Higher Civil Service Grade 5 Admin cheat sheet

Administrative act = unilateral declaration by a public body exercising public power that produces legal effects; contracts between equal parties are excluded.

Principle of legality: an administrative act must have a statutory basis, respect higher norms, and pursue the purpose the statute assigns; ultra vires is the core ground of invalidity.

Proportionality test in three steps: (1) suitability of the measure to the aim, (2) necessity (least restrictive means), (3) proportionality stricto sensu (balancing).

Natural justice has two limbs: nemo iudex in causa sua (no bias) and audi alteram partem (right to be heard); breach makes the decision voidable.

Grounds for judicial review: illegality, irrationality/unreasonableness, procedural impropriety, and proportionality where a bill of rights applies.

Delegated legislation is valid only within the enabling statute; sub-delegation is presumed impermissible unless expressly or impliedly authorised.

Administrative silence: where statute fixes no time limit, general administrative procedure law usually deems silence a refusal after a set period (commonly 30-60 days).

Public-service principles: merit-based recruitment, political neutrality, legality, transparency, and accountability to the legislature.

Constitution = supreme norm; ordinary statutes inconsistent with it are void; constitutional review is exercised by a constitutional court or supreme court depending on the model.

Separation of powers: legislative (rule-making), executive (implementation), judicial (adjudication); checks include dissolution, censure, judicial review, and veto.

Rule of law (Dicey): no punishment without a legal basis, equality before the law, and rights protected by ordinary courts rather than special tribunals.

Hierarchy of norms: constitution > constitutional statutes > ordinary statutes > regulations > administrative acts > individual decisions.

Fundamental rights limitations require a legal basis, a legitimate aim, necessity, and respect for the essential content of the right.

Legal persons are liable under civil law for acts of their organs; the state's tort liability for administrative acts is usually strict or fault-based by statute.

Treaties: dualist systems require parliamentary ratification before a treaty has domestic effect; monist systems give it effect upon publication.

Budget cycle: preparation by the executive, authorisation by the legislature, execution by line ministries, audit by the court of auditors, discharge by the legislature.

Universality and annuality: all revenue and expenditure must appear in a single budget document and be authorised for one fiscal year.

Budget balance = total revenue − total expenditure; primary balance = balance excluding interest payments on debt.

Debt-to-GDP ratio = gross public debt / nominal GDP × 100; sustainability requires nominal growth above the effective interest rate.

Public procurement principles: transparency, equal treatment, proportionality, mutual recognition; thresholds trigger open competitive tendering.

Internal control vs external audit: internal control is preventive and managerial; external audit is independent and reports to the legislature.

Fiscal rules typically cap the structural deficit and debt ratio; escape clauses require a formal, time-limited activation.

Performance budgeting links appropriations to outputs and outcomes; line-item budgeting controls inputs only.

Market failure categories: public goods (non-rival, non-excludable), externalities, natural monopoly, information asymmetry, and merit goods.

Pigouvian tax sets tax = marginal external cost at the socially optimal quantity; cap-and-trade fixes quantity and lets price emerge.

Price elasticity of demand = %ΔQ / %ΔP; revenue rises with a price increase only when |elasticity| < 1.

Cost-benefit analysis: net present value = Σ (B_t − C_t)/(1+r)^t; accept the project if NPV > 0 and choose the highest NPV among mutually exclusive options.

Deadweight loss of a tax is approximately ½ × t² × elasticity × quantity; it grows with the square of the tax rate.

Policy cycle: agenda setting, formulation, adoption, implementation, evaluation, and termination or reformulation.

Moral hazard arises after contracting (hidden action); adverse selection arises before contracting (hidden information).

Monopoly pricing: profit is maximised where marginal revenue = marginal cost; marginal revenue = P(1 − 1/|elasticity|).

Good governance indicators: rule of law, accountability, transparency, responsiveness, effectiveness, and participation.

New Public Management tools: performance contracts, agencification, output-based pay, and competition; risks include fragmentation and metric gaming.

Conflict of interest rule: a public official must declare and recuse from any matter in which they or close relatives hold a private interest.

Whistleblower protection requires confidential reporting channels, protection from retaliation, and independent investigation.

Codes of conduct typically cover gifts, outside employment, post-employment cooling-off periods, and use of public assets.

Ethical decision test: legality, public interest, transparency (would the decision survive publication?), and proportionality.

Accountability types: political (to legislature), legal (to courts), administrative (hierarchy), professional (to peers), and social (to citizens).

Mean = Σx/n; median = middle value of ordered data; mode = most frequent value; the mean is sensitive to outliers, the median is not.

Variance s² = Σ(x − x̄)²/(n − 1); standard deviation is its square root and is in the same units as the data.

Standard error of the mean = s/√n; a 95% confidence interval ≈ x̄ ± 1.96 × SE for large samples.

Sampling error decreases with the square root of sample size: quadrupling n halves the standard error.

Regression coefficient interpretation: a one-unit increase in X changes predicted Y by b units, holding other variables constant.

Correlation does not imply causation; ruling out confounding requires randomisation or control variables.

Index number: Laspeyres uses base-period quantities, Paasche uses current-period quantities; Laspeyres tends to overstate the cost of living.

Growth rate between periods = (value_t − value_{t−1}) / value_{t−1} × 100; compound annual growth = (end/start)^(1/years) − 1.

Formal administrative register: third person, passive or impersonal constructions, and avoidance of colloquialisms and contractions.

A minute or record should state date, attendees, agenda items, decisions taken, and action owners with deadlines.

A briefing note structure: purpose, background, options with pros and cons, recommendation, and next steps.

Plain-language rule: one idea per sentence, active voice where the actor is known, and defined terms used consistently.

Official correspondence conventions: reference number, subject line, salutation, body, closing formula, signatory's name and title.

