Title: The challenges to create and learn accounting innovations in the public sector

Authors: Heli Hookana

Addresses: Turku School of Economics, P.O. Box 170, FIN 28101 Pori, Finland

Abstract: As the major impetus of the public sector reforms is a new managerialism in the public sector, this study focuses on the accounting practices, which might be seen as such or as innovations. The study draws upon two interventionist empirical investigations in applying an evolutionary conceptualisation of change. Creation is regarded as the exchange of information through formal and informal processes by the accounting and the service-oriented professionals. The results show that reporting practices are heavily related to satisfying accountability obligations to selected within-government groups. New contexts emerge out of partly political activities that constitute actors as networks. The emergence of the accountability innovation can be seen as a means of stabilising democracy whilst the operation of the reform provides a sense of reinforced managerial control.

Keywords: accounting innovations; public sector; reforms; political activities; politics; information exchanges; new managerialism; accounting practices; interventionist investigations; evolutionary conceptualisations; change; informal processes; formal processes; service-oriented professionals; reporting practices; accountability obligations; within-government groups; new contexts; networks; managerial control; democracy; reinforced control; local government; Finland; municipalities; learning.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIL.2011.040536

International Journal of Innovation and Learning, 2011 Vol.9 No.4, pp.372 - 387

Published online: 26 Nov 2014 *

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