| 1. |
- Catasús, Bino, 1962-, et al.
(författare)
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More peace for less money : Measurement and accountability in the Swedish Armed Forces
- 2005
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Ingår i: Financial Accountability and Management. - : Wiley. - 0267-4424 .- 1468-0408. ; 21:4, s. 467-484
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Studies of measurement and accountability are leading public sector transformation. By examining military work, this paper addresses the relationship between measurements and accountability by highlighting the measurements. Evidence was gathered from documents, political statements and field research. Several layers of accountability systems were found in the organisation. The principal can be the weak link in an accountability relationship if the measurement agenda is in the hands of the agent. The problems seem to go beyond performance and output, and a more fundamental question is challenging the public sector: `Are we doing the right things?' Or an even more dramatic existential question arises: `Why do we exist?'
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| 2. |
- Holmgren Caicedo, Mikael, 1971-, et al.
(författare)
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The development of the management accountant’s role revisited : An example from the Swedish Social Insurance Agency
- 2018
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Ingår i: Financial Accountability and Management. - : Wiley. - 0267-4424 .- 1468-0408. ; 34:3, s. 240-251
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study traces the development of the management accountant (MA) role at the Swedish Social Insurance Agency (SIA). In 2012, the agency began a reformation by implementing the Lean management system in hopes of increasing customer trust. The results of this study show that the authority of the MA rests on decentralization and the proximity of MAs to managers, as previous research has shown, and more specifically on a definitional and a moral prerogative that may or may not be awarded to MAs enabling them to act as de facto managers. The study shows how the role of the SIA's operative level MAs changed into a helpdesk function with the role of assisting other groups to help themselves, in this case operative-level teams that had begun performing management accounting tasks. Thus, this study bears witness not to the expansion and hybridization of existing MA roles, but to the reduction in authority and de-hybridization of the MA role, from business partner to a pedagogical role on a consultative basis.
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| 3. |
- Holmgren Caicedo, Mikael, 1971-, et al.
(författare)
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When calculative practices are no more : On the de-accountingization of the operational level of a public sector agency
- 2019
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Ingår i: Financial Accountability and Management. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0267-4424 .- 1468-0408. ; 35:4, s. 373-389
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study reports on an attempt to remove management accounting's calculative practices at the operational level of a Swedish Public Agency. Using a Habermasian perspective, the study shows how the agency has attempted to replace the previous accounting practice, which involved target setting, performance management and measurement with a new leadership philosophy, and accounting practices that aim at generalizing the individual's private interest toward organizational interests. The result is interpreted as an attempt to make the individual responsible for the welfare of the collective in which, in its absence, the kind of validity that accounting's calculative practices enable is very much present as a longing to soothe the anxiety and uncertainty brought about by the responsibility to lead oneself.
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| 4. |
- Höglund, Linda, 1972-, et al.
(författare)
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A balance of strategic management and entrepreneurship practices : The renewal journey of the Swedish Public Employment Service
- 2018
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Ingår i: Financial Accountability and Management. - : Wiley-Blackwell. - 0267-4424 .- 1468-0408. ; 34:4, s. 354-366
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The purpose of this paper is to study the first phasefrom 2014 to 2016of the Swedish Public Employment Service's renewal journey by examining how the agency worked to achieve its new strategy through processes of strategic management and entrepreneurship. We did this through the theoretical lens of strategic entrepreneurship (SE). The results showed that the agency's renewal processes are simultaneously entrepreneurial and strategic. The agency is historically well known for its detailed management and control, which creates several tensions with entrepreneurship. We contributed to previous literature by focusing on the organizational aspects of these tensions and the SE practices of balancing entrepreneurship with strategic management.
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| 5. |
- Jeppesen, Kim K., et al.
(författare)
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The Strategic Options of Supreme Audit Institutions : The Case of Four Nordic Countries
- 2017
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Ingår i: Financial Accountability and Management. - : Wiley. - 0267-4424 .- 1468-0408. ; 33:2, s. 146-170
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Based on the theory of professional competition, this paper identifies and investigates four strategic options of supreme audit institutions (SAIs) through a case study of four Nordic national audit offices: a performance auditing strategy; a financial auditing strategy; a portfolio strategy; and a hybrid strategy. The analysis of the Nordic SAIs shows that while one SAI appears to have adopted a hybrid strategy, the portfolio strategy has been chosen by the three other SAIs, although with some variations in the portfolio. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of these strategic options for public sector auditing.
