Exploratory Evidence on Accounting System, Annual Report Review and New Public Management

This study is about the exploration of accounting system and annual report review process in the context of new public management initiative in Australia. A Government Department in the Australian Capital Territory has been adopted as the field for investigation. Qualitative research methodology was chosen to obtain a better understanding of the phenomena. Case based research method was used in developing a fuller understanding of the relative role of accounting system in the management of organisational performance. In this study, data collection involved a triangulation approach and the sources were organisational documents, interviews and observation. As accounting system is socially constructed Giddens’ Structuration Theory was used in this research to obtain a better understanding of human actions and to explore how this system is implicated in the wider social context through time. Empirical evidence from the field supported that in the researched organization the new elements of interpretive schemes are the accrual accounting and annual report review. It appears that these interpretive schemes are the direct outcome of the new public management ideals and was implemented to establish the principle- value for money.