Public Sector To Public Services 20 Years of "Contextual" Accounting Research PDF

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal
Public sector to public services: 20 years of “contextual” accounting research

Jane Broadbent, James Guthrie,
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Public sector to
Public sector to public services: public services
20 years of “contextual”
accounting research
129
Jane Broadbent
Roehampton University, London, UK, and Received July 2007
James Guthrie Revised September 2007
Accepted November 2007
The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review and critique the field of public sector accounting
research. Many nation states deliver essential public services. In recent times, many of these nations
have been involved in programmes of “modernisation”, which, in part, means that these public
services now are significantly managed, delivered and governed by private and third sector
organisations.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper employs a literature-based analysis and critique of
public sector accounting articles published in the selected journals from 1992 to 2006. From this, a
descriptive meta-analysis of the characteristics of the research will be discussed. Finally, a conceptual
analysis of the selected literature will be used to evaluate the field and address a possible future
research agenda.
Findings – The descriptive analysis highlights that among the research papers reviewed several
interesting patterns emerged concerning public service research. Also, the dominance of Australasia
and UK research was noted. The extent of research in different levels of government/jurisdiction
indicated that the majority of research was organisationally based. Finally, when the various
functional types of accounting are considered, management accounting remained the most researched
area of interest.
Research limitations/implications – The paper only considered research within eight selected
journals and over the period 1992 to 2006. Therefore, for instance, US mainstream public sector
accounting research has not been reviewed.
Originality/value – The main implications of the paper are that “contextual” public service
accounting research has a strong tradition and, through the process of reflection and critique of the
body of work, several important insights are provided in order to highlight areas for further research
and policy development.
Keywords Public sector accounting, Public sector organizations
Paper type Literature review
The authors are grateful for comments received from attendees at the 5th Asia Pacific
Interdisciplinary Research on Accounting Conference, Auckland, July 2007. The paper also
benefited from constructive comments by the two referees, and also Professor Lee Parker and Accounting, Auditing &
Accountability Journal
Professor Richard Laughlin. The authors thank Carlos Sterling and Fiona Crawford of The Vol. 21 No. 2, 2008
University of Sydney and Mike Johnson at Roehampton University for their research and pp. 129-169
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
editorial assistance. They are grateful for research funding provided by the Faculty of 0951-3574
Economics and Business at The University of Sydney. DOI 10.1108/09513570810854383
AAAJ 1. Introduction
21,2 In 1992, we reviewed “alternative”[1] approaches to accounting research in the public
sector (Broadbent and Guthrie, 1992). We now return to this theme as part of a series of
reviews of aspects of accounting commissioned by Accounting Auditing and
Accountability Journal (AAAJ) to mark 20 years of the Journal’s publication[2]. The aim
of this paper is to contribute to the several thought pieces[3] within this special issue of
130 AAAJ, by focusing on the state of public sector accounting research and to provide a
discussion on its relevance to accounting and policy making and also explore avenues
for future research. Other authors have undertaken reviews of this nature over the past
25 years. For instance, Lapsley (1988) provided a seminal review of the overall field to
launch AAAJ and van Helden (2005) has reviewed management accounting
contributions[4]. However, this paper seeks to make a particular contribution; its
objective is to consider the state of what is more often now described as public services
accounting research (PSAR)[5], reviewing 20 years of published research from 1987 to
2006[6] and in doing so building on the insights developed in Broadbent and Guthrie
(1992). Simply stated we wish to ask two questions:
(1) What has been done?
(2) What could be done?
By addressing these questions, we will implicitly be considering what is “new” in

relation to the field of public services accounting research. This will inform an agenda
suggesting what should be done.
More explicitly, our paper signals a recognition of changes in context in the
perceived significance of the ownership of public services by nation states and
suggests that the delivery of public services is increasingly accepted as a focus by a
range of regulatory and government agencies. Equally, public services are
progressively seen by policy makers to be as significant as the commercial sector in
the context of wider economic and social development. This increasing recognition has
arguably consolidated the impetus, already in existence at the start of this period, that
demanded changes to ensure that the nation state “delivers”. A pertinent example is
provided by the World Bank (2007), in which it notes:
A well functioning public sector that delivers quality public services consistent with citizen
preferences and fosters private market-led growth while managing fiscal resources
prudently, is considered critical to the World Bank’s mission of poverty alleviation and the
achievement of millennium development goals[7].
This quotation indicates the importance that is placed on public services by significant
regulatory and policy bodies such as the World Bank, but raises in it many other
issues. For example, what constitutes “delivery”? This is a concept that is bound in
both context and ideological preference. “Delivery” as a concept is something we take
for granted and because it is not self evident; this review will explore it further.
Another issue we will examine is the nature of the relationship with the private sector.
The quotation hints at the assumptions of those who wish to develop a
transformational agenda, showing their belief in the importance of managing fiscal
resources. Accounting is an important technology in this respect – although what it
can do, and what it is perceived to do, are not necessarily the same thing.
Overall, the main objective of the paper is to consider what has been achieved in the Public sector to
past two decades and what remains to be achieved by public sector accounting public services
researchers in the early twenty-first century. We wish to move beyond understanding
and towards making a difference by engaging in critical public policy debates about
public services.
The paper has three corresponding aims. The first aim is to take the arguments of
Broadbent and Guthrie (1992) as a foundation from which to build. The second aim, in 131
light of an analysis of the published work that has been undertaken in the period
(1987-2006)[8], is to establish the relevance of the analysis in our earlier paper. This
paper will focus particularly on the nature of the research agenda rather than
emphasising the nature of the approaches to research that have been adopted, as was
the case in the previous paper. The third aim is to identify the diverse aspects that have
been studied, highlighting those areas we see as significant as well those areas that
have been overlooked or silenced.

The work that we review is from a significant set of accounting journals in the
area, and does not cover the public management and administration journals.
Although we recognise that the latter journals do not ignore the accounting
literature entirely – Public Money and Management for example deals with
accounting and management issues – the recognisable boundary provided by the
purely accounting focused journals is adopted despite the limitation this
produce[9]. The reason for this is simply to consolidate a concern with public
services accounting, auditing and accountability issues. Hence we review the
content of the following journals: Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal
(AAAJ); Accounting Forum (AF); Accounting, Organizations and Society (AOS);
British Accounting Review (BAR); Critical Perspectives on Accounting (CPA);
European Accounting Review (EAR); Financial Accountability and Management
(FAM); and Management Accounting Research (MAR). In making this choice we
are not considering the content of the “American mainstream”[10] and those
similar journals that concern themselves with more positivistic approaches in
which populations of data rather than the use of accounting in particular
organisational settings is considered. In this respect, the following analysis
respects the contextual and qualitative approaches explored in 1992 as
“Alternative” forms of understanding. So, as in 1992, the review is not
exhaustive but aims to give a “flavour” of the work in the field (Broadbent and
Guthrie, 1992). One of the limitations of such an analysis is that, although the
database[11] used is extensive, in one paper such as this only a general view of
the landscape is able to be provided.
In order to achieve this task the substantive arguments of the paper will be
structured in the following fashion. Section Two addresses the question of whether
our previously provided framework of the nature of the public sector is relevant in
light of the contemporary context. The relevance of the categorisation of the
approaches to research adopted in the literature will also be revisited. In Section
Three, the research methods adopted will be described and the descriptive
meta-analysis that falls out of this will be discussed in Section Four. Section Five
will undertake a conceptual analysis of the literature and provide insights into
significant trends and address a future research agenda. Section Six will provide our
conclusions.
AAAJ 2. Defining boundaries: what constitutes the public services and
21,2 “alternative” accounting research?
The domain of the public sector
In Broadbent and Guthrie (1992), we defined the public sector and its domain with a
focus on ownership and control. In this paper we argue that the changing nature of the
field has led to its re-naming to public services. Our guiding assumptions now follow
132 those outlined by Hutton (2006) on the role of public managers[12]. Based on this
definition, public services are those activities which are enshrined within the notion of
public good or service based on universality of access for the citizenry rather than the
private provision through a market. It is assumed these “public services” should be
available for all members of the given society, supplied in an equitable fashion. This is
a substantial shift in the definition and boundary of the nature of the subject of our
research. The paper will explore this issue in some detail as the analysis also gives the
opportunity to consider some recent literature.

