Thesis (MDF)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / This study on the effective implementation of financial decentralisation in Namibia has explored how effective the development budget is utilised to address development challenges in Oshana Region. Namibia is faced with different development challenges of unemployment and unequal distribution of income, amongst other issues, and the government has introduced some initiatives to address these challenges. The implementation of the Enabling Decentralisation Policy (Decentralisation Act of 2000), which aims to transfer power, functions and resources to the regional government, can be regarded as a guideline to the effective utilisation of the development budget in Namibia. A qualitative methodology was used to explore the effectiveness of the development budget, since the findings of the research depended on the response of the participants. Financial decentralisation is a new concept in many countries, including Namibia. Purposive sampling was employed and the employees working with the development budget, especially those from the National Planning Commission at the Development Budget Sub-Division, Ministry of Regional, Local Government and Rural Development and the Oshana Regional Council – the custodians of the development budget - were the main sources to provide the required data. The results of the study indicate that there is a lack of proper monitoring mechanisms for the utilisation of development funds at both regional and central government level. Stakeholders from central and regional government do not have data and information of the total amount allocated and executed in Oshana region. The development budget in Namibia, despite the Decentralisation Policy, is highly centralised and institutions are working in isolation, which makes it challenging for the Regional Council of Oshana to effectively monitor utilisation of resources. Lack of capacity and highly complex institutional arrangements are perceived as the main possible challenges impeding the effective implementation of financial decentralisation and utilisation of the development budget in Oshana Region. It is recommended that Government address the challenges identified in this study.

This thesis argues that the financial sector played a positive, but limited role in British economic growth from 1850 to 1913. It examines empirically the role played by different types of financial institutions: commercial banks, stock markets and merchant banks. To this end, the thesis uses recently developed time series and dynamic panel methods for the econometric analysis, alongside new data on different parts of the financial system. The results suggest that at a national level, the growth of commercial banks had a limited impact on British economic development over the long run, and stock markets had no impact. However, changes in bank lending influenced economic growth to a significant extent in the short term. Growing conservatism in bank lending practices did not significantly increase credit constraints, as had been previously suspected. Findings from new geographically disaggregated data indicate that the spread of bank offices improved the economic performance of English and Welsh counties. Increased concentration of the banking industry did not hinder economic growth, a result that challenges widespread suggestions in the relevant literature. Moreover, the development of provincial stock exchanges – exchanges outside London - did not influence county-level economic growth, contrary to the view that they were important for the expansion of local industry. Finally, this thesis is the first to assess econometrically the role of merchant banks. It demonstrates that their trade financing activities were beneficial not only for the growth of British international trade, but also for that of the domestic economy.

