Holding the government to account for its finances: the “Unsung” heroes of the UK parliament scrutiny unit

Ferry, Laurence; Honeysett, Larry; Midgley, Henry

doi:10.1108/jpbafm-11-2020-0180

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Instead, Baumann (2015) proposed the procrastination model to explain the heightened spending in the final month of the fiscal year in the UK, a deterministic principal-agent model in which the shock process evens spending throughout the year. The model contends that discounting as a result of budgetary uncertainty creates the impetus for managers to postpone spending until the end of the year before the performance of the managers and departments in charge of spending is evaluated by parliamentary committees, the audit office, politicians and the mediaan evaluation that includes fiscal year reports as a measure of performance (for a description of a parliamentary unit at the heart of this functional process, see Ferry et al, 2021). This incentivizes year-end spikes analogous to the way students cram the night before a major exam.…”

Section: Theoretical Perspectives On Yessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining year-end spending spikes in the European Economic Area: a comparative study of procurement contracts

McCue

Prier

Lofaro

2021

JPBAFM

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PurposeThe purpose of this study is to analyze year-end spending practices in the European Economic Area (EEA) to baseline the pervasiveness of year-end spending spikes across countries in Europe.Design/methodology/approachThe Tenders Electronic Daily dataset is used to descriptively analyze above-threshold procurement contracts by country, year and contract type from 2009 to 2018. Proportional distributions are employed to compare percentages of spend across quarters. Analyses are run within each country on the number of years displaying a fourth quarter spike, as well as within each country and contract type.FindingsThe results show that while spending spikes for above-threshold contracts in the final fiscal quarter are not consistent across all countries, patterns emerge when the data are disaggregated by country. The most populous nations in the EEA are more likely to have years with the highest proportion of fiscal spend occurring in the fourth quarter. Further, the type of contract makes a difference – services and supplies contracts are more likely to display fourth quarter spikes than works contracts.Originality/valueThis article provides the first analysis of the year-end spending spike across countries in Europe using procurement data, as well as the first to disaggregate by year and contract type. Findings support the literature on the presence of year-end spikes; such spikes exist even for above-threshold public procurement contracts.

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Section: Theoretical Perspectives On Yessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining year-end spending spikes in the European Economic Area: a comparative study of procurement contracts

McCue

Prier

Lofaro

2021

JPBAFM

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“…Politicians need to be enabled to use data in the forum. Ferry et al (2021a) have drawn attention to the arrangements created in the UK to ensure that Parliament can understand the data that is produced. Ledgerwood (2022) extended this analysis to the institutions providing scientific advice to MPs, assisting them in challenging and ultimately changing government decisions.…”

Section: The Role Of Calculative Practices In Supporting Libertymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Politicians need to be enabled to use data in the forum. Ferry et al. (2021a) have drawn attention to the arrangements created in the UK to ensure that Parliament can understand the data that is produced.…”

Section: Liberty Emergency and Accountabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Accountability, emergency and liberty during COVID-19 in the UK 2020–22

Ferry

Midgley

Green

2023

AAAJ

Self Cite

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PurposeThe study explains why Parliamentarians in the United Kingdom (UK) focused on accountability through data during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as on how data could be used to improve the government’s response to the pandemic.Design/methodology/approachUnderstanding the implications of accountability for COVID-19 is crucial to understanding how governments should respond to future pandemics. This article provides an account of what a select committee in the UK thought were the essential elements of these accountability relationships. To do so, the authors use a neo-Roman concept of liberty to show how Parliamentary oversight of the pandemic for accountability was crucial to maintaining the liberty of citizens during the crisis and to identify what lessons need to be learnt for future crises.FindingsThe study shows that Parliamentarians were concerned that the UK government was not meeting its obligations to report openly about the COVID-19 pandemic to them. It shows that the government did make progress in reporting during the pandemic but further advancements need to be made in future for restrictions to be compatible with the protection of liberty.Research limitations/implicationsThe study extends the concept of neo-Roman liberty showing how it is relevant in an emergency situation and provides an account of why accountability is necessary for the preservation of liberty when the government uses emergency powers.Practical implicationsGovernments and Parliaments need to think about how they preserve liberty during crises through enhanced accountability mechanisms and the publication of data.Originality/valueThe study extends previous work on liberty and calculation, providing a theorisation of the role of numbers in the protection of liberty.

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“…The government's introduction of accrual output based budgeting was proposed as major motivation for the introduction of new public management in New Zealand (Ball, 2021). Increasingly, due to new public management, public sector are run as businesses (Hood, 1991; Douglas and Overmans, 2020; Sharma, 2012, 2021; Sharma and Hoque, 2002; Ahrens and Ferry, 2015; Ferry and Eckersley, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019; Ferry and Murphy, 2015; Ferry et al. , 2021; Sharma and Lawrence, 2009; An and Sharma, 2015).…”

Section: The Different Demands On Public Sector Accountantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public sector financial management in New Zealand central government: the role of public sector accountants

Gill¹,

Sharma

2022

JPBAFM

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PurposeThis paper aims to examine the actions of public sector accountants in the New Zealand government departments as they respond to the demands of the Central Treasury.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis is developed through an understanding of the secondary literature and practical experience of the first author who worked in the New Zealand public sector as a public sector accountant from 1972 to 1998. Both authors have remained active in the public sector through research and practice. The first author's last three placements were being Director Financial Management in the Ministry of Energy, Assistant Secretary in the Department of Maori Affairs and finally as CFO at the Ministry of Education. The first author has been a close observer of the Budget and was a participant at the departmental level for over 20 years.FindingsThe public sector reforms have posed challenges for public sector accountants. The arrival of accrual output based budgeting shaped a reconfiguration of accountants' identities. The politicians made public sector accountants the central entity of accrual output based budgeting and thus responsible for increasing public sector efficiency.Research limitations/implicationsThe research is limited to public sector in New Zealand only.Practical implicationsThis study would be of use to practitioners interested in the pressures and opportunities which arise out of a particular constellation of administrative roles.Social implicationsThe administrative history, in particular, by senior officers is often unwritten for the public sector offices.Originality/valueThis is a descriptive piece on the role of public sector accountants and contributes to the understanding of how financial accountability works within the New Zealand Central Government.

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Holding the government to account for its finances: the “Unsung” heroes of the UK parliament scrutiny unit

Cited by 7 publications

References 12 publications

Examining year-end spending spikes in the European Economic Area: a comparative study of procurement contracts

Examining year-end spending spikes in the European Economic Area: a comparative study of procurement contracts

Accountability, emergency and liberty during COVID-19 in the UK 2020–22

Public sector financial management in New Zealand central government: the role of public sector accountants

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