Tendencias Internacionales en el Presupuesto de las Administraciones Públicas

Nowadays some Public Administrations are reforming their information systems in order to adapt them to new needs of public management. In this sense, Budget as the main management tool needs to be part of these reforms. There are only a few number of countries that have adopted a results based budget, and even less countries which an accrual basis budget. Only the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia have adopted accrual or resource budgeting, recognizing the events according the general accepted accounting principles. Accrual budgeting implies a better management and decision taking, so that not only are budgetary short-term effects known, but also long-term effects and the financial situation of the government. In this paper I analyse the international situation of central governments vis-á-vis adopting accrual basis or resource focus, and more specifically its implementation in Budget.