Budgeting and Accounting in OECD Education Systems : A Literature Review

Abstract

Recent demographic, economic and political trends have drawn attention to the issue of effectiveness and efficiency in the use of resources in the education sector. In the context of the renewed interest for the optimisation of resource use, this paper attempts to review the literature on budgeting and accounting in OECD education systems. The analysis of accounting and budgeting in education systems provides an understanding of decision-making processes regarding education policies and projects, in terms of prioritisation, planning, allocation, monitoring and evaluation of resource use. The subjects covered in the paper also help to understand how resources are distributed. Greater requests for transparency from citizens are indeed pressuring governments to justify how public resources are allocated, and which variables determine the levels of funding flowing to schools. Finally, accounting standards and budgeting methods are studied in the current paper as they may also have an impact on effectiveness and efficiency of resource use. This report first explores governance questions underlying budgeting and accounting. Subsequently, the report reviews procedures and tools adopted by countries for budgeting and accounting. Finally, it presents methods for evaluation and monitoring of resource use. The paper attempts to identify trends and commonalities in country practices in primary, secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education; however, there are great variations on the studied topics across and within countries.