Special
Issue of Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies
and
PhD
seminar and Workshop on
"Modernization,Westernization, and
Democratization of Public Financial Management in Central and Eastern European
Countries”
Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (Ukraine)
6-8 June, 2018
Central
and Eastern European (CEE) countries are emerging economies that underwent
radical and sustained economic and regulatory changes during the last decades.
Despite many similarities, CEE countries cannot be seen as a homogenous group.
These countries have experienced different degrees of economic development, democracy,
regulatory and public sector reforms, and exhibit peculiarities stemming from
their history, culture, languages and identities.
The large donor bodies, such as the IMF, and the World
Bank, international organizations like the European Union (EU) and the Organisation
for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and big accounting firms have
encouraged the "modernization” of public financial management as a method of reducing corruption and fraud, and increase efficient, accountable and responsible delivery of public services.
The reforms in public financial management were
part of wider improvement in performance and fiscal management flowing from the
change from the old paradigm of public administration (based on the Weberian
bureaucracy) to New Public Management (based on the neo-liberalism agenda)
introduced during the Nineties in the western democracies and market economies.
New Public Financial Management (NPFM) spread to many western countries for a
number of reasons. NPFM has seen the importing of private sector management
processes and techniques to the public sector, and this has encompassed
performance measures and other calculative practices (Ellwood and Newberry, 2007).
As part of larger democratic reforms, several CEE countries also introduced
NPFM, including accrual accounting, financial and consolidated reporting,
performance and participatory budgeting, and independent audits. The
implementation of NPFM in public sector spheres has stirred wide debate,
however, raising serious questions about its value (e.g. Olson et al.,
2001) especially in emerging economies such as CEE countries.
We
believe that this research setting offers a great opportunity to investigate
how modernization, westernization and democratization change and impact public
financial management practices in public sector organizations in CEE countries.
Moreover, we are interested in understanding how these changes affect the use
of accounting and performance information by political and managerial actors and
have implications for their work.
Given this, the Special Issue of Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies aims
to provide a timely and comprehensive overview of accounting, budgeting and
management control issues and practices in the public sector in CEE countries.
It is envisaged that contributions within this issue will not only provide
evidence to evaluate and guide the introduction of new practices and processes
within the public sector in CEE countries, but also to inform policy making
within government.
We
invite empirical and theoretical contributions from a wide variety of research
perspectives and approaches. We particularly encourage comparative studies
highlighting causes and consequences of similarities and differences across CEE
countries, policy areas and different providers of public services. We invite
papers that investigate the reasons, processes and effects of changes in
accounting, budgeting and management control practices, enforcement
difficulties and institutional reforms in different levels of governments (State,
regions and local governments, etc.), and policy areas (as education, health
care, etc.) in CEE countries.
The
topics of the special issue and related workshop could include, but are not
limited to:
·The role of western accounting practices and neo-liberal ideologies in
the modernization of public financial management.
·The adoption
and translation of private sector accounting practices in the public sector,
and the (critical effects) effects of such adoption.
·The internal and external drivers and barriers to modernization of
public financial management.
·The role of large donor bodies, international organizations and big
accounting firms in the modernization of public financial management.
·The role and identities of change actors (i.e. controllers, auditors,
consultants, academics, etc.) in the modernization of public financial
management.
·The use of accounting and performance information by political and
managerial actors.
·The hybrid
arrangements (i.e. public-private partnership, co-production, etc.) in the
delivery of public services and new forms of accounting technologies.
·The effects of accounting changes on democratic governance.
·The diffusion and use of new forms of "dialogic” accounting and
performance management in ensuring democratic accountability, transparency and
citizen participation.
This
Special Issue of "Journal of Accounting
in Emerging Economies”, edited by Anatoli Bourmistrov, Giuseppe Grossi and
Toomas Haldma, is associated to the Workshop "Modernization,Westernization, and
Democratization of Public Financial Management in Central and Eastern European
Countries” organized in Kiev in 07-08 June, 2018.
Key note
speakers at the Workshop: Prof. Stephen Zeff (Rice University, USA); Prof.
Massimo Sargiacomo (University of Chieti-Pescara, Italy); Prof. Shahzad Uddin (Essex Business School).
Important dates:
Full papers for the workshop should
be submitted by 31 March 2018.
Acceptance will be notified by 15
April 2018.
Feedback to the papers considered for the special issue will be provided
in conjunction with the Workshop organized in Kiev during 7 - 8 of June 2018.
Upon incorporation of the feedback received during the Workshop, a selection of
papers after a double-blind review process will be published in a Special Issue
of Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies in 2020.
The
deadline for the submission to the Special issue of Journal of Accounting in
Emerging Economies is 31 October 2018.Please be aware that presentation at the
Workshop does not guarantee acceptance of the paper for publication in the
Special Issue. Also, participating in the Workshop is not a precondition for
submitting a manuscript to the Special Issue.
Prior to the main
workshop, on 06 June 2018, a doctoral seminar will be organized. All three days will take place at Taras Shevshenko University in Kiev (Ukraine).