The changes in the public sector that required a corresponding modification to our
definition – from public sector to public services – was already in existence in 1992. It
is illustrated by the difficulties that accompanied the task of constructing the domain
of the public sector in the earlier paper. Figure 1 illustrates the different sub-elements
seen as the domain of the public sector. In 1992 there was arguably an assumption that
the public sector comprised the organisations providing services to the public that
were publicly funded, owned and operated. Ownership and operation were crucial to
the concept of the public sector. However, the domain was already in flux in the wake
of privatisations and corporatisation (Guthrie, 1993) and these changes meant that
some assumptions about state ownership and operation were no longer valid, although
not affecting the assumption of some need for state funding, either directly or through
subsidy. There was in this respect some separation of purchaser and provider roles (i.e.
“steering” and “rowing” see, Osborne and Gaebler (1992) as well as some
reconsideration of what were essential universal services. State control of some
public services was seen as important to retain, particularly in the case of utilities, and
this was made possible through regulation of prices.
When framing our research in 1992, it was necessary to make decisions about what
organisations to include in the domain of the public sector. Because it was considered
that ownership and operation were no longer strictly essential to the concept of the
public sector, the domain went beyond local and central government departments.
However, Central and Local Government (or those similar units such as Federal and
State Government) were (and remain) key elements of the domain. This is because of
the bureaucratic relationship that links government to the universal provision[13] of
the service, and as such these elements can be relatively easily identified even though
their nature may be different in diverse jurisdictions[14]. Examples include the direct
Government Departments such as Defence or the provision of the audit services offered
by National Audit Offices, as well as environmental services or social services
provided by local (state) government or municipalities. Some of these elements have
since been floated.
In Broadbent and Guthrie (1992) two other elements were also identified as
important elements of the domain of the public sector. Public Institutional Systems
(PIS) and Public Business Enterprises (PBE) were also considered to be part of the
domain of the public sector because they provided public services albeit in different
Public sector to
public services
133
Figure 1.
Domain of the public
sector
ways. For instance, PIS were seen as part of the public sector because they provided
central public services such as healthcare and education. They were nevertheless
separated from central and local government, despite being funded through taxation,
because of their size and significant bureaucratic structures. The largest of these in the
UK was the National Health Service (NHS). Since 1992, it has separated further from
central government and operates with greater freedom from direct detailed
government control. In other jurisdictions, such as Australia, the involvement of
charities in the provision of health care services has also differentiated the health
service from the government sector.
AAAJ PBEs are mainly comprised of utilities, such as water electricity gas and telecoms.
21,2 Although in 1992 these utilities had been privatised they were still associated with the
public sector and the services they provided remained central to public life. In 1992,
there remained a strong rhetoric that there was public involvement in PBE, through
share ownership. Shares in PBE were marketed heavily to private investors with the
view that this retained public control while freeing them from public bureaucracy. In
134 all these cases there was a residual regulatory element ensuring some government
control remained. Thus, they were included in the domain of the public sector.
The domain of the public services

While changes have made in a variety of aspects of service provision over the past 20
years, we argue that the elements identified as the domain of the public sector in 1992
are still relevant in 2007. However, the justifications for their inclusion have been
reviewed and replaced by several different assumptions as Figure 2 illustrates. The
notion of a public sector that requires public funding, ownership and operation of
services is no longer appropriate. Instead the provision of public services may be
organised in a variety of ways and control is achieved through different organisational
and regulative mechanisms. Public services might have some element of government
funding, ownership, public direction or regulation, in different combinations but there
is no longer a need for direct government ownership for the involvement in provision of
these public services.
While the functions have not changed, there has been considerable change in
funding, governance and accountability for control and operation of these public
services, as well as the accounting and auditing of them. There have also been some
structural changes and more private sector involvement, as well as the introduction of
private sector approaches to service provision. We noted the existence of hybrid
organisations in 1992 (e.g. Mackintosh et al., 1994), in which private sector approaches
were used by the public sector and public service organisations (for example,
universities) were urged to be “more commercial”. This is still the case but even more
so, for instance, many universities now sell significant parts of their services (e.g.
Guthrie and Neumann, 2007; Parker, 2007)[15]. However, the direct involvement of the
private and third sectors in the ownership and provision of services noted above and
illustrated in Figure 2 is a phenomenon that has increased significantly. Hence while
the domain of the public services is similar to that of the domain of the public sector
described in Broadbent and Guthrie (1992), Figure 2 describes a more complex
situation in relation to funding, governance and accountability by regulation
arrangements.
Several changes have taken place since 1992 that have been recorded in the
accounting research literature[16]. PBE were created by transferring ownership to
shareholders, predominantly by central or federal government, and extended to other
shareholders through various privatisations (Guthrie, 1993; Arnold and Cooper, 1999).
A good deal of detailed sectoral work in this area has concentrated on the utilities, for
example in electricity (Thomson, 1993) or ports (Arnold and Cooper, 1999). This change
has been analysed by authors such as Ogden and Vass (Vass, 1993; Ogden, 1995a;
Ogden, 1995b; Ogden and Anderson, 1999) who explored the nature of the changes in
the water industry in the UK in some depth and Jupe and Crompton who have worked
on the rail industry in the UK (Crompton and Jupe, 2003; Jupe and Crompton, 2006).
Public sector to
public services
135
Figure 2.
The extent to which these regulatory attempts have been successful is open to question
(Cole and Cooper, 2006; Jupe and Crompton, 2006).
Privatisations were undertaken around the globe and promoted by international
financial and regulatory institutions (see, for example, the description in EAR Vol. 2,
No.1 in 1993 provided by the UN Secretary General (see, Un, 1993). Examples in
Australia are similar to those sectors privatised in the UK, demonstrating the close
policy links between Commonwealth nations, but privatisation was by no means
restricted to the Commonwealth and has been a worldwide phenomenon (e.g. Ruffing,
1993; Shaoul, 1997; Arnold and Cooper, 1999; Guthrie et al., 1999; Uddin and Hopper,
AAAJ 2001, 2003; Craig and Amernic, 2006). Interestingly, there is little evidence of these
21,2 international examples in the accounting journals analysed, reflecting the parochial
interest of published writers in the field, especially in the early days of privatisation.
International comparisons are important and there is some evidence of an emerging
literature in the area of PSAR covering a wider range of nation states.
In the context of privatisation, regulatory frameworks were, in many jurisdictions
136 and notably in the UK and Australasia, also created to control pricing and protect the
public interest. Regulators, like the UK Office for Water regulation (OFWAT), were
created to retain control over the pricing of utilities, demonstrating an intention to keep
some control over public, private or third sectors providing water services. Arguably it
is the perceived nature of the service and the residual public control that defines PBE
as part of the domain of the public sector. Over time, therefore, recognition of the
change in ownership of the providers of services has been a significant element

contributing to the change of title to public services, rather than public sector.
To use a definition of the domain of public services that relies on the perceived
nature of the services and the regulatory regime around it is nevertheless complex.
Two main issues impact on this. The first main issue concerns the nature of public
services and is determined largely by the context in which the public services are
provided, that is, the boundary of public services is not fixed, but varies from country
to country. Take, for example, the difference in the provision of health care in the USA
and Australia (e.g. Chua and Preston, 1994; Abernethy, 1996). As the comparative work
undertaken (e.g. Olson et al., 1998; Guthrie et al. 1999; Guthrie et al. 2005) in the field has
illustrated, the activities that comprise the public sector are bound by their context and
things that are seen as public services in one nations may not be judged as such in
others. This same comparative work also illustrates how the sectoral boundary
changes over time; a prime example is the way in which privatisations were used to
dispose of areas of public activity. Thus, if we use ownership as the basis of the
definition of public services, then the definition will be different in different
jurisdictions as well as over time even within the same jurisdiction.
Nevertheless, despite the complexity around its definition, the inclusion of the
category of PBE in the domain of public services arguably remains a valid one. It rests
on the recognition that in the particular jurisdiction and at that particular point in time
the services they provide are seen as essential public services. Organisations operating
in this way are regulated to ensure that the public interest is served and may be
provided with some element of public funding support. The regulatory framework is
intended to manage the nature of the various services and ensure that the suppliers of
these services do not abuse their power to provide services that citizens have little
option but to use. The extent of the control of these services remains contextual; they
are a social construct in a given society at a given point of time. A hypothetical
example of this is that as “global warming” affects climate and water availability,
privatised utilities may come under intensified control and greater government
intervention than previously. A specific example of this in Australia is the political
debate around federal control of water supply in the Murray Darling Basin, where
there is presently an extensive drought. This demonstrates the political tensions that
contextual elements can generate[17]. Accepting the dynamic nature of PBE, it remains
arguable that they are part of the domain of the public services.
Second, consider the case of PIS, which are public services according to the Public sector to
traditional definition in which the organisation is part of central or local government public services
infrastructure, such as Health, Education, Police or the Prison Service. They remain
significant enterprises in their own rights and different governance processes have
developed (in some cases to give qualified freedoms, for example the borrowing power
of Foundation Hospitals and the reduction of bureaucratic regulation of Academy
schools in the UK), as has accountability. These institutions remain an important part 137
of the public services in most nations, particularly in relation to health and education
which potentially have significant impact on the life chances of citizens. An interesting
phenomenon that has developed during the 20 year period is the introduction of the
private sector into the provision of these services – as well as to other elements of
government provision such as transport infrastructure – through Public Private
Partnerships (PPPs)[18]. This has expanded the involvement of the private sector in the
provision of public services in a different way to that exhibited in PBE. It is this

