Evaluation Of Budget Management Performance In The North Bolaang Mongondow Regency Government

Abstract

This study evaluates budget management performance in the North Bolaang Mongondow Regency Government during fiscal years 2022–2024. The evaluation focuses on three principal stages of regional budget management: planning, implementation, and accountability. The study responds to a gap between the normative requirements of Government Regulation No. 12 of 2019 and observed budget performance, including the delayed enactment of the 2023 budget, low first-semester expenditure realization in 2024, and incomplete follow-up of audit recommendations despite consecutive Unqualified Opinions (WTP). An explanatory sequential mixed-methods design was employed. Quantitative evidence was obtained from regional budget realization reports, financial ratios, budget enactment records, audit opinions, and follow-up reports. Qualitative evidence was collected through interviews, focus group discussions, observation, and document review involving 19 purposively selected informants from budget-management institutions and five regional agencies. The CIPP evaluation model was integrated with COSO ERM 2017 to explain performance and its constraints. The findings indicate that the planning context was moderately adequate, while planning inputs were inadequate. Budget implementation performance was also inadequate, as first-semester expenditure realization in 2024 reached only 38.7% and spending remained concentrated in the fourth quarter. Accountability performance was mixed: WTP opinions were maintained during 2022–2024 and financial statements were submitted on time, but audit recommendation follow-up remained between 64.7% and 72.6%, below the 75% national target. Human-resource capacity and the SIPD-CMS information system were the most dominant constraints, followed by political-budget dynamics, central regulatory changes, and weaknesses in follow-up dispositions. The study identifies a “WTP paradox” and a chain of performance constraints originating in planning inputs and extending to implementation and accountability.