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Crucial silences: When accountability met PFI and finance capital

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  • Asenova, Darinka
  • Beck, Matthias

Abstract

During recent years, a wide spectrum of research has questioned whether public services/infrastructure procurement through private finance, as exemplified by the UK Private Finance Initiative (PFI), meets minimum standards of democratic accountability. While broadly agreeing with some of these arguments, this paper suggests that this debate is flawed on two grounds. Firstly, PFI is not about effective procurement, or even about a pragmatic choice of procurement mechanisms which can potentially compromise public involvement and input; rather it is about a process where the state creates new profit opportunities at a time when the international financial system is increasingly lacking in safe investment opportunities. Secondly, because of its primary function as investment opportunity, PFI, by its very nature, prioritises the risk-return criteria of private finance over the needs of the public sector client and its stakeholders. Using two case studies of recent PFI projects, the paper illustrates some of the mechanisms through which finance capital exercises control over the PFI procurement process. The paper concludes that recent proposals aimed at “reforming” or “democratising” PFI fail to recognise the objective constraints which this type of state-finance capital nexus imposes on political process.

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  • Asenova, Darinka & Beck, Matthias, 2010. "Crucial silences: When accountability met PFI and finance capital," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 1-13.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:crpeac:v:21:y:2010:i:1:p:1-13
    DOI: 10.1016/j.cpa.2008.09.009
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    1. Miranda Sarmento, J. & Renneboog, L.D.R., 2014. "Public-Private Partnerships : Risk Allocation and Value for Money," Other publications TiSEM b9218010-a357-4c0a-805a-7, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    2. Nuno Ferreira da Cruz & Pedro Simões & Rui Cunha Marques, 2013. "The Hurdles of Local Governments with Ppp Contracts in the Waste Sector," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 31(2), pages 292-307, April.
    3. Abdullahi Umar & Noor Amila Zawawi & Mohd Faris Khamidi & Arazi Idrus, 2013. "Stakeholder Perceptions on Achieved Benefits of PFI Procurement Strategy," Modern Applied Science, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 7(4), pages 1-31, April.
    4. Demirag, Istemi & Khadaroo, Iqbal & Stapleton, Pamela & Stevenson, Caral, 2011. "Risks and the financing of PPP: Perspectives from the financiers," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 294-310.
    5. Ben Duke, 2020. "Minding the Store: Structured Finance and Risk Governance of ‘Third Sector’ Organisations," International Journal of Finance, Insurance and Risk Management, International Journal of Finance, Insurance and Risk Management, vol. 10(4), pages 50-67.
    6. Khadaroo, Iqbal, 2014. "The valuation of risk transfer in UK school public private partnership contracts," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 154-165.
    7. Peda, Peeter & Vinnari, Eija, 2020. "The discursive legitimation of profit in public-private service delivery," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    8. Cruz, Carlos Oliveira & Sarmento, Joaquim Miranda, 2018. "The price of project finance loans for highways," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 161-172.
    9. Morales, Jérémy & Sponem, Samuel, 2017. "You too can have a critical perspective! 25 years of Critical Perspectives on Accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 149-166.
    10. Samir A. Guseinov, 2019. "Prospects for Public-private Partnership in the Development of the Electricity Supply Sector Based on Environmental and Intelligent Technologies," Administrative Consulting, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. North-West Institute of Management., issue 3.
    11. Newberry, Susan, 2015. "Public sector reforms and sovereign debt management: Capital market development as strategy?," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 101-117.
    12. Cuthbert, J.R. & Cuthbert, M., 2012. "Why IRR is an inadequate indicator of costs and returns in relation to PFI schemes," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 23(6), pages 420-433.
    13. Burke, Richard & Demirag, Istemi, 2015. "Changing perceptions on PPP games: Demand risk in Irish roads," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 189-208.
    14. Ricardo Ferreira Reis & Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, 2019. "“Cutting costs to the bone”: the Portuguese experience in renegotiating public private partnerships highways during the financial crisis," Transportation, Springer, vol. 46(1), pages 285-302, February.
    15. Toms, Steven & Beck, Matthias & Asenova, Darinka, 2011. "Accounting, regulation and profitability: The case of PFI hospital refinancing," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 22(7), pages 668-681.

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