Contesting public accountability: A dialogical exploration of accountability and social housing

This paper analyses the interaction between neoliberal inspired reforms of public services and the mechanisms for achieving public accountability. Where once accountability was exercised through the ballot box, now in the neoliberal age managerial and market based forms of accountability predominate. The analysis identifies resistance from civil society campaigns to the neoliberal restructuring of public services which leads to public accountability (PA) becoming a contested arena. To develop this analysis a re-theorisation of PA, as a relationship where civil society seeks to control the state, is explored in the context of social housing in England over the past thirty years. Central to this analysis is a dialogical analysis of key documents from a social housing regulator and civil society campaign. The analysis shows that the current PA practices are an outcome of both reforms from the government and resistance from civil society (in the shape of tenants’ campaigns). The outcome of which is to tell the story of the changes in PA (and accountability) centring on an analysis of discourse. Thus, the paper moves towards answering the question – what has happened to PA during the neoliberal age?     

2016年发展中国家私营部门参与基础设施投资承诺额下降——对可再生能源和东亚地区兴趣上升是基础设施投资的亮点

世界银行集团新报告称,2016年发展中国家私营部门参与基础设施项目投资承诺额急剧下降,与2015年相比骤降37%. 土耳其的投资承诺额大幅减少对同比下降影响较大, 2015年有三个超大项目接近关账,包括356亿美元的伊斯坦布尔IGA机场项目.如果不包括伊斯坦布尔机场项目,基础设施私人投资降幅为8%,《私营部门参与基础设施投资数据库》(PPI数据库)年度报告称.     

发达国家公共部门绩效管理的经验探析

文章探讨了公共部门绩效效管理及其基本要件,总结了发达国家公共部门绩效管理的经验。     

社会分工与公共财政支出管理绩效问题研究

长期以来，历次财政预算改革一直都在努力寻求强化资金监护者职能、提高财政资金使用效益的各种办法，然而，我国的实践反复证明，作为财政资金使用者的各地区、各部门总能在财政博弈的对局中占据有利地位，改革的效果总与预期目标发生较大偏离，从资源配置者到决策者都要花费很大的精力去应付始料不及的各种困难。如何协调财政改革中复杂的利益矛盾，发挥各利益集团的积极能动性，最大限度地提高公共财政支出效益，     

Academic entrepreneurial hybrids: Accounting and accountability in the case of MegaRide

The current paper focuses on how multiple values shape accounting and accountability practices in hybrid organizations. It concentrates on the complex domain of academic spin-offs, more fully described as hybrid knowledge-intensive organizations, aiming to understand how accounting and accountability practices can be constitutive of hybrid academic entrepreneurial logics and identities and how these, in turn, favor the development of accounting and accountability practices. The study employs a theoretically informed in-depth single case study of the academic spin-off MegaRide of the University of Naples Federico II (Italy) for the period January to May 2021. The findings show how, in MegaRide, hybrid academic entrepreneurial identities emerged at both the individual and organizational levels, leading to successful technology transfer, with an undeniable impact on the local context and society.     

远毅资本: 专注投资健康医疗与金融技术基础设施

技术的基础设施不存在,中国就很难出现"乔布斯" 杨瑞荣先生创立远毅资本之前,是北极光创投(简称:北极光)的合伙人和兰馨亚洲投资(简称:兰馨)的投资总监,在风险投资行业13年的工作经历,特别是到北极光工作之后,他的投资注意力已集中转向健康医疗和金融技术两大行业,并发现了这两大领域的技术空白带——基础设施.为此,他于2016年创立了远毅资本,专注于投资高门槛的健康医疗和金融技术的"基础设施建设".他为远毅资本设计的投资定位得到了北极光基金的基石投资支持,目前已管理了两支基金.     

Bank privatization in developing countries: A summary of lessons and findings

Although a large and growing literature shows that privatization can improve the performance of non-financial enterprises, there is less evidence on how it affects the performance of the banking sector. This paper summarizes the results from the papers in the special issue of the Journal of Banking and Finance on bank privatization. It concludes that although bank privatization usually improves bank efficiency, gains are greater when the government fully relinquishes control, when banks are privatized to strategic investors, when foreign banks are allowed to participate in the privatization process and when the government does not restrict competition.     

Enterprise risk management and continuous re-alignment in the pursuit of accountability: A German case

COSO defines ERM as a set of activities that lead to organizational alignment and accountability, given structured work with stable, mobile and combinable information objects. This study argues against this representation by offering three insights developed from case research. We observe ERM as a practice that oscillates between IT-based representations and social interpretations, which never “adds-up” but creates circulation and movement instead. Rather than to produce a common understanding of corporate affairs, ERM communalizes the process of identifying risks and chances and promotes a quest for accountability. Thus, ERM does not focus on improving performance or compliance. Nevertheless, by separating subjects and objects in the organizational context, ERM creates space for otherness and heterogeneity. To the extent that these are mobilized as resources, ERM might offer “intelligence” beyond the coherence and homogeneity, which accounting systems represent.     