expansion of private sector involvement that has changed the emphasis from public
sector provision to the provision of public services.
Our argument is that increasing private involvement has had a significant impact
during this 20 year period of PSAR. Privatisation is inextricably linked with
“modernisation”, according to the state, and has been implemented throughout the
1990s (Broadbent and Laughlin, 2005). In the early 1990s, the foundation of these
changes was starting to emerge. Governments were giving consideration to different
institutional structures but, despite the ascendancy of a right leaning ideology that
favoured markets and competition, citizen involvement was still seen as important in
gaining legitimacy for change. Thus, in 1992 we saw private sector involvement in the
sector growing through the privatisation of service, particularly the utilities and
telecoms in Australia and the UK, but also infrastructure, such as the rail system in the
UK. These were promoted as retaining public involvement through share ownership in
PBE. The PIS, unlike PBE, saw more limited direct private involvement in running the
services, usually through the tendering out of elements of service provision, and
private sector involvement did not at that stage extend to ownership.
Governance structures have also developed in significance. On privatisation, many
PBE became subject to the different disciplines of shareholders and external financial
reporting, and also a regulatory framework to protect the social good (Guthrie, 1993).
The failures of governance in the private sector, characterised by the collapse of
companies such as Enron, means that governance has become a more important
concern, and greater emphasis has been placed on this issue in the public services as
well as the private (including the PBE). Governance arrangements in PIS have also
changed and in 1992 the foundations of these changes were well in place. A key
element of early “modernisation”[19] had been to give greater delegated involvement to
managers at the level of the provision of service and to involve users more in governing
these organisations (Broadbent and Guthrie, 1992). This delegation of responsibility
has meant that there is even greater impetus to external and user involvement in
governance processes in both the private and public sector and that citizen
involvement in the governance of PIS is important. In addition, risk management is
also now an important aspect of governance in both public and private fields of
operation. In order to enable external parties to monitor risk and achievement in the
public services[20], new systems of accountability have been institutionalised through
AAAJ the use of performance indicators and performance management systems. Thus, users
21,2 and citizens are integrated into governance structures and accountability to
organisational governors as well as to central government has been cemented by the
use of performance measurement.
Significantly, at the end of the period under consideration, there is little in the
literature to suggest that the justification of privatisation by the argument that citizen
138 shareholding provides a means of public involvement is valid. Rather the focus of
“modernisation” has become ensuring the provision of services; their source is not
considered important and private delivery is justified if it is value for money (v-f-m).
For instance, this is illustrated in the involvement of the private sector through the
vehicle of partnership, in the context of Public Private Partnerships and the Private
Finance Initiative (Broadbent and Laughlin, 2005)[21].
Thus, a significant difference in private sector involvement over the period is that
PBE have floated off functions in their entirety, whereas PPP/PFIs can be undertaken
in particular projects within local, central government or PIS. PPP/PFIs do not take
over the whole of the operation of a sector but can operate at a particular organisational
level while, in other operational units, provision is delivered in full by the public
provider. For this reason, PPP/PFIs do not represent a change of ownership from the
domain of the public services, but a change to the provision of services[22].
Figure 2 illustrates that both PBE and PIS remain in the domain of what we now
call the public services, but without the rhetoric of public involvement in the services
through share ownership or through governance processes as was seen in the early
1990s. The PBEs are gradually migrating towards the private sector. Globally, it is
now taken for granted that it is the provision of services that matters, rather than who
provides them, and that what is in question is accountability and regulation for the
nature of that provision. Thus, Figure 2 highlights the accountability relationships
between the providers (both public and private) and the government at different levels.
PBE remain within the domain of the public services, but are moving more towards the
private sector as citizens become accustomed to private involvement in these areas.
While PBEs are subject to state regulation as a means of control and the services they
provide are seen as public goods that should be universally and equitably available
PBEs still however remain in the domain of public services. In the context of PIS,
private sector involvement is increasing through the use of PPP/PFI, but the services
are still more firmly located in the domain of public services. They remain a public
good and control is more direct than is the case with the PBE regulatory schemes,
private providers’ obligations being contractually determined. In turn those who are
managing the contracts are held accountable to the state through different systems of
performance management.
At the same time as provision of public services is moved to private sector
providers, there is pressure on those elements that remain more firmly in the direct
control of government at both central and local levels to adopt a business approach to
accounting and management. In these different ways we move from the concept of
“public sector” to the concept of provision of “public services” that, as Hutton (2006)
argues, provides the services a society assumes are available in an equitable fashion
and be funded from taxation revenue (Hutton, 2006). Hence, our key argument is that
PSAR should be concerned with the delivery of public services rather than with the
ownership and organisational structure of the public sector.
“Alternative” approaches to accounting research Public sector to
Broadbent and Guthrie (1992) recognised that, in exploring PSAR, several research public services
approaches can be taken. The categorisation of the research approaches that we offered
in 1992 are now briefly revisited in this paper. The three original categories identified
remain robust. Thus the present paper will differentiate technical accounting, that
work which considers accounting techniques as a set of a-contextual practices (see for
example, Solà and Prior, 2001), from the body of more contextual work. Technical 139
contextual accounting and contextually technical accounting are differentiated thus:
the former looks at techniques in context, seeing the context as having implications for
the construction of techniques (Jones, 2000), while the latter is interested in the
interaction of accounting and context (Cole and Cooper, 2006; Kurunmäki and Miller,
2006). There seems, on reflection, to be no reason to change our original
categorisation[23].
Thus, it remains the case that only a small number of the research papers reviewed
seek to take a purely technical accounting approach; these also see accounting
technologies as drivers of change, for instance, in that by changing the technology it is
assumed better information can be produced. The small representation of this category
is a product of the journals reviewed. The selected journals recognise the context of the
public services, seeing accounting technologies as mediated by their context and
implicated in change, although perhaps not in the way that was intended. Some of the
reviewed literature remains contextually technical in that it wishes to understand the
context and recognises that accounting technologies are relevant as a contextual
element. In this latter category, the interest is in how accounting is used or implicated
in processes of change. As noted above, the current paper reviews a particular set of
journals that by their nature either tend to concentrate on contextual and qualitative
research, or are receptive to it. While the bulk of the research therefore tends to have
some contextual element, nevertheless, a small number of papers are more technically
focused and all three types of alternative research are represented in the body of work
considered. The method used to analyse this research will be explored in the next
section.
3. The nature of the analysis undertaken

This section documents our methods for selecting and reviewing the papers (see,
Parker, 2005). It includes the selection of journals, and papers within those journals,
and the classification scheme used and procedures for data collection and analysis. Six
steps were identified for our review process.
First, we formulated our main research objective and corresponding aims and
established several boundaries for defining and limiting PSAR papers. The second step
was the selection of journals from the accounting discipline which would reflect
interdisciplinary research. The following eight journals were included: Accounting,
Auditing and Accountability Journal; Accounting Forum; Accounting, Organizations
and Society; British Accounting Review; Critical Perspectives on Accounting; European
Accounting Review; Financial Accountability and Management; and Management
Accounting Research (AAAJ, AF, AOS, BAR, CPA, EAR, FAM, MAR).
Third, we considered the number of papers dedicated to PSAR in the selected
journals. This led to a grouping of papers from each journal for which the number is
identified in Table I. As indicated previously this was limited to the time period 1992 to
AAAJ 2006. For all papers a PDF of the entire paper was obtained and entered in the database
21,2 and full referencing details established in Endnote.
The fourth step was to pilot test the classification criteria on a sample of papers.
During this stage both authors read the papers based on abstracts and full text of the
articles and preliminary classifications were made and discussed. From this a slightly
modified coding scheme was established and then one of the authors of this paper
140 undertook the reading and coding for all the articles.
During the fifth step all papers were classified based on the coding classification
(see, Table II). In instances where ambiguity as to coding was identified, the
Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal 87

Accounting Forum 24
Accounting Organizations and Society 13
British Accounting Review 5
Critical Perspectives on Accounting 24
Table I. European Accounting Review 34
Number of PSAR papers Financial Accountability and Management 228
in selected accounting Management Accounting Review 37
journals Total 452
A. Location A1. North America

A2. Australasia
A3. United Kingdom
A4. Continental Europe
A5. Other
B. Government jurisdiction B1. Supra-National/International/Comparative
B2. National
B3. State/Territory/Province
B4. Local/Municipal
B5. Organisation/Industry-specific (Police, Education, University,
Health, Water, etc.)
C. Accounting type C1. Management/Accounting/Budgeting/Financial Management
C2. External Reporting (Financial, Social, Environmental, Intellectual
Capital, etc.)
C3. Finance/Capital Budgeting
C4. Auditing/Evaluation
C5. Accountability/Governance
C6. Privatisation/ Public Private Partnerships/Private Finance
Initiative
C7. Other (including General)
D. Research methodology D1. Case/Field Study
D2. Content/Historical Analysis
D3. Survey/Questionnaire/Other Empirical
Table II. D4. Commentary/Normative
Criteria for the PSAR D5. Theoretical/Literature Review
papers D6 Theoretical/Empirical
second-named author retrieved the full PDF and discussion ensued until agreement Public sector to
was reached. public services
Finally, in step six the database was established and used to construct a range of
descriptive statistics that allowed extensive discussion of the patterns that emerged
from the reviewed articles and provided the basis for analysis of the field over the
period in question.
The classification process considered four different descriptive criteria, as 141
highlighted in Table II. First, the location of the work was considered and this was
divided into five geographic regions:
(1) North America;
(2) Australasia;
(3) United Kingdom;
(4) Rest of Europe; and

