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In recent years, the IMF has released a growing number of reports and other documents covering economic and financial developments and trends in member countries.

Superlatives are commonplace in descriptions of traditional budgeting. Within managerial accounting techniques, it is one of the most frequently used, the most researched, but also the most criticized. While academics are largely united in criticism of traditional budgeting practices due to their inflexibility and consumption of resources, the existing studies have not identified universal assumptions to improve this system. The inconsistent conclusions in current literature create a need to explore approaches to mitigation of budgetary weaknesses. Furthermore, this incomplete knowledge is an impulse to examine factors influencing the choice of these approaches. The authors conducted a review of the literature to amass information on approaches developed to enhance traditional budgeting methods. Subsequently, research was conducted on the extent of utilization and the subjective perception of such methods at a sample of companies operating in the Czech Republic. The authors additionally attempted to determine which factors influenced the decisions of managers in selection of such a tool. A web-based survey was devised with the aim of gathering data, followed by analysis of correlation between selected variables through application of Pearson’s chi-square test. The literature review revealed the importance of conducting a budgetary review in improving the budgetary control. In total, 136 Czech companies took part in the survey, and it was discovered that a significant number of them had implemented traditional budgeting methods. More than 80% of respondents monitored any variation within their budgets. In the following part, the share of foreign capital was identified as the factor that influenced choices made in budgetary control. Since no correlation was discerned between revision of a budget and subsequent perception of its efficiency, the results lend support to arguments that minor improvements do not radically affect budgeting overall.

Contingent liabilities have gained prominence in the analysis of public finance. Indeed, history is full of episodes in which the financial position of the public sector is substantially altered-or its true nature uncovered-as a result of government bailouts of financial or nonfinancial entities, in both the private and the public sector. The paper discusses theoretical and practical issues raised by contingent liabilities, including the rationale for taking them on, how to safeguard against the fiscal risks associated with them, how to account and budget for them, and how to disclose them. Country experiences are used to illustrate ways these issues are addressed in practice and challenges faced. The paper also points to good practices related to the mitigation, management and disclosure of risks from contingent liabilities.

Against the background of increasing social diversification in a market economy, this paper examines the challenges confronting China’s existing power structure and system of authority. Both to overcome the legitimation crisis of ruling and to achieve a soft landing of the political reform depend on reconstructing the authority of the rule of law through judicial reform as the breakthrough point. For this very reason, the top-level design of regime transition can follow a two-step strategy of building a rule of law country first, to be followed by restructuring power, so as to achieve democracy via the rule of law. It also proposes a conception to institutionalize the rule of law, emphasizing that the alternative three-review mechanism is both necessary and feasible, in that a top-level design of judicial review can contribute to our strivings for judicial fairness, an implementation of budget review and accountability review at the grassroots level for fiscal democracy, and the synergy of high-level and grassroots powers for a virtuous circle between the rule of law authority and democratic polity in mutual enhancement. There also comes the moment for plural efforts to both drive and achieve the rule of law based on the three-review mechanism.

This paper focuses on Haiti’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper and 2014–2016 Three-Year Investment Program. The Haiti Strategic Development Plan presents the new framework for the planning, programming, and management of Haitian development, the vision and the strategic guidelines for the country’s development, and the four major work areas to be implemented to ensure the recovery and development of Haiti. The Three-Year Investment Program, 2014–2016 (PTI 2014–2016) concerns implementation of the Strategic Plan for Development of Haiti and more specifically implementation of the government’s priorities for the period.

In recent years, the IMF has released a growing number of reports and other documents covering economic and financial developments and trends in member countries. Each report, prepared by a staff team after discussions with government officials, is published at the option of the member country.

This paper provides a review of empirical research on the factors determining the budget/fiscal transparency of subnational governments. It focuses on academic online databases by conducting keyword searches that take in papers published in the period 2000-2017. Three important observations can be made: (1) there is a lack of a unique definition of budget/fiscal transparency; (2) the different definitions lead to disharmonised budget/fiscal transparency measurements; (3) there is a heterogeneity of the definition and measurement of some explanatory variables that can lead to apparent contradictions and inconsistencies in the results obtained. However, the paper provides a balanced account of core explanatory factors, emphasizing variables that, despite heterogeneity in definition and measurement, have a significant impact on the levels of subnational government budget/ fiscal transparency. Since the review involves mainly online disclosure, future studies might want to extend the observation period, or implement systematic reviews and meta-analyses to gain additional insights on this topic.

Effective, efficient and transparent management of public resources is particularly important in a poor country like Niger. This study shows how difficult it is for Niger to significantly change its expenditure composition in a short time span. A narrow and volatile domestic resource base, heavy dependence on aid, and a large share of pre-determined expenditures such as external debt payments are important factors behind this lack of flexibility. There are ways, though, to create space in the budget for increasing public spending on priority sectors. The study identifies a number of measures in this regard, such as increasing domestic revenues, more realistic and conservative budgeting, strengthening cash management, controlling the wage bill, prudent borrowing and attracting higher external financing for recurrent costs in priority sectors. The study also shows that enhancing the efficiency and transparency of public spending is as important as increasing spending for PRS priority sectors. It thoroughly assesses public management systems in Niger and presents an action plan, jointly elaborated by the Government and its main external partners, to address the main challenges in this area. This action plan contains a priority set of measures to improve budget preparation, execution as well as internal and external oversight.

This review provides an overview of the budgetary landscape in Thailand and identifies the legal and constitutional aspects that impact on the planning, preparation and reporting of the budget. It then discusses strategic planning elements of the budget, specifically fiscal objectives, medium-term planning, capital investment, the management of fiscal risk in budgets and performance budgeting. It focuses on the development and preparation of the budget, the oversight of the execution of the budget, and the accounting and reporting functions supporting the budget. The final section considers the oversight and accountability of the budget from the perspective that is external to the preparation and decision making of the government. It looks at the role of parliament and independent institutions as well as the transparency, openness and accessibility of the budget. The analysis undertaken in this review is based on the OECD Recommendation of the Council on Budgetary Governance.