Open Arsenal

From Deficit to Accountability

OpenFiscal is an open-source fiscal transparency and accountability platform designed to track, analyze, and audit government budgets across all levels of governance, including towns, cities, states, and the federal government. The system centralizes budget data into a structured, queryable format, linking each budget to its jurisdiction, GDP context, and the officials responsible for its creation and approval. Its core purpose is to make public spending more understandable, traceable, and verifiable over time.

A key feature of OpenFiscal is its AI-driven deficit monitoring system, which evaluates whether a jurisdiction’s budget deficit exceeds a defined threshold relative to GDP. When that threshold is crossed, the system automatically flags the budget and generates an audit record for review. This creates a consistent, standardized method for identifying potentially fiscally risky or unsustainable budgets across different governments.

Beyond high-level budget tracking, OpenFiscal performs detailed line-item analysis to detect irregularities at a granular level. Each expenditure category is compared against national or state averages, and any item that exceeds expected norms is flagged for investigation. The system also assigns risk scores to highlight potential issues such as overpricing, no-bid contracts, or abnormal vendor concentration, helping auditors focus their attention where it is most needed.

OpenFiscal also maintains a complete accountability layer by mapping every budget decision to the officials involved, including their roles, votes, and historical decision patterns. Combined with human-in-the-loop verification, dashboards, and public-facing reporting tools, the platform is designed to support transparency, encourage informed civic oversight, and provide a structured foundation for analyzing public financial governance at scale.