Performance Guidance in Decision-Making and Budget Process of Ministries of Finance. Comparison between Finland and Poland

Finland has been considered as a welfare state when the society developed rapidly after the Second World War. Poland was a good pair to compare with Finland because of the background of the society with the Soviet Union, although Poland got much more influence from there than Finland. Poland is speeding up its’ development of society and administration to be equal e.g. to other European Union countries. Reforms were developed for needs of better and effective administration in the both countries. Stiff and too bureaucratic public administration and management in all administrative levels were wanted to change more useful and appropriate direction. Budgetary decision-making has been quite strictly regulated and guided by norms. It has been seen strongly impossible to agencies of administrative branches to fit their budgets and targets into given certain frames without any own consideration. The lack of proper negotiations and negligence of ministries to their subordinates have complicated the situation. Research is based on two country case studies, Finland and Poland. There are included in introductions of societies, budgetary systems and reforms. More deeply has been taken into consideration performance guidance and budgetary theories and processes from the Ministries of Finance of the both countries. The primary aim of this case study is to bring up an appropriation of performance guidance in the actual budgetary decision-making and its’ processes, so to find solutions for aforementioned problems. A comparative view is also been compiled as having a purposeful direction. Material is mainly based on literature and the working papers of the Ministry of Finance and as well interviews for Polish part. Performance guidance has been adapted to public administration via performance management of private sector administration in Finland in the beginning of 1990. Results of this development have been seen very productive in the both sectors, and consequently this new system was enlarged e.g. to budgetary decision-making and process. Productivity and versatility of performance guidance is noticed as a flexible choice in performance guidance negotiations between ministries and agencies of the administrative brances. This possibility gives more freedom to agencies influence on their own targets and options to allocate money and resources to needed objectives. Performance guidance has gained ground widely in Finland and the results have spoken for itselves but in consideration of bad sides, too. Polish version of performance guidance has not much created success because monitoring of the execution and the entering into the whole process of negotiations are considered weak at the level of the ministry and the agencies of administrative branches. In overall view can be said that the systems of decision-making and budgetary processes are quite similar in the both countries under the research. Despite of some reforms made by compulsion and at short time period Poland can be considered as a functional market economy, which can survive from the pressure of competition and market powers in European Union. Still, reforms can seem to be good planned in paper but do not work properly in Polish state administration. In Finland continues the development of guidance reforms although performance guidance has given wanted results. However, it only is one guidance model among others smoothing the way in adapting new ones.fi=Kokotekstiversiota ei ole saatavissa.|en=Fulltext not available.|sv=Fulltext ej tillgänglig