Corruption Risk in Public Administration

The article summarises the experiences of the research conducted at the Research Institute of the State Audit Office of Hungary in order to adapt the – integrity reinforcement based – Dutch methodology of risk analysis to public administration. This paper contains the results of a questionnaire survey as well as two experimental self-assessments carried out by the ministries. Furthermore, it describes that first and foremost it is the legal and permit procedures that represent a significant corruption risk, and that complexity, frequently changing legislation and political influence all increase corruption risk. Comparing the results of the survey and self-assessments with the empirical experiences of the State Audit Office of Hungary stemming from audits and pertaining to the causes of corruption, it is determined in the article that results and experiences are similar. The article, therefore, recommends that risk mapping be applied to a wider section of the public sector, the conditions for self-assessment be established, and the integrity approach be enforced more thoroughly within auditing methodology.corruption, integrity methodology, risk analysis, risk map

Az integritás szemléleti alapjai. Általános elméleti jellemzők

What kind of determining requirements have to meet the behaviour of persons and organisations in the world of work? Among others – and emphasized – the joint demands of laws and several versatile regulations. Also, ethical values and norms. In connection with them, but in a wider sense, they also have to ensure that conceptions and plans in connection with actions can be appropriately realised in practice and further the processes should be harmonised, transparent and accountable. And all these should be realised in that way that achievements of individuals and organisations can be influenced targeted and effectively by management activity and organisational culture. This paper intends to present general conception and approach of integrity under consideration of these challenges, and connections with several social sectors are only mentioned as an illustration. Its main attention is oriented on strengthening of integrity in connection with individuals, organisations and professions. Its other main goal is to present integrity as one of the crucial components of good governing process.Milyen meghatározó követelményeknek kell megfelelni a személyek és a szervezetek magatartásának a munka világában? Többek között és kiemelten a törvények és a különféle sokoldalú szabályozások együttesének. Úgyszintén az etikai értékeknek és normáknak. Velük kapcsolatban, de szélesebb értelemben annak is, hogy a cselekvésre vonatkozó koncepciók, tervek megfelelően valósuljanak meg a gyakorlatban, továbbá a folyamatok sokoldalúan összehangoltak, átláthatók és elszámoltathatók legyenek. S mindez úgy valósuljon meg, hogy az egyéni és szervezeti teljesítményeket célirányosan és hatékonyan tudja motiválni az irányítói tevékenység és a szervezeti kultúra. Jelen tanulmány e kihívások szem előtt tartásával az integritás általános koncepciójának, szemléletének az ismertetésére vállalkozik, és esetenként az egyes társadalmi szektorokkal való kapcsolatokat csak illusztrációként említi. Fő figyelme az integritás erősítésére irányul a személyek, a szervezetek és a szakmák vonatkozásában egyaránt. Másik fő célja pedig az, hogy az integritást a jó kormányzási folyamat egyik döntő alkotó elemeként mutassa be

Top Performance in Investments in the Hungarian Economy

The study shows that the extraordinary growth of fixed capital formation and investment was twice higher than the increase in GDP during the period between 2012 and 2018. Investment rate reached 25 percent in 2018, compared with the European Union’s 20.4 percent; after Sweden and the Czech Republic Hungary had the third highest rate among the EU Member States. The achievement of this outstanding investment performance was greatly supported by the use of EU funds, the growth in foreign direct investment inflow and the lending turnaround stimulated by the proactive and innovative monetary policy of the Hungarian Central Bank as well as the large-scale expansion of investment grants. Among these impact factors the use of EU funds was the most significant in years 2013-2015. These resources amounted to more than one third of government investments in the period under examination. The volume of foreign direct investment inflow reached 4 percent of GDP in four years during the period between 2012 and 2018. The impact of the Funding for Growth Scheme launched by the Hungarian Central Bank was 4.4 percentage points in years 2013-2018. In parallel with the boost in investment, there was a positive and efficient change in the industries and branches of the national economy, material-technical composition, territorial distribution, sectoral composition, as well as the structure of public investments according to institutional framework

