Lawrence R. Jones

Learning from International Public Management Reform

It is apparent why politicians and elected officials often support new managerial methods, observers wonder whether the promises of reform can be delivered upon to provide benefits depicted so attractively. Dialogue on this question is active among public management scholars. This book represents substantial elements of this dialogue.

Implementing the Chief Financial Officers Act and the Government Performance and Results Act in the Federal Government

The Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 and the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993, along with other legislation passed by Congress, are stimulating major financial management reform in the federal government. This article evaluates reform implementation against nine criteria developed in previous research on this topic. The criteria are accounting system adequacy, congressional intent, ability of Congress to use financial statement data, executive branch implementation incentives, capability of the Office of Management and Budget, utility of financial statements for decision-making, use of performance measures in budgeting, coordination of federal organizations charged with implementation responsibility, and executive and congressional support for reform.

Responsibility budgeting and accounting

Abstract Information/transaction costs make it necessary to decentralize some decision rights in organizations and in the economy. Decentralization in turn requires organizations to solve the control problem that results when self-interested persons do not behave as perfect agents. Capitalist economies solve these control problems through the institution of alienable decision rights. But because organizations suppress the alienability of decision rights, they must devise substitute mechanisms that perform those functions. Three functions are critical: (1) allocating decision rights among agents in the organization, (2) measuring and evaluating performance, and (3) rewarding and punishing individuals for their performance. Responsibility budgeting and accounting systems are the most widespread mechanisms for performing these functions in business today.

Budgeting according to Wildavsky: a bibliographic essay

Aaron Wildavsky had an amazingly broad set of interests in social science and public policy as indicated in other articles in this symposium. A perusal of a recent curriculum vita reveals that he wrote or coauthored thirty books with several forthcoming, 186 articles and book chapters at latest count, and some additional papers awaiting publication. The topics covered in this vast oeuvre of books and articles, in unpublished casual papers, and in newspaper and magazine articles too numerous to count, reveal the incredible spectrum of his curiosity and knowledge. His work encompasses budgeting and fiscal policy (domestic and international), political culture, community power and leadership, risk analysis and safety, environmental policy, the American presidency, presidential elections, American diplomacy, U.S. oil and gas policy, the art and craft of policy analysis, policy implt1mentation, how to conduct research, how to read and write, academic collaboration, development and evolution of the social sci~nces, political and religious philosophy, Moses and Joseph as leaders and administrators, the politics of religion, the experience of his father as a youth in Poland, academic leadership and administration, communism and morality, the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation, and more ... much more. To say that Aaron was a profound thinker and prolific writer runs the risk of understatement. Of this large body of material, Wildavsky wrote and coauthored nine books and forty articles and book chapters on budgeting and fiscal policy. It is this work that is reviewed selectively here. A bibliography of Wildavskys work on budgeting and fiscal policy is provided at the conclusion of this essay. Any attempt to survey the

Federal Financial Management Reform and The Chief Financial Officers Act

This study analyzes the development of financial management reform in the federal government. A series of reform initiatives culminated in passage of the Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act that prescribes a wide spectrum of changes in federal accounting, budgeting, and financial reporting. The CFO Act may well be the most significant executive branch federal financial management reform since the adoption of the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921.

Congressional Delegation of Spending Power to the Defense Department in the Post-9–11 Period

The advantages of increased delegation of resource management authority by Congress have long been argued by defense leadership. It is an important issue because of its relevance to congressional assessment of defense management, budget priorities, and how to enforce policy preferences. This paper investigates the series of supplemental appropriations for the war on terrorism to determine (a) under what conditions, and how and why Congress delegates budget authority to defense, (b) what happened with respect to the degree of delegation after appropriation during budget execution, and (c) what this case teaches us about the evolving budgetary relationship between Congress and the Defense Department.

Budgetary Control in a Decentralized System: Meeting the Criteria for Fiscal Stability in the European Union

This article provides a set of measures that are recommended to the leadership of the European Union to enhance budgetary balance and control within a highly decentralized system, one that requires the coordination of budgetary policy in more than a dozen nations. These measures are intended to be relevant to European budgetary coordination efforts but also appear to apply to U.S. federal initiatives to reduce the annual budget deficit and total debt. The individual measures recommended include holding increases in expenditures at or below the rate of GDP growth, establishing envelopes for major accounts, placing all entitlement on a pay-as-you-go basis, means testing of entitlements and elimination of automatic entitlement indexing, considering the option of marginal reductions in some entitlement programs, and voting on budgets as single, omnibus packages. The proposal to establish executive line-item budget authority also is evaluated-and rejected.

Implementation of the Federal Chief Financial Officers Act

The Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act of 1990 proposes to rationalize the many financial practices and systems of the federal financial establishment. Due to the significant number and magnitude of the changes required by the Act, those involved in implementing the Act are encountering unanticipated practical problems and issues. This article addresses some of the surfacing difficulties, including, the qualifications of CFOs; implementation costs, standards, and authority; content of financial statements; and the scope of audits including performance measurement.

Congressional Control Over Defense and Delegation of Authority in the Case of the Defense Emergency Response Fund

Emerging theories of civil-military relations take a more nuanced look at the role of the actors involved, particularly noting the critical role of the legislature in modern democracies. An important tool of control for the legislature is the power of the purse, so circumstances of delegated spending authority by the legislature to the military are worthy of study. This study investigates a series of supplemental appropriations enacted by the U.S. Congress to pay for the war on terrorism and situates the story in the current literature on civil-military relations. The case describes an episode in which the legislature was willing to delegate authority, how the executive responded, and the circumstances under which the legislature returned to traditional forms of oversight.

Management of Budgetary Decline in the Department of Defense in Response to the End of the Cold War

This study analyzes the decisions and actions of the President, Congress, and Pentagon leadership for 1989 to 1992 to reduce the defense budget for the period 1990 to 1997. The objective of this research is to indicate how the Department of Defense developed and began to execute plans for significant downsizing. Management of declining budgets by DoD is evaluated employing a framework for analysis of fiscal stress in public sector organizations. Major force structure reductions and cuts in DoD operational and capital budget accounts are analyzed. Weapons system terminations and military and civilian personnel cuts are detailed. Efforts to improve DoD efficiency through implementation of the Defense Management Report are assessed. Military base closure and realignment is reviewed. Redefinition of the base force structure in response to revised threat assessment and changes in the international security policy environment including improved East-West relations, reduced probability of conventional war, tactical and strategic nuclear disarmament, and operation Desert Storm also is addressed.