Addressing complexity and planning for the uncertain: local finances in wartime Ukraine

This article explores how local governments adapt their financial management systems during the chaos and uncertainty of war; the authors use the recent military conflict in Ukraine as a case study. This article has lessons for public managers and policy-makers-especially at the local government level. The authors emphasise the importance of aligning state and local financial systems, and the need for flexibility in financial decision-making during periods of high uncertainty. The article also highlights the uneven effects of wars in different local areas, urging policy-makers to ensure that top-level strategies accurately reflect local realities. The insights from this article deepen our understanding of how we should approach disaster recovery, contributing to more effective and resilient responses to future crises.As a human-made disaster, war causes unprecedented stress and high uncertainty at the local government level. Local authorities need to normalize financial management, given real-time damages and losses, while maintaining delivery of critical public services. As well, they need to forecast and plan for future needs. The research literature on financial management and accounting during disasters is rich in terms of cases of natural and human-made disasters affecting or addressed by accounting practices; however, with the exception of a few studies, the nuances of local financial management during wars have been overlooked. Using complexity theory, the authors explore local financial management as a complex adaptive system and how it develops under an armed conflict.