United States

Which countries lead in budget accountability? Which ones need improvement? Explore our data and recommendations for each of the 120 countries assessed.
Open Budget Survey Results

Public Participation

22

Budget Oversight

83

Transparency

68

Open Budget Survey 2021

Government budget decisions – what taxes to levy, what services to provide, and how much debt to take on – have important consequences for all people in society. When governments provide information and meaningful channels for the public to engage in these decisions, we can better ensure public money is spent on public interests.

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The Open Budget Survey (OBS) is the world’s only independent, comparative and fact-based research instrument that uses internationally accepted criteria to assess public access to central government budget information; formal opportunities for the public to participate in the national budget process; and the role of budget oversight institutions, such as legislatures and national audit offices, in the budget process.

The survey helps local civil society assess and confer with their government on the reporting and use of public funds. This 8th edition of the OBS covers 120 countries.

Summary
Country Specific Assessments
Country summary EN
pdf, 329.25 KB
Questionnaire EN
pdf, 911.38 KB
68 /100

This part of the OBS measures public access to information on how the central government raises and spends public resources. It assesses the online availability, timeliness, and comprehensiveness of eight key budget documents using 109 equally weighted indicators and scores each country on a scale of 0 to 100. A transparency score of 61 or above indicates a country is likely publishing enough material to support informed public debate on the budget.

Transparency in United States compared to others

Global Average
45
OECD Average
66
South Africa
86
Sweden
85
New Zealand
85
Mexico
82
Norway
81
Brazil
80
Italy
75
United Kingdom
74
Germany
73
France
72
United States
68
Portugal
60
Spain
54
Canada
31
0
Insufficient
61
Sufficient
100

United States’s ranking: 18 of 120 countries

0
100

How has the transparency score for United States changed over time?

82
2010
79
2012
81
2015
77
2017
76
2019
68
2021
0
Insufficient
61
Sufficient
100

Public availability of budget documents in United States

Key
Available to the Public
Published Late, or Not Published Online, or Produced for Internal Use Only
Not Produced
Scroll
Document 2010 2012 2015 2017 2019 2021
Pre-Budget Statement
Executive’s Budget Proposal
Enacted Budget
Citizens Budget
In-Year Reports
Mid-Year Review
Year-End Report
Audit Report

How comprehensive is the content of the key budget documents that United States makes available to the public?

Key
61-100 / 100
41-60 / 100
1-40 / 100
Scroll
Key budget document Document purpose and contents Fiscal year assessed Document content score
Pre-Budget Statement Discloses the broad parameters of fiscal policies in advance of the Executive's Budget Proposal; outlines the government's economic forecast, anticipated revenue, expenditures, and debt. NA Not Produced
Executive’s Budget Proposal Submitted by the executive to the legislature for approval; details the sources of revenue, the allocations to ministries, proposed policy changes, and other information important for understanding the country's fiscal situation. 2021 95
Enacted Budget The budget that has been approved by the legislature. 2021 28
Citizens Budget A simpler and less technical version of the government's Executive’s Budget Proposal or the Enacted Budget, designed to convey key information to the public. na Not Produced
In-Year Reports Include information on actual revenues collected, actual expenditures made, and debt incurred at different intervals; issued quarterly or monthly. 2020 & 2021 96
Mid-Year Review A comprehensive update on the implementation of the budget as of the middle of the fiscal year; includes a review of economic assumptions and an updated forecast of budget outcomes. 2021 Not Produced
Year-End Report Describes the situation of the government's accounts at the end of the fiscal year and, ideally, an evaluation of the progress made toward achieving the budget's policy goals. 2019 48
Audit Report Issued by the supreme audit institution, this document examines the soundness and completeness of the government's year-end accounts. 2019 91

United States’s transparency score of 68 in the OBS 2021 is lower than its score in 2019.

What changed in OBS 2021?

