How is your 20 percent VAT used by governmental institutions? How is your 10 percent income tax spent? It’s your money and you should know.
Nearly 80 percent of Bulgarian governmental institutions do not publish their financial statements on their official websites as shown by the Access to Information Program, whose team reviewed and evaluated 566 websites of institutions. Are we really aware of how the government spends the money it takes from our pocket? It does not seem to be, as the study shows that there is actually no way and how to learn.
Transparency of financial information
According to the survey, the transparency of financial information remains the most serious challenge for institutions – only nine percent of all institutions surveyed published a budget that is easy for all citizens to understand. At the same time, there is an increase in the number of those who publish their annual budget (from 41 percent in 2015 to 60 percent in 2017) and those giving access to quarterly spending reports (from 25 percent in 2015 to 41 percent in 2017).
Indicators about public procurements are much better – more than 90 percent of institutions publish public procurement announcements on their pages, and over 85 percent also publish the documentation required for application and deadlines for submission. Slightly more than half the institutions publish instructions and further clarifications to candidates.
Transparency of operational and institutional information
Only 14 percent of the institutions publish reports on the results of public deliberations on draft legislation, and 51 percent do not even publish the texts of the draft proposals themselves. On the other hand, the proportion of institutions publishing an annual report on their work increased from 25 percent in 2015 to 62 percent in 2017.
Also high were the percentages of institutional information published – a list of services offered by the institution (88 percent), the rules of procedure (78 percent) and information on the institutions maintained by the institution (58 percent).
Access to information
More than three-quarters of all institutions surveyed have an Access to Information section on their pages and almost half (49 percent) also provide clarifications on how citizens can take advantage of their right to access the information they require.
