2018 EGPA PSG XII: 2018 EGPA PSG XII Spring Workshop University of Rosock, Campus Ulmenstraße, Rostock, Germany Rostock, Germany, May 3-4, 2018 |
Conference website | https://www.wiwi.uni-rostock.de/en/diepsam/events/me3-egpa-psg-xii-spring-workshop-2018/ |
Submission link | https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=2018egpapsgxii |
Abstract registration deadline | February 2, 2018 |
Submission deadline | April 23, 2018 |
We have the pleasure to invite you to submit a paper for the 2018 Spring Workshop organised by the EGPA Permanent Study Group XII 'Public Sector Financial Management', to be held in Rostock, Germany, on 3-4 May 2018.
The Permanent Study Group XII within the European Group for Public Administration (EGPA) is an intellectual platform for the specific theme 'Public Sector Financial Management'. The overall objective of the Study Group is to provide a forum for scholars and practitioners to present, discuss and debate their research, findings and ideas about innovative approaches and tools in Public Financial Management (PFM), as well as to highlight and compare experiences of mature systems or systems that are still under trial in European and non-European countries. The Study Group convenes twice a year in order to create a network of close collaboration among its participants. These assemblies present the opportunity for participants to highlight and compare experiences of innovations in PFM in order to define both theoretical structures and practical implementations dealing with financial sustainability and financial distress in public sector organisations.
The theme of the Rostock workshop is:
Users, use, usefulness and user needs:
The challenges faced by public sector financial management
PFM encompasses a comprehensive set of diverse activities regarding budget preparation and execution, control, accounting, reporting, monitoring and evaluation (Allen et al. 2004). These activities produce a plenty of data for a relatively broad range of users with diverse needs. Despite an upsurge of interest in PFM research, a common critique refers to the absence of a theoretical background that serves in framing accounting and reporting principles and financial management activities in the public sector (Pallot 1992, Mayston 1992, Steccolini 2016). According to Jones & Pendlebury 2000 (p. 126), public sector accounting has been based on ‘hypothesised users and hypothesised needs’. Doubts have been raised, whether a ‘substantial number of users’ even exists (Jones & Pendlebury 2000, p. 138).
The requirement to define users and their needs, leaves both researchers and standard setters with numerous challenges regarding the identification of users, classification of their needs and resolution of user needs’ conflicts. Despite existing analytical contributions on users and their needs (e.g. Sutcliffe 1985, Jones 1992, Mayston 1992, Ma and Mathews 1992), there is a strong demand for research on determining users and their information needs, especially in the public sector context (Oulasvirta 2016, Association of Chartered Certified Accountants 2015, Cascino et al. 2014, Tagesson 2014, Young, 2006). The link between the users and their needs would directly lead to the accounting model required (Jones 1992) including a specific reporting format. Therefore, also the development of alternative reporting formats, such as Integrated Reporting in the public sector, is worth to be considered.
Another issue concerns the usefulness of information provided by PFM. A controversial debate is prevalent upon two types of uses, i.e. objectives of accounting, accountability and decision usefulness (e.g. Jones 1991 & 1992, Pallot 1992) that currently gains momentum in the potential EPSAS development. There is a growing literature discussing accounting objectives (e.g. Glöckner 2015, Nowak et al. 2014, Broadbent & Guthrie 2008,) which, however, has not concluded the debate.We invite papers within the broad area of users, their needs and usefulness as well as use and usability of public sector financial management information, namely research works that fall within the fields of budgeting, financial accounting, reporting and auditing, management accounting and (integrated) reporting. The research may be contemporary, historical or comparative.
The workshop also welcomes papers that fall within the general scope of public sector accounting and the comparability of governmental financial reporting in the EU. The call for papers encompasses research works under both the financial and the management accounting paradigms, through all theoretical perspectives and research methods.
Papers will be accepted for presentation based upon acceptance of the abstract. All abstracts (or full papers) will undergo a double blind review process and accepted papers will be distributed among the workshop participants.
Submission Guidelines
Abstracts should be submitted on the online Abstract Submission Form.
Abstracts should be no more than 1,000 words. They should include:
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- Purpose of the paper;
- Research methodology;
- Main findings and implications.
Personal data, academic position, affiliation and email contact must be filled in on the Abstract Submission Form which should be uploaded by 1 February 2018. Notification of Acceptance will be made by 15 February 2018.
Paper Guidelines
The paper must consist of 20 pages maximum (each page of 2,200 characters, spaces included, Times New Roman, text 12 and notes 10), including notes, diagrams, tables and bibliography. Either complete works or research in progress will be accepted as long as the aims of the research, the methodology and the actual or expected results are clearly shown. Full papers should be submitted by 15 April 2018. Without submission of a full paper until this deadline, presentation will not be possible, as paper discussants need to be given time to prepare.
List of Topics
In particular, the workshop is interested in research which addresses the following themes:
- The contributions of public sector financial management scholars to support public administrations in identifying addressees of their information reported, the way information is used and reasons for the usefulness or misuse of information.
- Studies on user-centred design and user needs assessment within public financial management.
- The role of new/alternative reporting formats (e.g. popular reporting, integrated reporting, sustainability reporting and performance reporting) in addressing a broader scope of users and responding to their needs.
- The challenges in developing conceptual frameworks and accounting standards both at national and international level (i.e.: IPSAS; EPSAS; national regimes) that respond to different types of users and user needs, as well as reporting objectives and principles arising.
- The role of public sector accounting and reporting in restoring public confidence and legitimacy.
- Innovations in management accounting and/or financial accounting for the public sector, which improve usability by internal and/or external users (e.g. with respect to digitalization).
- Perspectives on the use of performance information in the public sector (i.e. theories, practices and disciplines).
- The challenges for and expectations towards academia to provide professional expertise to graduates in their role as potential professionals with a public sector focus (capacity building).
Committees
Program Committee
- Eugenio Caperchione, University of Modena & Reggio Emilia
- Isabel Brusca, University of Zaragoza
- Sandra Cohen, Athens University of Economics and Business
- Francesca Manes Rossi, University of Salerno
- Peter C. Lorson, University of Rostock
- Ellen Haustein, University of Rostock
Organizing committee
- Peter Lorson, University of Rostock (peter.lorson@uni-rostock.de)
- Ellen Haustein, University of Rostock (ellen.haustein@uni-rostock.de)
Invited Speakers
- David Heald; Professor of Public Sector Accounting and Accounting Research Cluster Lead; University of Glasgow
- Yuri Biondi, Tenured research fellow of the CNRS - IRISSO (University Paris Dauphine) and research director at the Labex ReFi (ESCP Europe), in Paris, France
- Torsten Domroes, Ministry of Finance of Hamburg, Project EPSAS
Venue
The conference will be held at the University of Rostock, Germany (Ulmenstraße 69, 18057 Rostock)
Contact
All questions about submissions should be emailed to Ellen Haustein, University of Rostock (ellen.haustein@uni-rostock.de)