(5) Other.
An important aspect here is that where the location of the work is indeterminable or
multifarious, the default for this code is the first-mentioned author’s location. The
second classification criterion was the level of government jurisdiction. This included a
supranational/international element, which covered comparative work or a
cross-national boundary organisation (e.g. United Nations) as well as the various
tiers of government within a national setting: national, state/territory/province, and
local government. The final element in this categorisation, labelled
organisation/industry specific, included the government agencies or industries (such
as police, education, university, health, water, etc). Excluded from this categorisation
was anything to do with private sector companies, not for profit organisations, such as
charities, and the like.
The third classification was by accounting type and this involved analysing the
publication for various functional types of accounting related specifically to the public
sector. These included seven main accounting categories: management accounting and
control/ budgeting and performance management; external reporting (financial, SE, IC,
etc); finance/capital budgeting; auditing/evaluation; accountability and governance;
Privatisation/PPP/PFI; and a final “other” category to include more general work.
Our fourth categorisation was of the research approach used in the work. We
differentiated between case and field work, historical or content analysis, survey work
and interview work that sought to use questionnaires and provide more statistical
analysis rather than cases, commentaries and normative work, theoretical or literature
review approaches, and finally, combined approaches. This categorisation proved to be
most problematic as often aspects of different elements were combined not in an
explicit manner to provide a formal combination of research approaches, but in the
context of, for example, using case based approaches to lead to commentary.
4. Descriptive analysis
Once the selected papers were obtained from the eight selected accounting journals, a
meta-analytical review of PSAR was undertaken to provide a descriptive patterning.
This section answers, in an analytical way, the first question: what has been done?
AAAJ The first issue to highlight is that, as illustrated in Table I, apart from the journal
21,2 dedicated to the public services and the charities/voluntary sector (Financial
Accountability and Management) and the generalist journal (Accounting, Auditing
& Accountability Journal ), there is a paucity of published public services research in
other journals. The specialised journal FAM accounts for 50 per cent of the
publications in the field. It should be recognised that some of the PSAR work is also
142 submitted to public administration journals, but nevertheless given the size and
importance of the public services, it is disappointing not to see it represented rather
more substantially in more of the other accounting journals. It should also be
recognised that this may well be the result of author submission practices as much as
journal policy. Given the evidence that the acceptance of PSAR in the generalist
accounting journals is patchy, those with a track record of acceptances in the field
provide a signal to potential submitters, so a concentration of contributions develops. It
is encouraging to note that, over time, the body of published public services research is
growing and the area is becoming more established.
Figure 3 illustrates the geographic location of the work that has been undertaken.
This shows the area with the greatest number of publications in PSAR to be the UK
followed by Australasia. This may be a result of the fact that public sector financial
management reform in these regions led the world. This is perhaps partly the result of
fact that the journals that have been chosen are English language publications.
European nations other than the UK are nevertheless well represented and this
contribution is growing more recently. It must be acknowledged that there is a
tradition of public sector research in other European languages in both accounting and
public administration. Indeed, Europe has followed the North American tradition and
developed prestigious specialist institutions that are focused on the field. This perhaps
means that there is a tradition of publication in public administration journals rather
than in the areas of economics and accounting, as might be the case in the UK and
Australia where PSAR has always been a sub-discipline of the generic accounting
discipline. In addition to the limitations presented by restricting journals to those in
Figure 3.
Public service articles by
location
English there is also the matter of cultural bias. For example, there is a very different Public sector to
approach to public service delivery in the USA. public services
It is perhaps also significant to note that the pattern of publication reflects the reach
of the Westminster system of government. This reflects the policy links that are
embedded in communities of practice such as the Auditors-General of the various
jurisdictions. One Australian federal Auditor-General described the link between the
audit offices of Australia and UK as “like being part of a family”. The point is that 143
while there remain significant differences in the execution of policies, there is
nevertheless a great deal of sharing of ideas between particular jurisdictions. This has
enabled comparative research and may have led to more research related to these
geographic locations.
It remains rare to find work related to emerging economies – a problem addressed
by the work Trevor Hopper[24] has undertaken with doctoral students in the area
(Uddin and Hopper, 2001, 2003; Wickramasinghe et al., 2004). Work from the former
Soviet Union and from the Asia Pacific region is also now emerging (Jaruga and
Nowak, 1995; Xavier, 1996; Bourmistrov and Mellemvik, 1999).
The extent of research in different levels of government/jurisdictions reflects the
distribution of nations studied and the structures within them. Figure 4 demonstrates
that the majority of research considers two arenas; the most popular area of interest is
organisationally based studies and the second most popular area of research interest
focuses on national level analysis. Because all jurisdictions have national governments
and all have many different organisations this is perhaps unsurprising. Given that the
research is mainly contextual, organisations provide the bulk of research sites because
of their availability and ease of access.
Analysis of the organisational sites shows that there is still a great deal of interest in
the Health Services (e.g. Pettersen, 1995; Lapsley, 1996; Llewellyn, 1997; Broadbent
et al., 2001; Lowe, 2001; Arai, 2006; Scarparo, 2006). Schools and universities are also
popular sites for study (e.g. Cameron and Guthrie, 1993; Laughlin et al., 1994;
Broadbent et al., 1999; Montondon and Fischer, 1999; Yamamoto, 2004; Modell, 2005).
Figure 4.
level of government or
jurisdiction
AAAJ However, the call made in 1992 (Broadbent and Guthrie, 1992) for wider study sites has
21,2 been addressed and a variety of other areas have been studied including the utilities
(Vass, 1993), scientific organisations (Boden et al., 1998), national theatres (Skaerbaek,
1992), social housing (Collier, 2005), the police (Hoque et al., 2004) and museums
(Carnegie and Wolnizer, 1996). The range of interest is broad, but the extent to which
there is a body of in depth research in these areas is limited, meaning there are still
144 ample research opportunities.
National Government provides an accessible site. While engagement with
organisational actors may not be straightforward, it is easy to retrieve policy and
contextual documentation, especially given the ubiquitous nature of the information on
government web sites (Luder, 1993, 2000; Broadbent and Laughlin, 2005). This
provides the opportunity for commentary and normative discussion.
Work in Local Government and Municipalities is a continuing theme and research
has been undertaken in the context of significant changes to the structures of delivery
of service from these authorities in various countries (e.g. Mussari, 1995; Seal, 1999;
Gill-McLure et al., 2003; Monsen, 2006).
When the various functional types of accounting are considered, management
accounting remains the most researched area of interest. The extent of interest in
management accounting is illustrated in Figure 5. Management accounting (C1)
accounts for 188 articles, while financial accounting and external reporting (C2)
Figure 5.
accounting type
accounts for 83 articles. Other (C7) has 58 articles and the rest of the public service Public sector to
articles by accounting type are accountability and governance (C5), auditing and public services
evaluation (C4), Finance (C3) and PPP (C6) with 23 identified research articles. The
technologies of NPM still fascinate researchers (e.g. Heald and Geaughan, 1994;
Bellamy and Kluvers, 1995; Llewellyn and Grant, 1996; Jacobs, 1997; Doolin, 1999;
Groot, 1999; Bowerman et al., 2001; Percy, 2001). Thus research about the nature of the
raft of accounting technologies concerned with budgets or costs of a particular type of 145
organisation (see for example Llewellyn, 1993, 1997, 1998; Llewellyn and Northcott,
2005) remains an important theme. The same is true of the interest in the processes and
structures in place to enable the new technologies (e.g. McSweeney and Duncan, 1998;
O’Connor et al., 2004). Performance management and indicators provoked much
interest in the years up to 1992 and this remains an important area of concern (e.g. Mol,
1996; Modell, 2001, 2004; Siverbo and Johansson, 2006).