Risk management opportunities in auto insurance: A focus on the value of vehicles

Ratemaking and risk-based pricing revolve around the value at risk, involving a tendency of higher values implying higher premiums. Traditionally, vehicle values are set at “list price” and depreciate over time on a one-size-fits-all factor model. If values change over time, so should premiums, but a single factor table that only goes downward to flat is out of sorts with today. In today's transactional data streams, vehicle features, and values can be easily observed—of note, a shift in product mix that has more options and higher retained values creates a gap in actual versus traditionally expected insurance values. This gap most acutely appears at the vehicle “as built” level, which is more granular than current segmentation levels of insurance ratemaking vehicle valuation analysis. The result is leaving companies to simply raise base rates universally until they can adapt more flexible price-to-value methods at an “as built” price accuracy sophistication level.     

Rethinking agency theory in developing countries: A case study of Pakistan

We investigate if agency theory effectively explains agency conflict in the context of a developing country namely, Pakistan. Utilising data from 26 semi-structured interviews, we found that in Pakistan, there is no variation in risk preferences of principals (minority shareholders) and agents (majority shareholders). We also found that remuneration packages and board independence are not effective tools for governing owner managers in Pakistan. Thus, policy makers must shift their focus from soft internal governance mechanisms of appropriate remuneration and board independence. We propose for a rigorous external audit function, and appointment of independent directors and external audit firms by regulator.     

Are ICTs promoting government accountability?: A comparative analysis of e-governance developments in 19 OECD countries

This paper tries to assess to what extent Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) enable better accountability in public bureaucracies through e-governance initiatives. Accountability has extended its meaning to embrace, besides financial accountability, openness and transparency initiatives which aim at making both the control of government by the citizenry and public discussion between citizens and governments easier. New styles of governance represent a change from traditional bureaucratic systems to pluricentric systems. This article conducts an empirical study of the effect of ICTs on accountability in the central governments of the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and 15 EU countries, the latter representing around 84% of the EU population. Our analysis shows that developments and changes in financial accountability levels depend on both the context and characteristics of public administration styles and on how information is disclosed. The results in the political and citizen dialogue dimensions of public accountability show that the application of ICTs to the public sector, fits well into any kind of public administration style, especially at the billboard stage, since it does not entail substantial changes in the style of the government to citizen (G2C) relationship.     

The accountability of NGOs in civil society and its public spheres

In the past two decades, globalisation has brought about many unexpected changes in the assumed role of governments. Part of this has included the role and rise of non-government organisations (NGOs) that have grown in number and power to fill services that governments are either unable or unwilling to provide. The prominence of NGOs in third-world countries fills a void of humanitarian services that are often lacking, but in all nations they have increasingly become potential vehicles for ideology instead of assistance, subject to capture by both sides of politics. In this respect, a new question and a new challenge face those who look for the accountability of NGOs in the public sphere—are NGOs doomed to fail by the environment that made them necessary? In other words, are they doomed to fail because they are unelected and unaccountable, and unlikely to rise above the limitations of the current system that made them necessary in the first place? The possible role for NGOs can be evaluated by examining alternative of ways of thinking about the “civil society”. This draws together interpretative strategies from philosophers such as Stanley Aronowitz, Carl Boggs, Craig Calhoun, Timothy Luke, Randy Martin and Charles Taylor. From their work, an ontic dialectical thinking is developed and can be used to assess whether NGOs can truly fill the democratic vacuum, and contribute towards the good society. More particularly, NGO contributions involve examining connections with accountability in a world in which public intervention and social awareness have been trivialised. A reinvigorated civil society can help to reconcile the role of NGOs to an authentic and effective end.     

Exchange rate regimes and FDI in developing countries: A propensity score matching approach

Theory suggests that regimes of relatively fixed exchange rates encourage inward foreign direct investment (FDI) relative to regimes of more flexible exchange rates. We use propensity score matching (PSM) to investigate the relationship between the exchange rate regimes of 70 developing countries and FDI into such countries using de facto regime classifications. We include a large number of variables in the logit equation that estimates the propensity score, the probability of regime choice. We also use general-to-specific modeling to get alternative, parsimonious versions. Based on four matching procedures, the average treatment effects suggest, with overall modest statistical significance, that relatively fixed de facto regimes do encourage FDI compared with relatively floating regimes. In addition, the estimated effects are sometimes economically large.     

Budgetary governance and accountability in public sector organisations: An institutional and critical realism approach

This paper analyses the impact of the institutionalisation of governance and budgetary policies on the accountability of organisational actors from an institutional and critical realism perspective. The study extends the framework by Burns and Scapens (2000) to critical realism. Findings from field studies conducted in two public hospital districts in Finland show two institutions of budgetary governance: the political and the technical. Accountability practices depend on how the institutionalised policies have reduced or increased the gaps between the real, the actual and the empirical domains of reality of the organisational actors involved and the governance policy that prevails at a given domain of reality. The use of budgetary information as a tool of governance and accountability in the empirical field of the study cannot be taken for granted.     

