Accounting and accountability for the digital transformation of public services

Agostino, Deborah; Bracci, Enrico; Steccolini, Ileana

doi:10.1111/faam.12314

Cited by 21 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Users will continue to demand non-financial measuring, reporting and auditing, especially as governments commit internationally to climate change action and the SDGs (International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions, and INTOSAI IDI Development Initiative, 2019) [2], citizens demand "better" and more services, and governments seek "value for money" to meet demands. Future interdisciplinary research should seek to understand data collection and use, how debates over its suitability are dealt with (noted by Barrett, 2012 as expectation gaps), the role of technology in performance measurement and users' needs for digital and disaggregated information (Agostino et al, 2022a(Agostino et al, , 2022b. How can/do citizens input to the quality of this information and do/can auditors help or hinder (Parker et al, 2021)?…”

Section: Carolyn Corderymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sixthly, digitalisation is an obvious area for research as it is relatively sparse on detailed studies, especially looking at how this new machine age affects the public sector and what digitalisation means for accounting, audit and accountability. Recent work has highlighted existing literature and future research potential (Agostino et al, 2022a(Agostino et al, , 2022b. More studies are welcome, especially concerning blockchain, big data analytics and artificial intelligence as just some examples.…”

Section: Laurence Ferrymentioning

confidence: 99%

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The future of public sector accounting research. A polyphonic debate

Grossi

Steccolini

Adhikari

et al. 2023

QRAM

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Purpose The purpose of this polyphonic paper is to report on interdisciplinary discussions on the state-of-the-art and future of public sector accounting research (PSAR). The authors hope to enliven the debates of the past and future developments in terms of context, themes, theories, methods and impacts in the field of PSAR by the exchanges they include here. Design/methodology/approach This polyphonic paper adopts an interdisciplinary approach. It brings into conversation ideas, views and approaches of several scholars on the actual and future developments of PSAR in various contexts, and explores potential implications. Findings This paper has brought together scholars from a plurality of disciplines, research methods and geographical areas, showing at the same time several points of convergence on important future themes (such as accounting as a mean for public, accounting, hybridity and value pluralism) and enabling conditions (accounting capabilities, profession and digitalisation) for PSA scholarship and practice, and the richness of looking at them from a plurality of perspectives. Research limitations/implications Exploring these past and future developments opens up the potential for interesting theoretical insights. A much greater theoretical and practical reconsideration of PSAR will be fostered by the exchanges included here. Originality/value In setting out a future research agenda, this paper fosters theoretical and methodological pluralism in the interdisciplinary research community interested in PSAR in various contexts. The discussion perspectives presented in this paper constitute not only a basis for further research in this relevant accounting area on the role, status and developments of PSAR but also creative potential for practitioners to be more reflective on their practices and also intended and united outcomes of such practices.

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Section: Carolyn Corderymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Laurence Ferrymentioning

confidence: 99%

The future of public sector accounting research. A polyphonic debate

Grossi

Steccolini

Adhikari

et al. 2023

QRAM

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…The private sector is, however, encroaching on more work, and some jurisdictions already have a hybrid of public and private professional audit expertise (Jeppesen et al., 2017), and the dominance of the accounting and legal professions is being challenged. Digitalization means that data scientists and other experts may replace accountants and lawyers for certain roles, if such skills are not built into existing profession skill sets (Agostino et al., 2022a, 2022b). Also, there have been pushes to reduce accountability and replace it with transparency as professional auditors are arguably replaced by an army of citizen armchair auditors (Ferry & Eckersley, 2015; Ferry et al., 2015) or online ranking systems such as in TripAdvisor we trust (Jeacle & Carter, 2011).…”

Section: Public Auditmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Digitalization affords a significant opportunity for change to the when and how of public audit (Agostino et al, 2022a(Agostino et al, , 2022b. Indeed, digitalization is challenging the traditional model of audit in terms of that it can be continuous and immediate rather than an annual process, and performing audit tests can be automated with algorithms and coding.…”

Section: The When and How Of Public Auditmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The COVID-19 pandemic will undoubtedly drive further change in such work practices as staff have had to adapt at speed and learn new technological skills of remote working. Essentially, the where is already at "digital world" that affords various threats and opportunities to the traditional nature of public audit (Agostino et al, 2022a(Agostino et al, , 2022b).…”

Section: The Where and Who Of Public Auditmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The future of public audit

2022

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Public sector audit is a vital activity within democratic states, which underpins the relationship between the government and the governed, the executive and the legislature, and different parts of the government. While there has been a lot of exceptional work in recent years on public sector audit, the sector faces new challenges. These challenges include regulatory space considerations, digitalization, the impact of service delivery design change, how audit and accountability arrangements address crises such as austerity, Brexit, black lives matter, climate change, disease in the form of COVID‐19 and war, and increased skepticism about the role of audit in society more generally. In this special issue, a group of scholars came together to describe this crisis in public audit, how the current literature addresses different facets of it and show how future research can contribute to analyzing it. This introductory article provides a brief summary of the current context of the “what, why, when, how, where and who” of public audit, before considering the contribution of each individual paper in this special issue to assisting in understanding the crisis of public audit, and finally setting out a conclusion and future directions.

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