Financial accounting is the second most popular area of interest and this is perhaps
the result of some specific structural changes[25]. Connolly and Hyndman (2006)
provide a taste of the debates that concern themselves with the appropriateness of the
use of this approach in the public services.
Accountability and governance has provided a topic of study for several
researchers, reflecting the changes to the structure of the domain (e.g. Gray and
Jenkins, 1993; Goddard and Powell, 1994; Johnsen et al., 2004; Collier, 2005). Work in
this area is diverse but a common theme is that of seeking to understand the extent to
which changes in the approaches to management or to the accounting information
provided enables or restricts accountability in different situations (e.g. Humphrey et al.,
1993; Hodges and Wright, 1995; Levaggi, 1995; Burritt and Welch, 1997; Coy et al.,
2001; Gendron et al., 2001; English, 2003; Carnegie and West, 2005; Barton, 2006).
Auditing and evaluation is a significant area represented in the body of research
undertaken and a range of different sites or initiatives are of interest (e.g. Humphrey
et al., 1995; Jacobs, 2000; Johnsen et al., 2001; Broadbent et al., 2003). The extent to
which evaluation, in the processes set up to seek to make such evaluations, simply
undermines its own intent was of particular interest to Olson et al. (2001). This theme of
the dysfunctional consequences of evaluation or control systems is one that is also
reflected in other sub-areas of the field in general, for example, in work that questions
the measurement systems operated in the context of the development of reference costs
as measures by which to evaluate performance of hospitals in relation to their costs
(e.g. Northcott and Llewellyn, 2003; Llewellyn and Northcott, 2005).
Auditing is important, both on the national stage with the work of the National
Auditors-General, and at the local level in municipalities; evaluation of outcomes is
part of the work auditors are expected to undertake (e.g. Bowerman, 1994, 1995;
Hodges and Wright, 1995; Olson et al., 2001; Pallot, 2003; Pollitt, 2003; Johnsen et al.,
2004; Johnson, 2006). Given the importance of the sub-themes that could emerge from
this area, particularly in relation to questions of v-f-m and evaluation there would
arguably be a case for more scholarly interest in the area.
This analysis also demonstrates the emergence of some new areas of interest
extending existing themes. As well as the work on PPP/PFI (e.g. Shaoul, 1997;
Broadbent and Laughlin, 1999; Torres and Pina, 2001; English and Guthrie, 2003;
Froud, 2003; Shaoul, 2005) there is an interest in social and environmental matters (e.g.
AAAJ Burritt and Welch, 1997; Ball, 2004, 2005), devolution to different jurisdictions
21,2 (Midwinter, 2005), and intellectual capital (Habersam and Piber, 2003).
Figure 6 considers methods used within the selected articles and shows the spread
of research methods that have been adopted in the study of PSAR.
Figure 6 shows that historical work (D2) is becoming more common (e.g. Funnell,
1998), combined with content analysis it is as popular as field or case study work (D1).
146 Survey/questionnaire/interview studies (D3) are less popular. Many of the papers
provide commentaries or normative studies (D4) – this is the largest body of work
represented. Aligned to this category are the literature reviews (D5) which like the
commentaries and normative work do not directly engage empirically. The final
category of work, combined theoretical and empirical studies (D6) remedies the
omission of empirical insights.
The analysis is interesting particularly given there has been some discussion
among the academic community about the dearth of theoretical underpinnings. This
analysis demonstrates that there is more fieldwork and case work than theoretically
informed work in the area (e.g. Barton, 2005) and supports this perception. However, a
more significant finding is that there is a danger that there may be an over-reliance on
normative theorising and theoretical reviews of the existing literature – represented in
categories D4 and D5. It should be recognised that the problem of disembedded theory
is as great as that of under theorised empirics. The role of “armchair theorising” is
important in raising normative debate, but remains limited if academics are to engage
Figure 6.
research method
in policy especially in a context where there are call for more evidence based policy. Public sector to
Practical solutions must at some stage be rooted in practice and context and there must public services
therefore be a move beyond theorising to theory in practice. Given the great
preponderance of work that is not engaging with empirics it would seem as if the
balance is not being achieved. On the other hand it should also be noted that there were
a number of significant papers that were theoretically and empirically informed (e.g.
Dillard and Smith, 1999; Humphrey et al., 1995; Broadbent and Laughlin, 2002; English 147
and Guthrie, 2003).
In summary, the descriptive perspective on the accumulated PSAR is important as
it helps identify who published, what was published and the focus of the selected
research. By analysing the patterning of the PSAR body of knowledge via the
classification criteria, we are able to provide a foundation on which to ground our
conceptual analysis, as well as form some tentative conclusions as to the gaps in the
body of current PSAR research.
5. Discussion
This section reflects on our aims. The first aim was to take the earlier paper as a
foundation on which to build and the second aim sought to consider the contemporary
relevance of the previous analysis. The arguments in Broadbent and Guthrie (1992)
have been re-visited and refined in the discussions in section 2 of this paper. The nature
of the domain has been redefined and illustrated in Figure 2. As a result we argue that
during the period the changing context has moved the focus beyond the public sector
to an emphasis on public services. The relevance of the approaches to research has
been considered and is still seen as relevant. The rest of this section seeks to address
the third aim, that of the content of the body of research and those areas we see as both
significant and those that have been forgotten or silenced.
Significant trends
Thus, the first task in this section will be to consider the significant contemporary
trends within PSAR, noting that changes in the contextual environment have moved
the research agenda within the field over the period in question. Three aspects will be
considered[26]: External financial reporting; governance and risk; and performance
measurement and management. The consideration of these three areas of PSAR
demonstrates the importance of the reflexive consideration of context and accounting
practice. The examples illustrate the extent to which accounting practice is both
constituted by, and is constitutive of, the social context.
The move to external reporting issues and the concern with public infrastructure
A significant change in contemporary PSAR is the increase in work in the area of
external reporting. In 1992, the majority of the research in the field was concerned with
management accounting techniques of various types. At that stage the concerns in
policy and practice were with how to manage the organisation more efficiently and
how to control what those managing the sector were doing (Dunleavy and Hood, 1994).
The overall field of research is dynamic and mutable and there has been a greater
interest in researching financial aspects of PSAR as the period has progressed.
Australia and New Zealand were perhaps the earliest jurisdictions to signal an
interest in moving governmental accounting to cohere with private sector models (e.g.
AAAJ Pallot, 1997; Guthrie, 1998). In New Zealand, this interest aligned with the change
21,2 agenda introduced into the public sector as a whole. New Zealand was seen as a leader
in the adoption of new public management (NPM) approaches and was particularly
attracted to the private sector approach to public service delivery, seeking to impose
this framework on its public sector in all aspects (Pallot, 2001). For some time this
approach was less evident in other nations (Broadbent et al., 1999). However, there has
148 been an increasing interest in using private sector accounting approaches and this has
been evidenced by the interest in using accrual accounting in the public services across
the globe (e.g. Brorstrom, 1998; Robinson, 1998; Christiaens, 2004; Monsen, 2006;
Carlin, 2003; Heald, 2005; Lye et al., 2005) and looking to the matter of “Whole of
government accounting”.
Not all of the research has been complimentary about the adoption of private sector
approaches to reporting of public services, seeing the differences between the sectors
as significant. The interest in financial accounting reporting and concerns about the
applicability of private sector approaches in the public services – which are seen to be
driven by different assumptions – has been accompanied by commentaries on
approaches to the setting of standards in the area of public services (e.g. Pallot, 1992;
Rutherford, 1992; Scheid, 1993; Guthrie, 1998; Walker and Clarke, 2000; Price and
Wallace, 2002). The debate as to whether generic approaches are relevant and possible
and thus how to regulate financial reporting in the public services remains alive and
some consideration of both conceptual frameworks and implementation is evident (e.g.
Mayston, 1992; Lye et al., 2005; Mack and Ryan, 2006) In the world of practice, the
standard setting bodies also continue to debate the matter.
The growing interest in financial accounting issues has led to a particular interest in
issues relating to the treatment of infrastructure assets. The desire to produce financial
accounts compatible with those of the private sector has raised issues of introducing
capital charging (e.g. Coombs and Edwards, 1992; Heald and Scott, 1995; 1996; Heald
and Dowdall, 1999; Carlin, 2003; Christiaens, 2004). When cash accounting was used in
the sector then there was no overt mechanism for capital charges or for asset
depreciation to be recorded. It has been argued that this should be remedied so as to
reflect the cost of Treasury support and make the cost of asset usage more visible in
order to ensure efficiency of use. The debate links into the management accounting
changes of NPM that were directly geared to efficiency, and for that reason
practitioners and regulators have introduced such charges (e.g. Christiaens, 2004;
Goddard, 2005; Paulsson, 2006). Arguments have been made that this is inappropriate,
given the distinct nature of some elements of the sector, which leads to claims of
incompatibility with business approaches. One such example is the debate
surrounding the inclusion and valuation of heritage assets such as Ancient
Monuments or Works of Art. The concern with their valuation and a debate as to
whether they should indeed form part of the National Account is reflected in the
literature (e.g. Barton, 2000; Christiaens, 2004). The value and the nature of the
ownership of the national infrastructure has come to the fore in the discussion of
PPP/PFI that follows.
The general question of why there has been more interest in applying private sector
approaches to external financial reporting is significant. Arguably one element in a
tentative explanation of this phenomenon lies in the context of the introduction of more
private sector involvement in the public services. For example, in the implementation
of markets or quasi-markets with their attendant price competition, there is a need to Public sector to
develop costing and pricing information through the development of accounting public services
technologies (e.g. Chua and Preston, 1994; Guthrie, 1998). Where competition is
between public and private sector organisations there is some incentive to have
comparable financial information sets (e.g. Ellwood, 1996) in order to have comparable
information for decision making. The contracting out of services or pricing for market
situations (e.g. Aiken and McCrae, 1992; Arai, 2006) has led to a need to develop 149
comparative information. This is one element creating the impetus for the adoption of
private sector approaches to financial reporting.
This impetus has been consolidated by a recent and important contributory factor,
the impact of “third way” thinking (Giddens, 1998). Third way thinking has introduced
the notion of partnership between public and private organisations. Structural changes
in the provision of services that have emerged have required accounting, auditing and
accountability changes. Third way thinking has sought to dissipate the need to make
stark choices between public and private sectors. As such it has been influential in the
development of the notion of the government’s role in funding public services as
opposed to maintaining a public sector. Third way thinking introduced the logic that
the private sector could be used to provide public services in the context of partnership
and, in doing so, legitimated the involvement of the private sector for some elements of
the political left. This, of course, is an approach that has not been problematic for the
political right who have long espoused the use of the private sector as a more efficient
means of operation. The political right of course have used the market mechanism as
justification for private sector involvement. In “partnership thinking” the motivation
for the use of the private sector is different but the outcome is similar – there is more
private sector involvement in the provision of public services.
For instance, the ideas of PPP/PFI have spread across the OECD (e.g. Mayston,
1999; English and Guthrie, 2003; Froud, 2003; Broadbent and Laughlin, 2005). PPP/PFI
has promoted public service delivery by the private sector and while it is said to be in
partnership, the essence of the approach in practical terms is that the private sector is
contracted and funded by taxation revenue to deliver a public service. The partnership
element is represented in the extent to which there is claimed to be a sharing of the risk
of the project with allocations of risk to those who are best able to manage it. The
partnerships have particularly been used to solve the problems of the provision and
updating of infrastructure. Backlog maintenance of public assets has been seen as
significant, public borrowing as restricted and hence the renewal of infrastructure has
been a problem for a variety of nation states. The use of the private sector to provide
funding for the infrastructure of public services has therefore had great appeal (e.g.
Hodges and Mellett, 1999; Broadbent and Laughlin, 2003a, b; Edwards and Shaoul,
2003; Shaoul, 2005).
The use of the private sector to provide public services has been criticised as the
private sector makes profit from services such as health, education, police or justice
(e.g. Froud et al., 1998; Froud and Shaoul, 2001; Froud, 2003; Newberry and Pallot,
2003; Shaoul, 2005). Calls for a broad evaluation of the initiative have been made, with
a particular emphasis on an assessment of the implications of long contracts which are
integral to PPP initiatives and where it remains difficult to know what the final
outcome of PPP/PFI might be (Broadbent et al., 2003). Calls to consider the way in
which these initiatives are accounted for, both financially and in general economic
AAAJ terms, have also been made (e.g. Hodges and Mellett, 1999; Mayston, 1999; Broadbent
21,2 et al., 2003; Rutherford, 2003; Shaoul, 2005).
The adoption of PPP/PFI has raised questions about the nature of management
accounting approaches to capital investment decision making and to the question of
how to deal with risk (e.g. Froud et al., 1998; Shaoul, 1998; Froud and Shaoul, 2001;
Froud, 2003; Newberry and Pallot, 2003). It has raised questions about how the state
150 legitimises its decisions (e.g. Broadbent and Laughlin, 2003a) and the logic of PPP as a
policy (Edwards and Shaoul, 2003).
PPP/PFI is significant in financial accounting research because it both emerges from
and consolidates the ideological drift to private sector approaches to the management
and provision of public services. This has led to increased attention being paid to
external financial reporting for public services and has impacted particularly on those
organisations that were previously seen as residing in a different sphere – that of the
public sector. Hence the structural and ideological changes have created the “space” for
new approaches to service provision and the need for new accountings. The accountings
themselves have created some of the arguments for the adoption of the new structures of
provision (for example through the arguments that PPP/PFI provides value-for money
(see, Heald, 2003). PPP/PFI is both the driver of and driven by change and this provides
an example of the constitutive nature of accounting, and shows how accounting itself is
also constituted by wider practice (Broadbent and Guthrie, 1992).
The more general point of significance that emerges from the research in the area of
external financial reporting is the demonstration of the unresolved tensions that
remain in relation to the nature of external financial reports and the conceptual basis
informing their construction. The fundamental question of whether there are
significant and inherent differences in the nature of organisations within the domain of
the public services and those in the private sector remains. Whether the financial
reports for the different organisations can be constructed using the same conceptual
frames and practical rubrics is still a point of debate. In that respect there is still a need
to explore whether the different elements that comprise the domain of the public
services described in Figure 2 can be accounted for in the same manner. Questions
about the differences between the provision of public services and the ownership of
public assets might be raised, for example.
The outcome of this, ironically in a paper that has concerned itself with “alternative”
PSAR, is the signal that there remains a need for more technical accounting research,
albeit technically contextual accounting research. One conclusion of this paper must
therefore be that there remains a gap in our shared understandings of this area.
Whereas there is already significant work in the area, there is still insufficient
contextually rooted consideration of the technical and conceptual nature of the
accounts produced.
The technical work that has been undertaken in relation to external reporting
demonstrates a concentration of this interest, it being the interest of a limited number
of scholars (for instance, Lapsley, 1992; Mayston, 1992; Barton, 2000, 2005; Heald,
2005). In this respect it is interesting to note that the links through to practice are
considerable within this group[27]. This raises a second point that requires attention.
This is the need to address the policy agenda and the means by which to engage with
this. Before developing this point, the paper turns first to other areas that have grown
in significance.
Governance and risk Public sector to
Another impact of private sector thinking impacting on the provision of public services public services
has been the emphasis on governance. The emergence of this significant aspect of
practice is related again to contextual pressures, this time a series of financial scandals
in the private sector that have affected thinking and practice in the public services.
The various problems of governance within the private sector, characterised by the
case of Enron, has led to the variety of regulation in nations around the world, such as 151
Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX, 2002) in the USA, or the Combined Code in the UK (FRC,
2003). This has, in turn, led to a concern with the issue of governance in the public
services and the issuing of codes that mirror the practices laid down for the private
sector (see for example, Langlands, 2004)[28]. However, we found little evidence that
researchers had published on these important issues.
These regulatory changes are starting to lead researchers to consider the nature of
governance (e.g. Ezzamel and Willmott, 1993; Craven and Stewart, 1995; Collier, 2005)
and question the extent to which governance of the public services using a framework
drawn from private sector principles is applicable. The basic question for research is
whether the needs of shareholders in the private sector and stakeholders in public
services are the same. Some attention is also being paid to the more specific aspect of
risk (Froud, 2003), although there is not yet a body of published PSAR work that looks
at risk in the context of governance Work in this area is important – given the extent of
the impact of regulation on practice there remains an important gap in our
understanding of the area. In essence, in this field the perceived need for practitioner
action has led to the development of frameworks for practice and research seems to lag
somewhat behind. This is a serious omission on the part of the academic community.
The relative invisibility of academics in the development of practice contrasts with the
pragmatic need for practitioners to develop their practice. This can lead to a view from
practitioners that academics simply develop critique retrospectively, while they in
contrast have to engage[29]. The nature of the relationship between academics and
practitioners that this raises will be discussed later in this section.
There is, however, some academic interest that relates to the field of governance.
For instance, the work of Ezzamel and Willmott (1993) is of particular interest in that it
draws together the issues of governance and accountability, highlighting the linkages
in their concerns. Accountability is concerned with overview and outcomes – what is
being achieved in organisations and this in turn relates to the third area of significance,
performance measurement and management.
Performance measurement and management

