In international practice, the performance of public finance management is usually assessed on the basis of quality indicators of the subsystems of the public finance system. The experts of the State Audit Office of Hungary have developed an evaluation system capable of measuring the performance of public finance management on the basis of quantitative indicators and quantifying the contribution of the factors that determine performance most. This article describes this system. It also shows how the assessment system was used to analyse the risks to the ongoing reduction of Hungarian public debt.

For several years, competition within the resistor network industry has greatly increased sizeable increases in demand. To remain competitive and a leader in the field, CTS Corporation has chosen to initiate constantly new technologies for automation. To improve overall costs, automation must take place in the area of support personnel such as clerks, engineers, management and technicians as well as with the direct production workers. It is also believed that automation should take place under a well formulated planning system. Some of the techniques being implemented at CTS of Berne to accomplish this come under discussion. First, the capability of the process should be proven. Dealt with briefly are ways in which this is accomplished and the important role it plays in the fore‐running steps of automating. Before an automation project is undertaken, the payback to the company must be assured. The steps taken to accomplish this, starting with determining the variance in output rates (not cycle rates), yield and/or quality improvements, acquiring quotations, establishing total costs, and finally computing the ROI and payback factors are all reviewed. CTS Corporation has graduated from high labour intensified manual operations to semi and fully automatic ones. Some of the techniques used to effect this transition such as bowl and vibratory feeders, walking beams, and pick‐and‐place units, are discussed. Also portrayed is the way in which a constant improvement in the automation of the process and material handling is being undertaken at CTS. Among the new generation developments are: Multiple handling of parts via tubes, magazines, and pallets; robotics; automatic 100% visual inspection, and computer and microprocessor controlled processes.

International credit rating agencies regularly (twice a year) assess the risk level of sovereign debt, and thus that of a given country. In order to identify risks, each credit rating agency has developed its own methodology to assess economic and public finance processes and identify the emerging risks. The evaluations carried out influence at the international level the financing possibilities of a given country and its conditions. The improving result of evaluations by international credit rating agencies has become one of the requirements for the success of economic policy. However, this can only be a realistic condition and a measure of success if the evaluation made is methodologically sound and the evaluations resulting from their consistent implementation are scientifically credible. This article describes in detail the evaluation methodology applied by the three major international credit rating agencies to evaluate the individual countries and sovereign debt. After presenting the general aspects, the article draws attention to the fact that the principles of objectivity, authenticity and methodological determination are enforced in practice in the evaluations of international credit rating agencies to a limited extent.