The Role of Management Accounting Systems in Public Hospitals and the Construction of Budgets

The role of management accounting systems (MAS) in the construction of budgets in the public health sector has been one of the least studied topics in the international literature. Furthermore, several studies have confirmed the loss of relevance of traditional approaches to budgeting due to the need to implement techniques that are more performance-oriented. Since public hospitals are organisations that depend significantly on public funds, with substantial impacts on governments' budgets, the pressure for reducing expenditures is strong, causing increased difficulties in hospital management. In order to analyse the role of MAS in the preparation of hospital budgets, this chapter presents a literature review on this topic. This review allows to understand the loss of relevance of traditional budgeting techniques and to present alternative approaches. In this process, the implementation of different kinds of budgeting is heavily influenced by governments and professionals. Nevertheless, the research on this topic is still very scarce, evidencing the need to continue studying it.

Performance Measurement in Public Networks

This chapter outlines the development of a PMS (Performance Measurement System) to support the management and evaluation of public networks from the perspective of the individual actors operating within the network and the managers with responsibilities over the activity of the entire network. The study concerns two systems, the first, called “PMS accounting for network effects”, evaluates the network from the angle of individual organizations in charge of operations within the network and is, therefore, intended as a support for management within the network. The second system, called “PMS accounting for the network as an entity”, evaluates the networks from the viewpoint of the network manager in charge of the whole network; this system is meant to support the management of the network itself. Both the systems are based on the multi-layered concept of a public network and make use of individual components that constitute a PMS.

Commercialization of Local Public Services

The most important reason to decentralise the public services delivery is to make the citizens' needs better known by the local governments, so it follows to act more efficiently to their satisfaction. Nonetheless it has been found an opportunistic use of these agencies to avoid legal limits on indebtedness imposed on sub-national administrations, generating fiscal illusion. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to analyse the effect of the functional decentralisation processes on public revenues and financing. The results show that the use of decentralisation process, especially companies are created by left-wing political parties in order to raise more income from commercialization of public services. It was also found that these practices are strongly linked to the municipality's fiscal pressure.

Online Financial Transparency

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, we evaluate, for a sample of 374 local governments, the adoption rate and the extent of the practice of disclosure and we explore, 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, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela, the study of the extent of this practice was restricted to the Brazil, revealing a small and disparate extension. These results show that the local governments of MERCOSUR have not yet woken up to the potential of the Internet to increase the transparency of public management.

Governance in NHS Foundation Trusts

NHS Foundation Trusts (FTs) came into existence in 2004 as part of a suite of system reforms that reintroduced a healthcare market in England. Over the last decade over half of the 265 English NHS Trusts have made the transition to FT status and to a new form of corporate governance that is accountable to locally elected governors. Whilst research into the governance arrangements for these new entities has explored several theoretical frameworks, no model has satisfactorily explained the rationale for the adoption of a commercial governance code underpinned by a democratic accountability process. In this chapter, the authors draw on insights of FT company secretaries, through a series of semi-structured interviews and questionnaires, to explore alternative governance models and to make recommendations that might improve the functioning of elected governors within FTs.

Modernization of Governmental Accounting Systems

The countries in the Central American region, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama, have carried out a reform process of their public financial management systems, seeking to guarantee higher-quality, reliable and timely information, using mainly the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS). In this context, the chapter has a double objective. On the one hand, valuing from the Model of Contingency of the Professor Lüder, the influence of the environment in the implementation of processes of innovation in systems of government financial management in the Central American region. On the other hand analyze the main implementation strategies in the process of adoption or adaptation of IPSAS in these countries. For this purpose, interviews have been made with those responsible for the process of implementation of IPSAS in the countries of the region, as well as an in-depth review of the documents and legislation issued in government financial administration in these countries.

Potential Uses and Usefulness of Italian Local Government Consolidated Financial Reporting

Debate on consolidated financial reporting has considerably increased over the years, also due to the various public sector accounting reforms. In this regard, Italy offers an important experience since it was one of the first countries in the European Union to expressly provide for compulsory adoption. The Legislative Decree no. 118/2011 will introduce consolidated financial reporting for local government as from 2017, after an initial “experimentation” period. In view of the recent adoption, the methodological approach implemented in the chapter is based on a case study. After discussion of the boundaries of the consolidation performed by comparison with international experiences – IPSAS 6, new IPSAS 35 and GASB 14 – a critical analysis of the Italian proposal is also provided. The chapter aims to contribute to the debate on consolidated financial reporting both from the theoretical and empirical points of view.

Risks in Implementing EU-Funded Projects in Romanian Public Higher Education System

The current study, after shortly introducing the manner in which the National Strategic Reference Framework has being conceived for meeting the EU Regional and Cohesion objectives, presents in a concise manner the architecture of the Operational Programmes in Romania for the financing exercises 2007-2013 and 2014-2020. The first financing exercise has been critically analysed and a list of systemic risks is presented, in connection to the lessons learned for the new financing exercise. Further on, the paper presents the main directions under which the public higher education institutions accessed EU funds via various projects and identifies the main institutional risks for their implementation. The authors consider defining risk institutional profiles for a significant lot of public universities by introducing “soft” and “hard” sets of indicators. After assessing these profiles, recommendations for adapting the organizational structure will be depicted in order to help a softer implementation of the accessed projects.

Performance Measurement Perceptions in Romanian Higher Education

Performance measurement in Romanian higher education is of high interest. On one hand, this topic would be significant because public funding depends on the performance of the universities. On the other hand, when measuring performance, the objectives have to be drafted in order to have a comparison basis with what universities achieved. Starting from these two issues, this chapter provides information regarding performance measurement in Romanian higher education. Thus, the main objective of the chapter consists in finding the perceptions of performance measurement at both top and middle management levels. This study is based on a qualitative case study approach and the authors used interviews as a data collection method. The authors used an interpretive research approach to obtain a deeper understanding of the process. Even if performance is hard to define, the results show that depending on the primary purpose of the universities performance receives a definition. Universities use various types of indicators when are measuring performance.

The Determinants of Sustainability Reporting of the Portuguese Public Sector Entities

Based on legitimacy and on stakeholder theories, this study analyses the level of disclosure of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the sustainability reports of the Portuguese public sector entities for the years 2008 and 2012, prepared in accordance with the guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). The authors also aim to determine the factors that influence this level of disclosure. Using content analysis, an index of CSR disclosure was constructed based on the sustainability reports of 58 public sector entities. It was concluded that the level of sustainability disclosure is related to the organisation's size, industry, awards and certifications received, and visibility measured in terms of consumer proximity. This study offers new empirical evidence of a different context – public sector entities in Portugal, providing valuable insights into the factors that explain CSR disclosures in public sector entities.