EXPLAINING THE UTILIZATION OF RELATIVE PERFORMANCE EVALUATION IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT: A MULTI-THEORETICAL STUDY USING DATA FROM SWEDEN

One of the more lasting imprints that New Public Management (NPM) has made in the public sector is an increase in the popularity of performance measurement. In Sweden, performance measurement has gained popularity in the public sector, not least at the local government level with the use of relative performance evaluation (RPE). Because utilization of RPE is a decentralized and optional mode of governance, a somewhat heterogeneous practice has evolved. The aim of this paper is to examine the causes of this differentiated practice. We jointly examine economic, political and institutional/cultural explanations in order to account for the utilization of RPE. The empirical material consists of archival data and a questionnaire sent to all Swedish municipalities in late 2005. We show that RPE adoption and use partly has different antecedents and that the institutional/cultural perspective appears to have greater explanatory power than economic and political, not least as a consequence of the potential to explain decoupling and the importance of change facilitating capabilities. The investigation contributes specifically to the literature on the utilization of RPE in local governments and more generally to the literature on why and to what extent management accounting practices are utilized.     

VISION AND PRACTICE OF E-GOVERNMENT: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY

With the internet expanding rapidly in the 1990s, most of the reform agendas of Western countries embedded information technologies in their vision for change (Heeks, 1999; and Holmes, 2001). Existing studies into the diffusion of e-government has mainly centred on the USA and exposed a limited diffusion of digital delivery systems. This paper focuses on e-government by way of the adoption and use of ICT and internet for the delivery of information and services and explores the extent to which local governments endorse the e-government agenda by looking at the strategies and policies of municipalities and their actual use of e-government for the delivery of services and information. The paper utilizes data from a survey conducted during the winter of 2005-2006, addressed to the Chief Information Officers at Italian MUs with a population greater than 40,000. The results show that despite a certain degree of endorsement in terms of strategies for e-government, the use of e-government for the delivery of services is still quite limited.     

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTING IN SPAIN

This paper provides an analysis of the present situation concerning local government accounting in Spain following recent reforms introduced in the early nineties. It presents a picture of the main features of Spanish local finance—budgeting and accounting, the measurement focus, and the basis of accounting—and analyses the financial reporting system adopted by Spanish municipalities. This is followed by a critical review of several weak points in the reform which in the author's view will encourage further developments.     

DEVOLVED BUDGETARY MANAGEMENT IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT: LESSONS FROM A SHIRE COUNTY

The changing environment of public sector organisations has, in recent years, focused attention on the management processes employed to achieve effective service delivery as economically and efficiently as possible. One approach has been the importation into the public sector ofa number ofprivate sector management strategies and practices, most notably those based on devolved bud- getary management principles. This paper analyses the approach of a large local authority to the implementation of devolved budgetary management, based, in large part, on interviews with line managers to whom budgets were devolved. It examines the process of devolution within the authority and the reactions of line managers to that process. It concludes that while the implementation of truly devolved budgetary management is an important, and perhaps essential, managerial technique in the 'new' local government environment, it should not be implemented in ways which ignore the differ- ences between public and private sector organisations and between different local authority departments.     

MANAGING LOCAL PUBLIC DEBT IN TRANSITION COUNTRIES: AN ISSUE OF SELF-CONTROL

One and a half decades after the end of a centralised regime in Central and Eastern Europe, the policy literature on local debt management in transition economies reveals that there is a general confusion about the appropriate use of debt finance at the municipal level. The literature is mainly concerned with institutional borrowing restrictions and sanctions against excessive debt. Both emphasise the responsibility of the centre and consider local government unable to pursue a sound financial management without central patronage. Breaking with the traditional focus on budget  discipline , this study advocates budget  responsibility . Favourable credit ratings and compliance with legal norms are necessary but not sufficient conditions for municipalities to borrow. Successful financial management requires a more proactive attitude in which local governments adjust their investment policy to their financial capacity, assessing the costs and benefits of each investment project.     

