Administrative

Accountability
1.Types of Public Administration
2.Types of Administrative
Accountability exercised in:

Varietiesof public
administration
Regulation
Administrative
Accountability
Refers to a system in which
administrators are obliged to
subject themselves to the
scrutiny of those who have
entrusted them with power and
they have to take responsibility
for their performance (SONG Tao, College
of Political Administration, Zhongshan University,
China, in Carino, 1993).
Public office is a public trust.
Public officers and employees
must at all times be accountable
to the people, serve them with
utmost responsibility, integrity,
loyalty, and efficiency, act with
patriotism and justice, and lead
modest lives (Article 10, 1987
Constitution).
Four Standard Questions Of
Accountability

1. Who is considered accountable?

2. To whom is he accountable?

3. To what standards or values is he

accountable?

4. By what means is he made accountable?

Types of Accountability
1. Traditional accountability

2. Managerial accountability

3. Program accountability

Performance Audit
Social accountability

4. Process accountability
 A. Traditional Accountability
Weberian bureaucracy routinization, obedience

Standards of judging are legality and regularity set

by controllers external to the responsible person

ifthe act is within the provisions of laws and

regulations governing the agency

ifthe person(s) who performed it have the

authority to do so.

Responsibilityof concerned bureaucrat is to observe

the hierarchically-oriented legal responsibilities
B. Managerial Accountability

Government officials are responsible

for more than just compliance with
laws and regulations.

Government officials are expected to

promote efficiency and economy in
the use of public funds, property,
manpower and other resources.
 B. Managerial
Accountability
Efficient operations include (Leo Herbert, 1982:
7):

Holding the costs constant while increasing the

benefits
Holding the benefits constant while decreasing
the costs
Increasing the costs at a lower rate than
benefits
Decreasing costs at a lower rate than benefits

Economical operation is the elimination or

reduction of needless costs.
B. Managerial
Accountability
Cut red tape, simplify work

Involves operational audit such as:

management analysis
organization and methods (O
and M) studies
systems improvement
C. Program Accountability

Concernedwith the results of

government operations.

The main focus of this type of

accountability is the agency head
or manager.

Mode of inquiry: performance audit.

C.1 Performance Audit
1. Whether the government unit is
carrying out only authorized activities or
programs in a prescribed manner, and
whether they are accomplishing their
activities.

2. Whether the corresponding

expenditures are made in an effective,
efficient and economical manner
according to applicable laws and
regulations.
C.1 Performance Audit
3. Whether resources are being adequately
controlled and used effectively, efficiently
and economically.

4. Whether the entitys accounting system

complies with applicable accounting
principles, standards and related
requirements. and

5. Whether the entitys financial statements

and operating reports properly disclose the
information required.
 C.2 Social Accountability
The main inquiry is whether the administrative
activities inspire general confidence and secure
what are widely regarded as desirable social
ends.

The managers accountability is to ensure that

the program satisfies the interest of citizens not
only through the normal bureaucratic systems but
also in a manner that directly benefit them.

Tools include human resource accounting, social

accounting, and the analysis of economic and
social impact of programs.
 D. Process Accountability
Emphasizes procedures and methods of operation

Focuses on the black box inside systems which

transforms inputs (the concern of traditional and
managerial accountability) to outputs (the concern of
program accountability)

Some goals may not be measurable directly and

surrogates, representing how goal-directed activity may
be performed are used instead.

McKinney suggests an adaptation of the process

accountability where the provider and recipient will
agree at the beginning on the terms of service delivery
and their individual responsibilities (directly applicable
in the provision of grant)
 Summary: Comparison of Different
Kinds of Administrative
Accountability
Accountabili Traditional Managerial Program Process
ty Accountabilit Accountabili Accountabili Accountability
Questions y ty ty
1. Who is Employees and Administrator Administrator Administrator
accountable officials
?
2. To whom is People People People People through
he through through through legislature
accountable legislature legislature legislature
? President President
President President
constitution constitutional
constitutional al bodies constitutiona bodies
bodies l bodies
hierarchy hierarchy
hierarchy hierarchy professional
standards
professional individual
standards conscience
direct
individual accountability to
conscience people through
their
 Comparison of Different Kinds of
Administrative Accountability

Accountabi Traditional Managerial Program Process

lity Accountabili Accountabili Accountabili Accountabili
Questions ty ty ty ty
3. To what regularity economy economy economy
standard legality efficiency efficiency efficiency
of values compliance effectivenes effectivenes
is he s s
accountabl decentralizati
e? on
participation
4. By what line-item manageme comprehens negotiations
means is budgeting nt audit ive audit
he made traditional systems program
accountabl accounting improveme evaluation
e? standard nt productivity
operating measureme
procedure nt
The Varieties of Public
Administration

1. Traditional Public Administration

2. Development Administration
3. New Public Administration
4. Development Public
Administration
 Varieties of Public
Administration and Types of
Accountability
Varieties of Types of Accountability
Public
Administration
1. Traditional Public Accountability of
Administration Regularity (Traditional
Accountability)

Managerial
Accountability
2. Development Managerial
Administration Accountability
3. New Public Program Accountability
Administration
4. Development Process Accountability
 Varieties of Public
Administration and the Process
of Regulating Behavior
Varieties of Public Process of
Administration Regulating
Behavior
1. Accountability of control
Regularity
(Traditional
Accountability)
2. Managerial control
Accountability supervision
3. Program influence
Accountability management
4. Process supervision
Accountability management
The Process of Regulating
Behavior
A. Sources of Power

May be external to or
internalized by the regulated

External rules include laws or

bureaucratic rules and
disobedience are meted with
sanctions.
 Processes Regulating Bureaucratic Behavior

Control Supervisi Influence Managem

on ent
Source of External to External to Internalize Both
power the the d by external
regulated regulated regulated and
laws laws internalize
superviso d by
rs supervisor regulated
s
Kinds of direct General Moral Process
rules comman guidelines Ethical rules
ds Other
program bureaucra
med tic
decisions standards
Assumed high low high low
predictabili
 Herman Finer vs Carl Friedrich
on Accountability in the 1940s

1. Herman Finer

Espouses traditional accountability.

To whom and for what one is responsible?

Accountability is defined as the degree of

effective answerability as ascertained by
the elected representatives of the public.
 Herman Finer vs Carl Friedrich
on Accountability in the 1940s

2. Carl Friedrich

Responsibility must be elicited rather than

imposed.

To whom and for whom one feels responsible

and behaves responsibly?

Professional norms as well as individual

conscience as appropriate judges of a person or
agencys performance.
Towards Increasing Accountability
1. Creation of secondary regulators who will perform
an assistive role to administrators and evaluate
performance accordingly

2. Bureaucratic reorientation to promote attitudinal

change among civil servants.

Professional
training to include development of
knowledge and skills, guidance in attitudes, code
of ethics

Training regulators to be less controllers than

managers, and encouraging them to set up
performance standards in consultation with the
staff and the people they serve.
Towards Increasing Accountability

3. For non-regulatory agencies, withdrawal of

CSC and COA from direct internal matter,
giving the primacy of responsibility to
managers.

4. Hongkongs Independent Commission

Against Corruption showed the twin
strengths in prevention and sanctions to
help define in particular context what the
law wants.

5. Involvement of the citizens.