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Public‐Interest Arguments in Privatising Government Audit
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.1835-2561.2003.tb00395.x
Subject(s) - accounting , audit , public interest , accountability , public sector , public accounting , government (linguistics) , business , function (biology) , economics , political science , law , linguistics , philosophy , evolutionary biology , biology
The privatisation of the state audit office of Victoria in 1996–97 engendered a widespread debate that was joined by the two main accounting bodies in Australia. Although the accounting bodies adopted divergent positions, both rationalised their arguments in terms of public interest. An analysis of this paradox shows that the accountants pursued their commercial interests through intra‐professional conflict and cooperation behind the cloak of public‐interest arguments, showing little concern for the public accountability function of public‐sector audits and reporting requirements.