Budgeting China: Macro-Policies and Micro-Practices in Public Sector Changes

23 Pages Posted: 30 May 2010

See all articles by Luca Zan

Luca Zan

University of Bologna - Department of Management

Qingmei Xue

Nanjing University - School of Business

Date Written: May 29, 2010

Abstract

Transformations taking place in China are of crucial importance in the development of the world economy. The international community is turning its attention to China’s move towards a market economy and assessing the likely impact on the years ahead. This paper aims to plot the evolution of administrative reforms in China with particular reference to the state (and therefore public sector), because the modernization of the state is an issue that will persist into the future, and because the state itself has been driving the country’s transformation towards a market economy in a deliberate way.

Within this framework, the paper revisits the debate on administrative reforms at different levels; i.e., fiscal, budgeting, government organizations, and Public Sector Units (PSUs). In addition to reconstructing the evolution of norms and procedures as part of deliberate strategies by the centre, the paper also investigates how actual practices at the micro level have followed this process of reform, with reference to the administration of cultural heritage at the municipal level, based on a field research project.

We find that a lack of relation with the role played by actual accounting transformation seems to characterize the current debate on policies. Serious discrepancies can be found between expectations and actual changes, and between macro and micro policies, and micro practices.

Keywords: Public Sector Accounting, Budgeting in China, China public sector, China transformation, Cultural Heritage China, Management of Cultural Heritage

Suggested Citation

Zan, Luca and Xue, Qingmei, Budgeting China: Macro-Policies and Micro-Practices in Public Sector Changes (May 29, 2010). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1617584 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1617584

Luca Zan (Contact Author)

University of Bologna - Department of Management ( email )

Via Capo di Lucca 34
Bologna, 40126
Italy

Qingmei Xue

Nanjing University - School of Business ( email )

22 Hankou Road
Nanjing, Jiangsu 210093 210093
China

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