Determinants of Financial Transparency in Government

ABSTRACT

The search for enhanced transparency and accountability in government organizations has inspired studies to identify the key factors that facilitate greater disclosure of public financial information. With the advantages provided by the meta-analysis technique, applied to a sample of studies, we identify the most significant factors and incentives underlying the decisions adopted by public managers on policy strategies regarding information transparency and public responsibility. Our study shows the variables analyzed to be positively associated with the disclosure of public financial information, but also that this depends on the context in which the research is carried out. The most influential variables were the moderator variables of the administrative culture and of the measurement unit for the variables.

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Corrigendum

Notes

Note: The studies contribute more than one observation to the sample because they include different estimations with different data sets, different explanatory variables, or different models.

Notes: There are studies that offer various models and provide various statistical significances, so we have offered a range from the smallest to largest. The structural equations model (SEM) provides the following information: chi-square (F stat column) and R² for QUA (R ² column). The Probit models provide chi-square (F stat colum) and Pseudo-R ² (R ² column), and we have assigned superscript 1. The Logit models provide chi-square (F stat column) and classification accuracy (R ² column), and we have assigned superscript 2.

*ρ < 0.1; **ρ < 0.05; ***ρ < 0.01; ⁺ρ < 0.001.

*ρ < 0.1; **ρ < 0.05; ***ρ < 0.01; ⁺ρ < 0.001.

*ρ < 0.1; **ρ < 0.05; ***ρ < 0.01; ⁺ρ < 0.001.

*ρ < 0.1; **ρ < 0.05; ***ρ < 0.01; ⁺ρ < 0.001.

*ρ < 0.1; **ρ < 0.05; ***ρ < 0.01; ⁺ρ < 0.001.

*ρ < 0.1; **ρ < 0.05; ***ρ < 0.01; ⁺ρ < 0.001.

This in turn is measured in different ways (see Tables 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Manuel Pedro Rodríguez Bolívar

Manuel Pedro Rodríguez Bolívar ([email protected]) is Professor in Accounting at the University of Granada.

Laura Alcaide Muñoz

Laura Alcaide Muñoz is PhD in Accounting in the Financial Economic and Accounting Department at the University of Granada. She is interested in how e-government has favoured the process of reform and modernization of public administrations, giving rise to greater accessibility to public information and services, and information transparency, this latter aspect being a key factor in the accountability of public administration. Also she is interested in financial sustainability in public administrations.

Antonio M. López Hernández

Antonio M. López-Hernández is Professor of Accounting at the University of Granada. He is a foundational member of the Spanish Association of Accounting University Teachers and he is a member of European Accounting Association. He research interests are focused on e-government, performance management systems and financial information in federal and local government.