IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/abacus/v44y2008i1p22-47.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Making Management Auditable: The Implementation of Best Value in Local Government

Author

Listed:
  • MICHELA ARNABOLDI
  • IRVINE LAPSLEY

Abstract

This article examines the implementation of Best Value—an audit tool of the U.K. government's modernization policy—in local government, specifically in Scotland. This is a study of the impact of this key concept, primarily on the management of these public services. The aim of Best Value Audit is to enhance transparency and accountability of management actions in local government. The article draws on Power's (1997) Audit Society thesis to inform this research. The Best Value approach has been heavily influenced by audit processes and oversight bodies both in its design and implementation. This article supports the Power thesis of the Audit Society: It reveals the manner in which audit practices are deployed by agencies of central government with the intent to shape the management of local government.

Suggested Citation

  • Michela Arnaboldi & Irvine Lapsley, 2008. "Making Management Auditable: The Implementation of Best Value in Local Government," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 44(1), pages 22-47, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:abacus:v:44:y:2008:i:1:p:22-47
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6281.2007.00247.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6281.2007.00247.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1467-6281.2007.00247.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pollitt, Christopher & Girre, Xavier & Lonsdale, Jeremy & Mul, Robert & Summa, Hilkka & Waerness, Marit, 1999. "Performance or Compliance?: Performance Audit and Public Management in Five Countries," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198296003.
    2. Paul Higgins & Philip James & Ian Roper, 2004. "Best Value: Is It Delivering?," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(4), pages 251-258, August.
    3. Steve Martin, 1999. "Developments: Visions of Best Value: Modernizing or Just Muddling Through?," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(4), pages 57-61, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Irvine Lapsley, 2009. "New Public Management: The Cruellest Invention of the Human Spirit?1," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 45(1), pages 1-21, March.
    2. Irvine Lapsley & Peter Miller & Fabrizio Panozzo, 2010. "Accounting for the city," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 23(3), pages 305-324, March.
    3. Yousef Alwardat & Abdullatif Basheikh, 2017. "The Impact of Performance Audit on Public Administrations in Saudi Arabia: An Exploratory Study," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(12), pages 144-144, November.
    4. Michela Arnaboldi & Irvine Lapsley, 2010. "Asset management in cities: polyphony in action?," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 23(3), pages 392-419, March.
    5. Ana-Maria BERCU & Mihaela ONOFREI & Anca-Florentina VATAMANU, 2018. "The Performance Paradox In The Public Sector In Eu Member States. Key Facts And Challenges," Proceedings of Administration and Public Management International Conference, Research Centre in Public Administration and Public Services, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 14(1), pages 94-103, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stuart Kells, 2011. "The Seven Deadly Sins of Performance Auditing: Implications for Monitoring Public Audit Institutions," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 21(4), pages 383-396, December.
    2. Popoola, Oluwatoyin Muse Johnson & Che-Ahmad, Ayoib & Samsudin, Rose Shamsiah, 2014. "Fraud and Forensic Accounting: Knowledge and Risk Assessment Task Performance in Malaysian Public Sector – Conceptual study," MPRA Paper 66680, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2014.
    3. Tom Christensen & Per Lægreid, 2008. "The Challenge of Coordination in Central Government Organizations: The Norwegian Case," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 8(2), pages 97-116, June.
    4. Richard M Walker & Ling Hin Li, 2002. "Reinventing Government? Explaining Management Reform at the Hong Kong Housing Authority," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 20(4), pages 573-592, August.
    5. Mark Christensen & Peter Skærbæk, 2007. "Framing and overflowing of public sector accountability innovations," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 20(1), pages 101-132, March.
    6. Jan Buček, 2022. "Comparison of Selected Elements and Processes within the Activity of European SAIs," European Financial and Accounting Journal, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2022(1), pages 45-66.
    7. James Downe & Clive Grace & Steve Martin & Sandra Nutley, 2008. "Best Value Audits in Scotland: Winning Without Scoring?," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(2), pages 77-84, April.
    8. Ian Cunningham & Philip James, 2017. "Analysing public service outsourcing: The value of a regulatory perspective," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 35(6), pages 958-974, September.
    9. Michela Arnaboldi & Irvine Lapsley, 2010. "Asset management in cities: polyphony in action?," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 23(3), pages 392-419, March.
    10. Gendron, Yves & Cooper, David J. & Townley, Barbara, 2007. "The construction of auditing expertise in measuring government performance," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 32(1-2), pages 101-129.
    11. Popoola, Oluwatoyin Muse Johnson & Che-Ahmad, Ayoib & Samsudin, Rose Shamsiah, 2014. "Forensic Accounting and Fraud: Capability and Competence Requirements in Malaysia," MPRA Paper 66664, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2014.
    12. Yousef Alwardat & Abdullatif Basheikh, 2017. "The Impact of Performance Audit on Public Administrations in Saudi Arabia: An Exploratory Study," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(12), pages 144-144, November.
    13. Yeon-Seob Ha, 2002. "A Comparative Study of Budgetary and Financial Management Reforms: The Cases of Australia, New Zealand, and Sweden," International Review of Public Administration, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(1), pages 123-136, July.
    14. Matthew Carmona & Louie Sieh, 2008. "Performance Measurement in Planning—Towards a Holistic View," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 26(2), pages 428-454, April.
    15. Zbyslaw Dobrowolski, 2021. "Are the Supreme Audit Institutions Agile? A Cognitive Orientation and Agility Measures," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(1), pages 52-62.
    16. Mark Bovens & Anchrit Wille, 2021. "Indexing watchdog accountability powers a framework for assessing the accountability capacity of independent oversight institutions," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(3), pages 856-876, July.
    17. I. Lapsley & C. K. M. Pong, 2000. "Modernization versus problematization: value-for-money audit in public services," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(4), pages 541-567.
    18. Stuart Kells & Graeme Hodge, 2010. "Redefining the Performance Auditing Space," Asia Pacific Journal of Public Administration, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(1), pages 63-88, June.
    19. Danielle Morin, 2008. "Auditors general's universe revisited: An exploratory study of the influence they exert on public administration through their value for money audits," Managerial Auditing Journal, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 23(7), pages 697-720, July.
    20. Buček Jan, 2019. "Have the Czech SAO’s Audits Carried out in the Area of the State Budget Revenues Resulted in a Higher Number of Legislative Changes when Compared to the Audits in the Domain of the State Property Mana," NISPAcee Journal of Public Administration and Policy, Sciendo, vol. 12(1), pages 9-41, June.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:abacus:v:44:y:2008:i:1:p:22-47. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0001-3072 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.