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Article
Publication date: 18 November 2024

Anton Borell

Prior studies have treated colonisation as a process whereby traditional values in public sector settings are replaced by economic ones, driven by the extensive use and visibility…

159

Abstract

Purpose

Prior studies have treated colonisation as a process whereby traditional values in public sector settings are replaced by economic ones, driven by the extensive use and visibility of accounting instruments. This paper challenges this conceptualisation by proposing that colonisation can also be integrative, rather than merely a replacing process.

Design/methodology/approach

The study employs a qualitative research approach, utilising interviews, observations and documents obtained in a Swedish municipality. The primary focus is on the introduction of economic, market-oriented reforms in a compulsory school setting, a site traditionally guided by welfare values.

Findings

The paper demonstrates that a range of situations has emerged wherein actors attempted to integrate market-oriented and welfare values through various accounting techniques. It also shows how this integration led to colonising outcomes, stemming from an underlying premise of aligning welfare values with a market-like agenda.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to existing research by exploring the complexities and nuances of colonisation and the role of accounting in the interplay between economic and traditional values in public sector settings. It particularly adds to recent studies by outlining a specific form of integrative colonisation, which focusses on a calculative and technical approach to reconciling seemingly disparate values.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 37 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

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Article
Publication date: 1 October 1998

Jane Broadbent and Richard Laughlin

The “new public management” (NPM) “reforms” have been extensive in the public sector in the UK. The paper’s primary focus is on the managerial and organizational effects of these…

3016

Abstract

The “new public management” (NPM) “reforms” have been extensive in the public sector in the UK. The paper’s primary focus is on the managerial and organizational effects of these accounting and finance‐led changes in the specific context of schools and GP practices. Central to the paper’s analysis and conclusion is the way that, in both these areas, many of the changes are perceived as unhelpful, intrusive and potentially dangerous for the nature of the core activities and values which underlie these organizations. The organizational effect of this dominant attitude is to develop appropriate “absorbing” mechanisms to “manage” these changing “disturbances” so that core activities and values remain unaffected. The paper develops, in two ways, the published analyses of these absorption processes: first, by providing a comparison over time of these absorption processes in schools and GP practices using a wider data set and second, by extending the analysis to show how these processes change as the nature of the “disturbances” shift and develop over time. The paper ends with a call for a wide‐ranging evaluation of the merit and worth of these “reforms” both generally and in the specific context of schools and GP practices.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 11 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

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Article
Publication date: 4 December 2018

Ileana Steccolini

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.

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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.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 32 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

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Article
Publication date: 1 March 2014

Silvia Gardini and Giuseppe Grossi

The paper focuses on the potential benefits of fair value accounting (FVA) in the public sector and the shift towards the entity theory of consolidation supported by international…

418

Abstract

The paper focuses on the potential benefits of fair value accounting (FVA) in the public sector and the shift towards the entity theory of consolidation supported by international accounting standards. The analysis of the Italian cases shows neither adjustments of the assets to their fair value, nor any recognition of intangibles other than goodwill in consolidated financial statement (CFS), maintaining the configuration of a municipal corporate group based on historical costs. These findings suggest a lack of focus on FVA by local governments (LGs), which is in contrast with international accounting standards. Using a combination of sources (such as annual reports and interviews), part of this paper is based on multiple-case studies of Italian LGs on the voluntary adoption of CFS.

Details

Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management, vol. 26 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1096-3367

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Article
Publication date: 2 March 2020

Jean-Claude Mutiganda, Giuseppe Grossi and Lars Hassel

This paper aims to analyse the role of communication in shaping the mechanisms of accountability routines.

830

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to analyse the role of communication in shaping the mechanisms of accountability routines.

Design/methodology/approach

Conceptual elements of the theory of communicative action and the literature on routines were used to conduct a field study in two hospital districts in Finland, from 2009 to 2015. Data were based on interviews, document analysis, observed meetings and repeated contact with key informants.

Findings

The findings explain how accountability routines take different forms – weak or strong – in different organisations and at different hierarchical levels. Differences depend on the generative structures and mechanisms of the communicative process – relational and normative – used to give and ask information to and from organisation members involved in accountability relationships. An explorative finding is that discourse-based communication plays an important role in bridging the gap between weak and strong accountability routines. The main theoretical contribution is to conceptualise and show the role of communicative rationalities in shaping the mechanisms of accountability routines.

