TIFFANY GAIL C.

CLAMUCHA SEPTEMBER 17, 2022

PA 603 – FISCAL ADMINISTRATION

INTRODUCTION TO FISCAL ADMINISTRATION

Public Fiscal Administration has always been considered part of economics, but in recent
years, much has been focused on the political, administrative and management aspects of
formulating, implementing, and evaluating fiscal policy. Public administration covers a wide
array of issues and topics that have a direct connection to and effect on government
operations, such as resource allocation, revenue administration, taxation, public expenditure
and borrowing, auditing, and intergovernmental relations. If we think of it as a system, it
includes the environment, structures, processes, and personalities involved in formulating,
implementing, and evaluating fiscal policy. If we are to trace the origins of the Philippine public
fiscal administration, we need to incorporate the government’s levels of economic
development throughout the years, its historical experiences, its scars and traumas from
colonization, and the politico-economic relationships the Philippines have with other countries.
Nonetheless, an attempt to provide a comprehensive definition of Public Fiscal Administration
was noted by Briones (1996), which states that it is the formulation, implementation, and
evaluation of policies and decisions on taxation and revenue administration; resource
allocation, budgeting and public expenditure; public borrowing and debt management; and
accounting and auditing.

Public Fiscal Administration presents the realities of the government and different public
organizations, particularly with regard to their mandate of providing public goods and services
to the citizens. It also provides alternatives to remedy income and expenditure shortcomings
and to ensure a decent standard of living for people. These premises allow us to infer that fiscal
administration should derive its substance from the concept of general welfare, and that the
ultimate goal of Public Fiscal Administration is development --- to improve people's lives by
finding ways to meet everyone's needs economically, without favoritism or prejudice.

Furthermore, Public Fiscal Administration does not work in isolation. Fiscal policy
formulation and implementation must address the role that politics plays in it. The relationship
between fiscal administration and politics is a dynamic interplay of effects and causes. In other
words, fiscal policies are as influential as it is influenced by the political process. This
relationship exists because fiscal administration is believed to take place within a political
system.

The problem now is how to reconcile the relationship between politics and fiscal
administration to achieve common interests. As a student of this course, I have learned that

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there is a need to identify the constraints of public fiscal administration that prevent the
formulation of fiscal policies that are more consistent with the welfare of the intended
beneficiaries. There is a need to explore the potential for changes and reforms that can better
align with development goals and needs. As a results, we must determine process alternatives
and how to implement and institute these options.