GEOGRAPHY CLASS ‘X’

Category: Public Expenditure & Budgets
Tool: Public Revenue Reporting and Monitoring


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Public Revenue Reporting and Monitoring
Carmen Malena& Mahi Khallaf
CIVICUS
Tool summary
Public revenue reporting serves to inform the citizens of the sources and
amounts of government revenue and how it is proposed to be utilized. The public
disclosure of such information is necessary for citizens to understand the
financial resources that government has at its disposal, thereby supporting their
engagement with the government on issues of public finance. Public revenue
reporting also forms the basis for public revenue monitoring which aims to ensure
public revenues are properly managed. By complementing the task of tracking
public budgets and expenditure, public revenue reporting and monitoring plays a
crucial role in holding the government accountable for its decisions and actions.
What is it?
A government‟s income or revenue determines the quantum of funds available
for it to spend on the implementation of public policies, programmes and
services. Access to public revenue information is beginning to gain ground as an
implicit public right. Accessing information about public revenues is a key step for
citizens and civil society organizations (CSOs) to effectively engage with
governments and hold them accountable for the management of public funds.
Therefore, It is important for CSOs and the public at large to know about the
sources and amounts of public revenues.
Armed with information on public revenues, the CSOs can then initiate the
monitoring of public revenues which involves: identifying and analysing sources
and amounts of government revenues like taxes, income from natural resources,
loans and grants; and assessing the fairness and efficiency of revenue
generation such as for e.g. the systems of taxation and the management of
natural resources. Together with public revenue reporting, the monitoring of
public revenue acts complementary to monitoring public budgets, and tracking
what the government does with that revenue. It allows citizens and civil society
to question and/or influence how governments mobilize financial resources andhow those resources are utilized.

Revenue Expenditure is that part of government expenditure that does not result in the creation of assets.