The citizens' report as tool of financial accountability for local government

The interest on the issue of transparency, especially at a local level, arises from changes that have involved the Public Sector in recent years. Hence, the objective of this chapter is to identify the essential features that should characterize an accountability tool able to report the accounting results of local authorities towards their communities of critical issues of the most popular tools of accountability (environmental report and social report) through literature analysis. These critical issues are prerequisites to the drafting of a Citizens' Report, regarded as a suitable tool to overcome these weaknesses. The definition of the peculiar characteristics of the Citizens' Report can be useful both academically (as a basis for future research on the external accountability of local governments), and for public management (for the preparation tool of consensus management) and for citizens (to whom the proposed instrument is addressed, representing a means of knowledge and, therefore, a tool of participation in public policy).