Funding line: Individual project funding
Project Manager: Prof. Dr. Christopher Almeling
Fund number: 42178000
Start of project: 1 April 2016 End of project: 30 June 2016
Field of expertise: Accounting and Auditing / Corporate Reporting
Department: Economics
ABSTRACT
Decision-makers in local authorities (municipalities, special purpose associations, districts, federal states, federal government) are faced with the question of which values they create for the public, i.e. which public services they provide. The answer to this question is necessary in order to be able to make targeted decisions in local authorities and to make the achievement of objectives transparent, i.e. to be able to account for them. Hessian municipalities are obliged to prepare accountability reports. The aim of the accountability report is, among other things, to present the goal orientation and the achievement of goals by the municipality on the basis of key figures. So far, only a few accountability reports have been published. The aim of the research project is to develop a grid of indicators to measure the public performance of municipalities, which can be used for accountability purposes. The hypothesis is put forward that a high level of comparability of the services and performance levels provided by municipalities can be achieved by standardised specifications for performance indicators. The social benefit of the research project may lie in the fact that municipalities, which (must) orient themselves in terms of content to the grid of indicators when drawing up their accountability reports, will make better political decisions on the basis of increased transparency.
Keywords: municipalities, accountability report, transparency, public services, key figures