Gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) is an important mechanism for ensuring greater alignment between economic goals and the social commitments of local and regional governments. The most important ...prerequisite for implementation is a strong political will, which should be present at all stages of the process. The implementation of a GRB should be supported by everyone involved in the government, regardless of area and level. It requires radical change, so it should be approached gradually but consistently. The process needs to be started with small steps, as in the case of the city of Zagreb.
Using a variety of alternative accounting policies brings about different effects on the stated business results and the value of the company.
The objective of this paper is to develop a fuzzy logic ...solution for determining bias in financial reports on low-activity financial markets, and to find a method applicable to unquoted entities.
A fuzzy logic system was developed using data on Croatian companies, the MatLab software, and the Mamdani fuzzy inference method.
The paper provides the summary of results obtained using a fuzzy logic system, and they indicate that the model has relevant validity.
The model can serve as a stimulus for more detailed studies of biased financial statements elements. The fuzzy logic model should be further tested on a larger sample of companies classified based on their activity and under different business conditions.
The last global economic crisis set fiscal consolidation as one of the most relevant goals of economic policy. At the same time, efforts are necessary to increase economic growth rates, particularly ...by increasing quantity and quality of public investment. However, the lack of fiscal space and other impediments make these goals hard to attain. On the contrary, in many countries data show negative dynamics of quantity and quality of public investment. In terms of energy efficiency investment, trends are positive. However, the pace of investment significantly underperforms the goals set. We argue that one of the major reasons is the lack of financial innovation and project selection methodology. For this reason, projects have still been mainly financed under traditional procurement models. Surprisingly, most countries do not exploit the advantages of alternative models of financing which do not affect public debt level, significantly reduce fiscal deficits and reduce fiscal risks. This article argues that a multi-criteria approach used at the initial stages of project preparation increases the potential for project realisation and the overall quantity and quality. In order to provide empirical evidence, we use information on energy efficiency streetlighting projects and present a case of a traditional versus alternative financing models.
Highlights
a need for a systematic approach when selecting optimal financing model is a must;
a lack of financial innovation is one of the most critical impediments to a higher level of investment in revenue-generating projects common for the energy efficiency sector;
alternative models of financing enable public investment increase without harming the fiscal position;
a new methodology for selecting the most preferable model is presented;
a policy mix should take more comprehensive stance towards complexity of public investment projects.
Healthcare sector expenditures persistently rise due to various public health, demographic, and socio-cultural reasons. This fact caused repeated calls for reforms of the economic model in the ...healthcare sector due to increased concern for efficiency. The aim of this paper is the comparison of the Slovenian and Croatian healthcare systems, focusing mainly on the current development stage and the future challenges of the management (cost) accounting systems. The research is mainly interested in the analysis of capabilities of cost tracking according to different criteria and identification of the main constraints in the implementation of a full costing method in Slovenian and Croatian hospitals. The methodology of the literature review and electronic survey was used to assess the practice in both countries. Analysing the data collected from the responses of 26 (100%) Slovenian and 52 (91.22%) Croatian hospital accountants and financial officers, it is possible to claim that Slovenian and Croatian management accounting systems are at a very early development stage. Nevertheless, the analysis reveals several similarities, as well as differences, between the two systems, and it can be concluded that Slovenia has succeeded in making greater progress, especially when observing systematical cost monitoring and implementation of national cost analysis.
This paper emphasizes the economic importance of the civil society sector in the national socio-economic context. There is a systematic neglect of the economic and financial components of civil ...society organizations and non-profit sector in Croatia even though a significant volume of civil society organizations’ activities is funded from public sources and there is a high possibility of exploitation of their relatively privileged tax position. The purpose of this paper is to present research results of the funding sources, the financial potential and the elements of economic performance of citizens’ associations in the Republic of Croatia. The survey sample includes over 20,000 citizens’ associations which have submitted financial reports to the Registry of Non-profit Organizations in accordance with the statutory obligation. The research is based on aggregated data reported in the Balance Sheet and Performance Report for 2015 and 2016. The scientific contribution of the paper is reflected in the assessment of the financial performance and financial transparency of the activities of civil society organizations in the Republic of Croatia and their sustainability in comparison with Serbia and Slovenia.
The aim of this paper is to investigate the quality and usefulness of external financial reports at Croatian public higher education institutions for management purposes. Previous studies have ...pointed out the fact that external financial reports are prepared in accordance with the legal reporting requirements and have the required structure and content that are unified for all budgetary users and do not reflect the specifics of higher education institutions. But however, there is no studies about usage of external financial reports for management purposes. In that context, the authors have conducted empirical research based on web questionnaires at public higher education institutions in Croatia. The statistical analysis of the obtained data has shown that external financial reports are useful for presenting the financial position at higher education institutions and for decision-making process. Accountants' views on ways and obstacles to improve the external reporting system were also explored. The overall conclusion of the conducted research is that regardless of current usage of external financial reports for different purposes there is a strong need to improve the existing external reporting system in order to expand the existing scope of accounting information making the external financial reports more useful for management purposes.
This paper emphasizes the economic importance of the civil society sector in the national socio-economic context. There is a systematic neglect of the economic and financial components of civil ...society organizations and non-profit sector in Croatia even though a significant volume of civil society organizations' activities is funded from public sources and there is a high possibility of exploitation of their relatively privileged tax position. The purpose of this paper is to present research results of the funding sources, the financial potential and the elements of economic performance of citizens' associations in the Republic of Croatia. The survey sample includes over 20,000 citizens' associations which have submitted financial reports to the Registry of Non-profit Organizations in accordance with the statutory obligation. The research is based on aggregated data reported in the Balance Sheet and Performance Report for 2015 and 2016. The scientific contribution of the paper is reflected in the assessment of the financial performance and financial transparency of the activities of civil society organizations in the Republic of Croatia and their sustainability in comparison with Serbia and Slovenia.
To examine the state of managerial accounting use in Croatian public sector, the survey based on the questionnaire made was conducted in 2006 and 2011. The questionnaire was sent to 150 organizations ...and units in public sector and it consisted of 24 questions. The total of 123 units responded to the questionnaire in 2006, while 88 public sector units and organizations returned the answered questionnaire in 2011. In this paper the authors present empirical results of the research conducted. The results prove that cost management for purposes of cost planning and control in Croatian public sector is still undeveloped and still not sufficiently used in the process of determining budgetary spending. Also, the authors provide possible solutions for better usage of managerial accounting in Croatian public sector.
The reporting of alternative performance measures (APMs) is currently the focus of much debate in the world. In this paper, we analyse APMs basics, e.g. financial statements as the basis for ...alternative performance measurement. Accounting, with the basic concepts of documentation and verifiability, provides wide intervals of evaluation of all positions of all financial statements that have found economic expression in accounting policies. Using a variety of alternative accounting policies brings about different effects on the stated financial results and the value of the company. Each of the standard financial statements users has different information needs and their understanding of fair financial reporting. Which is why, APMs and financial ratios mustn't be basis for financial decisions without deep insight into the numbers from which ratios have been made. In this paper is given an overall literature review of accounting conservatism models, which should be used in assessment of bias in financial reporting.
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