Gorana Roje, Eugenio Anessi-Pessina and Nives Botica Redmayne
This article presents an exploratory analysis of perceived information needs for managing fixed public sector assets in South-Eastern Europe (SEE).
Abstract
Purpose
This article presents an exploratory analysis of perceived information needs for managing fixed public sector assets in South-Eastern Europe (SEE).
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis was carried out from a user needs perspective. A questionnaire was administered to government officials in SEE. Respondents were queried about what categories of information they need to make or to recommend five typical decisions concerning fixed public sector assets. Respondents also provided assessments on current availability and quality of information on fixed public sector assets, cost-benefit considerations regarding data collection and suitability of information for routine collection and updating.
Findings
The findings of this study indicate that the information collected for financial reporting purposes is recognized as insufficient to support decision-making on fixed public sector assets. However, perceived information needs by respondents are still rather basic. The need for more “sophisticated” and “strategic” information is found to be rather low, more so when the cost of collecting and processing such information is considered.
Practical implications
The findings of this study raise concerns about the persistently insufficient attention paid to the potential benefits that well-compiled and appropriately used asset registries could produce. The findings of this study might be useful to governments initiating the identification and measurement of their fixed assets, establishing fixed asset registries and instituting relevant regulation.
Originality/value
This study adds to the scant literature on the management of fixed public sector assets. It provides evidence on the perceived information needs of public sector officials, and it contributes to the ongoing debate on what good public sector asset management is and how it should be pursued.
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Eugenio Anessi-Pessina, Carmela Barbera, Cecilia Langella, Francesca Manes-Rossi, Alessandro Sancino, Mariafrancesca Sicilia and Ileana Steccolini
The paper aims to offer a viewpoint on how governmental budgeting needs to be reconsidered after the COVID-19 outbreak.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to offer a viewpoint on how governmental budgeting needs to be reconsidered after the COVID-19 outbreak.
Design/methodology/approach
Building on extant research, and drawing on the Italian context, the paper provides reflections on four interrelated aspects: (1) how budgeting and reporting processes and formats are being modified; (2) how budgeting may enhance governments' financial resilience; (3) how citizens are involved in the budgeting cycles and (4) how emergency responses may produce opportunities for corruption.
Findings
To tackle COVID-19 related challenges, budgeting, rebudgeting, reporting processes and formats need to be reconsidered and supported by the development of new competencies. Governments will need to put stronger emphasis on the anticipatory and coping roles of budgeting to reduce public organizations' exposure to shocks and support governmental resilience. The involvement of citizens has proven critical to face the pandemic and will become increasingly relevant due to the financial impacts of COVID-19 on future public service provision. Greater attention to the risks of increased corruption is also needed.
Originality/value
Drawing lessons from one of the countries most hit by COVID-19, the paper offers a viewpoint on a timely topic of international relevance by looking in an integrated way at interrelated topics such as budgeting, rebudgeting, reporting, financial resilience, coproduction and corruption.
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Eugenio Anessi-Pessina, Josette Caruana, Mariafrancesca Sicilia and Ileana Steccolini
The purpose of this paper is to examine how the convergence of private and public sector accounting standards is affecting conceptual and practical issues relating to heritage…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how the convergence of private and public sector accounting standards is affecting conceptual and practical issues relating to heritage. More specifically, the paper is intended to provide a better understanding of the state of the art in national and international accounting standards on heritage assets, and of the views influencing such standards.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative documentary analysis is carried out to explore the variety of existing positions and views on heritage, ranging from the scholarly literature, through potential stakeholders and users, to international and national standard setters.
Findings
The analysis shows that the path of convergence between public and private sector standards and practices is still problematic. After more than two decades of debate around the nature, definition, measurement, and reporting of heritage, these issues are far from settled.
Research limitations/implications
In the light of calls for increased measurement and reporting of public sector “assets”, and specifically for the definition of standards to recognise heritage, the paper suggests the need to strongly reconsider whether the convergence between public and private sector standards is desirable, feasible and effective. As such, the risks of embracing simplified or hybrid forms of accounting and reporting for heritage should be more seriously assessed. While reporting on heritage is important, it is fundamental to keep it distinct from reporting on government’s regular operations, in order to appreciate its specific value, nature and features.
