Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Public performance reporting relates to managerial initiatives that systematically cover and regularly inform the public about government operations, thereby promoting an informed citizenry. As the public reporting movement matured, it went beyond an accountability tool to the public; some scholars also hinted at public reporting as a tool of control. Moreover, as the public reporting movement was gaining momentum, public trust continued its decline and ambitious candidates for public office often seized upon public reports as a means of critiquing incumbents. As a result, public agencies were often reluctant to publish reports that showed any declines in the performance of public agencies.

Recently, however, the growing emphasis of e-government and citizen participation has rejuvenated the phenomenon of public performance reporting in the United States. Governments are increasingly utilizing their websites to publish results of their performance measurement systems in the hopes of increasing accountability through transparency. E-reporting leverages government technology and enables effective communication and reporting to citizens by allowing ubiquitous access 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The purpose of the presentation is to examine the role of e-government and information technology in reporting performance measures by US municipalities. This research will assess budget and financial reports in the top U.S. cities to determine the extent to and manner in which they integrate performance data into publicly available reports. The study will employ two complementary methodologies to conduct the research — a content analysis and a lexical analysis of the reports, and examine the relevance of performance measurement in the planned and actual expenditures.