Research On Performance Evaluation Of Financial Expenditure In Local Governments Of Shandong Province

Ever since the reform and opening up, China has enjoyed a rapid economic growth,gradual increase of social wealth and constant improvement of fiscal revenue levels inlocal governments and expanding dimension of financial expenditures. The proportion ofour country’s financial expenditures enjoying a steady ascending. As a result, localgovernments acquire constantly extending fiscal liabilities. Noticeably, while localgovernments shoulder more fiscal responsibilities, financial expenditure has beeninterpreted as: meeting the financial needs of all functional departments to the largestextent, raising funds for economic construction and guaranteeing the speed of economicdevelopment. Because of the monotonous pursuit of speed, the issue of financialexpenditure performance is thus ignored. Particularly, when the powers local authoritiesare superior to financial power, local governments will have insufficient financialself-supporting capability. And the more basic the government level is, the more apparentfinancial difficulties are. In order to get rid of such dilemma, regardless of their fiscallevels, local governments collect various funds in disguised forms and apply them ineconomic development. They solely stress the pace of development, but never considerabout the responsibilities of investment and the effects of expenditures. Such malpracticesas divorce between powers and liabilities and ambiguous responsibilities existing in theutilization of fiscal funds lead to alarming conditions of financial expenditures in ourcountry currently.In order to further enhance the utilization efficiency of fiscal funds, the key point liesin perfecting and consummating the analyzing and evaluating system of fiscal expenditureperformance, which is an important management measure in guaranteeing the effectiverunning of economic system in our county.This paper consists of five chapter s:Chapter1is Introduction. It mainly discusses the background and significance of theresearch, reviews on relevant literature at home and abroad, research content and approachas well as the innovations and deficiency of this paper. Chapter2expounds the theory of financial expenditure performance. It explains themeaning and features of financial expenditure performance, the characteristics of financialexpenditures by local government and practical difficulties of local governments resultedfrom current financial policies in our country.The third chapter is an analysis to and evaluation of the present conditions of financialexpenditure performance levels of basic level governments. Taking the current fiscalexpenditure condition of Taian City in Shandong Province as an example, this paper carriesout a longitudinal analysis between the fiscal expenditures of Central Government andShandong Province and a horizontal comparison of that among other districts withinShandong. Then, it further makes a single trend contrast to the financial expendituresconditions of the downtown of a county in Taian City. Consequently, a conclusion isarrived as to whether differences exist among the financial expenditure performance levelsof different governments.Chapter4illustrates factors influencing fiscal expenditure performance levels of basiclevel governments and conducts an empirical analysis. On the basis of the conclusiondrawn in the chapter above, this paper starts from the practical developing conditions ofcounties and county-level cities in Taian City. It considers different perspectives, such asgross revenue, economic pillar industries, overall quality of population and per capitaincome etc., and analyzes influencing elements that lead to different levels of expenditureperformance in governments at all levels of the district. Thus, a conclusion this paperintends to expound is arrived.The last chapter brings forward some suggestions to advance the policies on fiscalexpenditure performance of local governments in our country. According to conclusionsreached through analyses above, it mainly raises some measures and countermeasures toperfect the fiscal expenditure performance of local governments.