Accountability and Transparency in the Public Sector: The New Zealand Experience

IMF Working Papers, November 1, 1996

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Accountability and Transparency in the Public Sector: The New Zealand Experience

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Bibliographic details

• Authors: M. Cangiano
• Published: November 1, 1996
• Series: IMF Working Papers
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781451854442.001

Overview and Objective

• Paper describes reforms introduced in the New Zealand public sector since the mid-1980s.
• Focuses on institutional, accounting, and expenditure-control reforms and assesses their impact on government revenue and spending patterns.
• Discusses lessons learned from New Zealand’s experience.

Major Reforms Described

• Corporatization and privatization of most state-owned enterprises.
• Shift from a cash-basis to an accrual-basis accounting system.
• Compilation of a balance sheet for the central government and its entities.
• Introduction of performance-based arrangements for the delivery of core government outputs.
• Institutional changes in expenditure control mechanisms.

Impact and Analysis

• Summarizes the impact of the reforms on government revenue and spending patterns.
• Evaluates how accrual accounting and balance-sheet compilation affected fiscal information and oversight.
• Assesses the role of performance-based delivery arrangements in public sector accountability.

Lessons and Policy Implications

• Draws lessons learned from New Zealand’s experience relevant to public financial management reforms.
• Highlights implications for budget planning and preparation, fiscal accounting and reporting, and institutional design for expenditure controls.

Subjects and Keywords (as listed)

• Subjects:
  • Budget planning and preparation
  • Economic sectors
  • Financial statements
  • Fiscal accounting and reporting
  • Fiscal policy
  • Public financial management (PFM)
  • Public sector
• Keywords:
  • asset sale
  • Budget planning and preparation
  • capital base
  • cash flows
  • conditions of Employment Act
  • country
  • Eastern Europe
  • enterprise
  • Financial statements
  • Fiscal accounting and reporting
  • government
  • government accounts system
  • government activity
  • government members of parliament
  • government policy
  • government's power
  • governments of the State of New South Wales
  • New Zealand government
  • operating expenses
  • Public sector
  • State Service condition
  • WP