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| 6. |
- Johnsen, Åge, et al.
(författare)
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Supreme audit institutions in a high-impact context : A comparative analysis of performance audit in four Nordic countries
- 2019
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Ingår i: Financial Accountability and Management. - : Wiley. - 0267-4424 .- 1468-0408. ; 35:2, s. 158-181
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article analyses survey data regarding the impact of supreme audit institutions' (SAIs) performance audit on public administration in four Nordic countries. Regression analysis with pooled data from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden indicates that performance audits have positive impacts on usefulness, changes, improvements and, to some extent, accountability, as perceived by auditees who have experienced the audits. The results show that some of the factors that earlier research found important for the impact of performance audits in some countries were insignificant for all the four Nordic countries, but that SAIs' legitimacy, audit quality and consequences of media attention were important factors.
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| 7. |
- Svärdsten, Fredrik
(författare)
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The 'front stage' of substance auditing : A study of how substance auditing is presented in performance audit reports
- 2019
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Ingår i: Financial Accountability and Management. - : Wiley. - 0267-4424 .- 1468-0408. ; 35:2, s. 199-211
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Performance audit is a practice with a potentially high degree of democratic and political relevance. Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) have the authority to determine whether the undertakings in central government 'are working'; therefore, SAIs tend to be regarded as important guardians of transparency and 'good' public sector performance. For this purpose, audits of 'substance' are regarded as crucial by both the research community and the INTOSAI. Still, the literature on performance audit concludes that substance audits are rare, although they do exist. One explanation for this is that substance auditing can be a risky endeavour for the auditors, since the lack of generic accounting standards for 'good' public sector performance makes the performance audit reports vulnerable to criticism. The aim of this paper is to contribute to our understanding of substance auditing by detailing the ways in which such audits are presented in performance audit reports. Thus, the paper focuses its analysis on the 'front stage' of substance auditing and finds that the auditors rarely choose to stand on the front stage alone. Instead, they regularly support their authority by relying on other authorities, and when such authorities are lacking, the auditors are reluctant to present judgements in terms of 'good' (or poor) performance. In such cases, this paper suggests that the democratic relevance of the audits can be questioned.
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| 8. |
- Wiesel, Fredrika, 1977-, et al.
(författare)
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From New Public Management to New Public Governance? Hybridization and Implications for Public Sector Consumerism
- 2014
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Ingår i: Financial Accountability & Management. - Chichester : Wiley-Blackwell. - 1468-0408 .- 0267-4424. ; 30:2, s. 175-205
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper examines how variations in the notion of public sector consumerism become embedded in diverse governance practices. To this end, we extend the literature on public governance logics with insights from research on public sector consumerism and hybridization in public sector management reforms. Through a comparative, multi-level analysis we trace the development of two governance logics largely corresponding to the distinction between New Public Management (NPM) and New Public Governance (NPG) in Swedish transport infrastructure policy. In contrast to research predicting or prescribing a relatively radical shift between such governance logics we show how they partly co-evolved along two reform paths entailing notable variations in the degree of hybridization and the embedding of consumerist notions in emerging governance practices. In doing so, we draw attention to how the hybridization of governance logics is contingent on the alignment of diverse interests and differences in the process through which such logics are brought together. We discuss the implications of these findings for future research into public sector consumerism and hybridization in public sector management reforms.
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| 9. |
- Wällstedt, Niklas, 1976-
(författare)
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Client Focus, Cooperation and Coherence : (Re)professionalising Processes for Elderly Care
- 2017
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Ingår i: Financial Accountability and Management. - : Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Inc.. - 0267-4424 .- 1468-0408. ; 33:1, s. 3-26
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper suggests the study of professionalism and the professionalising processes within public sector organisations. Sociologists propose that professionalism is changing into a new variant developing under the premise of organisational management and control. This paper disputes the perspective that the use of management control leads to deprofessionalisation in terms of the routinisation of reflective professional tasks or weakened professional values. This paper proposes that, with client focus, professionals and accountants can cooperate and create coherence between management control system elements and professional values. This dynamic contributes to the retention of professional values and more reflective work procedures.
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