SBOV-Research line financial management

Research Line: Financial management & performance measurement

Objective

The general objective of the financial management and performance measurement research line is to formulate specific recommendations for guiding financial processes of change within the Flemish government. Performance measurement concentrates on the provision of information within the Flemish government.

Research Questions

Concerning (1) budget, (2) accounting, (3) audit and (4) their mutual coherence, the next types of questions are asked and answered:

(A) descriptive: What are the characteristics of the existing system and the administrative and political context? In which direction(s) do domestic and foreign systems evolve? What is the goal of this management modernisation? Which impact do those goals have on the information-content (formatting) and procedures of the budgets, accountings and audits? Who develops these evolutions? Which strategies are applied? How fast does the management modernisation take place? Do the planned reforms differ from the realised ones?

(B) explaining / positive: Which factors are important to explain the direction of the financial management modernisation? What determines how fast the implementation takes place? What are the fail- and success factors concerning the implementation of financial management modernisation?

(C) guiding / normative: Which recommendations does the explaining research generate for policy makers and government managers to realise financial management modernisation? Which elements enlarge the chance that the planned reform goals are efficiently realised?

Dissemination/Valorisation

Setting up a platform financial government management, which organises the following activities:- dissemination of the best possible practice examples regarding Flemish modernising processes- discussion about fail- and success factors of financial modernising processes- supporting a professional network, e.g. via a mailing list, which can function as a helpdesk for concrete problems- offering a window on international trends in financial government management, through affiliations with European and OECD-platforms (e.g. EGPA (Europe), ABFM (United States), CGFM (United States), PUMA (OECD))- creating a database of financial policy and management modernisation in home and foreign countries- organising a yearly congress + a publication in the form of an annual, realising interaction around the specialisation mentioned above for and by practici, and with academic supportSetting up specific networks concerning budgeting, accounting and audit on the level of the Ministry of Flanders, which a.o. can provide second line care in the coaching of pilot projects.Setting op a think tank ,composed of top civil servants of the Ministry of Flanders ('cabinet' and public administration level), the parliamentary Commission Finance and Budget and the Court of Audit, in order to determine the strategy towards the modernisation of the financial cycle. Research reports to formulate concrete recommendations, with regard to the 4 research lines set forth above, for the steering of financial modernisation processes within the Flemish government. These recommendations are formulated starting from a description and explanation of modernisation processes in 8 OECD pilot countries (Australia, Canada, Finland, The Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States and Sweden).

Implementers

The projects wil be carried out by the Public Management Institute, KU Leuven, under guidance of Prof. dr. Geert Bouckaert.