Practical implications

The implication for practitioners and policymakers is to show to what extent the organisation policies and communicative rationalities used in accountability have potential to improve or not to improve the practices of accountability routines. Mutual understanding, motivation and capacity of organisation members to do as expected and agreed upon without pressure improve accountability routines.

Originality/value

The value of this study is to explain how accountability routines take different forms in practice (weak or strong) in different organisations and at different hierarchical levels, depending on the generative structures of the communicative process used in practicing accountability routines.

Details

Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, vol. 17 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1176-6093

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Article
Publication date: 5 September 2016

Carol Pomare and Anthony Berry

The purpose of this paper is to explore whether and how changes in the management control systems (MCS) of post-secondary institutions (PSIs) in Western Canada can be described…

553

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore whether and how changes in the management control systems (MCS) of post-secondary institutions (PSIs) in Western Canada can be described and explained in terms of formal and informal MCS; and whether and how changes in the MCS of PSIs in Western Canada can be described and explained in terms of an integrative contingency-based framework of MCS based on regulatory accountability systems, competitive markets and organizational culture?

Design/methodology/approach

The empirical research was undertaken with an exploratory mixed design. The first phase involved descriptive univariate and bivariate statistics as well as non-parametric statistics computed on data from annual reports and financial statements of 46 PSIs in Western Canada to quantitatively explore MCS. The second phase involved the grounded theory (GT) analysis of annual reports of 46 PSIs in Western Canada to qualitatively explore formal MCS in relation to changes in contingencies. The third phase involved the GT analysis of 20 semi-structured interviews of senior managers from PSIs in Western Canada to qualitatively explore informal MCS in relation to formal MCS and changes in contingencies.

Findings

The research showed that emphasis on formal MCS in Western Canadian PSIs resulted in biased compliance within informal MCS. The exploratory research also demonstrated that the distinction between formal and informal MCS was better understood in a wider framing of MCS in terms of regulatory accountability systems, competitive markets and organizational culture.

Originality/value

This research led to the elaboration of an exploratory theoretical framework to subsume the distinction between formal and informal MCS into an integrative contingency-based framework of MCS.

Details

Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, vol. 12 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1832-5912

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Article
Publication date: 14 September 2012

Kalle Kraus

This paper aims to explore the effects of the increased influence of accounting on core values and practices within the services providing home care in Sweden – a public sector…

1742

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the effects of the increased influence of accounting on core values and practices within the services providing home care in Sweden – a public sector setting involving inter‐organisational cooperation.

Design/methodology/approach

Case study data were obtained primarily through semi‐structured interviews with managers and front‐line staff involved in home care.

Findings

When accountingisation is extended to include inter‐organisational cooperation, a form of heterogeneous accountingisation occurred in the home care services: an internal domain (with a low level of accountingisation) could be differentiated from an inter‐organisational domain (with a high level of accountingisation). When the accounting‐induced disturbances intensified, there was a redefinition of core values. In the internal domain, core values of pensioner‐oriented focus and flexibility during service delivery persisted. In contrast, in the inter‐organisational domain, core values had the legal boundaries of the organisation as their central foundation, standardisation was emphasised, and inter‐organisational work practices were defined as the other organisation's responsibility. The findings also extend the research on absorption groups by indicating the rise of a new type of absorption process. Absorption was not undertaken by a few individuals, specialist work groups or satellite organisations, as described in the literature; instead, all front‐line welfare professionals were involved in absorbing the accounting‐induced disturbances when performing their tasks.

Research limitations/implications

This case study research is context‐specific and the meaning and consequences of accountingisation may differ within the public sector because of the status and strength of professional groups concerned.

Originality/value

To date, research on accountingisation has primarily employed an intra‐organisational perspective. This paper analyses accountingisation in an inter‐organisational setting.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 25 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

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Article
Publication date: 30 May 2019

Ebba Sjögren and Karin Fernler

The paper problematizes previous research on accountingisation, where the role of accounting in determining the scope of professional work is understood in relation to a…

854

Abstract

Purpose

The paper problematizes previous research on accountingisation, where the role of accounting in determining the scope of professional work is understood in relation to a professional/economic dichotomy and a model of episodic change. The purpose of this paper is to investigate everyday professional work in established new public management (NPM) settings, and proposes a new conceptual framework to analyze the role of accounting therein. The aim is to enable future investigations into how, when and where a situated “bottom line” emerges, by conceptualizing professional work as a process of calculation.