United States has decreased the availability of budget information by:

Failing to produce a document that meets the criteria of a Mid-Year Review, particularly one that includes revised revenue, expenditure, and deficit estimates for the full fiscal year, and updated economic assumptions for the year. The US Mid-Session Review typically provides this information, but did not in 2020 because of the pandemic and the uncertainty it created.

Recommendations

United States should prioritize the following actions to improve budget transparency:

Produce and publish a Citizens Budget online in a timely manner.
Include in the Year-End Report comparisons between planned expenditures and revenues and actual outcomes.
Improve the comprehensiveness of the Enacted Budget.
Ensure that even during emergency situations budget documents such as the Mid-Year Review are published online in a timely manner. While uncertainty can be high during emergencies, the lack of key budget information only adds to the uncertainty.
22 /100

The OBS assesses the formal opportunities offered to the public for meaningful participation in the different stages of the budget process. It examines the practices of the central government’s executive, the legislature, and the supreme audit institution (SAI) using 18 equally weighted indicators, aligned with the Global Initiative for Fiscal Transparency’s Principles of Public Participation in Fiscal Policies , and scores each country on a scale from 0 to 100.

United States has a public participation score of 22 (out of 100).

Public participation in United States compared to others

Global Average
14
OECD Average
21
United Kingdom
54
New Zealand
48
Canada
26
Norway
24
United States
22
Mexico
22
South Africa
19
France
18
Portugal
17
Brazil
15
Germany
15
Sweden
15
Italy
11
Spain
2
0
Insufficient
61
Sufficient
100

For more information, see here  for innovative public participation practices around the world.

Extent of opportunities for public participation in the budget process

0
/100
Formulation
(executive)
67
/100
Approval
(legislature)
0
/100
Implementation
(executive)
44
/100
Audit
(supreme audit institution)
Key
0-40: Few
41-60: Limited
61-100: Adequate

Recommendations

To further strengthen public participation in the budget process, the US Office of Management and Budget should prioritize the following actions:

Pilot mechanisms to engage the public during budget formulation and to monitor budget implementation.
Actively engage with vulnerable and underrepresented communities, directly or through civil society organizations representing them.

The US Government Accountability Office should prioritize the following actions to improve public participation in the budget process:

Establish formal mechanisms for the public to contribute to relevant audit investigations.
83 /100

The OBS examines the role that legislatures and supreme audit institutions (SAIs) play in the budget process and the extent to which they provide oversight; each country is scored on a scale from 0 to 100 based on 18 equally weighted indicators. In addition, the survey collects supplementary information on independent fiscal institutions (see Box).

The legislature and supreme audit institution in the United States, together, provide adequate oversight during the budget process, with a composite oversight score of 83 (out of 100). Taken individually, the extent of each institution’s oversight is shown below:

Legislative oversight

0
78
100
adequate

Audit oversight

0
95
100
adequate
Key
0-40: Few
41-60: Limited
61-100: Adequate

Recommendations

The US Congress provides adequate oversight during the planning and implementation stages of the budget cycle. To further improve oversight, the following actions are recommended:

Congress should approve annual appropriations before the start of the budget year.
A congressional committee should examine the Audit Report and publish a report with its findings online.

The emerging practice of establishing independent fiscal institutions

United States’s independent fiscal institution (IFI) is the Congressional Budget Office. Its independence is set in law, and it reports to the legislature. It publishes its own macroeconomic and fiscal forecasts, and its own cost estimates of all new policy proposals.

The indicators on IFIs are not scored in the Open Budget Survey.

Methodology

  • Only documents published and events, activities, or developments that took place through 31 December 2020 were assessed in the OBS 2021.
     
  • The survey is based on a questionnaire completed in each country by an independent budget expert:
    Robert Keith
    Consultant

    [email protected]
  • To further strengthen the research, each country’s draft questionnaire is also reviewed by an anonymous independent expert.
Past reports
Years
Language
Country summary EN
PDF, en
Questionnaire EN
PDF, en
Country summary EN
PDF, en
Questionnaire EN
PDF, en