Achievement of binding objectives and targets

Assessment objective

The assessment examined whether the binding operational objectives and targets set by the City Council in the budget for 2020 have been achieved in the City and Helsinki Group. As part of this assessment, a position was taken on whether the Audit Committee’s assessment of the achievement of the objectives is the same as in the financial statements.

Conclusions

The budget for 2020 contained a total of 36 binding operational objectives and targets approved by the City Council for the City divisions, public enterprises and departments. According to the Audit Committee’s estimate, 20 of these objectives, i.e. 56 per cent, were achieved. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the achievement percentage was better than the previous year (46 per cent). A total of 14 objectives were not achieved. The failure to achieve objectives was related to the COVID-19 pandemic in 11 cases.

In the financial statements, 22 objectives were considered achieved. The difference between the Audit Committee’s assessment and the financial statements is due to the fact that the achievement of two of the objectives could not be assessed. The indicator for one of these objectives lacked a target level, and the achievement of one of the indicators for the other objective was subject to interpretation. There were a total of 73 indicators that indicated the achievement of the objectives. According to the Audit Committee’s estimate, 68 per cent of them were achieved. According to the financial statements, the number of objectives achieved was higher by two.

The budget for 2020 set a total of 15 objectives for 13 subsidiary communities that were reportable to the City Council. Of these objectives, 13 were realised, i.e. 87 per cent.