From transparency to accountability: Determinants of village financial governance

Abstract

This study examines the determinants of transparency and accountability in village financial management, focusing on the roles of village facilitator competence, village government commitment, and oversight by the Village Consultative Body (BPD). Grounded in good governance and principal–agent theory, the study addresses persistent governance challenges at the village level, where substantial public funds are managed amid limited administrative capacity and uneven institutional oversight. Using a quantitative design, primary data were collected through a structured survey administered to 510 respondents from 85 villages in Donggala and Sigi Regencies, Indonesia. The data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling–Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS), enabling simultaneous testing of direct and mediating relationships among governance variables. The results show that village facilitator competence, village government commitment, and BPD oversight each have significant positive effects on financial transparency and accountability. Importantly, transparency plays a central mediating role, indicating that the effects of competence, commitment, and oversight on accountability are largely transmitted through improved information disclosure. These findings confirm that accountability in village financial management is difficult to achieve without adequate transparency mechanisms that reduce information asymmetry between village governments and the community. Theoretically, this study extends the application of good governance and principal–agent theory to the village governance context by empirically validating transparency as a key governance mechanism linking institutional factors to accountability outcomes. Practically, the findings highlight the importance of strengthening facilitator capacity, fostering integrity-driven leadership commitment, and enhancing the effectiveness of BPD supervision as integrated strategies to improve village financial governance. By providing evidence from a large-sample empirical study, this research offers insights for policymakers and practitioners seeking to promote transparent and accountable village finance management in decentralized governance systems.