ABSTRACT
382Two key developments in contemporary public administration, performance information and electronic government, have converged to permit the transformation of traditional 20th-century public reporting (such as through printed annual reports) into 21st-century e-reporting. Generally, performance information was initially used as an internal management control tool as well as by oversight bodies, such as the legislative branch and other elected officials. However, more recently, performance information has also been used to strengthen and improve public reporting. By publicizing this information to the citizenry, agencies have a newer and concise format to use to report on their activities in ways that are meaningful and understandable to the lay public. Similarly, the emerging technology of electronic government had initially focused on transactional relationships between government and citizens, such as filing forms, submitting requests, and renewing licenses. Now, the evolution of electronic government towards e-democracy offers new opportunities for agencies to engage in e-reporting, by posting regular reports on their websites.
