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New Zealand is a small country with a rich history of pioneering administrative reforms. This chapter describes administrative reform processes emanating from the ‘core agencies’ of the State Services Commission (SSC), Treasury and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. It describes the famous New Public Management reforms of the late 1980s–2000s, led by the Treasury that restructured ministries (creating more agencies that are single-purpose agencies), rewrote policy rules (e.g., the same laws for public and private sector employees) and created accountability from agency heads to ministers as well as SSCs who evaluate and re-appoint agency heads. It should be noted that in this Westminster system, ministers provide policy leadership but not executive leadership of ministries. The chapter describes in detail two reform processes led/administered by the SSC since the mid-2000s to increase accountability for ministry mid-term policy and organizational capability targets (performance improvement framework) as well as cross-ministry goals (better public services). These efforts have been evaluated over time as being quite effective and are noted for their sustainability and improvement.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the reasons why Sri Lanka adopted International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) recently. Many less developed countries (LDCs) have introduced IPSAS during the recent past. However, little research has been conducted to study the New Public Financial Management and accrual accounting and their impact on LDCs.

Using a qualitative approach, the methods of this paper consist of interviews, a documentary review and participatory observation in the Ministry of Finance and Planning (MOFP) and Auditor General’s Department of Sri Lanka, and present a critical interpretation supported by the perspective of globalisation.

The findings of the research indicate that the public sector reforms and the transition from cash accounting to accrual accounting in the public sector have been strongly affected by the global pressures imposed by international agencies such as International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) and the World Bank (WB). Empirical evidence shows the dysfunctional impact of globalisation in the public sector accounting standards as there are major structural issues yet to resolve. There are increasing doubts over whether the change to accrual accounting is worth the costs and the additional risks involved.

The results of the interviews are based on the knowledge and past experiences of interviewees. What is generalisable is an understanding of the processes and mechanisms that relate to the way the public sector accounting functions.

This paper adds new literature on public sector accounting in LDCs, which recognises the nexus and interests of international agencies and practice of public sector accounting.

This article aims to consider success in terms of the financial returns and risks of new public management (NPM) in state‐owned enterprises (SOEs).

Financial returns of New Zealand SOEs were examined through a review of their annual reports over a five‐year period. Dimensions of risk were examined through interviews conducted in two phases over a two‐year period with senior executives from 12 of the (then) 17 SOEs operating in New Zealand.

Findings indicate the potential for SOEs to operate as profitable government investments, with clear support for positive financial returns under NPM. However, variations noted within individual SOEs also indicate that profitable and commercial operations may not be possible in all cases. An examination of the risks associated with SOEs' operations reveals a number of dimensions of risk, encompassing financial, political (including regulatory), reputational, and public accountability aspects.

There is a need for an enhanced awareness on the part of internal and external stakeholders (such as the government and general public) of the risks SOEs face in pursuing higher levels of profitability. Also required, is a more acute understanding on the part of internal and external stakeholders (e.g. government and the public) of the need for SOEs to manage the range of risks identified, given the potentially delicate balance between risk and return.

While previous studies have considered the financial returns of SOEs, or the risks faced by the public sector in terms of accountability, few have addressed the two issues collectively in a single context.

For a variety of reasons, public management development policies have become the fad in many Western industrialised countries in recent years. As governments move to see their operations managed other than simply administered, they are looking for ways to provide new management skills to their managers. In addition, senior government officials themselves see management development programmes as a way to strengthen the corporate culture and purpose of public bureaucracies. Attempts at launching new public management policies in several OECD countries are reviewed. The purpose is to draw out the similarities and differences in the approaches being tried. It is revealed that there are a great deal of similarities. For one thing, governments are looking inside their operations for solutions rather than turning to universities or the private sector. For another, the standard lecture approach to teaching has lost much of its appeal in the new programmes. In some instances, participants from the private sector are invited to attend the new courses.