Embora alguns estudos tenham encontrado evidências acerca da eficácia da Lei de Responsabilidade Fiscal (LRF) em reduzir as despesas estaduais e municipais, procurou-se neste trabalho, analisar os efeitos da lei sobre níveis mais desagregados de despesa. Partiu-se da hipótese de que, possivelmente, os componentes menos rígidos de despesa teriam sido mais afetados pela LRF. Dessa forma, as despesas foram classificadas em categorias e funções, abrangendo os municípios brasileiros no período entre 1998 e 2004. A segmentação por categorias seguiu uma estrutura contábil, enquanto a classificação por funções se referiu à quatro principais áreas de destinação das despesas: social, overhead, infra-estrutura e outras. Os dados obtidos foram provenientes da FINBRA, uma base de dados elaborada pela Secretaria do Tesouro Nacional. Utilizou-se também a base de dados do Tribunal Superior Eleitoral para a construção de algumas variáveis políticas. Os resultados das análises descritivas mostraram que os gastos mais rígidos cresceram mais do que a receita para o total de municípios, indicando um maior comprometimento do orçamento. Adicionalmente, foram encontradas evidências de que a LRF obteve sucesso em fazer os municípios cumprirem os limites relacionados a ela. Inclusive, estimou-se um modelo de variável categórica (Logit de efeitos fixos) com o intuito de analisar o impacto da LRF sobre a probabilidade de cumprimento do limite de gasto com pessoal (60% da Receita Corrente Líquida). Os resultados indicaram que a LRF afetou positivamente a probabilidade de respeitarem o limite. No entanto, os municípios que se encontravam dentro dos limites podem não ter sido afetados pela lei, pois permitiram que a despesa com pessoal crescesse mais do que a receita. Os resultados das estimações pelo método de Anderson-Hsiao para painéis dinâmicos mostraram que a LRF não surtiu efeito sobre gastos com pessoal e outras despesas correntes (mais rígidos). O investimento (menos rígido) foi a categoria mais prejudicada, pois sofreu forte redução devido à lei. Assim, a LRF reduziu a despesa total, mas em virtude da forte queda do investimento. Os resultado obtidos para as funções de despesa mostraram que o gasto com social sofreu uma pequena redução, enquanto a despesa com overhead um aumento. O gasto com infra-estrutura (menos rígido) foi o mais atingido, apresentando uma forte queda em virtude da lei, a qual acabou influenciando no resultado da despesa orçamentária. Portanto, as evidências encontradas neste trabalho confirmam a hipótese de que o ajuste promovido pela LRF se deu realmente sobre os componentes menos rígidos de despesa. / Although some studies have found evidences about the efficacy of the Fiscal Responsibility Law (FRL) in reducing state and municipal expenditures, it was intended to analyze the effects of the law on more disaggregated levels of expenditures in this work. The initial hypothesis was that more flexible expenditures components would have been more affected by the FRL. Thus, the expenditures were classified in categories and functions, considering the brazilian Municipal Districts in the period between 1998 and 2004. The repartition by categories followed an accounting structure, while the classification by functions referred to four main areas of expenditures destination: social, overhead, infrastructure and others. The data were obtained from FINBRA, a database elaborated by the National Treasury Office. The Electoral Supreme Court database was also utilized in the construction of political variables. The results of the descriptive analysis showed that less flexible expenditures increased more than the revenues, indicating a higher commitment of the budget. Further, it was found evidences that the FRL succeed in making the municipal districts accomplish the limits related to it. It was also estimated a model of categorical variable (Fixed effects Logit) that analyzes the impact of the FRL on the probability of accomplishing the personnel expenditure limit (60% of the Net Current Revenue). The results showed that the FRL had a positive effect on the probability of respecting the limit. Nevertheless, the municipal districts that were already respecting the limit may not have been affected by the law, since they let the personnel expenditure increase more than the revenue. The results of the estimations by Anderson-Hsiao?s dynamic panel data method indicated that the FRL didn?t have effect on personnel and other current expenditures (less flexible). The investment (more flexible) was the most damaged category, since it suffered a major reduction by the law. Thus, the FRL had a negative impact on total expenditure by making the investment decrease considerably. The results obtained for the expenditure functions showed that the social expenditure had a slight decrease, while the overhead?s had an increase. The infrastructure expenditure (more flexible) was the most affected, showing a major decrease caused by the law, which influenced the result of the total expenditure. Therefore, the evidence founded in this work confirms the hypothesis that the adjustment accomplished by the FRL indeed reached the more flexible expenditure components.

Thesis (MBA.)-- University of Limpopo, 2007 / The Department of Health and Social Development in Limpopo endeavors to efficiently and effectively manage revenue collection. The study analyzed the revenue collection for the Capricorn district hospitals from 2001 to 2006 by identifying problems and possible solutions related to revenue collection. A quantitative analysis of data has been obtained from in- depth structured interviews and revenue records. An analytic retrospective study design was used. All revenue records from 2001/2002 to 2006/2007, financial managers, revenue clerks, and clients /patients who came to request credit from each hospital constituted the population of the study. The findings were that in 2001/2002 none of the hospitals were able to attain the revenue targets. In 2005/2006 revenue targets were increased by almost double the amount however all hospitals were able to attain the revenue targets as prescribed. It implies that the hospitals were able to collect more revenue than in the previous financial year. It has been noted that the appointment of CEOs has brought a tremendous change in revenue collection. It has been identified that revenue is the life blood for a country or institution. The institutions need commitment of all stakeholders to collect revenue.