Program budgeting – Characteristic features and practical experiences

Incremental budgeting, i.e. the chapter based budgeting mechanism that groups expenditure items mostly according to the administrative classification – and is also used in Hungary – is suitable for the detailed planning of expenditures and the itemised control of their implementation. However, it is not suitable to measure the quantity and quality of products and services that were generated through the expenses, or the absolute and relative costs involved. In its reports the State Audit Office of Hungary has several times called for the application of modern budgeting techniques in the Hungarian system of public finances. One of these techniques is the so called program budgeting. Based on the available international experience and the presented case studies, the main purpose of this article is to promote the comprehensive application of program budgeting in Hungary. However, we cannot omit mentioning the theoretical background of some of the correlations

The concept of the modernization of national economic planning

Based on the audits conducted by the State Audit Office (SAO) and the analyses prepared by its research institute, we do not think that Hungary has such national economic planning in place by relying on which the challenges posed by our global and EU convergence can be met by comprehensive solutions. This is why we aimed to prepare a study that pro poses concepts of modernizing such planning on the basis of four basic principles. These are as follows: the creation of the conditions required for developing the logical system of planning; the creation of a higher level of synchronicity with the EU's planning and decision-making cycle from the side of domestic planning; the development of a system of national economic planning to replace the fragmented plan ning activities, as well as the creation of conditions for an open and transparent, comprehensively con trolled planning system, and the active participation of the representatives of the civil sector in the latter. In the article, the key directions of the actions proposed for the realization of the concept are also described

New focuses in the relationship of the World Bank and the supreme audit institutions – Lessons learned from a World Bank seminar

The World Bank and the audit offices, as well as INTOSAI, the international organisation comprising the latter, have been converging for years. This convergence has been based on the sense of responsibility shown by both systems of institutions in the proper and efficient application of public funds, good financial direction, effective accomplishment of public administration activities, and supplying information to the state control authorities and the general public through objective reports

Corruption Risks in Public Administration – Methodology and Empirical Experiences

The article summarises the experiences of the research conducted at the Research Institute of the State Audit Office of Hungary in order to adapt the – integrity reinforcement based – Dutch methodology of risk analysis to public administration. This paper contains the results of a questionnaire survey as well as two experimental self-assessments carried out by the ministries. Furthermore, it describes that first and foremost it is the legal and permit procedures that represent a significant corruption risk, and that complexity, frequently changing legislation and political influence all increase corruption risk. Comparing the results of the sur-vey and self-assessments with the empirical experiences of the State Audit Office of Hungary stemming from audits and pertaining to the causes of corruption, it is determined in the article that results and experiences are similar. The article, therefore, recommends that risk mapping be applied to a wider section of the public sector, the conditions for self-assessment be established, and the integrity approach be enforced more thoroughly within auditing methodology

Third OECD World Forum on knowledge and policy

The Third World Forum, an OECD event so far with the largest number of participants in the history of the organisation, was held in the city of Busan, South Korea, between October 27–30 2009. Two thousand two-hundred participants from 103 countries dealt with the issues of charting progress, building visions and improving life at the time of global crisis at plenary meetings and in 37 working sessions with the contribution of 200 speakers

Conference on corruption at the Academy of Sciences

The tangly issues of corruption – which is the enemy of public life both domestically and globally – were studied by a team of expert speakers at a conference organised by the Industry Economics Committee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences on 22 March 2006. The speakers included outstanding figures such as deputy speaker of the National Assembly Ibolya Dávid, president of the National Judicial Council and the chairman of the Supreme Court Zoltán Lomniczi, minister of justice József Petrétei and president of the Hungarian State Audit Office Árpád Kovács

Public-private partnerships and audits – International overview and domestic experience

As a result of aging societies, during the last fifteen years the scope of government responsibilities and public services has been reconsidered especially in Europe. Governments face similar problems nearly everywhere: while there is an increasing social demand for public health, education etc. services, the workforce is decreasing. At the same time, unemployment figures are high: the number of those out of work exceeds 5 million in Germany, for example. Due to the demographic trends and the high unemployment rate, the revenues that can be centralised are continuously shrinking, but more and more expenditure is generated. Therefore, governments should seek to answer questions such as how to provide services at the highest possible standards when less and less sources are available, how to make services more efficient when the available funds are decreasing and how to involve external sources to supplement the poor state funds in order to provide public services