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Costing governmental services in a reformed environment: Unreachable goal or unfinished business?
Author(s) -
Gosselin Maurice,
Henri JeanFrançois,
Laurin Claude
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
canadian public administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.361
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1754-7121
pISSN - 0008-4840
DOI - 10.1111/capa.12116
Subject(s) - decentralization , public sector , activity based costing , incentive , business , cost accounting , control (management) , work (physics) , new public management , industrial organization , public relations , public economics , accounting , process management , economics , management , political science , market economy , engineering , mechanical engineering , economy
This article assesses the impact of New Public Management (NPM) reforms in the public sector from a cost consciousness perspective. Using an action‐research methodology, we analyze the intensity of the external pressures that influence the institutional logic under which public sector organizations manage their costs. The field work shows that even after decentralization, public sector organizations appear unable to move their costing function from expense control to cost management unless external pressures motivate managers to complete the reform. We propose that the probability of success of reforms is increased when organizations are subject to strong pressures that could take the form of individual incentives or external threats.