Originality/value
Looking at European national standards for heritage, the IPSASB’s proposals, and the reactions to the latter by relevant stakeholders, the paper provides a pluralistic view on the positions and experiences about heritage, contributing to the debate on the convergence between private and public sector accounting standards.
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Eugenio Anessi-Pessina, Greta Nasi and Ileana Steccolini
Accounting innovations, and especially the introduction of accruals accounting, are often portrayed as fundamental aspects of publicsector reforms. An increasing body of…
Abstract
Accounting innovations, and especially the introduction of accruals accounting, are often portrayed as fundamental aspects of publicsector reforms. An increasing body of literature has been studying the experiences of different countries and levels of government, often referring to Lueder's (1992) "contingency model" and its subsequent developments. This model highlights a number of social, political, and administrative variables that are likely to affect government accounting innovations. It applies at a country-wide level and is mainly intended to describe and compare the environments within which accounting reforms take place, as well as the technical features of such reforms. Our paper, on the contrary, tries to expand the contingency model by applying it to individual organisations and by testing its explanatory power.
Eugenio Anessi-Pessina, Carmela Barbera, Mariafrancesca Sicilia and Ileana Steccolini
Budgeting is central in public organizations. From a research viewpoint, it is an extremely multifaceted and potentially rich field to investigate and develop. The changing…
Abstract
Purpose
Budgeting is central in public organizations. From a research viewpoint, it is an extremely multifaceted and potentially rich field to investigate and develop. The changing institutional and socio-economic landscape, moreover, requires a profound reassessment of its roles and features in accounting studies. The purpose of this paper is to review the existing European literature on public budgeting, looking at how public administration, public management, and accounting contribute to current budgeting theories and practices and to advance a proposal on how they can individually and jointly contribute in the future.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors collect and analyze all the papers on public budgeting in the European context that were published in all the issues of 15 major accounting and public-management journals since 1980.
Findings
Budgeting has so far played a rather marginal role in European public management and accounting research. Among the existing papers, most focus on the Anglo-Saxon context, look at the intra-organizational aspects of budgeting, emphasize its managerial and allocative functions, either adopt an interpretive theoretical framework or make no explicit reference to theory, and rely on qualitative analyses. Public budgeting lies at the intersections between different disciplines and professions, but this multifacetedness has been largely neglected by the existing literature. These intersections thus offer significant opportunities for future research. Building on the distinction between the intra- and inter-organizational foci of budgeting, between its different functions (i.e. allocative, managerial, external accountability), and between the accounting and the public administration and management perspectives, the authors propose possible future research topics.
Originality/value
Budgeting plays a central role in public organizations and is used to allocate a large share of national incomes. This paper explores the existing literature and puts forward some potentially fruitful avenues for future research.
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The purpose of this paper is to reflect various pathways for public sector accounting and accountability research in a post-new public management (NPM) context.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to reflect various pathways for public sector accounting and accountability research in a post-new public management (NPM) context.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper first discusses the relationship between NPM and public sector accounting research. It then explores the possible stimuli that inter-disciplinary accounting scholars may derive from recent public administration studies, public policy and societal trends, highlighting possible ways to extend public sector accounting research and strengthen dialogue with other disciplines.
Findings
NPM may have represented a golden age, but also a “golden cage,” for the development of public sector accounting research. The paper reflects possible ways out of this golden cage, discussing future avenues for public sector accounting research. In doing so, it highlights the opportunities offered by re-considering the “public” side of accounting research and shifting the attention from the public sector, seen as a context for public sector accounting research, to publicness, as a concept central to such research.
Originality/value
The paper calls for stronger engagement with contemporary developments in public administration and policy. This could be achieved by looking at how public sector accounting accounts for, but also impacts on, issues of wider societal relevance, such as co-production and hybridization of public services, austerity, crises and wicked problems, the creation and maintenance of public value and democratic participation.