Public Sector Accounting and Budgeting for Non-Specialists

Hodges, Ron; Helden, Gerrit van

doi:10.1007/978-1-137-37699-2

Cited by 12 publications

(17 citation statements)

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“…Several authors have indicated that for public sector organizations, it is generally relatively difficult to agree on clear goals (Merchant & Otley, , pp. 790, 793; van Helden & Hodges, , p. 8; Öhman, , p. 169). If the goals to be attained with the aid of a policy or certain activities are unclear, it becomes more complicated to measure performance and to execute control.…”

Section: Control and Accountability Of Outsourced Tasks: Literature Rmentioning

confidence: 98%

NPM's “Ideals” About the Accountability and Control of Outsourced Activities: Tough, But Realizable, Or A Utopian Dream?

Bogt¹

2018

European Policy Analysis

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Based on 25 cases, the accountability and control processes of activities outsourced by municipalities in the Netherlands are analysed. The focus is twofold: on the accountability and control processes between the external party and the municipality, and on the role played by councillors (elected politicians). The research shows that the typical accountability and control relationship in this context is characterised by a low emphasis on outputs. However, detailed financial information and frequent informal contacts between civil servants (on behalf of the Executives) and the external party are very important. Furthermore, the accountability and control relationship with respect to (activities and) outputs seems to be rather loose, also when ‘proper’ output information is available in accounting documents. Finally, trust is crucial in the relationship, a notion which is not advocated by NPM and its underlying principal‐agent theory.

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Section: Control and Accountability Of Outsourced Tasks: Literature Rmentioning

confidence: 98%

NPM's “Ideals” About the Accountability and Control of Outsourced Activities: Tough, But Realizable, Or A Utopian Dream?

Bogt¹

2018

European Policy Analysis

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“…In the last decades, scholars have created different classifications to distinguish between different functions of budgeting (see Khan andHildred 2002, Budding andGrossi, 2014;Van Helden and Hodges, 2015;Anessi et al, 2016). For instance, Irvine (1975) separates planning, coordination, control and evaluation, while Hofstede (1968) considers authorizing, forecasting, planning and measuring as the main functions of budgeting.…”

Section: The Functions Of Public Budgetingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The mandated officials become responsible for the achievement of policy objectives and are tasked with using the allocated resources to deliver policies. This management mandate can vary in the amount of discretion officials are given, setting different degrees of autonomy for making changes to pre-agreed spending plans (Van Helden and Hodges, 2015).…”

Section: The Development Of the Management Functionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public value budgeting: propositions for the future of budgeting

Douglas¹,

Overmans²

2020

JPBAFM

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PurposeThe principles of public value management (PVM) have greatly inspired public management practitioners and scholars, but the application of these ideas to the everyday practice and research of government has proven to be more difficult. This article formulates propositions for how the principles of PVM could affect one of the core processes of government: budgeting. These propositions can inspire practitioners and be tested by future researchers.Design/methodology/approachThe article identifies the core principles of PVM and applies these to the budgeting functions of the allocation, management and accountability of public money. This exploration leads to a first conceptualization of “public value budgeting” and generates 12 propositions about how budgeting will change and remain unaltered under the influence of PVM.FindingsThe central argument is that “public value budgeting” could promote more coordination and integration between public funds and community resources, more involvement of societal stakeholders in the budgetary process and more continuous tweaks and changes to the budget. At the same time, legislative vetoes, financial controls and debates about the best use of public money will remain an important feature of public budgeting.Originality/valueThe article forwards the first conceptualization of public value budgeting, connects the literatures on public value and public budgeting, and offers both a practical application of PVM to public budgeting as well as a concrete agenda for future research.

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“…This study examines politicians' use of performance information (PI) in budget meetings taking place in a municipal council. By PI, we mean qualitative and quantitative information about public sector activities, processes, services, service outcomes and transformation processes, such as productivity/efficiency and effectiveness (e.g., Hatry, 2006;van Helden and Hodges, 2015). Politicians can use this information for learning, controlling, communicating, budgeting, motivating, promoting/advocating, evaluating, celebrating, collaborating, contracting, sense-The beauty of constructive culture making, decision-making, account-giving, framing, reassuring and preventing issues to name only a few uses (Behn, 2003;Van Dooren and Van de Walle, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The beauty of constructive culture: planting the seeds for widespread performance information use among councilors

Rajala

Sinervo

2021

IJPSM

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PurposeAlthough politicians' use of performance information affects political decisions and, through them, the well-being of society, there is a lack of studies exploring what contextual factors are associated with annual active performance information use among politicians. Furthermore, past studies on this subject have been cross-sectional rather than longitudinal.Design/methodology/approachIn this qualitative case study, triangulation of observations and 10 semi-structured interviews were used to ensure the robustness of findings. The study was conducted in a Finnish municipality known as Kangasala.FindingsA dialogue culture, constructive political climate, trusted information sources and high-quality information attained via accessible information channels explained the high information use in primarily unfavorable conditions to such use. The authors’ findings contradict many prior interview and survey studies that did not recognize the simultaneous contributions of the information provider, channel and quality, along with organizational and environmental factors to high performance information use. The results contradict to some extent the findings from other countries as these studies have explained high levels of use with unique combinations of drivers, whereas we identify common attributes of these combinations and talk about their meaning in the success of Kangasala's public financial management. However, the findings of this case study cannot be generalized.Originality/valueThis study describes a case organization that created a supportive environment for politicians' frequent performance information use that contributed to improvements. Past studies provide little knowledge about establishing sustained high levels of information use among politicians, so the case offers ideas and inspiration for improving this use.

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Public Sector Accounting and Budgeting for Non-Specialists

Cited by 12 publications

References 0 publications

NPM's “Ideals” About the Accountability and Control of Outsourced Activities: Tough, But Realizable, Or A Utopian Dream?

NPM's “Ideals” About the Accountability and Control of Outsourced Activities: Tough, But Realizable, Or A Utopian Dream?

Public value budgeting: propositions for the future of budgeting

The beauty of constructive culture: planting the seeds for widespread performance information use among councilors

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