Accounting and accountability practices in times of crisis: a Foucauldian perspective on the UK government's response to COVID-19 for England

Abstract

PurposeThis paper considers the accounting and accountability practices of the UK government’s response to COVID-19 for England, focussing on the first wave of the pandemic in 2020.Design/methodology/approachBased on a close reading of the news media and official reports from government departments, Parliament select committees and the National Audit Office, among others, this paper frames the UK government's uses of accounting and accountability in its response to COVID-19. This is by using the categories of “apparatuses of security”, Foucault's schematic of government for economising on the uses of state power.FindingsThe paper shows that an important role for accounting is in the process of enabling the government to gauge the extent of the crisis and produce calculations to underpin its response, what Foucault called “normalisation”. This role was unlike statistics and economics. The government relied most on monthly statistical reporting and budgeting flexibilities. By contrast, the multi-year Spending Review and financial reporting were not timely enough. That said, financial reporting fed into financial sustainability projections and enabled audit that could provide potential accountability regarding regularity, probity, value for money and fairness. The authors’ findings suggest that, conceptually, accountability should be added to the object–subject element of Foucault's apparatuses of security because of its significance for governments' ability to pursue crisis objectives that require popular assent.Practical implicationsIn view of the ongoing uncertainty, with the crisis extending over longer budget and financial reporting periods, a Spending Review is becoming ever more necessary for better planning, without limiting, however, the budget flexibilities that have proven so useful for rapid government responses. Moreover, the government should continue its accounting reforms post COVID-19 so that improved accountability and audit can contribute to enhanced future financial resilience.Originality/valueThis is the first paper to apply Foucault's notion of apparatuses of security to an analysis of government accounting and accountability practices.

Data, trust, democracy and Covid-19: the first parliamentary assessment of the UK government’s approach to data during the pandemic

“…The Covid-19 crisis happened against the background of an increased focus on data as a mechanism of both legitimacy and government within modern liberal democracies (Ahrens & Ferry, 2021a;Ferry & Ahrens, 2021;Rose, 1993). Rose (1993) suggests that numbers have four functions within modern liberal democracies: they establish who should hold power; link the government with the lives of the governed outside of the electoral process; establish a mechanism for the sceptical observer to hold the government to account; and make possible the activities of modern government itself.…”

“…This became particularly true with the deployment in 2021 of surge testing in areas where 'new variants' of the virus had taken hold. However, the English approach to data in the pandemic has been criticised: for example, Ahrens & Ferry (2020, 2021a, 2021b have criticised the way that government understood the financial consequences of the pandemic for local government. Mitchell et al (2021) suggest the UK's weakness on data drove a weaker performance than Germany during the pandemic.…”

The Effects of Covid-19 on Financial Statements: Some Insights from Italy through an International Literature Review

“…More specifically, Ahrens and Ferry [8] considered the role of accounting practices in the policies implemented by the UK government in response to the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. The authors stressed the importance of the role of accounting in allowing the government to correctly measure the extent of the crisis and the related policies to be implemented.…”

Bio-Politics and Calculative Technologies in COVID-19 Governance: Reflections From England

“…The previous researches on governmentality and the bio-politics of COVID-19 in the UK and other countries ignore the importance of calculative technologies in population governance during a pandemic, as elaborated in this paper. Previous studies on COVID-19 governance in the UK [1][2][3][4] limit their focus toward the managerial and decision-making effectiveness of the UK government, including preparedness and responses, crisis management, performance communication and accounting and accountability, and overlook the explicit and distinctive connection between calculative technologies and bio-political aspects of population governance. For example, Joyce 2 examines the preparedness for the pandemic in respect of the capacity for surveillance, governance and coordination structures and the modes of crisis management used by the UK government.…”

“…In particular, the studies beyond the UK address the complex set of 'liberal' and/or 'coercive' technologies that are used to rationalize the political power of governments, but without an explicit and distinguishing explanation of the role and importance of calculative technologies 6,7. In contrast, most of the UK studies focus on the managerial and decision-making aspects of COVID-19, without an emphasis on bio-political implications 3. Therefore, researchers should take note that an important empirical contribution could be to implement 'calculative' researches to avoid such a potential mistake, and consider this approach as a significant part of government technology, as detailed in this paper.The paper also elaborated on the transformative nature of calculative technologies.…”