A striking aspect of this review of PSAR is the extent of interest in accountability as a
topic over the period. Arguably concerns raised in accountability research are closely
linked to some of the concerns of governance. In particular, there is a common concern
that organisations operate in ways that are not corrupt and that serve the needs of
those they should benefit. Many scholars have considered the nature of accountability
(e.g. Fowles, 1993; Gray and Jenkins, 1993; Humphrey et al., 1993; Gendron et al., 2001)
and its role in a variety of organisational situations (e.g. Carnegie and Wolnizer, 1996;
Burritt and Welch, 1997; Angluin and Scapens, 2000; Coy et al., 2001; English, 2003).
That work has been undertaken in a range of nation states (e.g. Laughlin et al., 1992;
Lawrence et al., 1997; Jacobs, 2000). A common theme is that of understanding how
AAAJ different stakeholders can be reassured that the organisations in question are doing
21,2 what is expected of them. Another matter of concern is whether the accounting
systems imposed or adopted help to make transparent or obscure the actions of the
organisations in question.
In light of the need to ensure organisations use their resources to achieve the ends
required of them, particularly in the context of delegation of day to day management
152 and the contracting out of services, accountability systems that are closely concerned
with performance have been developed. This can be seen as part of a neo-liberalist
agenda (Rose and Miller, 1992) where the attempts of the State to delegate
responsibility are accompanied by strong central control. In this way, political
accountability for the government becomes managerial accountability for managers of
organisations in the public service (Broadbent and Laughlin, 2003). There has been a
good deal of change in the systems that have been employed over the period in
question, with moves to more comprehensive performance management systems over

