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Financial Control in Australian Government Budgeting
Author(s) -
Robinson Marc
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
public budgeting and finance
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.694
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1540-5850
pISSN - 0275-1100
DOI - 10.1111/1540-5850.00067
Subject(s) - accrual , legislature , transparency (behavior) , control (management) , accountability , accounting , government (linguistics) , economics , business , public sector , democracy , finance , political science , politics , linguistics , philosophy , economy , earnings , management , law
With the arrival of accrual accounting and “accrual output budgeting,” there have been huge changes in the mechanism of central financial control in the budget‐dependent Australian public sector. This article outlines and evaluates these changes. The new parliamentary appropriations arrangements are discussed, as is the increased role played by nonappropriated departmental “own‐source” funding. The shift of emphasis from legislative to administrative financial controls is noted and analyzed. Consideration is given to the implications of this shift of emphasis, and of the increased complexity of the financial control framework, for fiscal transparency and democratic accountability.