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Selective Commercialisation of Public‐Sector Accounting and its Consequences for Public Accountability
Author(s) -
Karan Ram
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
australian accounting review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.551
H-Index - 36
eISSN - 1835-2561
pISSN - 1035-6908
DOI - 10.1111/j.1835-2561.2001.tb00168.x
Subject(s) - accountability , accounting , contradiction , public sector , context (archaeology) , ideology , agency (philosophy) , economics , social accounting , business , public administration , political science , management accounting , politics , sociology , law , economy , paleontology , social science , philosophy , epistemology , biology
This paper examines the exclusion of two accounting standards from the commercialised public‐sector accounting model in Australia. It locates the commercialisation in the wider context of the global neo‐liberal reform ideology and argues that the selective commercialisation is a product of the neo‐corporatist standard‐setting process and policy networks that can be explained by public choice and agency theories. It is found that the exclusions have resulted in a significant erosion of public accountability. As implementing the excluded standards will constitute a contradiction in policy, abrogation of the commercialised accounting model might be feasible and appropriate