Budget Rules and Flexibility in the Public Sector: Towards a Taxonomy

The practices and norms of public budgeting have often been seen as a brake on the flexibility needed of government organisations. This remains true despite historically significant financial management reforms designed around budgetary devolution. Seeing flexibility as operating along two dimensions – devolution and discretion – this paper revisits the underlying features of traditional public budgeting to develop a taxonomy of six generic ‘budget rules’. By isolating key properties of budget control, the paper uses two of the more prominent rules – annuality and purpose – to illustrate how the rules interact to generate control capacity, as well as the scope for rule variability in promoting increased flexibility.     

Financing Devolution in Practice: The Barnett Formula and the Scottish Budget, 1999–2003

This article examines the impact of the Barnett formula on the Scottish public finances since devolution. Forecasts of a spending squeeze and budgetary constraint have not materialized and Scotland's share of the UK budget has remained stable. The real budgetary problem for the Scottish Parliament has been managing spending growth not squeeze. While there are calls to replace Barnett, its benefits in terms of providing budgetary stability and the flexibility to deal with specific funding problems are significant and Barnett is well suited to the incremental approach through which the British public finances are managed.     

大型国有企业软预算约束的行为经济学分析

应从行为经济学视野中的沉淀成本效应角度解释政府对大型国有企业软预算约束的行为,从而与新古典经济理性解释形成互补关系。这样,在软预算约束与公有产权结构、前后期投资不一致以及政策性负担等有关经济解释的基础上,从决策者心理效用角度考察过去发生的沉淀成本对软预算约束的影响,从而认为解决软预算约束根本在于补偿沉淀成本,克服决策者的沉淀成本效应。     

The relationship between lack of controllability and proactive work behaviour: an empirical analysis of competing theoretical explanations

The controllability principle suggests evaluating managers solely based on performance measures they can control. In practice, however, companies often disregard this principle. Therefore, our study addresses organisational benefits linked to the lack of controllability in measures used for managers’ performance evaluations. We draw on important case-based findings to establish a positive ‘base relationship’ between lack of controllability and proactive work behaviour. We test this base relationship with a large-scale sample and find that companies encourage higher levels of proactive work behaviour when they rely on less controllable performance measures. Drawing on recent developments in role theory, we advance previous research and extend the base model by including the theoretical construct of flexible role orientation. We examine different mechanisms through which flexible role orientation potentially impacts the base model. Using survey responses from 432 managers, we find evidence for a mediation model as opposed to an interaction model. Specifically, we find that lack of controllability enhances role conflict, which in turn induces more flexible role orientations ultimately resulting in higher levels of proactive work behaviour.     

Institutional and Strategic Barriers to Public—Private Partnership: An Analysis of Dutch Cases

This article examines the impact of the Barnett formula on the Scottish public finances since devolution. Forecasts of a spending squeeze and budgetary constraint have not materialized and Scotland's share of the UK budget has remained stable. The real budgetary problem for the Scottish Parliament has been managing spending growth not squeeze. While there are calls to replace Barnett, its benefits in terms of providing budgetary stability and the flexibility to deal with specific funding problems are significant and Barnett is well suited to the incremental approach through which the British public finances are managed.     

我国企业预算管理的引进与发展——纪念我国改革开放30周年

本文旨在总结改革开放30年来我国企业预算管理引进与发展的历程和成果,其内容包括:(1)在将企业形式的演变分成工厂制为主导和公司制为主导两个基本阶段的基础上考察了中西方企业预算发展的历程,从中发现经济体制、企业组织形式和市场类型等是驱动企业预算管理的主要因素;(2)确认我国企业预算管理引进与发展的成果,主要是在理论上构建起由三个变量和三个要素组成的企业预算管理框架,用于解释和预见企业预算管理现象;在实务上一是以邯钢经验为代表的责任成本预算制度——它既是工厂制企业又是集团公司基层单位提高效率的工具,二是以中国石油为代表的全面预算管理系统——它是集团公司实现"多元同心"和资源整合的工具。     

Application of the controllability principle and managerial performance: The role of role perceptions

The controllability principle stipulates that the evaluation of a manager should be based only on elements that are under the manager's control. Arguments for and against its application are theoretically well understood, but empirical evidence based on the evaluation of the perceptions of managers and their implications for managerial performance is scarce. By empirically analyzing the effects on managerial performance, this paper explores managers’ responses to the application of the controllability principle. We draw on role theory and analyze how role ambiguity and role conflict mediate this basic relationship. Moreover, we test whether application of the controllability principle equally affects role perceptions of top-level managers and those of lower and middle-level managers. Empirical analysis of survey responses from 440 managers reveals that role perceptions completely mediate the effect of application of the controllability principle on managerial performance. This effect is insignificant in the group of top-level managers, who appear to cope with uncontrollable factors more effectively.     

