Public accountability: reforms and resistance in social housing

Smyth, Stewart

doi:10.1080/14719037.2016.1153703

Cited by 18 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 37 publications

(57 reference statements)

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“…Accountability is often seen, however, simply as a form of transparency or as a formality: academic literature has highlighted critical issues, uncertainties, delays and failures in accountability processes expecially regarding the public sector (Flinders, 2011;Koppell, 2005;Schillemans, 2016). According to Bovens (2005) "accountability has become an icon JUDICIAL ACCOUNTABILITY of good governance," but it can also represent a "garbage can" (Smyth, 2017) filled with unclear concepts and a series of insignificant and useless good intentions. Therefore, there is the risk that the transparency efforts of a complex and multilayered organization such as that of a Public Prosecutor's Office will have no significant effects, leading to the shifting sands of "low-accountability traps" (Ali & Pirog, 2019).…”

Section: Towards a Judicial Accountabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Accountability in the Justice System: Have Times Really Changed? Reflections From an Italian Social Reporting Experience

Ricci

Pavone

2021

Public Integrity

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Society has not only a right to know: in contemporary democracies, there is also a right to participate in the life of public institutions. A representation of a judicial accountability aware of this is provided in this article. This research describes, by analyzing the latest social and sustainability report of the Public Prosecutor's Office of Naples, possible points of contact between reporting and citizens. The results are still not satisfactory: stakeholder engagement often remains only an appreciable attempt. However, despite gaps and uncertainties, the report goes beyond mere descriptive narrative. Innovative elements that suggest a new season for reporting in the judicial sector are present, such as the reconstruction of the economic and financial values in a prospective key, in order to arrive in the future to study the impact on society of the efficient functioning of judicial offices. Finally, this study offers some ideas for rethinking the Italian Judiciary in a sustainability key.

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Section: Towards a Judicial Accountabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Accountability in the Justice System: Have Times Really Changed? Reflections From an Italian Social Reporting Experience

Ricci

Pavone

2021

Public Integrity

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“…Interestingly, the case shows that the initial crisis over the profitability of public social housing organizations and related questioning of their social mission ended up reinforcing OMEGA's production mission and at the expense of its rental mission. These elements provide further evidence of the complexity of the public social housing sector and of how difficult it is for accounting to represent the different interests of actors of this sector (Collier, 2005, Collier, 2008, Smyth, 2017.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Profitability calculations under trial of strength

Laguercir

Chapman

Kern

2019

AAAJ

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the organizational construction of profit at the responsibility-centre level, how underlying cost calculations are challenged, and the role of accountants therein. Design/methodology/approach This paper analyses profit calculation in a public social housing organization that experienced New Public Management (NPM). Participant observations, archives and interviews inform the study over three years, enabling access to day-to-day practices. Findings This study examines a trial of strength that revisited long-existing profitability and cost calculations. Accountants held competing views of how to treat labour costs. Some were anti-programme during a trial of incompatibility, while others were programme defenders. The authors also provide evidence of the stability of an established network and its resistance to the claims of an adversary spokesperson in a trial of strength. The concept of trial of incompatibility proved helpful in showing how the actor networks within OMEGA played out the tension between profit orientation and the social mission of offering affordable dwellings. Research limitations/implications The paper provides rare qualitative data on the significant and complex role of calculative costing choices in determining intra-organizational profitability and its interference with the inherent social mission of the organization. Practical implications The authors suggest that profitability calculations are influenced not only by economic context but also by different views of organizational actors regarding how to calculate profit. These calculations would benefit from a more detailed and explicit documentation of reasons for choices made, given the potential for different and, in principle, equally valid approaches. The authors provide further evidence of the complexity of the public social housing sector. Social implications This research points to a departure from the mission of public social housing in the face of NPM reforms and further questions the compatibility of a profit orientation with the provision of affordable dwellings. Originality/value The findings show intra-accounting variation regarding a specific element of profit calculation (labour costs) relating to the organization’s wider mission and status.

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“…This paper depicts how a range of external pressures created a 'perfect storm' for RPs who turned to low-carbon innovation to secure a more sustainable future for their business model. In the UK, these pressures included austerity (Hodkinson and Robbins, 2013); long-standing political prioritisation of private home ownership and capital accumulation over socially rented housing (Edwards, 2016;Smyth, 2016); and the volatility of 'green' policies which support the uptake of low-carbon innovations in the built environment (Walker et al, 2016). The findings point to the need for policies and incentives to support the potential of RPs and other middle actors in the built environment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%