Evaluating Local Government Financial Management Policy for Budget Surplus Control: Evidence from Boven Digoel, Indonesia

Budget surplus control requires policy evaluation that connects officials’ assessments with evidence of budget execution. This study evaluates local government financial management policy in Boven Digoel, Indonesia, using Dunn’s six criteria: effectiveness, efficiency, adequacy, equity, responsiveness, and appropriateness. A descriptive case evaluation examines reported questionnaire summaries alongside budget and realization figures for fiscal years 2023–2024. Reported assessment scores range from 4.02 to 4.15, with appropriateness receiving the highest score. These scores remain provisional pending verification of the underlying survey records. The difference between realized revenue and expenditure increased from IDR 111.77 billion to IDR 136.24 billion, while the expenditure execution rate declined from 91.29% to 90.95%. The available evidence therefore indicates favorable reported assessments alongside an increasing revenue–expenditure balance, but does not establish successful control of the Indonesian year-end budget balance, SiLPA. Financing transactions and program outputs must be examined before attributing the balance to efficiency or implementation constraints. The evaluation highlights the need for monitoring that links financial execution to activity schedules and outputs, targeted assistance to local government agencies, and reconciliation of the components contributing to year-end balances. Its contribution is a case-based assessment of the limits of relying on administrative perceptions alone when evaluating surplus control.