Accountability to the Federal Court of Accounts within the Open Government Partnership

Abstract

The Federal Constitution of 1988 confers new features to the Brazilian public administration. By establishing ways and forums of participation, as well as access to public information, the Constitution broke off the insulating model of public administration in force until then. These achievements, that seek to engage more and more people in the everyday activities of the Federal Government, have become more apparent since the entry into force of the infra-constitutional norms that governed forms of participation, transparency and of obtaining information about government actions. In 2011, the Brazilian Government, aiming to be recognized as open government, joined the Open Government Partnership - OGP and committed to improve government action through the promotion of transparency, accountability and responsiveness. This task could be facilitated if the Courts of Accounts and, in particular, the Federal Court of Accounts - TCU, could contribute to the achievement of those commitments. Thus, the objective of this article is to discuss the possibility of the TCU, by means of rendering of accounts, to improve the exercise of accountability and contribute to the Executive Branch in achieving the commitments made. The analysis allowed identifying the rendering of accounts as a relevant instrument TCU has to contribute to the Executive Branch in the fulfillment of the principles outlined by the OGP.