EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

A balanced scorecard is an ideal tool for those public sector leaders who want to properly understand what they should be doing and where to prioritise their spending.

This straight-forward report  will show how cope with significantly reduced budgets, the leaders of public sector organisations cannot simply cut headcount or departments (as would be the case in a commercial setting, as the recession has painfully shown). Although some level of downsizing will occur (and rightly so in many instances where unnecessary and expensive bureaucracies have developed),organisations are being asked to deliver sizeable efficiency gains without any degradation of service.

The upgrading of public sector performance management has been under the spotlight for some time.

In Australia, all government departments, agencies and business enterprises which deal with the public are required to develop customer service charters.
In Canada, the government has introduced a management framework for departments and agencies that includes a commitment to measurable improvements in client satisfaction.