Welfare reform and devolution: issues of parity,discretion and divergence for the UK government and the devolved administrations

The impact of devolution in the UK on social security is examined in the context of the major powers in the area continuing to be exercised by the Westminster government. Developments and principles involved are described in three perspectives and phases. First, the established model of parity with minor adjustments. Second, parity with enhanced discretion associated with the introduction of welfare reforms. Third, the prospect of the future transformation of the parity principle with increased focus on greater fiscal responsibility and greater devolution and divergence in social security, and with the additional context of the referendum on independence for Scotland. Also discussed are the implications of either a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ vote in the Scottish referendum.     

A trade-off between non-fundamental risk and incentives

This study conjectures that CEOs are rewarded more heavily for fundamental than for non-fundamental performance, and that the impact of non-fundamental risks is more negative than that of fundamental risks on pay-performance sensitivity. While the first conjecture stems from the controllability principle, the second conjecture is attributable to the interplay between the risk-incentive trade-off and delegation of responsibility to the agent. This study devised measures for fundamental and non-fundamental performance using an ARIMA-based unobserved-component approach. The two conjectures are strongly supported by this study’s findings over a wide range of empirical specifications, indicating that the optimal level of pay-performance sensitivity depends not only on the degree, but also on the nature, of performance uncertainty.     

Budgeting—the Role of Trust and Participation: A Research Note

Prior studies have found a combination of an evaluative style with high budget emphasis and high participation to be associated with better behavioural outcomes (e.g., lower job-related tension) than all other combinations of budget emphasis and participation. Yet there has been little research to investigate the theory on why this particular combination of budget emphasis and participation is associated with better behavioural outcomes. A path analytical model, which investigates the intervening effects of trust and participation on the relationship between budget emphasis and job-related tension, was used. Senior Norwegian managers were selected as subjects for this study. The results indicate that budget emphasis has an insignificant direct effect on job-related tension but a strong indirect effect through trust and participation. Trust also has an intervening effect on the relationship between budgetary participation and job-related tension. It is therefore possible to conclude that high budget emphasis is associated with high budgetary participation and high trust. High trust, in turn, is associated with reduced subordinates' job-related tension.     

The moderating effects of hierarchy and control systems on the relationship between budgetary participation and performance

This study investigates the moderating effects that an organizational unit's hierarchical level and control systems have on the relationship between budgetary participation and performance. Using moderated regression analyses, we find a three-way interactive effect on performance between hierarchical levels, types of control systems, and budgetary participation. Further analyses reveal that at the high level of a hierarchy, budgetary participation has a positive relationship with performance and this relationship is stronger for organizational units that use output control than for those that use behavior control. By contrast, at the low level of a hierarchy, budgetary participation has a negative relationship with performance and this relationship is stronger for organizational units that use output control than for those that use behavior control.     

The Effects of Participation and Job-Relevant Information on the Relationship Between Evaluative Style and Job Satisfaction

This study investigates the intervening effects of budgetary participation and job-relevant information on the relationship between budget emphasis and job satisfaction. It proposes that budgetary participation and job-relevant information are endogenous to budget emphasis. Using the path analytical technique and based on a sample of 152 senior managers, the study found that budget emphasis has an insignificant direct effect on job satisfaction, but a strong indirect effect through job-relevant information and budgetary participation. The results also indicate that job-relevant information has an intervening effect on the relationship between participation and job satisfaction.     

THE EFFECTS OF MANAGERIAL ROLES ON THE RELATION BETWEEN BUDGETARY PARTICIPATION AND JOB SATISFACTION

This study examines the extent to which managerial roles moderate the relation between budgetary participation and job satisfaction. Managerial roles, defined in terms of line versus staff, may serve as a situational variable that assists in explaining the equivocal results found in studies for the association between budgetary participation and job satisfaction. The findings of this study suggest that the link between budgetary participation and job satisfaction is dependent on the role a manager undertakes in an organization. The relation between budgetary participation and job satisfaction was found to be significantly more effective for line managers than for staff managers.     