Accounting Community of Practice pedagogy: a course management invention for developing personal competencies in accounting education

This paper reports the findings of an exploratory qualitative study using the implementation of Wenger’s [(1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press; Wenger, E. (2000). Communities of practice and social learning systems. Organization, 7(2), 225–246] Theory of Communities of Practice to develop an Accounting Community of Practice (ACOP) pedagogy. Students from eight accounting courses who participated, in the120 narratives and 280 surveys used as data, practice and develop critical real-world professional accounting competencies by linking three structural foundations: (1) accountability to joint enterprise, (2) mutual engagement, and (3) shared repertoire of communal resources. Competencies promoted by the AICPA [(1999). Core competency framework of entry into the accounting profession. Retrieved from http://www.aicpa.org/edu/corecomp.htm; AICPA. (2006). Core competency framework of entry into the accounting profession. Retrieved from http://www.aicpa.org/edu/corecomp.htm); International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). (2003). International education standard No. 3, professional skills. Retrieved from www.ifac.org; IFAC. (2015). Meeting future expectations of professional competence: A consultation on the IAESB’S future strategies and priorities. Retrieved from www.iaesb.org; ICAEW. (1996). Added value professionals: Chartered accountants in England and Wales. London: Author], and other professional bodies include problem-solving, leadership, project management, and interaction. ACOP strategy is effective in maintaining dynamic learning environments, increasing students’ awareness of trust, open communication, and creative thinking. Meaning and knowledge are owned in ACOP where the focus of the class shifts from instructor to students. This study adds to limited empirical research in communal forms of learning in accounting.     

Public services and charities: Accounting,accountability and governance at a time of change

This special issue is based on a selection of papers initially presented at the conference on ‘Public Services and Charities: Accounting, Accountability and Governance at a Time of Change’ (Centre for Not-for-profit and Public-sector Research, Queen's University Belfast, January 2017). ‘Public services and charities’ is a distinctive grouping that includes organisations that are not-for-profit and often have wide social and cultural goals that drive mission and actions. These organisations operate in a very fluid environment. Expectations of the public at large and of government are changing; economic pressures bear down on them particularly acutely; performance metrics and a push for marketisation reflect a spirit of the age; ‘business practices’ are frequently afforded a reputation of being ‘good’ and applicable in all settings; while news reporting and social media often amplify any perceived shortcomings. The papers included in this special issue present an opportunity to reflect on some of the key changes taking place with respect to accounting, accountability and governance in this setting. Such opportunities to reflect can support evaluation of the stated objectives of implemented and proposed changes, and also help to inform policy making within government and elsewhere. Key arguments made in these papers, and the overarching themes of this special issue, are explored in this editorial.     

Immigration and the pattern of public spending: evidence from OECD countries

Using a panel of OECD countries, we show that immigration systematically alters the composition of public spending in the destination country. To mitigate bias from the endogenous sorting of immigrants, we use an IV estimation strategy. The instrument is constructed by estimating a bilateral migration model for 24 destination and 208 source countries. We find that the host country responds to the increase in immigrants by adjusting various expenditures, such as by reallocating resources from social welfare to national defense and public order. Our findings imply that (1) immigration affects policy outcomes in areas with a low ethnic or redistributive dimension and (2) immigration may have an insubstantial effect on the total size of government.

     

Changing lifestyles and consumption patterns in developing countries: A scenario analysis for China and India

China and India are the world's largest developing economies and also two of the most populous countries. China, which now has more than 1.3 billion people, is expected to grow to more than 1.4 billion by 2050, and India with a population of 1 billion will overtake China to be the most populous country with about 1.6 billion population. These two countries are home to 37% of the world's population today. In addition, China and India have achieved notable success in their economic development characterised by a high rate of gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the last two decades. Together the two countries account already for almost a fifth of world GDP.The most direct and significant result of economic growth in India and China is the amazing improvement in quality of life (or at least spending power) for an increasing share of the population. The populations of both the countries have experienced a transition from ‘poverty’ to ‘adequate food and clothing’; today growing parts of the population are getting closer to ‘well to do lifestyles’. These segments of the society are not satisfied any more with enough food and clothes, but are also eager to obtain a quality life of high nutrient food, comfortable living, health care and other quality services.The theme of this paper is to analyse how the major drivers contributed to the environmental consequences in the past, and to take a forward look at the environmental impacts of these driving forces in China and India. The paper identifies population, affluence and technology to be the major driving forces in environmental pollution for these two countries then applies the simple equation of Impact=Population×Affluence×Technology, or I=PAT to evaluate the effects of changes in these drivers on CO₂ emissions.