Digital Financial Transparency and Sustainable Public Governance: Evidence From Local Governments in West Java Province

Maulida Salmi Utie (Politeknik Negeri Jakarta)
Muthia Ulfa (Politeknik Negeri Jakarta)
Imaniel Rahel Riana Dalimunthe (Politeknik Negeri Jakarta)

Economics and Business Journal
Vol. 4 No. 6 (2026)

Digital financial transparency is crucial for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly for building accountable and trustworthy public institutions. Limited studies examine whether digitalization actually delivers accessible financial information and whether such transparency strengthens sustainable public governance. This study addresses that gap by constructing an original, multi-dimensional, portal-level Digital Financial Transparency Index (DFTI) and linking it to sustainable public governance, an association not previously tested at the Indonesian subnational level. Using a quantitative, explanatory design, financial management and public information portals are assessed through content analysis. Twenty-one indicators covering organizational information, financial transparency, and website accessibility are aggregated into the DFTI. Sustainable public governance is proxied by the 2024 electronic-based government system (SPBE) index, the only nationally standardized, externally assessed, and annually published measure of digital public administration maturity in Indonesia. Ordinary least squares regression tests the hypothesis, complemented by Spearman correlation as a non-parametric robustness check suited to the small city and regency subsamples. The findings show DFTI has a positive and significant effect on SPBE (β = 0.026; p = 0.032). The effect operates through content rather than appearance: among regencies, organizational information and financial transparency correlate significantly (p < 0.05) with SPBE, website accessibility does not. The results provide recommendations that local governments should adopt a standardized minimum financial-disclosure content and prioritize the weakest indicators, which are raw data, citizen-friendly budget summaries, and personal data protection. Also the provincial government should channel budget-capacity support to low-DFTI regencies, where transparency and maturity are most strongly associated with budget resources to advance SDG 17.