Output-based management and the management of performance: insights from the Victorian experience

During the 1990s, the nature of general and financial management practices within the public sectors of many jurisdictions underwent significant change. The Australian state of Victoria represents an example of a jurisdiction in which the extent of change was particularly large. In the context of that state’s adoption of an output-based budgeting and management framework, the development and reporting of performance indicator data became a matter of increased significance in sustaining continuous improvement. This paper reports the results of a study of performance data reported within the Victorian public sector, and highlights problems indicated by high degrees of turnover in inventories of reported indicators over time.