Towards Measurable and Auditable Efficiency Gains in the Flemish Public Sector

This article supports the Flemish Government’s efforts to improve the efficiency in the public sector, but points out that efficiency has to be considered in the broader context of a well-performing and well-functioning public sector. After describing the main motives for efficiency improvement, the article provides some insights into the concept of public sector efficiency gains. Within the discussion of their required characteristics, we focus mainly on the measurability and auditability conditions. We employ a phased approach for the measurement process of efficiency gains, going from the identification of potential savings to the reporting of the actual achieved results. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2013