Implementation Mode and Local Government Performance Measurement: A Norwegian Experience

This study explores how implementation approaches affect implementation success of performance measurement. A theory is developed using case studies of four projects from Norwegian local government in the period 1983–98. `Implementation mode' is defined as to what extent a system is coupled to organisational objectives during the implementation process. An implementation mode which decouples performance indicators (PIs) from organisational objectives seems to further implementation success. This paradoxical theory of implementation mode gives new insights both relative to classical implementation theory as in MBO, and to theories of loose coupling in implementation and reforms common in the New Institutionalist Theory.     

New Labour and the Modernisation of British Local Government: A Critique

The modernisation agenda for local government is based on questionable political assumptions. It has the attributes of a theological concept. This paper examines the concept of modernisation of local government by focusing on three dimensions (1) governance, (2) management and (3) finance. This analysis suggests the modernisation agenda is limited in scope and vision.     

LOCAL GOVERNMENTS,UNEXPECTED DEPRECIATION AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE ADJUSTMENT

Prior management and manipulation of financial accounting information research has overwhelmingly been focused within a private sector setting. This study adopts a public sector focus in empirically examining the use of a specific discretionary accrual (i.e., depreciation) to adjust the financial performance of New South Wales (Australia) local governments. Findings indicate a significant positive association between absolute unexpected depreciation and absolute local government income before capital contributions, and a significant positive association between absolute unexpected depreciation and capital contributions. Overall, the results make significant contributions to various literature streams with implications for various stakeholders interested in local governmental financial performance.     

AN EPISTEMIC COMMUNITY AS INFLUENCER AND IMPLEMENTER IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTING IN AUSTRALIA

This paper explicates the dual role of epistemic communities as influencers of accounting policy within regulatory space and as implementers who effect change within the domain of accounting. Set within the context of New South Wales in Australia, and the challenge of the financial sustainability of its local councils, the study was informed by documentary sources, and used data from interviews and a survey. Accounting and finance professionals, as an epistemic community, played a pivotal role in formulating accounting policy and in embedding fair value measurement of infrastructure assets.     

The usefulness of performance reporting in local government: comparing Italy and Spain

This article presents a comparative analysis of the perceived usefulness of performance information by managers in local authorities in Italy and Spain. Italy and Spain have similar cultural and administrative characteristics and in both countries there are external requirements (from central government) to adopt performance indicators. The adoption of performance indicators was found to be almost symbolic in both states.     

MUNICIPAL CONTRACTING OUT: GOVERNANCE CHOICES,MISALIGNMENT AND PERFORMANCE IN SWEDISH LOCAL GOVERNMENT

In this paper we apply a Transaction Cost Theory framework to analyse the use and effects of contracting out in Swedish local government. During the last decade Swedish local authorities, like in many other countries, have, to a larger extent, started to contract external subcontractors to fulfil their responsibilities towards its citizens. It is not only in the traditional subcontracting sectors such as housing, infrastructure, and technical services that this trend is evident, but also in policy areas like education, social care, and elderly care. In fact, very little is known about the overall effects of, and the mechanisms underlying, governance choices. The overall results corroborate transaction cost reasoning. Supplier competition and specificity have anticipated effects on municipal de‐integration. Too little, but not too much, use of contracting out, in relation to theoretical predictions, worsens performance. The latter aspect is not fully in accordance with TCE‐propositions.     

Transformational change and the vacuum of performance measurement: How a story of success became a failure

Some local government organisations stand out in terms of their capability to adopt and use management accounting innovations and become a model for those struggling with issues such as performance measurement (PM). But what happens to the innovations if the organisation is forced into transformational change? This longitudinal case study is based on the theory that the use and impact of PM is influenced by (a) its contractibility and (b) how the performance management systems in place are configured and used. One conclusion is that transformational change can result in a vacuum of PM, even with a high degree of contractibility.     

MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING CHANGE AND NEW PUBLIC MANAGEMENT IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT: A REASSESSMENT OF AMBITIONS AND RESULTS — AN INSTITUTIONALIST APPROACH TO ACCOUNTING CHANGE IN THE DUTCH PUBLIC SECTOR

Dutch municipalities and provinces, denoted here as local government, have seen a succession of changes in their management accounting systems and have also introduced other changes related to New Public Management (NPM) in the last twenty years. This paper examines accounting changes, such as the introduction of accrual accounting, output and outcome budgets and performance measurement, from an institutionalist point of view. The paper presents experiences of 23 politicians and professional managers with the various changes over a period of fifteen to twenty years. The interviewees, just like various researchers in the field of NPM, were critical of the accounting changes and their effects. However, several of them also made clear that, seen over the long run, the changes did have some effects that they liked and seem to be in line with the ‘ideals’ presented in NPM literature. The paper suggests that an institutionalist perspective is helpful for studying change processes in organizations and for observing factors and developments that might not be noticed when a more functional and short‐term perspective is adopted.     

VOLUNTARY AUDITS IN NEW YORK MARKETS IN 1927: A CASE STUDY

This study examines the demand for audits in the pre-SEC period in the United States. We focus on three hypotheses - monitoring, information, and capital formation - to test the economic incentives prior researchers have posited led to demand for audits. We compare a sample of companies traded in three non-NYSE markets (unregulated) to a sample of NYSE listed companies (regulated). We found that the need to raise capital did increase use of audits, but that neither the monitoring nor information hypotheses explain this early demand. Common stock ratings appeared to be a cost-effective alternative to audits and we found little evidence that audits improved the quality of financial reports.     

A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF CHANGE IN THE ENGLISH NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE

This paper reports the findings of a longitudinal comparative case study of three National Health Service (NHS) hospital Trusts in England, investigating the perceptions of clinical, managerial and accounting professionals towards changing cost accounting and performance measurement practices. It incorporates both qualitative and quantitative data analysis, and is based on a contextualist understanding of change management, utilising the content‐process‐context approach (Pettigrew and Lapsley, 1994) to investigate the influence of receptive versus non‐receptive contexts on change. The analysis reveals limited success in improving performance measurement practices (the content of change) in Trusts. Nevertheless the specific context within which change was operationalised was found to be very important, with central mangers playing a key role in influencing change. The process of change indicated slow shifts in clinical‐accountant‐managerial relations, partly driven by changes in financial flows within the organisations.     

THE DIVERSITY OF ACCRUAL POLICIES IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT FINANCIAL REPORTING: AN EXAMINATION OF INFRASTRUCTURE,ART AND HERITAGE ASSETS IN GERMANY,ITALY AND THE UK

This paper examines the norms and practices for infrastructure, art and heritage assets in six cities, across three European countries, to determine how the national norms of accrual accounting compared with each other, and with IPSAS, and how the practices in each city compared with the norms. We identify significant diversity between actual practices and the norms imposed by national policy‐makers or set by IPSAS. Given that a longstanding concern of the literature has been on whether these kinds of assets should be included in governmental balance sheets and operating statements at all, it is striking how often the question was settled in practice by excluding art and heritage assets, even when this meant non‐compliance with national norms. In our three countries, it is clear that comparability of the financial statements between countries was not a concern of policy‐makers, and comparability between cities within each country not a concern of preparers.     

Accountability and Transparency in English Local Government: Moving from ‘Matching Parts’ to ‘Awkward Couple’?

Although excessive transparency and accountability demands can have a counterproductive effect on organisational performance (Bovens, 2005), longstanding hierarchical accountability structures to ensure financial conformance in English local government continue to endure. Interestingly however, the previously top‐down regime for performance accountability in English local government has been replaced by bottom‐up mechanisms such as greater transparency and a more open market for public services. Using the framework developed by Hood (2010), this paper will show how such reforms mean that transparency and accountability are moving from being ‘matching parts’ to an ‘awkward couple’, and how this has significant implications for public services.     

IMPLEMENTING THE BALANCED SCORECARD: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TWO SPANISH CITY COUNCILS – AN INSTITUTIONAL PERSPECTIVE

The present study seeks to describe and compare the implementation of the Balanced Scorecard model in two Spanish city councils. It builds on two major theoretical approaches to Institutional Theory: New Institutional Sociology and Old Institutional Economics, that have both been applied to the study of changes in management accounting. In one of the organisations the use of the BSC was largely symbolic. In the other, a process of creating new accounting routines started to take root. Our findings suggest that new rules, implemented in conjunction with existing organisational routines, have a greater chance of gaining acceptance.