IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ays/cslfwp/cslf1912.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Fiscal Transparency and Accountability

Author

Listed:
  • Alex Hathaway

    (The Center for State and Local Finance, Georgia State University, USA)

  • Carolyn Bourdeaux

    (The Center for State and Local Finance, Georgia State University, USA)

  • Emily Franklin

    (The Center for State and Local Finance, Georgia State University, USA)

Abstract

Best practices in governmental budgeting and financial management often center on improving transparency to induce accountability and ensure fiscal health. This investigation draws on data collected as part of the Volcker Alliance’s Truth and Integrity in Government Finance project and analyzes transparency practices to determine how easily structural deficits can be seen. A review of the literature discusses the merits and effects of transparency, the possible pitfalls, transparency measurement indices, and best practices guidelines. The methodology describes data collection techniques to analyze explicitly disclosed structural deficits, multi-year revenue and expenditure forecasts, and other long-term liability forecasts. Our results show that only 13 states explicitly disclose and analyze structural deficits; five states have multi-year forecasts for revenues, expenditures, and major programs; five states project debt service schedules into the future, and no states project future pension, OPEB, and deferred maintenance costs.

Suggested Citation

  • Alex Hathaway & Carolyn Bourdeaux & Emily Franklin, 2019. "Fiscal Transparency and Accountability," Center for State and Local Finance Working Paper Series cslf1912, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    • Handle: RePEc:ays:cslfwp:cslf1912
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://cslf.gsu.edu/files/2019/05/cslf1912.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Elif Arbatli & Julio Escolano, 2015. "Fiscal Transparency, Fiscal Performance and Credit Ratings," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 36, pages 237-270, June.
    2. Fiorina, Morris P, 1986. "Legislator Uncertainty, Legislative Control, and the Delegation of Legislative Power," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 2(1), pages 33-51, Spring.
    3. James E. Alt & David Dreyer Lassen & Shanna Rose, 2006. "The Causes of Fiscal Transparency: Evidence from the American States," EPRU Working Paper Series 06-02, Economic Policy Research Unit (EPRU), University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics.
    4. Allen Schick & Hana Polackova Brixi, 2002. "Government at Risk : Contingent Liabilities and Fiscal Risk," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 15233, April.
    5. James E. Alt & David Dreyer Lassen & Shanna Rose, 2006. "The Causes of Fiscal Transparency: Evidence from the U.S. States," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 53(si), pages 1-2.
    6. James E. Alt & Robert C. Lowry, 2010. "Transparency and Accountability: Empirical Results for Us States," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 22(4), pages 379-406, October.
    7. Robert Novy-Marx & Joshua D. Rauh, 2009. "The Liabilities and Risks of State-Sponsored Pension Plans," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 23(4), pages 191-210, Fall.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Timothy C. Irwin, 2015. "Defining The Government'S Debt And Deficit," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 711-732, September.
    2. Lekniūtė, Zina & Beetsma, Roel & Ponds, Eduard, 2019. "U.S. municipal yields and unfunded state pension liabilities," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 15-32.
    3. Nancy W. Hudspeth & David F. Merriman & Richard F. Dye & Andrew W. Crosby, 2015. "Do Troubled Times Invite Cloudy Budget Reporting? The Determinants of General Fund Expenditure Share in U.S. States," Public Budgeting & Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(4), pages 68-89, December.
    4. Wehner, Joachim & de Renzio, Paolo, 2013. "Citizens, Legislators, and Executive Disclosure: The Political Determinants of Fiscal Transparency," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 96-108.
    5. Lorenzo Cicatiello & Elina Simone & Giuseppe Lucio Gaeta, 2017. "Political determinants of fiscal transparency: a panel data empirical investigation," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 315-336, November.
    6. Montes, Gabriel Caldas & Bastos, Júlio Cesar Albuquerque & de Oliveira, Ana Jordânia, 2019. "Fiscal transparency, government effectiveness and government spending efficiency: Some international evidence based on panel data approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 211-225.
    7. de Renzio, Paolo & Wehner, Joachim, 2017. "The impacts of fiscal openness," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 82521, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. Christian Schuster, 2020. "Patrons against clients: Electoral uncertainty and bureaucratic tenure in politicized states," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(1), pages 26-43, January.
    9. Hsien-Yi Chen & Sheng-Syan Chen, 2023. "Can credit default swaps exert an enduring monitoring influence on political integrity?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 60(2), pages 445-469, February.
    10. Beetsma, Roel & Debrun, Xavier & Sloof, Randolph, 2022. "The political economy of fiscal transparency and independent fiscal councils," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    11. Potrafke, Niklas, 2025. "The economic consequences of fiscal rules," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    12. Heidi Jane Smith & Isabel Melguizo, 2019. "Over indebted Subnational Mexico: Does political polarization affect debt policy decisions?," Working Paper Series Sobre México 2019001, Sobre México. Temas en economía.
    13. Hsien-Yi Chen & Sheng-Syan Chen, 2024. "How does credit market innovation affect the fiscal policy of state governments?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 62(2), pages 389-420, February.
    14. Francisco Bastida & Bernardino Benito & Maria-Dolores Guillamon, 2019. "Tax mimicking in Spanish municipalities: expenditure spillovers, yardstick competition, or tax competition?," Public Sector Economics, Institute of Public Finance, vol. 43(2), pages 115-139.
    15. Sebastian Blesse & Philipp Lergetporer & Justus Nover & Katharina Werner, 2023. "Transparency and Policy Competition: Experimental Evidence from German Citizens and Politicians," Munich Papers in Political Economy 27, Munich School of Politics and Public Policy and the School of Management at the Technical University of Munich.
    16. Laurence Van Lent, 2012. "Discussion of The Influence of Elections on the Accounting Choices of Governmental Entities," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(2), pages 477-494, May.
    17. Sumanjeet, 2015. "Institutions, Transparency, and Economic Growth," Emerging Economy Studies, International Management Institute, vol. 1(2), pages 188-210, November.
    18. Yves M. Tehou TEKENG & Mesbah Fathy SHARAF, 2015. "Fiscal Transparency, Measurement and Determinants: Evidence from 27 Developing Countries," Journal of Economics and Political Economy, KSP Journals, vol. 2(1), pages 69-91, March.
    19. repec:osf:osfxxx:rtmbf_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Blagica Petreski & Despina Tumanoska & Tereza KÐ¾Ñ ovska, 2020. "Town Hall Meetings: A tool for citizens’ engagement in the process of participatory budgeting," Finance Think Policy Studies 2020-06/28, Finance Think - Economic Research and Policy Institute.
    21. Cruz Romero, Roberto, 2024. "Public Participation and Transparency: Does Open Governance Promote Inclusion and Accountability?," OSF Preprints rtmbf, Center for Open Science.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ays:cslfwp:cslf1912. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Paul Benson (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/csgsuus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.