Abstract
Austria is a federal republic that consists of nine states (Länder) and 2,354 (in 2013) local governments, which are organized upon the principle of local self-administration. The combination of a federal principle and the principle of local self-administration accounts for the organizational complexity of Austrian public administration. Legislation is divided between central and federal governments, while executive functions are split even further between all three levels of government. The strong legalistic tradition and the federal principle also impact the development and implementation of budgeting and accounting reforms at all levels. Mutual legislative participation of federal and state governments makes far-reaching reforms in general a very complex and prolonged process (Meyer and Hammerschmid, 2005).
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J. Seiwald (2013), “Austria — From an Incremental Improver to a Comprehensive Reformer”, Public Financial Management Blog: Making Public Money Count, http://blog-pfm.imf.org/pfmblog/2013/04/austria-from-an-incremental-improver-to-a-comprehensive-reformer.html (homepage), date accessed 6 July 2014.
Useful sites (further reading)
https://english.bmf.gv.at/budget-economic-policy/The-Austrian-Federal-Budget-Reform.html
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© 2015 Iris Rauskala and Iris Saliterer
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Rauskala, I., Saliterer, I. (2015). Public Sector Accounting and Auditing in Austria. In: Brusca, I., Caperchione, E., Cohen, S., Rossi, F.M. (eds) Public Sector Accounting and Auditing in Europe. IIAS Series: Governance and Public Management. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137461346_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137461346_2
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