New development: Rethinking public sector accounting systems by rediscovering their relational nature

Accounting systems have been traditionally seen as technical calculative practices to quantify public sector activities, used by governments for (internal) decision-making purposes and to be externally accountable. This article suggests taking a different perspective by considering the relational na...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Public money & management 2024-11, Vol.44 (8), p.727-732
Main Authors: Barbera, Carmela, Sicilia, Mariafrancesca, Steccolini, Ileana
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accountability
Accounting
Accounting systems
Citizens
Citizens' engagement
co-assessment
Decision making
dialogic accounting
Evaluation
Government
information use
interaction
Legitimacy
Measurement
performance measurement
Policy making
Public finance
Public sector
public sector accountability
public value
Transparency
Trust
Values
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Summary:Accounting systems have been traditionally seen as technical calculative practices to quantify public sector activities, used by governments for (internal) decision-making purposes and to be externally accountable. This article suggests taking a different perspective by considering the relational nature of accounting systems, with the idea that a more interactive approach between citizens and governments can enhance both decision-making and accountability. By relying on a more dialogic approach, policy-makers and public managers at all levels of government can encourage citizens to participate in public service performance measurement, so that citizens can comment on what counts, how to measure it, and how to account for it. Doing this will reinvigorate government legitimacy, increase mutual trust between citizens and the public sector, and pursue public values that citizens actually want.
ISSN:0954-0962
1467-9302
DOI:10.1080/09540962.2024.2370550