Open Budget Index 2006 - Philippine Center for Investigative ...

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that explains the budget in terms a non-expert can readily grasp. The study found that a surprisingly small number of countries provide such a document — only ten of the 59 countries studied. The Open Budget Questionnaire The Open Budget Index is calculated using the average of the responses to 91 of the questions on the Open Budget Questionnaire. These 91 questions cover the public availability of budget information in seven key budget documents. The questionnaire contains a further 31 questions intended to evaluate a range of practices governments might adopt to strengthen public accountability in their budgeting and financial management. The research effort is intended to offer an independent, non-governmental view of the state of budget transparency in the countries studied. All of the researchers who completed the Open Budget Questionnaire are from academic or other non-governmental organizations. The questions evaluate publicly available information issued by the central government, and do not cover the availability of information at the subnational level. All of the questions were constructed with the intention that they should capture easily observable phenomena. The majority of questions require answer based on a country’s actual budget transparency practices; a small number of questions focus on legal provisions. The questions focusing on the contents and timeliness of the seven key budget documents use criteria based on generally accepted good practices related to public financial management. Many of these reflect or are drawn from criteria developed by multilateral organizations, such as the International Monetary Fund’s Code of Good Practices on Fiscal Transparency and the Lima Declaration of Guidelines on Auditing Precepts issued by the United Nations International Organization of Supreme Auditing Institutions (INTOSAI). The strength of guidelines such as the IMF Fiscal Transparency Code and the Lima Declaration lies in their universal applicability, making them appropriate to countries with differing types of budget systems and differing income levels. They do not, however, go far enough to ensure that budgeting is responsive and accountable to citizens. For this reason the Open Budget Questionnaire covers additional topics of importance to civil society. For example, the questionnaire examines whether or not the legislature holds public hearings as well as the performance and design of the government’s auditing body. Also of growing interest to civil society organizations around the world are “right to information” laws. Increased attention to improved delivery of services is spurring an interest in providing citizens with access to highly detailed information, such as on expenditures in their local school district or health clinic. This detailed information, however, is generally not included in a country’s budget documents. The adoption of right to information laws is therefore an essential first step in many countries to strengthening the ability of citizens to obtain such information in practice. The IBP plans to publish the index every two years to cover an expanding number of countries and to capture changes in government transparency performance over time. v
I. INTRODUCTION Civil society interest in promoting budget transparency through a comparative research initiative grew out of a number of important global trends. Among these trends was the wave of democratic openings in many countries during the 1990s, which focused attention on issues such as combating corruption, ensuring accountability for the delivery of public services, decentralizing government, and community-led development. In addition, a series of financial crises during the 1990s drew the attention of international financial institutions to the importance of ensuring government transparency and financial accountability. The International Budget Project, in recognition of these important developments, started work to develop a survey instrument to provide an independent check on budget transparency across countries. This instrument forms the basis for the Open Budget Index. For the past two years, the IBP has worked along with partners in 59 countries to use this questionnaire to collect information to produce the 2006 results of the Open Budget Index. This research is intended to assist civil society organizations, journalists, researchers, and economic development specialists to advocate for the improved public sector financial accountability that will lead to concrete improvements in people’s lives. It is also intended to allow government officials and policymakers in the countries involved in the survey to identify specific measures necessary to improve budget transparency and accountability. Methodology The Open Budget Questionnaire, which IBP developed over a three year period, is intended to collect comparative data on the public availability of budget information and other accountable budgeting practices. It guides researchers through each of the four stages of the budget process, assisting them in evaluating the information that should be made available to the public at each stage. It also identifies and evaluates accountable budgeting practices during each stage of the budget year. The Open Budget Questionnaire contains a total of 122 questions. The responses to 91 of the questions on the questionnaire that evaluate public access to budget information were averaged to form the Open Budget Index. The remaining 31 questions cover topics related to the ability of key institutions 1
Page 2 and 3: TABLE OF CONTENTS SUMMARY..........
Page 4 and 5: advocating for stronger public sect
Page 8 and 9: of government to hold the executive
Page 10 and 11: Budget Questionnaire are from acade
Page 12 and 13: Calculating the Open Budget Index T
Page 14 and 15: Table 1 Open Budget Index 2006 Whic
Page 16 and 17: III. A CLOSER LOOK AT KEY BUDGET DO
Page 18 and 19: Table 3 Executive’s Budget Propos
Page 20 and 21: Table 5 In-Year Reports on Executio
Page 22 and 23: Table 7 & 8 Year-End Report Quantit
Page 24 and 25: IV. HOW DOES THE PUBLIC OBTAIN ACCE
Page 26 and 27: consistent with best practice stand
Page 28 and 29: Table 10 & 11 How Long Does the Exe
Page 30 and 31: Table 13 & 14 Does the Executive Ap
Page 32 and 33: When are Audited Accounts Available
Page 34 and 35: VII. FUTURE STEPS The Open Budge In
Page 37 and 38: Open Budget Index 2006 Country Perc
Page 39 and 40: Mid-Year Review Quantity of Publicl

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