The History of Municipal Public Reporting

Abstract In the first half of the 20th century, municipal administration included emphasizing that municipal officials in a democracy must contribute to the maintenance of an informed citizenry by reporting to the public, using such techniques as annual reports. Municipal reporting was in its heyday from the 1920s to the 1940s. Then, by the end of the 20th century, it gradually disappeared from the municipal administrator’s agenda. Nonetheless, based on its theory and rationale, municipal reporting remains a duty of the public manager in a democracy. While not part of the e-government agenda yet, the new technologies of the digital era have the capacity to transform the traditional 20th century concept of municipal reporting into e-reporting for the 21st.