Ces dernières années, en France, les finances publiques locales ont fait l’objet de deux réformes d’ampleur, particulièrement médiatisées tant l’histoire dans ce domaine est jalonnée d’échecs et de réformes à la marge. La suppression de la taxe professionnelle, remplacée par une contribution économique territoriale, ainsi que la baisse sans précédent de la dotation globale de fonctionnement, ont pour effet de limiter les recettes des collectivités et pèsent indirectement sur leurs dépenses. Autrement dit, ces réformes témoigneraient de la capacité de l’Etat à imposer aux gouvernements locaux davantage de contrainte budgétaire, conformément à la discipline qu’il applique aux administrations centrales ainsi qu’aux organismes de Sécurité sociale. Des transformations identiques, voire plus marquées, s’opèrent dans d’autres pays européens. Partant de ce constat, cette thèse cherche à montrer dans quelle mesure et comment l’Etat parvient à changer les règles en matière de finances locales de telle sorte qu’elles soient davantage compatibles avec un objectif de long terme de maîtrise des dépenses, de la dette et des déficits publics. / This last years in France, two important reforms of local public finance were adopted, the reform of the business tax and the decrease of grants. It was widely advertised in the local and national press. Actually, the history of local public finance is caracterized by the failure of reforms. It could be analized as an illustration of the state capacity to impose budget consolidation and fiscal constrain to subnational governments. Identical change takes place in other european countries. This thesis shows in what extent and how the state succeed in changing the rules of local public finance to be more compatible with a long term goal of fiscal consolidation.

Fiscal stress is an important and recurring problem that states face. Research to date on state fiscal stress involves, predominantly, cross-sectional and case study analyses and does not address the effectiveness of state responses. Many of these studies use different definitions and measures of fiscal stress compounding the difficulty of comparing fiscal stress findings. The present research effort adds to the fiscal stress literature by (1) clarifying the meaning of fiscal stress in the state context, (2) developing a measure of fiscal stress that operationalizes this meaning and is comparable across units, and 3) using this measure analyzes patterns in and the effectiveness of state responses. Fiscal stress is measured using four indexes: budget, cash, long-run, service-level. Eleven financial indicators, calculated using data from state Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (CAFRs), are used to create these indexes for all fifty states for the years 2002-2009. Descriptive analysis compares state fiscal stress levels (grouped into low, moderate, and high fiscal stress by cluster analysis) to state economic growth rates, state responses, and institutional factors yielding several findings. First, states do not use an incremental or punctuated equilibrium strategy in responding to fiscal stress; nor do their responses follow the pattern predicted by Cutback Management theory. Second, institutional factors affect both the levels of fiscal stress and state responses to fiscal stress. Regression analysis supports and extends these findings. First, short-term responses of expenditure cuts, tax increases, and rainy day fund use do not affect state fiscal stress levels. Second, these responses have long-term effects on fiscal stress levels. A major implication of this research is that there is very little states can do in the short-term to reduce fiscal stress. However, by balancing expenditures and revenues states can set themselves up to weather the next economic downturn with lower levels of fiscal stress.

