Transparency and

Accountability

Mary Ann A.Silo

Transparency

• as used in the humanities and in a social context more generally, implies openness, communication, and accountability. It is a metaphorical extension of the meaning a "transparent" object is one that can be seen through. Transparent procedures include open meetings, financial disclosure statements, freedom of information legislation, budgetary review, audits, etc.

Transparency

Management•Radical transparency is a management

method where nearly all decision making is carried out publicly. All draft documents, all arguments for and against a proposal, the decisions about the decision making process itself, and all final decisions, are made publicly and remain publicly archived.

Transparency Non-governmental organizations

• Accountability and transparency are of high relevance for non-governmental organizations (NGOs). In view of the responsibilities towards stakeholders including donors, sponsors, programme beneficiaries, staff, states and the public, they are considered to be of even greater importance to them than to commercial undertakings. Yet these same values are often found to be lacking in NGOs.

TransparencyMedia

• Media Transparency is the concept of determining how and why information is conveyed through various means. If the media and the public knows everything that happens in all authorities and country administrations there will be a lot of questions, protests and suggestions coming from media and the public. People who are interested in a certain issue will try to influence the decisions. Transparency creates an everyday participation in the political processes by media and the public.

Transparency

Politics• In politics, transparency is introduced as a

means of holding public officials accountable and fighting corruption. When government meetings are open to the press and the public, when budgets and financial statements may be reviewed by anyone, when laws, rules and decisions are open to discussion, they are seen as transparent and there is less opportunity for the authorities to abuse the system in their own interest.

Transparency

•Lack of hidden agendas and conditions, accompanied by the availability of full information required for collaboration, cooperation, and collective decision making.

•Essential condition for a free and open exchange whereby the rules and reasons behind regulatory measures are fair and clear to all participants.

Accountability

•is a concept in ethics and governance with several meanings. It is often used synonymously with such concepts as responsibility, answerability, blameworthiness, liability, and other terms associated with the expectation of account-giving.

Accountability

•As an aspect of governance, it has been central to discussions related to problems in the public sector , non-profit and private (corporate) worlds.

Accountability

• In leadership roles, accountability is the acknowledgment and assumption of responsibility for action, products, decisions, and policies including the administration, governance, and implementation within the scope of the role or employment position and encompassing the obligation to report, explain and be answerable for resulting consequences.

Accountability

•The obligation of an individual or organization to account for its activities, accept responsibility for them, and to disclose the results in a transparent manner. It also includes the responsibility for money or other entrusted property.

Accountability

•You can delegate responsibility, but you can’t delegate accountability to anyone.

•If someone gives you a job to do, you can get someone else to do it, but you are still accountable to produce the results. If the job is not done right the only person to blame is you, because even though you’ve delegated the responsibility, you are still accountable.

TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY

•If corruption is the most damaging disease that any organization must confront, then accountability and transparency are the major cures.

TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY•to describe how authority is distributed in

the governmental system and how those who hold such authority are held to account. When it comes to the notion of good governance, we recognize a number of generally agreed principles, including:

TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY• Accountability - meaning that it is possible

to identify and hold public officials to account for their actions.

•Transparency - meaning that reliable, relevant and timely information about the activities of government is available to the public.

•Openness - meaning governments that listen to citizens and businesses, and take their suggestions into account when designing and implementing public policies.

TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY

To conclude, two key points are worth emphasizing:

• First, the success of public governance will ultimately be judged not by governments or international organizations, but by citizens. It is citizens who are demanding greater transparency and accountability from government as well as greater public participation in shaping policies that affect their lives. …

TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY•Second, good governance and the fight

against corruption should not just be catchwords in international co-operation. They represent the keys for successful reform and for equitable and sustainable development. …"

TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY•"Public scrutiny of state affairs and access

to information are key phases in the current debate on the development of democracy … The two concepts are interdependent, since one cannot play its part under the rule of law without the other. There can be no public scrutiny without access to information.

TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY

• It is even possible to conclude … that the level of democracy attained by a country should now be measured in terms of the volume and quality of the information in circulation.

• it should now be clear that it is not possible to fight corruption in the absence of a culture of transparency. Building such a culture can begin with a legislative commitment to the public that breaks with the many years of concealment and the persecution of those who take an interest in public affairs. …

TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY•The right of access to information and

public scrutiny: Transparency as a democratic control instrument.

•The fundamental element in improving organizational performance is the quality of overall management.

• Managers are people who get things done by working with other people to obtain organizational objectives.

TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY•They must not only set an example

through their own performance, but encourage employees throughout the organization to commit themselves to results, service, and quality work.

•Oversight is fairly readily understood under the dictionary definitions of “supervision” and “watchful care”.

TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY•Accountability essentially means

responsibility to someone for one's actions taken … to ensure that programmes have maximum impact and results …

•Accountability is primarily concerned with effective performance and results, recent research observes that it also involves systematic efforts to strengthen organizations in at least four different dimensions:

TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY(a)compliance accountability - the

narrowest aspect, involving enforcement of standards of performance or procedure;

(b) negotiated accountability -- improvement of management and governance in response to changed conditions and demands from those to whom the organization is accountable;

TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY(c) professional/discretionary

accountability - voluntary initiatives taken to enhance the professional standards, management systems and technologies, and services of the organization; and

(d) anticipatory accountability - helping shape and prepare for new accountability standards.

TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY•Transparency and accountability are

critical for the efficient functioning of a modern economy and for fostering social well-being.

• In most societies, many powers are delegated to public authorities. Some assurance must then be provided to the delegators—that is, society at large—that this transfer of power is not only effective, but also not abused.

TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY•Transparency ensures that information is

available that can be used to measure the authorities' performance and to guard against any possible misuse of powers. In that sense, transparency serves to achieve accountability, which means that authorities can be held responsible for their actions.

TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY•Without transparency and accountability,

trust will be lacking between a government and those whom it governs. The result would be social instability and an environment that is less than conducive to economic growth.

TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY•The Framework was developed to assess

and develop essential public financial management systems.

•The following are the critical dimensions that serve as indicators in the performance of an open and orderly public financial management system;

1. Credibility of the budget 2. Comprehensiveness and transparency 3. Budget cycle

▫Policy-based Budgeting▫Predictability and Control in Budget

Execution ▫Accounting, Recording and Reporting ▫External Scrutiny and Audit

4. Donor Practices

Report on the observance of standards and codes of fiscal transparency

•The Fiscal ROSC is a project of the International Monetary Fund which takes a look at how the countries observe the international standards and codes. It focuses on twelve areas, one of which is fiscal transparency.

The Code of Good Practices on Fiscal Transparency is based on the

following principles•Roles and responsibilities in government

should be clear.•Information on government activities

should be provided to the public.•Budget preparation, execution, and

reporting should be open.

•Fiscal information should attain widely accepted standards of data quality and be subject to independent assurances of integrity.

Transparency and Accountability in Government Operations

•In compliance to section 97 (Transparency and Accountability in Government Operations) of the General Provisions of RA 10147, FY2011 General Appropriations Act.

" Sec. 97. Transparency and Accountability in Government Operations. To enhance transparency and enforce accountability, each department, bureau, office or agency, especially the Constitutional Commissions, branches of government and offices enjoying fiscal autonomy, shall post on their official websites their respective approved budgets immediately upon approval of this Act,

performance measures and targets set in the organizational performance indicator framework approved by the DBM, major programs and projects to be implemented, annual procurement plan, contracts awarded and the name of contractors/suppliers/consultants, targeted and actual beneficiaries, utilization of funds, status of implementation, and program/project evaluation and/or assessment reports.

  The respective heads of the above-stated agencies and offices shall be responsible for ensuring compliance with this section.  Moreover, non-compliance with the foregoing requirements may be made a basis for the discontinuance of the program/project concerned."