Question 86

Does the Year-End Report present expenditure estimates for individual programs?
 * a. Yes, the Year-End Report presents estimates for programs accounting for all expenditures.
 * b. Yes, the Year-End Report presents estimates for programs accounting for at least two-thirds of, but not all, expenditures.
 * c. Yes, the Year-End Report presents estimates for programs accounting for less than two-thirds of expenditures.
 * d. No, the Year-End Report does not present expenditure estimates by program.
 * e. Not applicable/other (please comment).

OBS Guidelines
Question 86 asks if expenditure estimates in the Year-End Report are presented by program. There is no standard definition for the term “program,” and the meaning can vary from country to country. However, for the purposes of answering the questionnaire, researchers should understand the term “program” to mean any level of detail below an administrative unit, such as a ministry or department.

A note for francophone countries: “Program” level detail is sometimes referred to as le plan comptable or le plan comptable detaille. (These data are typically coded in the financial management database, following the chart of budgetary accounts, so that they can be organized by administrative and functional classification.)

To answer “a,” the Year-End Report must present expenditure estimates for all individual programs, accounting for all expenditures. Answer “b” if the Year-End Report presents expenditures for individual programs that when combined account for at least two-thirds of expenditures, but not all expenditures. Answer “c” if the Year-End Report presents programs that account for only less than two-thirds of expenditures. Answer “d” if expenditures are not presented by program in the Year-End Report.

1) What counts and doesn’t count as a program?
We accept anything that is below administrative classification.

Example: we did not accept Australia’s overall YER (pp 81-83) in OBS 2017 because the cited table:
 * showed COFOG functional classification
 * had no detail below administrative unit

We did ultimately score Australia an “a” because we used individual ministries YERs. See Australia's Open Budget Survey 2017.

Note that economic classification (e.g., “compensation”, “use of goods and services”, “consumption of fixed capital”, “interest”, “subsidies”, “grants”, “social benefits”, “other expenses”, etc.) below the administrative unit DOES NOT count. In addition, a sub-functional classification below a functional classification also does not count. In OBS 2019, for example, China released an Enacted Budget (see attached) that had sub-functional classifications within the functional classification of the budget. We did not count these sub-functional classifications as programs.

If you find a functional classification beneath an administrative classification, please bring it to the team.