Effective performance-based management represents one of the main features of an accountable and efficient judicial system. The focus on financial management allows judicial leaders to put in place proper budgetary planning and execution, but also to address associated financial risks. However, since most judicial leaders are generally non-financial managers, they need support in making results-based financial management decisions in complex judicial contexts.

Montenegro is widely recognised for having in place credible financial accountability mechanisms in the judiciary which are supported by adequate legislative provisions and an active role of both Councils. However, the approach to financial management is still rule-driven and focused on financial accounting compliance, rather than on so-called performance-based management.

In its recent Rule of Law Non-paper on Chapter 23 and 24, the European Commission took note on the progress made so far regarding results-based management, having stated that the Law on Budget for 2022 established for the first time a system of distribution of financial resources to courts and prosecution offices individually.

In order to support this decentralised system of resource allocation, a workshop was delivered to a group of 32 court presidents, heads of prosecution offices and representatives of the Judicial and Prosecutorial Councils, with a view to strengthen the overall judicial management and performance measurement.

During the workshop, strategies and tools for performance-based financial management were introduced and practices of European countries, including Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Norway, were presented, to assist judicial leaders to better link the expenditures to the outputs of judicial services and to analyse them with respect to equity, efficiency and sustainability. In this way, the courts and prosecution offices will be able to apply an integrated management approach, which connects the management of judicial services with finances, and thus contributes to the increased quality of services and improves judicial efficiency.

The workshop was organised under the framework of the action “Accountability and professionalism of the judicial system in Montenegro” which is part of the joint EU and Council of Europe programme "Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019 - 2022".