Recent research and policy reports indicate public sector organizations struggle to leverage information technology-based performance measurement systems and fail to effectively evaluate performance beyond financial metrics. This study aims to focus on organizational factors that influence the assimilation of business intelligence (BI) systems into integrated management control systems and the corollary impact on improving business process performance within public sector organizations.

The complete Australian client list was acquired from a leading BI vendor; and the authors surveyed all public sector organizations, receiving 226 individual responses representing 160 public sector organizations in Australia. Using latent construct measurement, structural equation modeling (SEM)-partial least squares is used to test the theoretical model.

When top management promotes knowledge creation among the organization’s operational level employees and support their activities with strong BI infrastructure, the same knowledge and infrastructure capabilities that are critical to assimilation in private sector hold in the public sector. However, public sector organizations generally have difficulty retaining staff with expertise in new technologies and attracting new innovative staff that can leverage smart systems to effect major change in performance measurement. When top management effectively manages knowledge importation from external entities to counteract deficiencies, public sector organizations effectively assimilate BI knowledge into performance measurement yielding strong process performance.

When top management promotes knowledge creation among the organization’s operational level employees and support their activities with strong BI infrastructure, the same knowledge and infrastructure capabilities critical to assimilation in the private sector hold in the public sector. However, public sector organizations generally have difficulty retaining staff with expertise in new technologies and attracting new innovative staff that can leverage smart systems to effect major change in performance measurement. The research extends the theory behind organizational absorptive capacity by highlighting how knowledge importation can be used as an external source facilitating internal knowledge creation. This collaborative knowledge creation leads to affective assimilation of BI technologies and associated performance gains.

The results provide guidance to public sector organizations that struggle to measure and validate service outcomes under New Public Management regulations and mandates.

The results reveal that consistent with the philosophies behind New Public Management strategies, private sector measures for increasing organizational absorptive capacity can be applied in the public sector. However, knowledge importation appears to be a major catalyst in the public sector where the resources to retain skilled professionals with an ability to leverage contemporary technologies into service performance are often very limited. Top management team knowledge and skills are critical to effectively leveraging these internal and external knowledge creation mechanisms.

Since the 1980s, performance measurement and management (PMM) has been described as an essential element of new public management (NPM) reforms. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the current state of the art and future research opportunities for PMM in public sector management.

The paper carried out a bibliometric literature review using two main techniques named (1) performance analysis and (2) science mapping techniques. It investigated the academic research area describing the main publications' trend, the conceptual structure and its evolution from 1996 to 2019.

The results highlighted the growing relevance of PMM research in public organisations and confirmed a great interest of the business, management and accounting literature on PMM in public sector management. Furthermore, the results also described a conceptual structure of the public PMM literature analysed and its evolution being too generic to answer public organisations' needs. The results identified five main research gaps and research opportunities.

Although the adoption of rigorous bibliometric techniques was recognised as being useful for assessing the academic research study, the paper describes the business, management and accounting literature contributing to new theoretical and practical future opportunities.

This paper aims to explain the interaction of external and internal influences in the imposition of results-based budgeting (RBB) in a public sector organization, subsequent to public sector reforms.

The paper uses an explanatory case study of a state-imposed RBB system, drawing evidence from in-depth interviews, document analysis, and direct observation. The paper draws on Alsharari's (2013) contextual framework which synthesizes three approaches to analyzing institutional change: Dillard et al.'s (2004) New Institutional Sociology (NIS) framework for analyzing externalities; Burns and Scapens' (2000) framework inspired by old institutional economics (OIE) for internal processes of change and Hardy (1996) power and politics mobilization model. In addition, Pettigrew's (1987) contextual framework is used for its holistic incorporation of different perspectives and to integrate theoretical perspectives.

The findings show that Jordan's National Reform Agenda represented a turning towards the New Public Management (NPM) model, following entrenched poor state budget performance. The findings also show that NPM ideas, such as results orientation and performance-based accountability, are invoked in response to common economic and social pressures, such as budget insufficiency and public antipathy to government service provision, as well as the pressures of globalization. Institutional analysis confirms the “path-dependent” and evolutionary nature of accounting change implemented in Jordan's customs agency. The study also concludes, from observation of the organization's work routines and practices, that the implementation of accounting change was not merely a symbolic innovation.

