Efficiency versus Compliance: A Comparative Analysis of Procurement and Financial Control Processes in the Public and Private Sectors

Abstract

This article proposes a comparative analysis of administrative management focused on procurement and financial control, contrasting the paradigms of the public and private sectors. The research stems from the classic tension between the pursuit of Efficiency, the driver of private enterprise, and the requirement of Compliance, the pillar of public administration. Using as an empirical basis a professional trajectory spanning more than two decades, which began in public sector procurement and bidding and was consolidated in the administrative coordination and financial management of SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) in the private sector, this study investigates how different organizational logics shape financial routines. The objective is to analyze how cash control, accounts payable/receivable, and agility (typical of the private sector) oppose the procedural rigor, isonomy, and budgetary control (typical of the public sector). It is concluded that, although both systems aim at resource optimization, their control mechanisms and success metrics are fundamentally distinct, and that the professional who moves between these two worlds develops a hybrid management competence, uniting procedural rigor with adaptive agility.