2000 and is one of the cornerstones in the municipalities’ requirements for good financial management. The balanced budget requirement means that municipalities should show that income exceeds costs. Since the balanced budget requirement took effect, the municipalities have focused their interest on it, instead of on the more long-term requirement for good financial management. In order for municipalities to fulfil the balanced budget requirement, the mixed model, which calculates the municipality’s pension liabilities, was introduced in 2000. Purpose: The purpose of this essay is to (1) examine how municipalities manage the requirement for good financial management despite hidden pension liabilities, (2) to describe the balanced budget requirement and mixed model in relation to the requirement that accounting records should show an accurate view of the municipality’s true financial position and income/expenditures, the true and fair view, and (3) to illustrate the role and use of accounting in a municipality. Methods: This essay was carried out through a combination of a qualitative and a quantitative approach. The study’s qualitative component is based on interviews in four selected municipalities, whereas the quantitative component is based on a questionnaire that was sent to 30 municipalities, of which 18 submitted answers. Both primary and secondary data have been used within the framework of the study. The primary data were collected from interviews, mailed questionnaires, and expert knowledge in the accounting field. Secondary data consisted of literature, articles, journals, studies, and annual reports. Results: The study shows that the concept of good financial management has had a positive effect on the finances of municipalities, and the balanced budget requirement is viewed as the core. There is great uncertainty, however, as to which goals and policies the municipalities should set up to constitute good financial management. The mixed model is a political decision that eliminates generally accepted accounting principles and goes against some of the qualitative properties of accounting. The study’s respondents gladly equate the true and fair view with generally accepted accounting principles, but there are differences in interpretation of the concepts in the four selected municipalities. The study also shows that the municipalities consider themselves free from debt when they have contingent liabilities for pensions, which in several cases total significant amounts. The municipalities must take responsibility for their pension commitments by reserving funds for them, and not shift the costs to the next generation.