TRANSPARENCY AND CORPORATE REPORTING IN LOCAL GOVERNMENTS: APPLICATIONS OF OVACIK MUNICIPALITY
TRANSPARENCY AND CORPORATE REPORTING IN LOCAL GOVERNMENTS: APPLICATIONS OF OVACIK MUNICIPALITY

Summary/Abstract: Local governments are areas where democracy can be directly implemented in democratic contemporary societies. Local executives and organs are selected by local people to meet the common needs of local people. They fulfill the duties and authorities determined by law on the basis of accountability and transparency. But in societies where authoritarianism prevails, local executives and bodies, even if elected by local people, fulfill the duties and authorities dictated by the central government, rather than performing activities on the basis of accountability and transparency. Therefore, authorities and responsibilities are at the discretion of the central management. Accountability and transparency are directed towards upstream and centralized management. In contemporary democratic societies, local governments communicate their financial and nonfinancial reports about the activities they perform and their results in a clear and timely manner to appropriate local people. In this context, local government executives and organs account for local people on the basis of transparency. On the contrary, in societies where authoritarianism prevails, local administrators and organs report the financial and non-financial information determined by the central government as desired. Naturally, local people do not have enough knowledge about the resources and their use of local government. In this framework, the aim of this study is to demonstrate the importance of transparency and corporate governance in local governments and to value Ovacık municipality practices.

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