Instrumenty nowego zarządzania finansami publicznymi w wybranych krajach Unii Europejskiej

Abstract

The Introduction of the monograph emphasizes that its objective is to present new instruments used in public finance management in selected countries of the European Union, to show trends in the evolution of such instruments, and, in more detailed deliberations, to bring the reader’s attention to the opportunities and problems in their development in different countries. The monograph focuses on three EU memberstates, namely the United Kingdom, France, and Poland, and on topics related to performance budget and multi-year planning in those states. Chapter 1 of the monograph is a theoretical introduction to more detailed deliberations presented in further parts of the work. In the chapter, K. Piotrowska-Marczak presents the Contemporary directions of public finance management. The starting point for the discussion is a demonstration of constructive reasons for identifying public finances as a phenomenon and as a scientific feld. The author discusses the unique characteristics of public finance management. A separate part of the chapter focuses on public finance management centers and on the general principles of fiscal federalism. The motives for changing the public finance system, which can be divided into exogenous and endogenous, lead to changes in financial planning methods, which are a must in the contemporary world. One of such changes is the New Public Management whose most visible aspect is introduction of a performance budget. This type of budget has certain advantages, but its introduction is associated with some barriers. Nevertheless, it is the best known instrument to enhance public finance management and to streamline budget planning. In Chapter 2, M. Bouvier presents the problem of Constitutionalization of multi-year public finance programming in France. The chapter starts with remarks concerning the need for introducing multiyear finance planning in contemporary France. The author concludes 216 that introduction of multi-year financial planning constitutes an important reform of public finance management. In France, a new category of statutes, acts on multi-year programming of public finances, was adopted for this purpose. This required amending the Constitution of the French Republic. The amendments adopted a new intellectual approach of both the broadly-defined government (the cabinet, the president, and the parliament) and the French society. The final part of the discussion focuses on the importance of political determination to expanding multi-year financial planning to cover the whole public finance sector and the revenue side (as opposed to limiting it to the expense side, as has been the case so far). This is connected with the author’s general thesis that “Once again ‘global thinking,’ which goes beyond the public finance system and perhaps even beyond intellectual habits, becomes the fundamental condition of success of the system’s reform and of establishing an intelligent state able to meet the challenges of the 21st century, and of defining the framework of the new social contract.” In Chapter 3, M.-Ch. Esclassan presents The logic of performance planning and the evolution of public finance control in France. The first part of the chapter focuses on the global movement for change in control of public finances. It highlights the fact that all types of traditional control undergo significant changes as a result of introduction of performance budgets. In the second part of the chapter, the author discusses the evolution of administrative and judicial controls in France. This pertains to both traditional administrative controls (ex ante) and subsequent controls (ex post). The former involves replacement of financial control with budgetary control, a partner’s control of administrators by public accountants, and new types of subsequent administrative controls: management control, certification, evaluation, and audit. The chapter ends with remarks concerning the evolution of judicial control which has lead to a significant strengthening of the role of the Accounting Tribunal, based on the recent amendments to the Constitution of France. In Chapter 4 of the monograph, K. Godek-Brunel and S. Carpentier discuss Selected problems of elaboration and implementation of gauges in the French performance budget. As the authors demonstrate, 217 the French budget uses a unique methodology of measures, which appears to be less complicated but is more politicized than in other developed countries. The French way of defining gauges has some advantages, but is not free of shortcomings. Their presentation is the main objective of the chapter. In the first part of the chapter, the authors present and analyze the methodology of gauges in the French national budget. The second part focuses on the difficulties in implementation of the gauges and illustrates them using the example of the gauge used in one of the programs of the “Research and higher education” mission. In the conclusion, the authors recommend introducing new types of performance budget gauges which would also account for the social and sociological effects of public management. The next three chapters of the monograph focus on selected instruments of new public finance management in Poland. In Chapter 5 M. Postuła discusses The performance budget in Poland – achievements and future challenges. The author discusses the stages of the works on the performance budget in Poland, the current structure of the performance budget, the objectives of