Performance budgeting as a “creative distraction” of accountability relations in one Russian municipality

Abstract

PurposeThe paper explores how the implementation of performance budgeting unfolds public managers' attention and responses to competing accountability demands over time.Design/methodology/approachThis is a longitudinal study of one Russian municipality's implementation of PB under central government pressures during 2013–2017. Using triangulation of 25 interviews, documentary analysis and field observations, we employed institutional logics to guide the study.FindingsThe paper demonstrates the dynamic properties of PB construction under competing accountability demands via the “creative distraction” metaphor. PB was a “distraction” mechanism, which, on one hand, strengthened external accountability, while, on the other, distracting the municipality from internal municipal demands. Nevertheless, this “distraction” was also “creative,” as it produced proactive responses to competing accountability demands and creative effects over time. Specifically, PB also led to elements of creative PB negotiations between departments when managers started cooperating with redirecting the irrelevant constraints of performance information in budgeting into necessary manipulations for municipal survival. The demonstrated “creative distraction” is explained by the changing institutional logics of public managers supplemented by a set of individual factors.Originality/valueThe paper responds to the recent calls to study PB practice under several accountability demands over time. In this regard, we show the value of public managers' existing institutional logics as they shape PB's capacity to balance competing accountability demands. As we revealed, this capacity can be limited, due to possible misalignment between managers' attention toward “what to give an account for” during budget formation (input orientation driven by OPA logic) and “what is demanded” with the introduction of PB (output orientation driven by NPM logic). Yet, the elements of proactive managerial responses are still evident over time, explained by a set of individual factors within the presented case, namely: learning NPM logic, strengthened informal relationships and a common saturation point reflected by managers.

Public sector accounting in emerging economies: a review of the papers published in the first decade of Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies

“…Six out of 18 papers (Krambia-Kapardis et al , 2016*; Hassan and Mosakket, 2018*; Mkasiwa, 2019*; Nartey et al , 2020*; Aleksandrov et al , 2020*; Rajala, 2020*) do not directly address the influence of donors and international organisations on PSA in EE. For papers about fast-growing EEs, i.e.…”

“…For papers about fast-growing EEs, i.e. Russia (Aleksandrov et al , 2020*), Estonia/Lithuania (Rajala, 2020*), Cyprus (Krambia-Kapardis et al , 2016*) and the UAE (Hassan and Mouakket, 2018*), this is not unexpected, because donor influence has been largely absent in recent years, although new European Union (EU) members, such as the Baltic states and Cyprus, are impacted by regulatory and budgetary requirements from the EU. What is more surprising is that donor influence remains unaddressed in other papers that focus on less developed countries, namely, the research by Mkasiwa (2019*) about Tanzania and Nartey et al (2020*) about Nigeria.…”

“…The following papers explore performance management practices. The case study by Alesksandrov et al (2020), which is based on a theory of institutional logics, deals with performance budgeting in a Russian municipality [2]. This study reveals that elected legislators have lost their authority over the budget as the bureaucrats are inclined to meet the expectations of the federal government at the start of the trajectory for introducing performance budgeting.…”

“…This is reflected in our review. On the one hand, papers with a pragmatic stance about, for instance, the effectiveness of a management control system (Nartey et al , 2020*) or the quality of financial accounting information (Nkundabanyanga et al , 2013*) find positive outcomes, while papers on NPM-related accrual accounting adoption (Adhikari and Melemvik, 2011*; Mbelwa et al , 2019*; Lassou, 2017), performance budgeting (Aleksandrov and Timoshenko, 2018*) and participatory budgeting (Aleksandrov et al , 2020*; Jayasinghe and Uddin, 2019*) conclude that these accounting reforms have failed and sometimes even resulted in unintended effects. So, we recommend a move away from this focus on public sector reforms and to concentrate instead on understanding how the accounting repertoire works in practice, including routes for improvements therein.…”

Institutional work and the interplay of stability and change in public budgeting reform: the case of public universities in Iran

“…They develop a conceptual model for the successful implementation of PBB using the case of the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education. Similarly, Aleksandrov et al (2020) explore the challenges in implementing PBB in a Russian municipality. In terms of the changes/impact arising from accounting and budgeting systems reforms (i.e.…”