With a population about the size of Virginia, Austria may be a relatively small nation, but it provides a prominent example of implementing performance budgeting. In particular, a series of budget reforms in recent years has significantly shifted the federal budget process in Austria from one focused on the question, “How much do we spend?” to one with a much stronger focus on the question, “What results are we producing?”
Specific reforms include multiyear budgeting, the ability of ministries (that is, federal agencies) to keep any savings from cost-cutting or efficiencies, and a performance measurement system including the requirement that each ministry set at least five key goals that are approved by parliament.
To tell us about performance budgeting in Austria, we are joined by Gerhard Steger who is the Budget Director for the Austrian Ministry of Finance.