Fiscal stress is an important and recurring problem that states face. Research to date on state fiscal stress involves, predominantly, cross-sectional and case study analyses and does not address the effectiveness of state responses. Many of these studies use different definitions and measures of fiscal stress compounding the difficulty of comparing fiscal stress findings. The present research effort adds to the fiscal stress literature by (1) clarifying the meaning of fiscal stress in the state context, (2) developing a measure of fiscal stress that operationalizes this meaning and is comparable across units, and 3) using this measure analyzes patterns in and the effectiveness of state responses. Fiscal stress is measured using four indexes: budget, cash, long-run, service-level. Eleven financial indicators, calculated using data from state Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (CAFRs), are used to create these indexes for all fifty states for the years 2002-2009. Descriptive analysis compares state fiscal stress levels (grouped into low, moderate, and high fiscal stress by cluster analysis) to state economic growth rates, state responses, and institutional factors yielding several findings. First, states do not use an incremental or punctuated equilibrium strategy in responding to fiscal stress; nor do their responses follow the pattern predicted by Cutback Management theory. Second, institutional factors affect both the levels of fiscal stress and state responses to fiscal stress. Regression analysis supports and extends these findings. First, short-term responses of expenditure cuts, tax increases, and rainy day fund use do not affect state fiscal stress levels. Second, these responses have long-term effects on fiscal stress levels. A major implication of this research is that there is very little states can do in the short-term to reduce fiscal stress. However, by balancing expenditures and revenues states can set themselves up to weather the next economic downturn with lower levels of fiscal stress.

No description available.

Fiscal stress is an important and recurring problem that states face. Research to date on state fiscal stress involves, predominantly, cross-sectional and case study analyses and does not address the effectiveness of state responses. Many of these studies use different definitions and measures of fiscal stress compounding the difficulty of comparing fiscal stress findings. The present research effort adds to the fiscal stress literature by (1) clarifying the meaning of fiscal stress in the state context, (2) developing a measure of fiscal stress that operationalizes this meaning and is comparable across units, and 3) using this measure analyzes patterns in and the effectiveness of state responses. Fiscal stress is measured using four indexes: budget, cash, long-run, service-level. Eleven financial indicators, calculated using data from state Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (CAFRs), are used to create these indexes for all fifty states for the years 2002-2009. Descriptive analysis compares state fiscal stress levels (grouped into low, moderate, and high fiscal stress by cluster analysis) to state economic growth rates, state responses, and institutional factors yielding several findings. First, states do not use an incremental or punctuated equilibrium strategy in responding to fiscal stress; nor do their responses follow the pattern predicted by Cutback Management theory. Second, institutional factors affect both the levels of fiscal stress and state responses to fiscal stress. Regression analysis supports and extends these findings. First, short-term responses of expenditure cuts, tax increases, and rainy day fund use do not affect state fiscal stress levels. Second, these responses have long-term effects on fiscal stress levels. A major implication of this research is that there is very little states can do in the short-term to reduce fiscal stress. However, by balancing expenditures and revenues states can set themselves up to weather the next economic downturn with lower levels of fiscal stress.

Thesis (DTech (Public Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2017. / From a municipal perspective non-payment means that consumers, rate-payers and citizens are not fulfilling their obligations towards a particular municipality, contributing to a situation of insufficient available cash for day-to-day service delivery. The current debt situation in municipalities can be linked to the creation of a culture of non-payment due to the political situation in South Africa pre- and post-1994. Sections 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3 present the contributions and reasons for the current debt situation per the three spheres of government. South African municipal debt increased by 88 percent (R44 billion) over the last five financial years, from R50 billion in 2009/2010 to R94 billion in 2013/2014. The trend of 15- 20 percent per year increase in debt precludes the effective, efficient and economic provision of essential and emergency services to communities. All municipalities need to ensure that an effective collection relationship exists and that municipalities implement policies, by-laws, processes, procedures and systems in this regard. However, many municipalities fail in their quest for effective collection, or lack the capacity to utilise enabling legislation to implement an efficient and effective debt collection framework. This research study was conducted in response to this scenario, to identify and document existing problems through the development of guidelines and a framework for effective cash and debt collection. The guidelines will assist municipalities in collecting their outstanding debts.