Design/methodology/approach

Qualitative data from case studies of two tertiary level geriatric organizations using observations of 33 employees and four interviews. Data related to patient discharge, and the management of the discharge processes, were analyzed.

Findings

Few visible trade-offs between distinctly professional or economic considerations were observed. Rather, the qualification of patients’ status and evaluation of their dischargeability centered on debates over treatment time. Time therefore operated as a situated “bottom line,” to which various other concerns were emergently linked in a process of calculation. Professional practitioners seldom explicitly evoke accounting concepts and technologies, but these were implicated in the ongoing translation of each patient into something temporarily stable, calculable and thus actionable for the professionals involved in their care. The study’s findings have implications for the conceptual understanding of professional work in established NPM settings.

Research limitations/implications

Case study research is context-specific and the role of accounting in professional work will vary due to the professional groups and accounting technologies involved.

Practical implications

The study’s findings have implications for how to influence professional behavior through interventions in the existing landscape of accounting technologies. The possibility to change behavior through the introduction or removal of individual accounting technologies is questioned.

Originality/value

To date, research on the role of accounting in determining the scope of professional work has assumed a professional/economic dichotomy and studied episodic change linked to accounting-oriented reforms. This paper analyses the role of accounting as an on-going process with emergent boundaries between professional and economic considerations.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 32 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

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Article
Publication date: 15 June 2020

Brendan Thomas O'Connell, Paul De Lange, Ann Martin-Sardesai and Gloria Agyemang

The purpose of this paper is to examine prominent issues and knowledge contributions from research exploring measurement and assessment of accounting research, impact and…

891

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine prominent issues and knowledge contributions from research exploring measurement and assessment of accounting research, impact and engagement. This paper also provides an overview of the other papers presented in this AAAJ Special Issue and draws from their findings to scope out future impactful research opportunities in this area.

Design/methodology/approach

Consists of a review and examination of the prior literature and the other papers published in this AAAJ Special Issue.

Findings

The paper identifies and summarises three key research themes in the extant literature: research productivity of accounting academics; the rise of the “Corporate University” and commodification of research; and, the benefits and limitations of Research Assessment Exercises. It draws upon work within these research themes to set out four broad areas for future impactful research.

Research limitations/implications

The value of this paper rests with collating and synthesising several important research themes on the nature and impact of measurement and assessment of accounting research, impact and engagement, and in prompting future extensions of this work through setting out areas for further innovative research in the area.

Practical implications

The research examined in this paper and the future research avenues proposed are highly relevant to university academics, administrators and regulators/policymakers. They also offer important insights into matters of accounting measurement, accountability, and control more generally.

Originality/value

This paper adds to vibrant existing streams of research in the area by bringing together authors from different areas of accounting research for this AAAJ Special Issue. In scoping out an agenda for impactful research in the nature and impact of measurement and assessment of accounting research, impact and engagement, this paper also draws attention to underexplored issues pertaining to areas such as the “lived experience” of academics in the corporatised university and envisioning what a future “optimal” system of measurement and assessment of research quality might look like?

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 33 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

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Article
Publication date: 1 December 1997

Jane Broadbent and Richard Laughlin

Engages with the call for more case study research and provides an example of a methodology informed by a Habermasian approach. Seeks to clarify the methodology and the methods…

2049

Abstract

Engages with the call for more case study research and provides an example of a methodology informed by a Habermasian approach. Seeks to clarify the methodology and the methods adopted and provides an example of “middle range” thinking (Laughlin, 1995). Extends the insights provided by Laughlin (1987) in his argument for the adoption of critical theory and can be seen as entering into a discourse with this earlier work. Located in the context of an ongoing programme of research in the UK public sector, seeks to provide an exemplar of the application of a Habermasian discourse‐based approach, as well as providing an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the approach in practice. In the spirit of “middle range” thinking appears to use the frameworks provided as a foundation from which to commence the research process, yet use the experiences gained in undertaking the research as a way to develop the frameworks themselves.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 10 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

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