the performance budget for the years 2008-2012, and the development of the performance budgeting methodology using selected examples in the areas of financing of science and administration of justice. The author concludes that the current level of the methodology concerning identification of objectives in Poland corresponds to that experienced in the past by countries that have been using performance budgets for many years and that Poland has a little more problems with defining and using the gauges. The chapter ends with remarks concerning the actions that must be taken before a performance budget is fully implemented in Poland. The actions include improving the reporting system, which would require a prior introduction of a performance accounting system. In Chapter 6 J. Stankiewicz presents The Multi-Year Financial Plan of the State in Poland in the light of the first experiences with its functioning. The chapter discusses the connections between the Multi-Year Financial Plan of the State (MYFPS) and the European and national development strategies and the legal instruments that the EU can use to influence the implementation of national strategies to avoid ex218 cessive deficits, as factors that affect the creation and the form of the MYFPS. After presenting the internal structure and the form of the MYFPS, the author presents a thesis that the Plan cannot be considered to be a financial plan of the national public finance sector or a multiyear national budget. In the part concerning the performance classification of expenditures in the MYFPS, the author points at the high degree of discretion. What the author finds realistic is the bases for evaluation of the durability and the forecasts of the MYFPS concerning the size of the budget deficit. The author approves the idea of creating the MYFPS, but finds it very important to elaborate the detailed legal principles of the Plan. In Chapter 7, J. M. Salachn focuses on The current status and the prospects for changes in the multi-year financial forecast of local and regional government units in Poland. In the remarks concerning the multi-year financial planning in the local and regional government, which focus on the essence of management and the evolution of regulations, the author concludes that to evaluate the nature and the role of the multi-year financial plan, one must consider both its structure and the planning methodology. Of particular importance to local and regional government are regulations, as the role of the market in regulating the local and regional government’s activities is limited. In further parts of the chapter, the author discusses the legal requirements regarding the structure of multi-year financial forecasts (MYFF) of local and regional government units, the multi-year project plan, and the debt forecast as the elements forming the MYFF, as well as the status of the MYFF in the context of budget resolutions. In her presentation of the MYFF and the prospects for potential changes, the author concludes that, in general, the idea of the MYFF is good, but the current regulations make it not as much a modern marketing tool as a tool for further bureaucratization of the financial management of units of local and regional government. In Chapter 8 of the monograph, U.K. Zawadzka-Pąk presents The instruments of the new public fi nance management in the United Kingdom. The author demonstrates that the new public finance management in the UK is an element of a broader reform aimed to enhance the effectiveness of the public sector. The main instruments of the new 219 public finance management discussed in the chapter are: fiscal policy instruments, expenditure policy instruments (with focus on Spending Reviews, i.e. multi-year financial plans), and the performance budget. The discussion of the performance budget includes a detailed analysis of the Public Service Agreements and the Departamental Business Plans which are to replace the Public Service Agreements in the future. In the conclusion, the author highlights the fact that the public finance management system in the United Kingdom, despite the many years of experience, is still being improved, uses various management solutions from the private sector, is quite transparent, and involves a high degree of public participation. The last chapter of the monograph, written by E. Ruśkowski and titled On the need to conduct comparative research on the public finance management reform in the European Union, with particular focus on the financial planning reform, demonstrates the importance of comparative research aimed to identify and explain the basic trends and occurrences concerning new public finance management methods, with particular focus on performance budgets and multi-year financial planning. Based on the information presented in the monograph, concerning the United Kingdom, France, and Poland, one can conclude that introduction of performance budgets and multi-year financial planning is very important to the aforementioned countries and to the European Union. The particular solutions regarding these instruments demonstrate both the differences resulting from the historical backgrounds and the systems of government in the aforementioned countries and the various legal and organizational concepts and solutions which may be used by other countries to implement their own solutions in the future. Comparison of the aforementioned solutions also demonstrates new objectives for the scientists, which involve analyzing and explaining these phenomena which are currently shaped mostly by practitioners.