Participatory budgeting is a process that directly involves citizens in making decisions about budget spending priorities and plans, provided that they have previously discussed, proposed and voted on public spending priorities. In addition to contributing to the sense of importance of citizens'engagement in the work of local self-government, it also strengthens democracy and raises transparency in terms of citizens' trust in politics, with the aim of creating a partnership between citizens, elected representatives and local officials. Prerequisites for public participation in budgeting and decision-making on local development issues are informed citizens. Budget transparency implies insight into complete, accurate, timely and understandable budget information. Publishing the budget in a transparent way enables citizens to contribute to more efficient collection of public funds and the supply of public goods and services, increases the responsibility of local government and thus reduce the chances of corruption. The Institute of Public Finance has been analyzing the budget transparency of Croatian counties, cities and municipalities since 2013. The overall average level of budget transparency in Croatian local government units, measured by the number of budget documents published on their official websites, is improving year by year. However, the legally required publication of five budget documents on the websites of local units does not mean that citizens in these local units are really informed about public finances in their local unit and use the data as a basis for participation in decision-making on local development issues.