Paper/Speech Details of Conference Program for the 2020 NISPAcee On-line Conference for PhD students Program Overview The 2020 NISPAcee On-line Conference for PhD students Author(s) Alexandra Tamás Budapest University of Technology and Economics Budapest Hungary Koltai Tamás, Title Efficiency Analysis of a Hungarian Public Administrative Institution with Data Envelopment Analysis File Paper files are available only for conference participants, please login first. Presenter Alexandra Tamás Abstract Performance evaluation of production and service systems is basically based on the comparison of resources used and results gained. If emphasis is placed on examining the relationship between costs and financial results, traditional financial evaluation techniques can be applied, such as balance sheet, cash flow or breakeven analyses. These methods allow the comparison of several different resources and results by converting them into financial dimensions. If one wants to avoid this transformation and compare resources and results in terms of actual volume or value, data envelopment analysis (DEA) may be an appropriate tool. DEA is a linear programming method that can calculate the relative efficiencies of multiple organizational units based on pure numerical data. DEA defines the efficiency score as the ratio of the weighted inputs to the weighted outputs. When analysing the causes of inefficiency, the value of excess resources used and insufficient results are obtained not in financial terms, but in actual amounts of resources and results. This evaluation technique provides clear information on the possible ways to improve efficiency. The proposed paper illustrates the benefits and problems of applying DEA through an efficiency study of a public administration process and highlights a number of theoretical and applied research options. The analysis of the payroll accounting activity of the Hungarian State Treasury reflects well the advantages of applying DEA in cases where the result of the examined process cannot be interpreted in economic terms, but there is an economic interest in the efficient operation of the process. The input-oriented constant returns to scale radial model used in the study identifies efficient organizational units, the main possible causes of inefficient operation, and feasible ways to improve the operation. Furthermore, examining the changes in efficiency over time highlights the dynamic problems of resource planning and task allocation. The results of the study raise a number of theoretical questions in addition to solving efficiency problems. The weighting of payroll tasks necessitates the examination of accuracy problems of the applied parameters by means of sensitivity analysis. In addition, some non-discretional environmental factors highlight the theoretical difficulty of taking into account disadvantageous or advantageous operating conditions. In conclusion, we can say that the widely used DEA technique can be a promising tool for improving the efficiency of public administration processes.
