P22 SIG Accounting and Accountability: Public value(s) accounting and accountability: management and governance in turbulent, post-truth times.

Corresponding & Review chair

Iris Saliterer, University of Freiburg, Germany

Email: iris.saliterer@vwl.uni-freiburg.de

Panel chairs

André Aquino, University of São Paulo, Brazil

Enrico Bracci, Universitá di Ferrara, Italy

Sara Closs-Davies, Bangor Business School, Bangor University, UK

Tobias Polzer, WU Vienna, Austria

Mariafrancesca Sicilia, University of Bergamo, Italy

Ileana Steccolini, Essex Business School, UK

Description

The SIG on Accounting and Accountability centers its work around the questions of how accounting impacts public officials, decisions and practices, and how it can foster accountability. This year we focus on the role and facets of accounting and accountability surrounding management and governance in turbulent, post-truth times for examining and addressing pressing societal questions in the areas of public value(s).

In doing so, we particularly encourage scholars to investigate the role of accounting in identifying, shaping and translating different perspectives, values and interests in (changing) governance arrangements in public services delivery, identifying challenges  and opportunities to share clear understandings and solutions for future policy and practice between policymakers, managers, frontline workers, citizens  and society. We welcome studies exploring how accounting can contribute to a better understanding  of management, governance, measurement and reporting of public value(s) and its role in the (de)construction of democracy.

The panel encourages research that addresses, but is not limited to, the following questions

  • To what extent, and how, are multiple public values, which “count” for citizens, being accounted for by public stakeholders?
  • What accountability gaps are created in the face of the plurality and polarization of public values in post-truth times?
  • How do processes of prioritization of public values shape accounting and accountability? And how, vice versa, do the latter shape processes of prioritization among public values?
  • What are the implications of new conceptions of public space, such as in the digital world, for accounting and accountability practices and, relatedly, accountability, engagement and interaction between citizens and governments?
  • How do accounting (practices) contribute to producing specific atmospheres or different ways of inhabiting public spaces in both the off-line and on-line world?
  • What new functions of accounting and accountability emerge with respect to digitalization of public services in responding to societal challenges?
  • How can accounting and accountability contribute to the co-planning, co-design, co-delivery and co-assessment of public services?
  • How can accounting address tensions between members of the society that struggle for voice and equal rights and dominant political voices?
  • What is the relationship of the organizational level vis-à-vis the individual level with respect to the role and facets of accounting and accountability in turbulent, post-truth times?
  • How do changes in public value(s) manifest at the frontline of public service delivery, and what is the role of accounting in facilitating these changes?
  • What is the role and implications of accounting in creating a post-truth society and how does this (re)construct public value(s)?   

The SIG Panel calls for theoretical, conceptual, and empirical contributions addressing the role and facets of accounting and accountability in turbulent, post-truth times, from multiple perspectives and disciplines.

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