Discovering its Own Relevance? Reflections on the 'New' Management Accounting in the Public Sector

Abstract

The observation that accounting is central to an on-going drive to reform the public sector is hardly new. The case of benchmarking, however, illustrates that a 'new management accounting' has been appropriated by public sector reformers and the accountants who serve information 'needs' generated by the dichotomous 'problem' of central governmental fiscal control versus decentralised empowerment. The case of benchmarking illustrates how, via its rhetorical power, the 'new management accounting' plays a central role in legitimising old demands placed on accounting. Caught up in the discourse of new public financial management reforms, accounting in the public sector is mired in a search for its own 'relevance'.

Adoption of activity management practices in public sector organizations

“…These changes were designed to enhance efficiency and effectiveness in an attempt to improve the overall performance and accountability of government organizations (Hood, 1995;Sinclair, 1995;Mulgan, 1997). Accounting practices have an important role to play in the © The Authors Journal compilation © 2007 AFAANZ continuing reform of the public sector (Hood, 1991(Hood, , 1995Ball, 2001). In particular, activity management practices can facilitate cost management by providing more accurate assessments of product/service costs and enabling an increased focus on the efficiency of internal business processes.…”

The association between organizational culture and the use of management initiatives in the public sector

“…The study compares the extent of adoption of such initiatives between the public and private sectors, and examines whether the associations found between organizational culture and management initiatives in prior private sector studies extrapolate to the public sector. The emphasis on management initiatives is important due to the role they play in the reform of the public sector (Ball, ), and the pressure placed on public sector organizations to legitimize their operations by adopting the management initiatives of private sector organizations (Chia & Koh, ; Schraeder et al., ). Schraeder et al.…”

Corporatisation and accounting change

“…This belief reflects global trends which are grounded in a perception that public sector management is inefficient and can only be challenged by the introduction of private sector management ideas and thinking (Ferlie et al, 1996;Ball, 2001;Lapsley and Pallot, 2000;Potter, 2002). As a result, the Malaysian government views the application of private sector management techniques as its preferred solution to the problem of financial inefficiency in the public sector.…”