This study has significant implications for politicians, economists, academics and government leaders as it provides fieldwork evidence about the role of RBB in the economy and public policy. Changes at the political and economic level, particularly with respect to the introduction of the fiscal reforms and customs modernization projects, have resulted in changes to structures and systems at the organizational level, particularly the implementation of RBB. This study is subject to normal limitations. The role of legitimate power in the organizational change process can be subject to further examination, especially in the public sectors of developing countries. A longitudinal study could also affirm the institutional analysis of the present case study.

The study contributes to accounting literature by providing further understanding and a thick explanation of the dynamics of accounting change in the Jordanian public sector. It utilizes a contextual framework for studying accounting change that attempts to overcome the limitations of single-dimension theories, such as NIS and OIE, by integrating levels of analysis. The case study provides insight into how internal dynamics interact with external pressures and recognizes the organizational field as a link between political, economic and organizational levels. It more directly addresses the dynamics of emergence, diffusion and implementation of new accounting criteria and practices.

The purpose of this study is to provide insights about the usefulness of management education for the public sector in the Republic of Mauritius, which embarked on reforms initiatives around two decades ago. In this context, public officers were encouraged to follow specialised management courses. However, as at date, there is considerable evidence to say that the Mauritian public sector has not been successful in adopting new public sector management (NPM) doctrines. This study investigates into the effectiveness of the public sector management courses offered to the public servants in Mauritius to cope with NPM. It tries to identify the barriers that they face to implement what they have learnt, back at the workplace.

The study makes use of the qualitative method using thematic analysis to analyse data, which was gathered through an unstructured interview carried among principal assistant secretaries and assistant secretaries of the Mauritian public sector.

The study showed that while NPM is still making its way in the Mauritian public sector, officers perceived that management education has helped them in gaining the required scientific skills and competencies to cope with their day-to-day work. But applying them to the workplace has not been easy. The major factors put forward by these officers have been mainly the ingrained public sector culture and existing leadership.

While extant researches focus on the success or failure of the implementation of NPM in various governments around the world, this study investigates how far management education has helped public sector officers adopt NPM doctrines in the Mauritian government. In doing so, it has also identified the barriers to the implementation of NPM in the Mauritian public sector.

In 1991, India embarked on market-based economic reforms initiatives pillared on liberalization, privatization and globalization (LPG). The reforms exposed the public sector enterprises to competitive market forces, raising the need to identify and develop the competencies necessary for survival. Executive training programs were initiated to prepare public enterprises for the market-based reforms. Three decades later, the reforms especially privatization is witnessing renewed interest under the current administration. In this context, the article takes a closer look at the structure of management education provided to public sector officers in India. The article also identifies barriers for implementing the learnings from the management courses in the workplaces and suggests approaches for closing the gap.

The study follows a thematic approach based on unstructured interviews of senior executives of Indian public sector enterprises covering oil and gas, aeronautical, power and transportation sectors. New public management (NPM) is used as a yardstick of “business-like” characteristics of public sector enterprises.

Despite heavy investment, trainings have had only partial success in implementing the core objective of NPM, i.e. to provide quality services in a professional manner to meet citizen requirements. The study found that though concepts of NPM are introduced at multiple management training programs, the public enterprises lag in the implementation of NPM. The ingrained hierarchical and procedural culture of the enterprises was often highlighted as the challenge to its implementation.

The study will be of significance to Indian policymakers in designing management education programs to public sector employees. It brings out – (1) various models of management education provided to public servants across industries, (2) provide evidence on the extent of NPM implementation, (3) identify barriers for transitioning the learnings from the management courses to workplace and (4) suggest changes for improving effectiveness.

The existing research on LPG in India covers the economic transformation post-implementation and the factors contributing to the success of its implementation. This study adds to the limited literature available on the management education of public servants in the country.