time (e.g. Leeuw, 1996; Hyndman and Anderson, 1997; Ballantine et al., 1998; Jacobs
et al., 2004; Modell, 2004; Carlin, 2006; Kurunmäki and Miller, 2006). The performance
management systems themselves emerged from a tradition of budgetary control over
the organisations within the sector (Rea, 1994; Jacobs, 1995; Xavier, 1996; Llewellyn,
1998; Mayston, 1998; Lowe, 2000; Serritzlew, 2005), a tradition that endures in some
jurisdictions that have not yet moved so far down the route of what has been called
modernisation (e.g. Lapsley and Pong, 2001; Broadbent and Laughlin, 2005; van
Helden, 2005).
“Modernisation” in government policies has, in the UK, led to the development of
extensive regimes of targets and performance measures (HMSO, 1998; Cabinet Office,
1999). Thompson’s (1995, 1999) earlier work, had already reviewed targets and
performance measures in museums and art galleries illustrating the extent of the impact
of such approaches. The impact of this is now under consideration (Broadbent and
Laughlin, 2007). The work of the ESRC Public Services Programme[30] has some
published work reflecting on the extent of this approach and the degree to which this
approach is useful or otherwise (Hood, 2007; McLean et al., 2007). In the PSAR literature,
the more general significance of budgets and targets on behavioural outcomes is well
researched (e.g. Orford, 1992; Jacobs, 1995; Pettersen, 1995; Northcott and Llewellyn,
2003; Llewellyn and Northcott, 2005; Serritzlew, 2005). The extent to which these targets
are as likely to cause dysfunctions as to ensure intended outcomes remains problematic
more generally and is a significant issue in relation to public services.
What can be seen is that over time there has been a mutation of the management
accounting technologies used to control organisational activity, with a move away
form controlling budget performance based on a concern with the inputs and towards
performance management which is concerned with achieving the desired outputs and
outcomes. The latter performance management approaches are used to monitor service
delivery in the private sector, which cannot be controlled directly. They are also
applicable within the organisations where the state nation has more direct control. The
change in structure of the provision of services can again be demonstrated to be both
enabled by technologies of accounting (those that enable devolved or privatised
delivery of services) and enabling of that structural change.
In summary, therefore, the extent to which public accounting technologies are both
constituted by the context and are constitutive of the context is demonstrated above.
Arguably, the root of these areas of interest can be traced to the growing interest in Public sector to
using business approaches and the introduction of the private sector as providers of public services
public services. This has challenged the very concept of the public sector, replacing it
with the notion of public services. The change in language is significant as it is itself
constituted by changes in ideological views as well as being constitutive of the
situation. This body of work – taken together – potentially comprises a particularly
significant contribution to our understanding of PSAR and to societal changes over the 153
last 20 years[31]. The enhanced contribution could be achieved by the recognition of
the common roots and by a more active attempt to build this work as a body of
scholarship. This will require for it to be brought together much more actively than is
presently the case. One particular element of that research agenda has been highlighted
and that is the need to look carefully at the technical aspects in context and particularly
in the context of developing PSAR policy.
Other aspects and some omissions

Scholars have of course studied aspects that go way beyond the three interconnected
areas that have been highlighted above as part of a significant conceptual shift. The
second task of this final section will be to provide some further overview of areas of
interest in order to highlight areas for further research and in some ways this offers a
reprise on the agendas we highlighted in Broadbent and Guthrie (1992). The following
sub-sections therefore address the second question: what could be done?
Content of PSAR
The issues highlighted below are concerned with research in particular topic areas and
demonstrate the extent of technically contextual accounting.
First, there is good evidence of attempts to broaden the remit of PSAR in order to
consider a wider range of organisations (e.g. Skaerbaek, 1992; Montondon and Fischer,
1999; Poletti, 2004; Rouse and Putterill, 2005; Jupe and Crompton, 2006) although, as
noted, earlier scholars are still attracted to studies of healthcare (Järvinen, 2006).
International comparative work is also in evidence – although not abundantly (e.g.
Torres and Pina, 2001; Jacobs et al., 2004; Wickramasinghe et al., 2004). The
opportunity to diversify location and undertake comparisons should be grasped when
possible as it provides the basis for contrast and comparison that facilitates our
learning and allows both a transfer of good practice and prevents mistakes being
repeated elsewhere.
Second, the body of work also shows that scholars remain interested in particular
technologies. Studies of benchmarking and approaches to costing (e.g. Bowerman et al.,
2001; Jones, 2002; Trenchard and Dixon, 2003; Smark, 2006) demonstrate that a concern
with computing and judging the costs of services is still seen as relevant. An interest in
accounting technologies as they come in and out of fashion is also likely to form a part
of the research agenda and again this forms the basis for learning and should be
encouraged.
Third, the same claims can be made about topical contextual pressures (such as
legislative change, technological advances or interest group concerns) that promote
interest in more specialist themes. Examples include devolution (e.g. Ezzamel et al.,
2005; Midwinter, 2005), or privatisation (e.g. Lapsley, 1993; Ogden, 1995a, b; Stittle,
2004) which was widely covered when the privatisation agenda was at its height, only
AAAJ to re-emerge when problems in the privatised rail industry occurred in the UK. New
21,2 topics that are now emerging include an interest in intellectual capital (e.g.
Garcı́a-Meca et al., 2005; Mouritsen et al., 2005) and sustainability and environmental
matters (e.g. Burritt and Welch, 1997; Ball, 2004, 2005). Hopefully a more specialist
than topical interest is that in the armed forces and war (e.g. Catasús and Grönlund,
2005; Funnell, 2006). These all provide the possibility of growing into a much more
154 significant theme – or indeed are specialist off-shoots of a wider body of scholarship
(as is the case with environmental and sustainability issues). Alternatively they may
simply fade away as context changes.
All these topic areas are ones that remain an important element of the agenda of the
accounting research community and demonstrate that PSAR is in good health,
particularly in the production of technically contextual studies. Arguably, while these
studies are important, and necessary, it is not sufficient simply to understand
techniques in context and hence the exhortation above to think more systematically
about their place in the development of a field of knowledge.
Research approaches in PSAR

As in 1992, we continue to call for more “alternative” accounting research to be
undertaken. Some significant contextually technical accounting research is being
produced, although this is still under-represented in the population of publications.
Examples of this work include the studies undertaken by Neu who has looked at the
issue of the “birth of a nation” (Neu and Graham, 2006), considering Canada’s first
nations, and has also explored the notions of public space in the context of public
discussions about educational reform in Canada (Neu, 2006). Townley’s (2001)
consideration of models of strategic management as elements of modernity is another
example. Arguably this area of work is also worthy of more attention. In addressing
the field with a contextually technical research approach it is more likely that the body
of knowledge called for above will develop. If this endeavour were to be addressed,
then some of the questions we left at the end of the previous review might be answered
(Broadbent and Guthrie, 1992, p. 25). Thus we still have little understanding of the
reasons for the changes in the field of PSAR and how the changes are maintained and
enhanced. In this paper we note simply the reflexivity that surrounds the social
construction of accounting and its constitutive nature. This goes some way to
suggesting how we might study the linkage of technologies of accounting into other
technologies and how these might all be theorised. This provides an enduring and
extensive academic agenda that remains to be addressed. Nevertheless it signals the
contribution of an extensive body of work that has already been achieved.
Omissions: empirically informed theorising

The analysis for the research methods used demonstrates that there is an imbalance
between work that provides commentaries, normative theorising and reviews and that
which is engaging with practice. As argued earlier this has implications for
engagement with practitioners and for the legitimacy of academics in the development
of practice. This should not be taken as a critique of the individual published papers in
the categories mentioned, the problem instead is in the nature of the aggregated
scholarship. It says something about the nature of the research efforts of the academy
as a whole and perhaps is a reflection of the difficulty that is often encountered in
engagement with organisations and in bringing theory and emprics together. This is Public sector to
something that must be addressed in the context of research training. It is a significant public services
issue for the development of a body of scholarship in the discipline.
Omissions: theory and practice

