Open AccessReconsidering public budgeting after the COVID-19 outbreak: key lessons and future challenges
Author(s) -
Eugenio Anessi Pessina,
Carmela Barbera,
Cecilia Langella,
Francesca Manes Rossi,
Alessandro Sancino,
Mariafrancesca Sicilia,
Ileana Steccolini
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of public budgeting, accounting and financial management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.231
H-Index - 11
eISSN - 1945-1814
pISSN - 1096-3367
DOI - 10.1108/jpbafm-07-2020-0115
Subject(s) - public relations , coproduction , context (archaeology) , resilience (materials science) , business , covid-19 , corporate governance , coping (psychology) , relevance (law) , political science , finance , psychology , medicine , paleontology , physics , disease , pathology , psychiatry , infectious disease (medical specialty) , law , biology , thermodynamics
Purpose The paper aims to offer a viewpoint on how governmental budgeting needs to be reconsidered after the COVID-19 outbreak. Design/methodology/approach Building on extant research, and drawing on the Italian context, the paper provides reflections on four interrelated aspects: (1) how budgeting and reporting processes and formats are being modified; (2) how budgeting may enhance governments' financial resilience; (3) how citizens are involved in the budgeting cycles and (4) how emergency responses may produce opportunities for corruption. Findings To tackle COVID-19 related challenges, budgeting, rebudgeting, reporting processes and formats need to be reconsidered and supported by the development of new competencies. Governments will need to put stronger emphasis on the anticipatory and coping roles of budgeting to reduce public organizations' exposure to shocks and support governmental resilience. The involvement of citizens has proven critical to face the pandemic and will become increasingly relevant due to the financial impacts of COVID-19 on future public service provision. Greater attention to the risks of increased corruption is also needed. Originality/value Drawing lessons from one of the countries most hit by COVID-19, the paper offers a viewpoint on a timely topic of international relevance by looking in an integrated way at interrelated topics such as budgeting, rebudgeting, reporting, financial resilience, coproduction and corruption.