Sheila Ellwood

Public sector accrual accounting: institutionalising neo‐liberal principles?

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of public sector accounting in implementing neoliberal reforms. Design/methodology/approach - The proposition that the adoption and development of accrual accounting in the public sector is a technical development intended to improve transparency and accountability is investigated. The paper compares the development and use of accrual accounting in public sector financial management reforms in the UK and New Zealand. Findings - The findings in this paper suggest that in both countries, accrual accounting, as developed, also provides a means to reduce the governments role to that of procurer of services and enforcer of rules set by others, thus advancing a controversial privatisation and trade liberalisation agenda which is consistent with neo-liberal principles. Research limitations/implications - The paper shows that in contrast to more usual claims about the need for accrual accounting to provide a “read across between the sectors” or that public interest motives assure the neutrality of accounting, seemingly technical accrual accounting developments seem to function as a political tool to aid a controversial political agenda. There is a need to look at the overall effect of public sector financial management reforms and the role of, and implications for, accounting standard-setters. Originality/value - The information in the paper applies to accounting the new political economics literature on agenda control and information based structures where control is achieved through information asymmetries.

Bridging the GAAP across the UK public sector

Abstract Most of the UK public sector has made the transition to accruals based accounting e.g. central government departments, local government and the National Health Service. All have claimed an adherence to UK GAAP and it is intended to produce Whole of Government Accounts 2005/06 on a GAAP basis. This paper questions whether UK public sector accounting is really converging on GAAP and the extent to which there is comparability between the various parts of the public sector and between the public sector and the private sector. Using illustrations from the MoD, a local authority and a NHS trust, the compliance of public sector accounting practice with the Accounting Standard Boards Statement of Principles and reporting standards is investigated. The reasons for modifications to UK GAAP are then considered. It is concluded that the UK public sector is making unique and ad hoc adaptations to GAAP. These adaptations have been fragmentary and lack uniformity across the public sector. Furthermore, in its extensive use of current values the UK public sector could be argued to be ahead of the private sector rather than in alignment. Much work needs to be undertaken on an underpinning theoretical framework to enable accounting within and between the sectors to be bridged.

A bridge too far: a common conceptual framework for commercial and public benefit entities

Abstract Writers and standard setters have propounded the adoption of private sector frameworks for the public sector. Ellwood (2003) examined the apparent ‘bridge’ between and across the sectors provided by UK GAAP and concluded that much work needed to be undertaken on the theoretical underpinning of Whole of Government Accounts, but WGA is progressing presuming the commercial model. There has been recent debate in the Antipodes as to whether conceptual frameworks can be common for the private and the public and not-for-profit sectors or whether such claimed commonality is a sham (Newberry, 2002). In the UK. the Accounting Standards Board (ASB) has produced a reinterpretation of the Statement of Principles for public benefit entities. This paper investigates the proposed Statement of Principles for public benefit entities (SoPpbe). There appears to be an inherent unsuitability of the current private sector framework for transference to ‘public benefit entities’. The balance sheet focus and the assumed objective of wealth creation are incomprehensible in a public or not-for-profit context. Changes in public service management embodied within New Public Management (NPM) led to the ascendancy of accruals accounting but this does not necessarily permit the adoption of a (reinterpreted) private sector conceptual framework. It is concluded that the differences are so fundamental that it is misleading to claim the adoption of a common bridging framework and it is misguided to struggle to achieve one. The differences will always make such an endeavour ‘a bridge too far’.

Accruals Accounting Approaches in the UK Public Sector: Diversity and Convergence

Since the 1980s there have been extensive developments in financial accounting for central government departments, local authorities and hospitals within the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK. However, the developments have not been uniform — different parts of the public sector have developed their previously diverse accounting approaches over different timescales and along different lines. This article briefly sets out the accounting frameworks of three parts of the UK public sector in the 1980s together with conceptual thinking on the nature of public sector accounting at that time. It then examines how each branch of public sector accounting in the UK has developed using illustrations from the Ministry of Defence (MoD), Leeds City Council and Hereford Hospitals NHS Trust. The contextual setting is analyzed to provide an insight into why public service accounting developed in the 1990s. The final section considers the extent of convergence and diversity in accounting for public services.

Accounting for (a) Public Good: Public Healthcare in England

This paper reviews accounting technologies used over recent decades in the National Health Service: a public service (good) and the accounting for public interest (good) therein. The trends in NHS accounting are considered in the context of the defining characteristics of a modern public service. The accounting technologies, collectively known as New Public Financial Management (NPFM), are integral to wider public service reform. The overview of accounting technologies in context attempts to draw out some of the deficiencies or apparent mismatches in accounting technologies and public service reform.

New development: Local public audit—the changing landscape

This article considers the implications for local public audit of the abolition of the Audit Commission and its audit practice (District Audit). The audit regime of NHS foundation trusts, where the Audit Commission is not responsible for auditor appointments or their oversight, is investigated to provide insights for the future of local public audit.

Accounting for Public Hospitals: A Case Study of Modified GAAP

Public hospitals in the U.K. apply GAAP as modified by the Treasury, the Financial Reporting Advisory Board (FRAB) and the Department of Health. Individual National Health Service (NHS) Trusts apply their interpretation of the accounting manuals with further guidance and scrutiny from oversight bodies such as the Audit Commission. This article uses a case study approach to investigate how GAAP is modified and to outline the consequences of the constructed reality. The modifications are layered and often opaque. The accounts are constructed according to accounting requirements stipulated by Government and the account preparers adapt the requirements at Trust level. The accounting statements play a part in constructing a reality (Hines, 1988) that has consequences through the NHS control regime and in how the financial position is portrayed to the public. It appears that GAAP is used to legitimate the NHS as a modern organization applying commercial accounting practice, but the accounting statements provide a distorted view of GAAP compliant statements. The accounting, while not itself real, is real in its consequences and can lead to biased decision-making, service closures and job losses. The planned compliance of NHS Trusts with international GAAP may provide further scope for modification and manipulation in constructing NHS accounting reality.

Modernising local government:a role for parish and town councils

Recent initiatives for modernising local government have ignored the potential contribution of parish and town councils. This article critically examines English parish and town councils in the context of the current debate about the need for government to be more responsive to community needs. It considers measures to enhance the capacity of these grassroots councils by recalibrating the responsibilities and resources between tiers of local government. It concludes by setting out possible reforms to facilitate the contribution of these local councils to the modernising agenda as both representatives of the community and potential providers of local services.

The Response of Fundholding Family Doctors to Price Signals

The introduction of budgets for family doctors to purchase health services for their patients was a major part of the internal market reforms in the UK health service. The paper examines the response to price signals of 35 fundholding GP practices during the first four years of fundholding. Admissions increased and the private sector was used for a small level of provision, but great diversity was apparent between individual GP practices. Despite huge potential savings from changing referral patterns, only very minor changes were observed. GPs used the power of fundholding to instigate change in the services provided by existing suppliers rather than to respond to more attractive prices from alternative suppliers.

The NHS Financial Manager in 2010

In the White Paper, ‘The New NHS’ (Cm 3807), the competitive nature of the internal market was removed and annual contracts were replaced with long-term service agreements to facilitate best value. Using the findings from earlier research studies, the implications for NHS financial managers are discussed in this article. Financial managers have a major task in maintaining financial stability in the move from one financial regime to another. Improving budget devolution to Primary Care Groups and encouraging good financial planning and control are essential. Financial managers must develop and integrate reliable cost information into the wider performance framework.