Financial Transparency of Local Governments in Eastern EU Countries

Résumé

[extract] The dynamic political and economic processes existing in Eastern EU countries in recent decades have resulted in significantly increased attention to transparency and accountability issues in the public sector, particularly in regard to financial issues. Citizens, taxpayers, donors, lenders, the EU and other supranational institutions have been interested in obtaining high-quality financial information that will allow them to assess how public funds are being used, as well as the performance of public sector entities. They wish to use this information to hold managers accountable, as well as in their own decision-making processes. According to Chan (2003) “it is not enough to keep the book accurately; the books have to be open to the public. [Government accounting] aims at keeping the citizens informed about the city’s financial position, financial performance and service effort and accomplishment, which is crucial information to determine the affordability and sustainability of service delivery and value for money issues."