Jodie Moll

Public sector reform – Implications for accounting, accountability and performance of state‐owned entities – an Australian perspective

Faced by increased globalization, the dissatisfaction of Australian citizens, and a curtailing of spending, the Australian Government has embarked on a major reform agenda centered on new public management ideals to achieve greater economy, efficiency, and effectiveness. A major driver of reform in all levels of government has been the introduction of the national competition policy. Describes the recent developments in Australian public sector and discusses reform implications for accounting, accountability and performance in Queensland local governments. Suggests that accounting plays a significant role in promoting accountability, efficiency and effectiveness of public sector services.

Public sector accounting, accountability and austerity: more than balancing the books?

Purpose - – The era of austerity that has followed the outbreak of the global financial crisis has posed a myriad of challenges for public services, with demands for major cuts in government spending, the delivery of balanced budgets and zstrategies for deficit reduction. The purpose of this paper is to consider how public sector accounting and accountability systems are implicated in the development and implementation of austerity policies. Also, it pinpoints a range of issues that accounting researchers need to be contemplating on the subject of accounting for austerity. Design/methodology/approach - – Interdisciplinary literature review, coupled with an illustrative discussion of the changing nature of public sector accounting practices under austerity. Findings - – Despite the significance and scale of austerity, public sector accounting research on the topic is in its infancy, with the prominent focus being on how accounting technologies are used to manage austerity. There have been few attempts to debate critically the construction of austerity and to provide alternative accounts of austerity. Accounting for austerity, especially in terms of its implications and consequences, is far too complex and challenging to be categorized as simply seeking to “balance the books”. Research limitations/implications - – As an academic community, we need to be developing understanding of public sector accounting research under austerity across different organizational levels and contexts. Also, we should be framing the accounts of austerity in ways that respect and build on a sound understanding of the extensive available interdisciplinary research on this topic. Key research questions to address include: how is accounting shaping constructions of, and impressions, attitudes and behaviors toward, austerity and the status of governments and public service organizations? What do such patterns of development mean for the roles and contributions of public sector accountants under austerity? Are accounting systems destined to be used primarily as vehicles for cost-cutting, or can they be used as engines for growth and for thinking about public service responsibilities in more socially inclusive forms? Originality/value - – Accountings of austerity in the field of public sector accounting research have been worryingly limited. This paper and the papers in this special issue of

New organizational forms and accounting innovations: The specifier/provider model in the Australian public sector

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the workings of the internal specifier/provider arrangement, a new organizational form that is not required by government mandate but has become common place in the Australian public sector.Design/methodology/approach – The case study empirics take place in a large local government water authority. Data were collected from face‐to‐face interviews with 26 managers using a semi‐structured interview schedule and from internal and public documents relating to the case.Findings – The following five “so what” lessons are identified: private sector co‐ordination and management mechanisms such as transfer pricing can be relied upon to help reduce the ambiguity surrounding the specifier/provider model; the providers are likely to be more anxious about the introduction of the model because poorly perceived performance may result in outsourcing; to improve the ability of the organization for co‐ordinating activities the model requires clearly defined sp...

Customer Orientation and Management Control in the Public Sector: A Garbage Can Analysis

Recent public sector reforms have increasingly tended to re-cast citizens as ‘customers’. This paper explores the implications of such customer orientation efforts for management control based on a field study in a Swedish central government agency. We extend prior research on this topic, informed by critical and institutional theories, with insights from the garbage can literature and focus on a key decision-making process involved in making extant management control practices more customer-focused. Our analysis nuances the predictions of critical scholars, suggesting that customer orientation initiatives will commodify public services and narrow the interests served by public sector organizations. In doing so, we draw attention to how conflicting institutional arrangements fostered a garbage can situation hampering radical change in management control practices. Our garbage can analysis provides a bridge between critical and institutional perspectives by re-instating a focus on decision-making. We show how the intricacies of decision-making may moderate the power embedded in novel management control practices and foster inertia and unintended outcomes. Our analysis also raises important policy implications pertaining to the possibilities of combining customer orientation efforts with rationing of public services.

New development: In pursuit of WGA—Research findings from the UK

In 1998, the UK Treasury and National Audit Office recommended the publication of whole of government accounts (WGA) and set out timelines for a full set of audited accounts to be made available for 2005–06. So far nothing has been published. This article considers the promises, practical pursuit and evaluation of WGA.