Usability and actual use of performance information in German municipal budgets: the perspective of local politicians

IMPACT

German municipalities have prepared performance budgets for over 10 years. The incorporation of performance information into the budget is, however, still work in progress. Local politicians perceive the usability of non-financial information in the budget as low and do not use such information intensively for budget composition or other purposes. German municipal budgets are usually voluminous because of their highly detailed structure and the large amount of displayed performance data which rarely informs about outcomes. Such information does not meet the needs of councillors, for example in their struggles with political opponents. Some options for improving the usability of budgetary information are presented.

ABSTRACT

The article presents evidence about the use of performance information by councillors in the context of performance budgeting in German municipalities. The usability of performance information by politicians is assessed as low and the use of such data is limited. Councillors perceive performance information in the budget as not very relevant, because it only exceptionally focuses on outcomes and does not help them in political struggles and deals. Moreover, councillors are reluctant to read budgets overloaded with data that is irrelevant to them.

KEYWORDS:

• Councillor
• performance budget
• performance information
• politician
• usability
• use

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).