Disclosure of Financial Information via the Internet by the Portuguese Local Authorities

In the context of new public management, public administration must be alert to the increasing needs of citizens, providing public organizations with efficient management systems in order to rationalize the financial resources and disseminate transparent and accurate economic and financial information to further assess the organizational performance. There have been recent technological advances, namely the use of the internet, that have influenced the way financial information is accessed. This work aims to assess the level of disclosure of financial information on the websites of local authorities in Portugal and the identification of possible factors that may influence the level of disclosure. Given the results in this study, it is time-consuming and difficult to find financial information on the websites. This hinders the users in their assessment on where and how mayors apply public resources. Among the factors tested, the size and political competition are the ones that seem to influence the level of disclosure of financial information on the website.

Accounting Reforms for Accountable Public Sector Management

Accounting reforms in the public sector have become one of the most debated aspects of the public sector financial management during the last three decades. Following the steps of developed countries around the globe, Sri Lanka as a developing country made initiatives to adopt international public sector accounting standards (IPSAS). The purpose of this study is to analyse the progress and the challenges they face in adopting IPSAS as a new public management (NPM) reform in Sri Lanka to enhance public sector accountability. Public sector accounting reforms in the developing countries in Asia is relatively under researched. Using the NPM concept, this study attempts to fill this gap. This chapter argues that even though Sri Lanka has initiated the move towards adopting IPSAS, developing countries face practical problems in adopting reforms due to their contextual factors such as limited institutional capacity and resources, high political involvements in decision-making, and high informality.

Accountability Practices and Their Importance for the Management of Public Sector Entities

New public management reflects a paradigm and orientation shift regarding the cornerstone of management in the public sector. With this new type of management, emphasis was given to accountability in order to, on the one hand, instill the need to render accounts when talking about the way decisions are taken (responsibility) and the way public resources are used (clarity) and, on the other hand, the citizens having the possibility of getting information which will allow them to make the public officials responsible. Considering the importance of accountability, this chapter was an attempt to carry out a bibliographic review, as a way of getting to know the different approaches to the concept, as well as getting to know the mechanisms that have been created in order to give explanations whether for the performance or accomplishment of a responsibility and if this is inherent to the responsibilities of the public officials.

Organisational Risk Management Plan

This chapter presents the results of the application of the failure mode and effects analysis methodology, within the scope of the Organisational Risk Management Plan, in the Municipal Division of Contract Works and Concessions of Oliveira de Azeméis City Council of the metropolitan area of Porto located in the north of Portugal with an area of approximately 164 Km2 and a few more than 20,000 inhabitants. An update of the literature review allows us to conclude that this methodology remains a good approach for establishing a bridge between risk management and the Plan for Prevention of Risks of Corruption and Related Infractions, in line with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recommendation on public integrity. Once the application of this methodology is understood, an example of its implementation for the management of risk in the contract works service of the Municipality of Oliveira de Azeméis is also provided.

The Process of Modernization of the Public Accounting Systems in the Central American Countries

With the purpose of increasing the quality of public financial information, improving decision-making, transparency and accountability processes, the countries of the Central American region have made substantial efforts to improve their governmental accounting systems. For this reason, most countries have chosen to implement the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) issued by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). This process has been enhanced by the impulse of international financial organizations that aim to these countries advancing their government financial management practices. In this context, the objective of this research is to define the IPSAS implementation processes in the countries of Central America as well as to analyze the main elements of the environment that are in favor or against this process, as indicated by Professor Lüder's Contingency Model.

Effects of Patient Mobility on Healthcare Systems

Due to the European Cross-Border Directive, the provision of quality healthcare in EU implies for patients the possibility to decide to receive medical treatments in their residential country or to move to non-residential ones. Such option is likely to disclose both positive effects and unintended consequences. This chapter investigates healthcare mobility issues by adopting a dynamic performance management view (i.e., combining building blocks of performance management and system dynamics). The outcome of the research is a causal model tailored to the Italian case and depicting key actors, processes, and relationships within a comprehensive feedback structure. The chapter frames the phenomenon of patients' mobility into the public management theory, describes the modelling steps, and proposes quantitative simulations of alternative policies. Such approach can prospectively support policymakers' decisions, contributing to the debate on how to deliver sustainable care at a state level and hypothesizing scenarios following a sustained application of the new EU regulations.

Internet Financial Reporting in Local Governments

The aim of this transnational comparative research is to analyze if the practice of disclosure of financial information over the Internet by local governments of MERCOSUR countries has been taken into account to increase the transparency of government. To achieve this objective, it was evaluated, for a sample of 374 local governments, the adoption rate and the extent of the practice of disclosure and it was explored, through of interviews, any reasons related to the involvement of local politicians with this practice. The results indicate a limited number of local governments that adopt this practice of disclosure in MERCOSUR, due to the lack of political will, of human resources, and of demand from citizens due to the almost nonexistent adoption of this disclosure practice in Argentina, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Although Paraguayan data have improved substantially, the analysis of the extent of the practice of IFR to ensure comparability with the first study is restricted to local governments in Brazil.

Research Methods and Methodologies Used in Studies on Social Accounting

Accounting as a social science considers an objective and subjective reality that must be seen and understood under the institutional context where it is developed. Thus, this chapter discusses the roles and effects of the paradigms in accounting research, in general, and social accounting research, in particular, aiming to know and understand the research lines that better define a theoretical scope of analysis for the social accounting practice. This research tries to better fit the answers to some questions about social accounting. The results argue for the importance of keeping a theoretical paradigm alive in order to foster multidimensional openness and true scholarship in accounting research and application. A multi-disciplinary appreciation with different perspectives will enrich the research in social accounting.

The Implementation of Internal Control in the Financial Services Expenditure in a Hospital Department

The interest on internal control (IC) is increasing in the last years, namely in the public administration, including the hospitals. It is an instrument of management, administration, and control for assuring the organization's objectives in reliable financial reporting, operational effectiveness and efficiency, and compliance of laws, regulations, and policies, involving the controls risks. Better IC should yield more reliable on internal data, which lead to better internal decision-making. It then mitigates the risk of fraud. This study analyzes existing procedures and controls in the expenditure department of a public hospital, considering the human, material, and technical resources available to the systematization of effective control practices and the identification of key IC vulnerabilities. Thus, the authors use interviews and documentary analysis between December 2014 and 2015, proposing actions to mitigate the procedures vulnerabilities and a structure for an IC manual as a tool to promote the legality and efficiency of the management of public funds, as well as to prevent fraud.

Reporting Entity in the Consolidated Financial Statements

Eurostat and EPSAS Expert Working Group are engaged to outline the suitability of International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) in the process of the public sector accounting harmonisation. Part of the process is referred to the scope of the consolidated financial statements and the possible criteria to identify the public sector group's reporting entity, that is the boundaries of the group. This last point is of relevance as recalled by the recent EPSAS Conceptual Framework Reflection Paper, under which public sector reporting entities should provide financial report based on decision-making and accountability considerations. The chapter aims to contribute to the debate on consolidated financial statements both from the theoretical and empirical points of view.