Decentralisation as a Moderating Factor in the Budgetary Participation-Performance Relationship: Some Hong Kong Evidence

This study tests the contingency or ‘fit’ hypothesis that the effects of budgetary participation on managerial performance will be positive in decentralised organisations and negative in centralised organisations. The responses of 37 managers from a cross-section of Hong Kong manufacturing companies to a questionnaire survey designed to measure the variables were analysed by examining the interaction term in a multiple regression equation. The results supported the interaction hypothesis and found that at high levels of decentralisation there is a positive relationship between budgetary participation and managerial performance but at low levels of decentralisation this relationship is negative. These findings have implications for the design of effective control subsystems.     

DEVOLVED BUDGETARY MANAGEMENT IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT: LESSONS FROM A SHIRE COUNTY

The changing environment of public sector organisations has, in recent years, focused attention on the management processes employed to achieve effective service delivery as economically and efficiently as possible. One approach has been the importation into the public sector ofa number ofprivate sector management strategies and practices, most notably those based on devolved bud- getary management principles. This paper analyses the approach of a large local authority to the implementation of devolved budgetary management, based, in large part, on interviews with line managers to whom budgets were devolved. It examines the process of devolution within the authority and the reactions of line managers to that process. It concludes that while the implementation of truly devolved budgetary management is an important, and perhaps essential, managerial technique in the 'new' local government environment, it should not be implemented in ways which ignore the differ- ences between public and private sector organisations and between different local authority departments.     

Accounting for the Cost of Central Support Services in UK Universities: A Note

A significant part of the total cost of a university is spent on central support services. Traditionally, this has been funded by top-slicing the various sources of income and, although universities do attempt to ascertain the 'full cost' of research and consultancy services for pricing purposes, this practice does not always extend to attempts to determine the 'full cost' of academic departments. This survey examines the extent to which universities rely on top-slicing to recover the cost of central support services or use alternative approaches such as cost allocation, or service level agreements, or internal market prices or even devolution, as far as possible, to faculties. Each of these alternative approaches has been a feature of attempts to achieve better control of, and value for money from, central support services in other parts of the public sector, and yet these have not been widely implemented in universities.     

我国预算会计改革可行性的问卷调查研究

为评估我国预算会计改革的可行性并拓展相关研究领域,我们对我国预算会计信息的编报者和使用者进行了问卷调查。结果表明,我国现行收付实现制基础预算会计信息质量存在种种问题,这已成为预算会计改革的主要动机之一;权责发生制基础预算会计信息质量明显优于现行预算会计信息,因而在预算会计改革中引入权责发生制应是有益的选择;改革必然会面临诸多困难,势必产生改革成本。编报者和使用者对待改革的态度说明改革是可行的,因为改革的收益大于成本。改革的成本与收益会受到很多因素影响,所以相关决策者应注意改革方向、方式以及时机的选择。在上述研究结论的基础上,我们对我国预算会计改革的实施提出了初步的政策建议。     

Reliance on budgetary control, manufacturing process automation and production subunit performance: A research note

The degree to which reliance can be placed on budgetary control in the assessment of production subunit performance, particularly with the advent of manufacturing process automation involving, for example, robots and CAD/CAM, is problematic. While budget-based control systems are extensively employed in organizations, such usage does not provide clear evidence of their utility as performance enhancement vehicles as advances are made in the automation of manufacturing processes. The purpose of this paper is to report the results of a study which examines the effect of automation on the link between reliance on budgetary control and production subunit performance. The findings suggest that manufacturing process automation moderates the relation between reliance on budgetary control and departmental performance. As such, firms may benefit from a reliance on budgetary control in the evaluation of production subunit performance as manufacturing processes become more automated.     

Policies and strategies for sustainable development in Bangladesh

The concept of sustainable development, its relevance for Bangladesh, and policies and strategies for promoting it in Bangladesh are discussed. Economic growth, population growth, mobilization of resources, the role of women, devolution and decentralization, equity and protection of the environmental base are treated as key issues, with emphasis given to the effective implementation of strategies for promoting sustainable development.     

财政分权对农村居民消费影响的实证研究——基于地方政府竞争视角

近年来,财政分权与经济增长关系成为经济学界研究的热点问题之一,而研究财政分权对居民消费影响的文章并不多见.基于1995～2008年中国省级面板数据,采用GMM分析方法,对财政分权对中国农村居民消费影响进行检验,结果表明:从直接影响来看,财政分权促进了我国农村居民消费水平的提高;而间接影响方面,财政分权通过拉大居民收入差距使农村居民消费下降;通过提高通货膨胀预期间接地降低了农村居民消费;通过扭曲财政支出结构使农村居民消费下降.