The adherence to this principle is difficult to monitor, as it is difficult to objectively determine how resources could be effectively and efficiently utilised; and implies that productivity could be standardised without taking into consideration the current context of a skills shortage that the public service is in. The foundation for greater adherence with the principle was, however laid with the introduction of the Public Finance Management Act (No. 1 of 1999) (PFMA), which deals specifically with measurable and quantifiable resources. The introduction of nationally uniform sector-specific budget structures has helped to simplify budget structures and facilitate comparisons of performance between provinces after 2004. There was a reported shift from narrow compliance based performance reporting towards reporting focused on assessment of value delivered. Overall, there has been a decrease in the level of under-spending. This suggested that departments were progressively overcoming difficulties they experienced with spending their budgets.