Throughout this paper we have signalled an issue of importance to which we now
return, namely the matter of engagement with practice. If PSAR is to make a 155
significant impact in society, then academics must impact on policy. This requires
academics to engage with policy makers and to engage in matters of governance on a
practical level. PSAR must move beyond the pages of academic journals and
researchers must consider diverse audiences when researching and writing. For
instance, students are easy to reach and well positioned to offer a longer-term solution;
we need to educate them to understand the complexity of PSAR and the solutions
technologies offer. Politicians and policy makers are struggling to find solutions to
problems, albeit in the shorter term. They are interested in pragmatic solutions that are
not mired in complexity. It is possible for researchers to build such bridges with
practitioners, as noted earlier in our discussing of accounting regulation. Engagement
with the political sphere may be difficult, as politicians and policy makers can be
selective and undermine carefully thought out solutions. This means we must also
communicate with the general public and engage with the media more to ensure our
views are well represented and widely so. The relationship between academics and
practice has long been fragile and fraught with difficulty and this remains a challenge
to be addressed. Comparative studies of how this issue is worked out in different nation
states therefore provide a future area of research.
6. Conclusions
The previous section provides an agenda for PSAR. It is a policy agenda as well as an
academic one and the two are intertwined.
The academic agenda highlights some significant omissions. As we suggested in
1992, the range of locations studied could be more extensive. More significantly the
agenda requires us to look quite specifically at the policy aspects of the technical
agenda especially in relation to financial reporting, although these considerations must
take due consideration of context. Technically contextual work is necessary for these
matters to be addressed but is not sufficient to complete the agenda. Contextually
technical work remains important but under-represented. There is a real gap to fill in
the consideration of matters of governance. We need more balance between normative
and empirical work. All these aspects require us as an academic community to try to
build the links in our work to construct a body of developing knowledge, rather than
simply produce a set of interesting and disparate ideas.
If we do not succeed in building a more coherent body of knowledge and
understanding rooted in empirical understandings then the policy agenda will not be
addressed effectively and academia will be left on the fringes, unable to influence the
world we live in. This is the result of not being able to provide systematic evidence and
understanding of practice that can convince policy makers and practitioners of the
legitimacy of our concerns. To this extent addressing the policy agenda is perhaps
more significant and here there is a significant deficit. In crude terms it could be argued
that over the past twenty years a range of extensive changes have swept through
AAAJ public services across the globe; that academics have written extensive critiques of
21,2 these changes; and that the changes have still been implemented. In 1992 our call was
for greater understanding of the role of accounting in public sector change. Our current
prescription is more robust in that we wish to emphasise the need to go beyond
understanding. To paraphrase Marx, we must go beyond understanding and try to
change the world.
156
Notes
1. “Alternative” accounting research was defined in detail in Broadbent and Guthrie (1992,
pp. 3-31). As indicated in the body of this paper, there have been a substantial number of
articles since 1992 and “contextual” accounting research is well established.
2. See, various other papers in this special issue that review “contextual” accounting research,
AAAJ, Vol. 21 No. 2, 2008.
3. The request was to review and critique the subject area allocated, in this case public sector
accounting. Each review and critique was to engage a range of literature, not just AAAJ. We
chose to include a range of “contextual” accounting journals. Commissioned papers were
asked to outline the state of the sub-discipline, a discussion of its relevance to accounting and
policy-making and exploration of avenues for future research.
4. Particular topics have been explored, for example in Financial Accountability and
Management’s special edition on the Modernisation of the Public Sector in November 2001.
5. Public service accounting research (PSAR) is the term used in our review to describe this
area.
6. In undertaking this analysis we were strongly influenced by Parker’s (2005) approach to a
literature review and are grateful for his support in adopting this approach.
7. See, for more details http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/WBI/WBIPROGRAM/
PSGLP/0,menuPK:461646 , pagePK:64156143 , piPK:64154155 , theSitePK:461606,00.html
(accessed 10 May 2007).
8. This study reviews papers up to December 2006, which when considered with those
reviewed in Broadbent and Guthrie (1992), means that at least 20 years of accounting
research has been reviewed.
9. Other journals, such as Australian Accounting Review (AAR), were excluded because they
are not available in public electronic form and therefore would have been very difficult to
analyse.
10. American Mainstream is that research which has become mainstream in the US, but which
we would see as providing a very narrow view of accounting. Hence the label here of
“American Mainstream” to signify the American-centricity of the approach. In 1992, we used
the label “alternative” to indicate the contextual and critical emphasis of the work we
reviewed at that time and we retain that label. Now in using the labels “mainstream” and
“contextual”, we recognise the extent to which this might signify relative rankings and do
not wish to concede a primacy to the notion of mainstream. Instead we simply wish to note
the strength of this approach in the USA while highlighting the strength of the “contextual”
approach in other parts of the scholarly world.
11. The database was constructed from a review of the selected journals and is populated with
nearly 500 journal articles. The full list of journal articles reviewed and the coding criteria
and worksheets are available from the authors. The reference list to this paper includes
illustrations from the literature review used in the paper.
12. See, Hutton (2006), executive summary report of The Work Foundation’s public value
consortium November 2006. “Deliberative democracy and the role of public managers.” The
full report is to be found at www.theworkfoundtion.com/publicvalue/research/index.aspx Public sector to
(accessed 20 April 2007).
public services
13. Because the authors have focused their own research interests in the UK (Broadbent) and
Australia (Guthrie), these are the two countries from which illustrations are drawn, however
many other nation states could equally be used as examples.
14. In retrospect different structures of administration in different nations make this bounding
more complex (see, for instance, Olson et al., 1998; Guthrie et al., 2005; Jones, 2002). 157
15. The use of the words “private” and “third” sectors indicates a different ownership, control
and legal governance structure for organisations located in these sectors. For instance, in the
private sector, characterised by private ownership of capital, we have private companies,
listed companies, trusts, etc. While in the third sector we have charities, churches, non-profit
organisations and other bodies, which are characterised not by state ownership but by
community bodies, whether these are motivated by religion, politics or other beliefs, and a
not-for-profit objective. However, we use the word private to indicate both private ownership
and third sector involvement.
16. Not only individual reviews of the literature have been produced, but also aspects of PSAR
have been explore in special editions of various journals. For instance, “special themed”
editions of AAAJ on public private partnerships and FAM on modernisation (2001) and
performance audit (2007).
17. See, for example, see the Sydney Morning Herald who have produced an extensive press
report www.smh.com.au/pdf/waterreport.pdf (accessed 1 May 2007).
18. PPPs are partnerships of public and private providers working together usually in a
contractual relationship to provide services (English and Guthrie, 2003). A significant
element of this is where private contractors build and service infrastructure that provide
public services for a contractual fee. In the UK a significant sub-set of these are called Private
Finance Initiative schemes. They have been used to build infrastructure such as roads and
hospitals. This is also the case in Australia. It is argued that costs are reduced as risk is
handed to those best able to manage it thus reducing overall cost. The failure of schemes
such as the Cross City Tunnel link in Sydney and the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds in
the UK demonstrates that risk is not necessarily transferred (English, 2007).
19. The modernisation of the public sector was early characterised as New Public Management
(Hood, 1995) and later accounting technologies as New Public Financial Management (Olson
et al., 1998).
20. As well as ensure that agents do what the nation state requires.
21. As will be discussed in some detail in section 5.
22. Also they have different accountability and governance arrangements and are regulated
through contractual relationships rather than share ownership or an independent regulatory
body. PPPs are now an established means of service provision and, like PBE, they introduce
an element of private sector involvement into the provision of public services. PPP/PFIs
nevertheless remain part of the public services and are, in many nations, a significant means
of service delivery.
23. A further discussion of the differences between technical accounting, technical contextual
accounting and contextually technical accounting can be found in Broadbent and Guthrie
(1992).
24. Illustrations from the reviewed literature only are provided. It would be impracticable to list
all authors and articles within the text and references.
AAAJ 26. These will be discussed at some length in section 5 and will not be detailed here but comprise
the introduction of accrual accounting and the use of partnership working in the context of
21,2 PPP/PFI.
26. The articles were also coded for various fields and from these the three dominant trends are
reported here. Full details of this analysis are available from the authors.
27. For instance, Laughlin, who has looked more widely at accounting regulation as well as
158 having researched in the public services more generally, now sits on the UK’s Accounting
Standards Board’s Committee for Accounting for Public-Benefit Entities (CAPE) looking at
the development of Statements of Recommended Accounting Practices (SORPs) for public
service organisations. Lapsley was a previous holder of this position, while Heald sits on the
Financial Reporting Advisory Board (FRAB) advising the Treasury on public sector
accounting. David Mayston has also acted as an advisor to government. Allan Barton is
active in the policy circles in Australia.
28. The Langlands (2004) “good practice” guide emerged from the work of a commission chaired
by Sir Alan Langlands and sought to set out generic guidelines for the range of organisations
providing public services. The thrust of the approach to governance is founded on the
importance of outside membership at Board level – in order to provide a more detached view
along with particular expertise – and on the issue of risk management.
29. A themed issue of Public Money and Management (Volume 7 Number 4, September 2007)
provides a set of papers illustrating a range of views from academics as well as practitioners
that illustrate the variety of positions that are taken in this respect.
30. Started in 2004 and running for five years, directed by Professor Christopher Hood, see
www.publicservices.ac.uk (accessed 1 September 2007).
31. The work is indeed individually significant.
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Further reading
Humphrey, C. (2005), “The questionable nature of third hand public sector accounting solutions:
a case for change?”, European Accounting Review, Vol. 14 No. 3, pp. 475-85.
Jones, L.R., Guthrie, J. and Steane, P. (Eds) (2001a), New Public Management: Learning from
International Public Management Reform, Vol. 1, InformationAge Press, Greenwich, CT.
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International Public Management Reform, Vol. 2, InformationAge Press, Greenwich, CT.
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Corresponding author
Jane Broadbent can be contacted at: [email protected]
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Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal

Public sector to public services: 20 years of “contextual” accounting research

Downloaded on: 13 September 2018, At: 03:01 (PT)

By addressing these questions, we will implicitly be considering what is “new” in

have been overlooked or silenced.

opportunity to consider some recent literature.

The domain of the public services

change in ownership of the providers of services has been a significant element

provision of public services in a different way to that exhibited in PBE. It is this

3. The nature of the analysis undertaken

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal 87

A. Location A1. North America

(4) Rest of Europe; and

1996; Modell, 2001, 2004; Siverbo and Johansson, 2006).

body of current PSAR research.

Performance measurement and management

question, with moves to more comprehensive performance management systems over

Other aspects and some omissions

Research approaches in PSAR

Omissions: empirically informed theorising

Omissions: theory and practice

Victoria”, Financial Accountability & Management, Vol. 19 No. 1, pp. 73-92.

Nos 1-2, pp. 51-76.

Groot, T. (1999), “Budgetary reforms in the non-profit sector: a comparative analysis of

Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 17 No. 1, pp. 59-84.

Lapsley, I. (1988), “Research in public sector accounting: an appraisal”, Accounting Auditing

financial statements in New Zealand”, Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal,

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 16 No. 3, pp. 467-92.

Vol. 18 No. 3, pp. 291-308.

galleries”, Financial Accountability & Management, Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. 337-50.

To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: [email protected]

Internal Response to Accounting Change. MANAGEMENT CONTROL :1, 117-138. [Crossref]

Performance Measurement and Reporting in Health 220-231. [Crossref]

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