Financial and Economic Management in Autonomized Dutch Public Organizations

Alongside with the introduction of New Public Management, many governmental organizations in the Netherlands were autonomized. The aim of this paper is to analyze the changes in financial and economic management that accompanied these autonomizations. Case research was carried out in six public organizations. The financial management of these organizations improved somewhat after the autonomization. However, there were hardly any real changes in the economic management. The paper gives an overview of the changes in financial and economic management. It also discusses what factors might have prevented the realization of the planned changes in the (financial and) economic management.