Ambiguity traps to avoid: dangling modifiers, unclear pronoun reference, and nominalisations that hide the actor.

Reasoning from precedent: apply the rule of a decided case only where the material facts are analogous; distinguish where they differ.

Ranking questions: convert each option to a common criterion (cost, legality, time) before ordering; never rank on unstated assumptions.

A conclusion is valid only if it follows necessarily from the premises; a single counterexample defeats a universal claim.

When data conflict, prefer the more recent, official, and methodologically documented source; state the conflict explicitly.

Administrative reasoning sequence: identify the legal basis, the facts, the discretion available, the options, and the least restrictive adequate measure.

Ethical dilemma questions: prioritise legality, then public interest, then efficiency; document the reasoning and the conflict declared.

Discretion is not arbitrary: the deciding body must consider all relevant factors, exclude irrelevant ones, and give reasons.

Void vs voidable: a void act has no legal effect from the outset; a voidable act stands until annulled by a competent body.

Time limits for appeal against an administrative act are usually short (e.g., 30-60 days) and run from notification.

Legitimate expectation can arise from a clear, consistent, and authorised representation by an official; it may require consultation before withdrawal.

Access to documents: exemptions typically cover national security, personal data, commercial secrets, and ongoing investigations; a public-interest override may apply.

Regulatory agencies combine rule-making, adjudication, and enforcement; independence requires fixed terms and protected budgets.

Judicial independence safeguards: security of tenure, financial autonomy, and prohibition of executive instructions in adjudication.

Emergency powers require a declared state of emergency, legislative oversight, and proportionality; derogation from non-derogable rights is prohibited.

Legislative procedure: initiative, committee review, plenary debate, vote, and promulgation; quorum rules determine validity.

Equality test: comparable situations must be treated alike; a difference in treatment needs an objective and reasonable justification.

Delegation of legislative power is limited: the enabling law must define the subject matter, principles, and time frame.

State liability for judicial error is usually restricted to grave and manifest breaches of law.

Appropriation types: mandatory (standing) vs discretionary; capital vs current; and virement rules that cap transfers between lines.

Cash accounting records transactions when paid; accrual accounting records when the obligation arises; the two produce different deficit figures.

Public debt service ratio = debt service / export earnings; a ratio above about 20-25% signals stress.

Tax principles: equity (ability to pay), certainty, convenience, and efficiency (minimising excess burden).

Progressive tax: average rate rises with income; regressive tax: average rate falls as income rises.

Contingent liabilities (guarantees, PPP obligations) must be disclosed even when not yet due; hidden liabilities distort the deficit measure.

Audit opinion types: unqualified, qualified, adverse, and disclaimer; a qualified opinion signals a material but non-pervasive misstatement.

Public good provision: the Samuelson condition sets Σ marginal rates of substitution equal to the marginal rate of transformation.

Coase theorem: with zero transaction costs and clear property rights, parties bargain to an efficient outcome regardless of initial allocation.

Tax incidence: the burden falls more heavily on the less elastic side of the market.

Monetary policy transmission: policy rate → market rates → credit → demand → inflation, with lags of several quarters.

Okun's law: a one-percentage-point rise in unemployment is associated with roughly two percentage points of lost output.

Fiscal multiplier = ΔY/ΔG; it is larger when the economy is below potential and smaller when near capacity.

Principal-agent problem: the agent's incentives diverge from the principal's; remedies include monitoring, incentives, and reporting duties.

Transparency tools: open registers, proactive publication, freedom-of-information requests, and lobbying disclosure.

Integrity risk assessment ranks functions by exposure to corruption and weakness of controls, not by budget size.

Gift rule of thumb: acceptance only where refusal would cause offence, must be declared, and must not influence the decision.

Post-public employment cooling-off period typically bars lobbying the former employer for one to two years.

Participation mechanisms: public consultation, notice-and-comment rulemaking, and citizen panels; consultation must occur before the decision is fixed.

Probability: P(A∪B) = P(A) + P(B) − P(A∩B); independent events satisfy P(A∩B) = P(A)P(B).

Bayes: P(A|B) = P(B|A)P(A) / P(B); base rates dominate when the test is imperfect.

Normal distribution: about 68% of values lie within ±1 SD, 95% within ±2 SD, and 99.7% within ±3 SD.

Hypothesis test: reject H0 when the p-value is below the significance level α; a small p-value is not a large effect.

Type I error = rejecting a true null (false positive); Type II error = failing to reject a false null (false negative).

Weighted average = Σ(w_i x_i)/Σw_i; real value = nominal value / price index × 100.

Median is the appropriate central measure for skewed distributions such as income or waiting times.

Report structure: executive summary, context, analysis, options, recommendation, implementation, and annexes.

Email etiquette in administration: clear subject, one topic, explicit request and deadline, and no sensitive content without encryption.

Cohesion devices: topic sentences, signposting (first, moreover, in contrast, therefore), and consistent terminology.

Numbers in prose: spell out one to nine, use figures for 10 and above, and keep units consistent throughout.

Editing checklist: remove redundancy, verify names and dates, check that every claim has a source, and confirm the addressee.

Causal reasoning: a correlation plus a plausible mechanism plus excluded confounders supports a causal claim; none alone suffices.

Syllogistic validity: All A are B; x is A; therefore x is B - valid. Affirming the consequent is invalid.

Resource-allocation questions: apply the stated criteria in order; when criteria conflict, legality outranks efficiency.

Stakeholder analysis: map interest and influence; high-influence low-interest actors need information, low-influence high-interest actors need voice.

Scenario questions: identify the binding constraint first, then the option that relieves it with the least legal risk.

Risk assessment: risk = likelihood × impact; rank by residual risk after controls, not inherent risk alone.