Program Budgeting and Organisational Performance of DTA in Cameroon

Abstract

The performance of local public action through the management of Decentralized Territorial Authorities (DTAs) is increasingly crystallizing the expectations of administrations and citizens. This quest for performance has been accompanied by strong criticism of the management tools used, such as the traditional budget or “budget of means”. The advent of decentralization has ushered in a new era under the aegis of the program budget or “budget for results”. This article aims to assess the effect of program budgeting on the organisational performance of local authorities through two mediating variables: the reduction of information asymmetry and the optimal allocation of budgetary resources. To do this, we opted for a quantitative methodology and used a non-probability sampling method based on reasoned choice. The sample survey of the 46 municipalities was carried out by means of a questionnaire, and the multiple linear regression method was used to test the hypotheses. We tested the effect of the use of the program budget on the two mediating variables and the effect of the latter on the organisational performance of the DTAs in Cameroon. The results validated our various hypotheses. We can therefore conclude that the use of program budgeting reduces information asymmetry and optimizes the allocation of resources, which in turn significantly improves the organisational effectiveness and efficiency of the DTAs in Cameroon. The study recommends the use of program budgeting in local authorities to implement programs, strengthen links between resources and results and improve the performance of public action.