Financial Accountability & Management最新文献

This study examines the effect of transformational leadership style on the use of management control systems, specifically Simons’ (1995) levers of control, in human service not-for-profit organizations. Unlike prior studies in which transformational leadership style has been treated as an aggregate construct, we decompose the construct and examine its effect at the dimensional level. Using matched survey and archival data for 271 organizations in Australia, we find two dimensions of transformational leadership, articulating a vision and facilitating acceptance of group goals, to be dominant in their influence on the use of the levers of control. This finding is consistent with the context of human service not-for-profit organizations that are heavily dependent on communication, cooperation, and collaboration across multidisciplinary teams for effective service delivery.

For over two decades, the literature has characterized contemporary Western societies as audit societies. These societies are characterized by an approach to governance that is shaped by the idea and practice of auditing. This paper shows that with regard to public governance, the audit society has started to give way to a program of government innovation, or what we theorize to be the emergence of a new form of society: the innovation society. The paper builds this theorization on a longitudinal case study of the past 40 years of Danish central government administrative policy developments with a focus on internal auditing. The paper shows that internal auditing has transitioned from being a macro actor of public governance to becoming a micro actor and ultimately terminated. The paper further shows that this dissociation process was instigated not by elected politicians but by highly positioned civil servants who managed to remove what they identified as an obstacle to the stability of the innovation program.

This paper introduces the special issue on accounting and accountability for the digital transformation of public services. Papers in special issues offer different perspectives on how digital technologies affect performance management, considering the challenges and opportunities that arise when digital data are collected and translated into a set of measures, the complexity of relying on these digital data to enhance transparency and accountability, and the organizational implications of digital data when used to support public-sector decision makers in a variety of activities, such as auditing or benchmarking.

Governments are becoming digital; however, a shift toward digital transformation may not always occur voluntarily. For example, despite their willingness or skills, local government accountants are usually forced to adopt a digital innovation to comply with requirements from top-down public financial management reforms—a typical case of compulsory digital transformation. We observe local government accountants’ attitudes toward compulsory digital transformation and their effects on the comprehensiveness of the digital transformation linked to accounting reforms in place. We empirically analyzed the public financial management oversight function in Brazil, in which digitalization requires local government accountants to report financial information to external authorities via computerized tools. Relying on interviews and an open-ended survey with local government accountants, our findings revealed how Brazilian government accountants deal with compulsory digital transformation in the context of task overload. Most of the accountants present a resigned posture in which they opt to comply with the oversight authorities’ deadlines at the expense of reductions in the reported data's accuracy. However, other accountants assume a visionary posture by adopting a transformative attitude and turning the mandatory digital transformation to their advantage to favor a broader reformist agenda. The implications of such a scenario are discussed.

Performance auditing (PA) has undergone relevant evolutions in recent decades, attracting considerable interest from academics and practitioners alike, in terms of its emergence, evolution, transformation, and outcomes in various international contexts. Through a systematic review of the literature published over the past five decades, totaling 125 papers, this study maps the existing knowledge on PA and recommends avenues for future research. Based on the analysis of the selected articles, the paper identifies and discusses the main themes emerging from the literature, including the scope and evolution of PA; the two faces of PA (accountability and performance improvement); the tensions and contradictions of influence and independence of PA; and unintended consequences and conflicts of PA. Considering the synthesis of the literature and current issues in public administration, the paper highlights themes that warrant further research, including the PA implications of digitalization and emerging technologies, the potential for widening accountability, PA's connections with media, and the relevance of PA in a risk management perspective. The paper also offers insights into the potential of international and comparative approaches to research on PA issues.

The fiscal governance framework includes the rules and regulations that discipline the preparation, approval, and implementation of public budgets. It results from the power struggle of the actors that participate in the process of allocating public resources. Despite relevant studies published on the subject, this study aimed to provide background information on determinant factors in the choice and effects of fiscal governance framework adopted by governments in the scholarly conversation. For this, the systematic literature review method was adopted with the development of five steps: selecting a review topic, searching the literature, gathering, reading, and analyzing the scientific papers published in the last 10 years on the subject. Results show that fiscal crises and pressures and rewards of external bodies were the preponderant factors for reforms in the framework of fiscal governance adopted by governments. In another view, impacts of this framework on national public finances were investigated primarily by analysis of numerical fiscal rules. The research gaps identified indicate directions for future research.

This study investigates the roles of informal gatekeepers in the context of First Nations health care in Canada. While existing literature focuses on gatekeeping by professionals, such as corporate board members, auditors, general practitioners, and specialists, we present empirical evidence on the role of informal First Nations’ gatekeepers in a health care system. Gatekeepers engage with government and First Nations along a continuum of gatekeeping functions. Drawing on common pool theory, we use a case study to understand the gatekeepers’ roles. We identify First Nations gatekeepers’ roles to include health care program control, resource control, and ecosystem control. We also find that these gatekeepers constitute a viable long-enduring common pool resource institution that can be useful for the federal government's phased approach in transitioning health care governance to the First Nations.

This paper offers a systematic reflection on accountability research in accounting literature. It shows the dynamic relationships and networks between the construction of accountability research, academics, and accounting journals. The research involves a systematic review of accountability literature in selected accounting journals, using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Drawing on Bourdieu's relational sociology for its theoretical and methodological frameworks, the paper constructs a socioanalysis of academic and intellectual capital by categorizing various positions and reputations in relation to accountability scholarship in the field of accounting. It finds that a subtle process of position taking works in both symbolic and material ways through citing and being cited by key authors in this cultural field. The paper develops a general but sociopolitical theoretical approach to the field study of accountability in accounting. The doxa of accountability reflects the cultural capital and the way in which doxa of the accounting field is recognized and valued. The paper argues that the process of cultural production is a dialectic sociopolitical process, which influences authors’ reflections and choices and at the same time is influenced by the network of authors and journals.

This paper explores the impact of neoliberalism on Australia's public higher education system. It examines flaws in the university system revealed by the COVID-19 pandemic and identifies how the conditions created by neoliberal policies have limited universities' capacity to respond to a crisis. The paper reviews the previous literature on universities, neoliberalism policies, and new public management practices. It uses data from the literature, newspapers, and contemporary documents to shape an overview of the Australian public sector university system up to 2021 and its transformation by stealth. The impact of this transformation has been a heavy reliance on international onshore student fees to fund operations, infrastructure, and research activities. COVID-19-related public health measures have caused a significant downturn in the number of international students studying in Australia, in turn, creating a financial crisis that has seen many tens of thousands of university staff losing their jobs and courses being cut. The transformation has also seen accountingization of both individual academic and university performance to become the norm. The quantified performance metrics associated with accountingization have become universities' new language, and their goal displaced ends. Revenue generation and expenditure has been privileged over making a contribution to the nation and society. We call for a radical rethinking of the public sector university mission for the ultimate benefit of the Australian community.