Popular Financial Reports as Fiscal Transparency Mechanisms: An Assessment Using the Fiscal Transparency Index for the Citizen User

Meagan M. Jordan, Juita-Elena (Wie) Yusuf, Melanie Berman and Casey Gilchrist

International Journal of Public Administration, 2017, vol. 40, issue 8, 625-636

Abstract: Popular financial reports (PFRs) are intended to increase transparency by providing financial information to a non-technical, citizen audience. We examine the extent to which PFRs are meeting the goal of transparency by developing a 23-criteria fiscal transparency index for the citizen user (FTI-CU) and applying it to a sample of PFRs (popular annual financial reports and citizen-centric reports) issued by local governments in the U.S. These criteria are organized into five areas: comprehension, access, financials, appearance, and community-focused. The analysis finds that, while there are areas for improvement, the PFRs rated the highest in the access and appearance criteria.

Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1080/01900692.2016.1186175

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