The state of public sector accounting research

1999 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Broadbent
2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 255-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ileana Steccolini

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to reflect various pathways for public sector accounting and accountability research in a post-new public management (NPM) context. Design/methodology/approach The paper first discusses the relationship between NPM and public sector accounting research. It then explores the possible stimuli that inter-disciplinary accounting scholars may derive from recent public administration studies, public policy and societal trends, highlighting possible ways to extend public sector accounting research and strengthen dialogue with other disciplines. Findings NPM may have represented a golden age, but also a “golden cage,” for the development of public sector accounting research. The paper reflects possible ways out of this golden cage, discussing future avenues for public sector accounting research. In doing so, it highlights the opportunities offered by re-considering the “public” side of accounting research and shifting the attention from the public sector, seen as a context for public sector accounting research, to publicness, as a concept central to such research. Originality/value The paper calls for stronger engagement with contemporary developments in public administration and policy. This could be achieved by looking at how public sector accounting accounts for, but also impacts on, issues of wider societal relevance, such as co-production and hybridization of public services, austerity, crises and wicked problems, the creation and maintenance of public value and democratic participation.


2008 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Konstantin Timoshenko

The last few decades have witnessed substantial efforts to reinvent the state worldwide. The Russian state is no exception to this global trend. At the outset of a new millennium, the need for renewal of the post‐Soviet model of the state has been acknowledged, and an up‐to‐date reform package has been promoted by the central government. This has encompassed the reconstruction of public sector accounting. Given the paucity of consistent research efforts on the topic, this article seeks to describe and analyze, and by so doing, contribute to knowledge about Russian public sector accounting in times of change. To tackle the general purpose, two levels are incorporated in this study to link reform initiatives for the government as a whole with those endeavours to implement them in one state‐sponsored university of Russian tertiary education. The major questions to be addressed are of whether, why, and how changes at the central government level have penetrated down to the university and extended to its accounting system. The evidence gathered in this paper reveals that a new Russian public sector ideology has markedly been affected by overseas developments in the shape of large international organizations. However, no compelling evidence has been documented in this research as unveiling that changes at the macro‐level have penetrated down to the university to any significant extent. This study concludes that launching a new version of accounting by the Russian state can be regarded as more of a symbol of legitimacy for the university rather than of an actual financial management tool.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 94
Author(s):  
Harumi Puspa Rizky ◽  
Doddy Setiawan

<p class="JurnalASSETSABSTRAK">ABSTRAK</p><p>Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk memberikan gambaran terkait perkembangan penelitian akuntansi sektor publik di Indonesia. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah charting the field. Sampel yang diambil berasal dari 22 jurnal terakreditasi di Indonesia dan diperoleh 137 artikel selama tahun 2010-2018. Penelitian ini mengklasifikasikan artikel berdasarkan topik dan metode penelitian. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa  topik yang paling banyak digunakan dalam penelitian akuntansi sektor publik adalah topik mengenai akuntansi keuangan dan  untuk model yang sering digunakan adalah metode kuantitatif dan juga metode survei serta archival. Topik akuntansi keuangan pada sektor publik menjadi topik terbanyak yang diteliti dikarenakan akuntansi pada sektor publik masih menjadi perhatian khusus dan masih banyak pemerintah daerah yang terkendala pelaporan keuangan. Sementara itu dari topik penelitian yang paling sedikit dilakukan dari tujuh kategori adalah topik mengenai perpajakan dan sistem akuntansi.<em></em></p><p class="JurnalASSETSABSTRAK"><em>ABSTRACT</em></p><p><em><em>This study aims to provide an overview of the development of public sector accounting research in Indonesia. The method used in this research is charting the field. Samples taken came from 22 accredited journals of Indonesia and 137 articles written during 2010-2018. This study classifies articles based on research topics and methods. The results of this study indicate that the topic most widely used in public sector accounting research is the topic of financial accounting and for models that are often used are quantitative methods as well as survey and archival methods. The topic of financial accounting in the public sector is the most researched topic because accounting in the public sector is still a particular concern and many local governments are constrained by financial reporting. Meanwhile, from the research topics, at least seven of the categories were taxation and accounting systems.</em><br /></em></p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (8) ◽  
pp. 2077-2110
Author(s):  
Hans-Jürgen Bruns ◽  
Mark Christensen ◽  
Alan Pilkington

PurposeThe article's aim is to refine prospects for theorising in public sector accounting (PSA) research in order to capture the methodological benefits promised by its multi-disciplinarity.Design/methodology/approachThe study primarily employs a bibliometric analysis of research outputs invoking New Public Management (NPM). Applying a content analysis to Hood (1991), as the most cited NPM source, bibliographic methods and citation/co-citation analysis for the period 1991 to 2018 are mobilised to identify the disciplinary evolution of the NPM knowledge base from a structural and longitudinal perspective.FindingsThe analysis exhibits disciplinary branching of NPM over time and its imprints on post-1990 PSA research. Given the discourse about origins of NPM-based accounting research, there are research domains behind the obvious that indicate disciplinary fragmentations. For instance, novelty of PSA research is found in public value accounting, continuity is evidenced by transcending contextual antecedents. Interestingly, these domains are loosely coupled. Exploring the role of disciplinary imprints designates prospects for post-NPM PSA research that acknowledges multi-disciplinarity and branching in order to deploy insularity as a building block for its inquiries.Research limitations/implicationsCriteria for assessing the limitations and credibility of an explorative inquiry are used, especially on how the proposal to develop cumulative knowledge from post-1990 PSA research can be further developed.Practical implicationsA matrix suggesting a method of ordering disciplinary references enables positioning of research inquiries within PSA research.Originality/valueBy extending common taxonomies of PSA intellectual heritages, the study proposes the ‘inquiry-heritage’ matrix as a typology that displays patterns of theorisation for positioning an inquiry within PSA disciplinary groundings.


2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 1026-1044 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Christensen ◽  
Dorothea Greiling ◽  
Johan Christiaens

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to encourage research implicating public sector accounting practitioners. It overviews articles in the AAAJ Forum arising from the Comparative International Governmental Accounting Research (CIGAR) Network conference in 2015 in which practitioners’ doings were themes across numerous papers. The paper’s central objective is to scope out an agenda for future research in the area. Design/methodology/approach Using the CIGAR presentations and papers reviewed for this AAAJ Forum, a desk-based study informed by these sources and others has been conducted. Findings Aspects of public sector accounting practitioners’ doings hold promise in themselves whilst also being likely to complement and enrich other themes of public sector accounting research. Those aspects give rise to analytical frames, which may overlap and/or reinforce other aspects. Those analytical frames are: first, examining networking between practitioners; second, identifying implications of the professionalisation project for public sector accounting practitioners; third, analysing public sector accounting practitioners’ responses to the rise of external experts; and, fourth, exploring how public sector accounting practitioners interact with forces that shape the accounting craft. The four articles published here variously address several parts of these themes. Originality/value In scoping out a future research agenda, this paper justifies greater attention being paid to the four themes noted in its findings. In each of these research fields, an interdisciplinary approach is important.


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