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Accounting researchers have performed many studies related to public sector budgeting and financial management. Public sector accounting research seeks to explain the role of accounting and auditing in the public sector. For example, researchers examine issues such as (1) the use of accounting information by elected officials, (2) the demand for auditing, and (3) the determination of bond ratings. This review of the public sector accounting literature describes some of the theoretical foundations utilized in public sector accounting research and reviews a sample of selected empirical studies.

This paper analyzes the impact of economic downturns on the revenue and expense sides of city financing for the period 2003 to 2009 using a convenience sample of the audited end of year financial reports for thirty midsized US cities. The analysis focuses on whether and how quickly and how extensively revenue and spending directions from past years are altered by recessions. A seven year series of Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) data serves to explore whether citiesʼ revenues and spending, especially the traditional property tax and core functions such as public safety and infrastructure withstood the brief 2001 and the persistent 2007 recessions? The findings point to consumption (spending) over stability (revenue minus expense) for the recession of 2007, particularly in 2008 and 2009.

The importance of body-worn cameras (BWC) in policing cannot be overstated. This is not a hyperbolic statement – use of force incidents in Ferguson and Baltimore, the ensuing riots, coupled with critical long term implications for police community relations demonstrate the need for BWC data. Few studies have been published on the use of BWCs and little is known about officer perceptions, administrator decision making, and agency use of BWC data. No published studies incorporate qualitative data, which lends important context and depth, in the interpretation of officer survey data. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The current study presents a mixed-method study of a large university police agency prior to full implementation of BWC. A survey of patrol officers and supervisors, using a census approach with near full participation, coupled with focus group interviews, produced data on perceptions, concerns, and expectations of full BWC implementation.

Findings point to officer concerns regarding the utilization of BWC data and administrative expectations regarding complaint reduction and officer assessment.

Important implications regarding training and policy are presented. BWC data represent an important tool for agency decision makers but have numerous potential negative uses. Understanding officer concerns juxtaposed with administrator expectations, through both survey and qualitative data, advance the knowledge on BWC.

This paper aims to present the case for a new integrated resort business model. It does so by integrating the notion of a smart tourism ecosystem into the concept of dynamic capabilities so as to guide integrated resort theory and practice in an evolving landscape.

The theoretical model is derived from synthesising the gaps surrounding literature that contextualises business models and the relatively scarce body of knowledge related to integrated resort business models.

Integrated resorts are characterised by strategies using a follower mentality. Destinations seeking to create new integrated resorts largely emulate existing product or service points of differentiation, though such attempts are often quickly eroded by competition. By integrating the smart tourism ecosystem to the theoretical framework, this conceptual paper elucidates how an information-rich environment can help to better realise sustainable competitive advantages.

This conceptual paper will require empirical data to validate the theoretical model. Implications stemming from the research will hasten greater social networks that need to be incorporated to foster timely and necessary circulation of information to attain optimal outcomes generated by the dynamic capability effect.

This paper re-conceptualises the business model for integrated resorts. By integrating the notion of smart tourism ecosystems to business model literature, the paper illuminates how integrated resorts can be better positioned in adapting to the changing operating environments.

This paper aims to report upon the further development of a hybrid application programming interface (API) plug-in to building information modelling (BIM) entitled confined spaces safety monitoring system “CoSMoS”. Originally designed to engineer-out environmental hazards associated with working in a building’s confined spaces (during the construction phase of a building’s life-cycle), this second generation version is expanded upon to use archival records to proactively learn from data generated within a sensor network during the building’s operations and maintenance (O&M) phase of asset management (AM).

An applied research methodological approach adopted used a two-phase process. In phase one, a conceptual model was created to provide a “blueprint map” to integrate BIM, sensor-based networks and data analytics (DA) into one integral system. A literature review provided the basis for the conceptual model’s further development. In phase two, the conceptual model was transposed into the prototype’s development environment as a proof of concept using primary data accrued from a large educational building.

An amalgamation of BIM, historical sensor data accrued and the application of DA demonstrate that CoSMoS provides an opportunity for the facilities management (FM) team to monitor pertinent environmental conditions and human behaviour within buildings that may impact upon occupant/worker safety. Although working in confined spaces is used to demonstrate the inherent potential of CoSMoS, the system could readily be expanded to analyse sensor-based network’s historical data of other areas of building performance, maintenance and safety.

This novel prototype has automated safety applications for FM during the asset lifecycle and maintenance phase of a building’s O&M phase of AM. Future work is proposed in several key areas, namely, develop instantaneous indicators of current safety performance within a building; and develop lead indicators of future safety performance of buildings.

The purpose of this paper is to articulate the conceptual foundations of the role of internal auditing in corporate governance by drawing on Michel Foucault’s concept of governmentality.

The paper is a literature-based analysis of the role of internal auditing from a Foucauldian perspective.

It is argued that Foucault’s notion of governmentality provides conceptual tools for researching internal auditing as a disciplinary mechanism in the corporate governance setting of contemporary organizations. The paper develops an initial conceptual formulation of internal auditing as: ex post assurance about the execution of economic activities within management’s preconceived frameworks and ex ante advisory services to enhance the rationality of economic activities and accompanying controls.

The paper is expected to initiate debate on the choice of theory and method in internal auditing research. The propositions and research agenda discussed can be used to address research questions of an interpretive nature that could enrich the current understanding of internal auditing.

This paper extends the Foucauldian analysis of accounting to incorporate internal auditing. It offers original propositions as a research agenda and discusses ontological and epistemic considerations associated with adopting the Foucauldian framework for internal auditing research.