Creating better governments through effective reviews of public spending
Public Accounts Committees may make headlines when they expose corruption on serious mistakes in administration, but that is only one small part of the vital role they play.
The work of the Public Accounts Committee isn’t just about stopping the improper use of public money, it is also about ensuring that taxpayers get the government services they pay for delivered in the most effec- tive way possible. Participants at a seminar on the subject in Victoria, Australia, develop improved prac- tices and systems so their Parliaments and their Auditors General achieve this goal. Reforms to strengthening the accountability of government must look beyond exposing corruption and impropriety in government spending.
While these are an important aspect of parliamentary financial oversight, Parliamentarians and staff seeking to improve the effectiveness of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) work were advised at a semi-
nar on parliamentary financial scrutiny to focus more on rooting out instances of poor or ineffective delivery of public services. In assessing and criticizing the
delivery of services and the adminis- tration of government ministries, Prof. Peter Loney, a former Member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly who chaired its Public Accounts and Estimates Committee, stressed that scrutiny must not be limited to a search for corruption.The efficient delivery of services must also be examined closely.While emphasiz- ing that scrutiny must not focus on the wisdom of the authorizing poli- cy, the former Victorian PAEC Chairperson and Deputy Speaker urged Members of PACs and those who support their inquiries to gauge the output and the outcome of policy implementation. Propriety
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in administration must certainly be monitored; but audits and PAC investigations should also look at the economy, efficiency and the effec- tiveness of service delivery and the way government departments are administered. Prof. Loney offered the advice in opening the February 2008 Summer School for Public Accounts Committees run by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), the World Bank Institute, Australia’s Centre for Democratic Institutions in Canberra and La Trobe University’s Public Sector Governance and Accountability Research Centre in the Victorian university’s Faculty of Law and Management. This year’s programme, entitled
“Public Accounts Committees – Practices, Procedures and