Actors and the information flows in the Czech parliamentary budget debate

Bibliographic Data

ID20201129
AuthorsLucie Sedmihradská (0000-0001-5474-2673, Prague University of Economics and Business), Jan Kučera (0000-0002-0251-3227, Prague University of Economics and Business)
Year2020
Volume32
Issue3
Pages321-338
Publication date2020-01-10
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Public Budgeting Accounting & Financial Management (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1096-3367 • E-ISSN: 1945-1814
PublisherEmerald (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1108/jpbafm-10-2018-0122
OpenAlexW2999736180
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited22

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose a model that allows analyzing exchange and use of fiscal information by the roles of actors involved in the budget process and to apply the proposed model to the 2018 Czech state budget debate. The aim is to identify approaches used by the members of the Chamber of Deputies (members of the parliament (MPs)) when gathering information to be used in their decision making on the state budget, and to evaluate usefulness of the information provided through the executive’s budget proposal. Design/methodology/approach This paper is the observatory study of the Czech 2018 state budget debate based on a set of unstructured interviews with newly elected MPs. Findings When it comes to the MPs deciding about the state budget the executive’s budget proposal seems to be an insufficient source of information as the MPs relied heavily on various information brokers during the budget debate. The use of information and communication technologies in the process of information provision lags behind its potential. Practical implications The authors suggest two possible ways to improve the effective transparency of the Czech state budget debate: standardization of the chapter books and making them available to every MP as well as to the general public, and adding the budget proposal to the Monitor budget explorer – a publicly available budget explorer provided by the Ministry of Finance. Originality/value The originality of this paper lies in the proposal of the Fiscal Information Ecosystem Model and its application to the 2018 Czech state budget debate which shows how the members of the Czech Chamber of Deputies gathered information they needed in their decision making

Budget process · Business · Computer security · Czech · Originality · Parliament · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Standardization · Computer Science · European Monetary and Fiscal Policies · Fiscal Policies and Political Economy · Local Government Finance and Decentralization · Accounting

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