Financial management information systems and open budget data do governments report on where the money goes? (A world bank study)

• Main Authors: Dener, Cem, Young (Sandy) Min, Saw
• Format: eBook Book
• Language: English
• Published: Chicago THE WORLD BANK 2013; World Bank; World Bank Publications; The World Bank; Washington, DC: World Bank
• Edition: 1
• Series: World Bank Studies
• Subjects: Audits; BUSINESS & ECONOMICS; business processes; Coal; collaboration; Comparative Advantage; computer systems; computerized information systems; Conceptual Framework; Copyright; Data processing; Debt; deficit financing; Economic conditions; economic growth; Economic Policies; expenditures; Finance, Public; Financial management; Fisheries; Girls; GNP; Governance; Human Resource Management; income; income taxes; inflation; inflation rates; Informatics; Information; Information and Communication Technologies; Information systems; Information Technology; interest rates; ISP; Jordan; Labor Markets; lending operations; Management information systems; managers; Migration; PEM/Public Expenditure Management- Open Budget Data- Citizens Budget- FMIS/Financial Management Information Systems- ICT/information and Communication Technology- Open Government Data- Budget Transparency- Trust in Government- PFM/Public Financial Management; Private Sector; Programs; Public finance; public sector; Public Sector Development; regulatory framework; Retirement; Securities; Systems; tax revenue; Technological change; Technology; Technology Architectures; Telecommunications; text; Transparency in government; GOVERNMENT DATA; OPEN BUDGET DATA; FMIS; TRANSPARENCY; FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS; PUBLIC FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT; ICT; PUBLIC EXPENDITURE MANAGEMENT; CITIZENS BUDGET
• ISBN: 9781464800849; 9781464800832; 1464800839; 1464800847
• DOI: 10.1596/978-1-4648-0083-2

In recent years, the topics of budget transparency and open data have been increasingly discussed. Most discussants agree that for true transparency, it is important not only that governments publish budget data on websites, but that the data they disclose are meaningful and provide a full picture of their financial activities to the public. Most governments have made substantial investments in capacity building and technology for the development of Financial Management Information Systems (FMIS). This study is the first attempt to explore the effects of FMIS on publishing open budget data, identify potential improvements in budget transparency, and provide some guidance on the effective use of FMIS platforms to publish open budget data. Overall, there are only 48 countries (24 percent) where civil society and citizens have the opportunity to benefit from Public Finance (PF) information published on the web to monitor the budget and hold their governments accountable. In many countries, external audit organizations do not appear to be using the FMIS platforms effectively for monitoring the government's financial activities or auditing the budget results. Governments in high-and middle-income economies publish budget data dynamically in various formats, mainly from centralized systems, while many lower-income economies tend to publish static budget data, mostly through documents posted on PF websites. The study shows that only a small group of countries provide good access to reliable open budget data from underlying FMIS solutions. Many governments publish substantial information on their PF websites, but the contents are (not always) meaningful to provide adequate answers to the question, 'Where does the money go?' Therefore, the main conclusion of this study is that when it comes to government PF websites, what you see is (not always) what you get. Many governments need to make additional efforts that will build confidence in the budget data they disclose. As citizens and civil society increasingly demand access to open data about all financial activities, governments around the world are trying to respond to this democratic pressure. The outputs of this study are expected to provide a comprehensive view of the status of government practices for publishing budget data around the world, and to promote debates around the improvement of PF web publishing platforms to support transparency, accountability, and participation by disclosing reliable information about all financial activities.