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All Outputs (135)

Are local government accounts trusted? Exploring the UK Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee Verdict (2024)
Journal Article
Ferry, L., Fright, M., Midgley, H., Murphie, A., & Sandford, M. (online). Are local government accounts trusted? Exploring the UK Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee Verdict. Public Money & Management, https://doi.org/10.1080/09540962.2024.2423370

This paper analyses the system of local government accounting and auditing in England and how successfully it is performing its role in supporting democratic accountability. To do this, the paper asks whether the accounts of local councils in England... Read More about Are local government accounts trusted? Exploring the UK Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee Verdict.

A Polyphonic Debate on Social Equity Budgeting (2024)
Journal Article
McDonald III, B. D., Ferry, L., McCandless, S. A., Jordan, M. M., Steccolini, I., Bartle, J. R., Ahrens, T., Haslam, J., Joyce, P. G., & Polzer, T. (online). A Polyphonic Debate on Social Equity Budgeting. Public Administration, https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.13039

This paper is polyphonic (i.e., a debate involving multiple perspectives) and highlights emerging interdisciplinary thoughts on past, current, and future social equity budgeting (SEB). We present a vision for the field and emphasize the potential imp... Read More about A Polyphonic Debate on Social Equity Budgeting.

Holding Government to Account: Democracy and the National Audit Office (2024)
Book
Midgley, H. C., Ferry, L., & Murphie, A. D. (in press). Holding Government to Account: Democracy and the National Audit Office. Routledge

The National Audit Office has played an important role in the checks and balances of the UK Parliamentary and political system over the last 40 years. This new book, more than just a history of the UK’s supreme audit institution, examines the very de... Read More about Holding Government to Account: Democracy and the National Audit Office.

Public Accountability in an Unpredictable World: Tales of the Unexpected (2024)
Journal Article
Ferry, L., Hyndman, N., Liguori, M., & Midgley, H. (in press). Public Accountability in an Unpredictable World: Tales of the Unexpected. Abacus: A Journal of Accounting, Finance and Business Studies,

This paper aims at providing an overview of the different research themes and concepts that surround the investigation of crises and how these affect the delivery of important public services. It offers a critical reflection on what crisis means, how... Read More about Public Accountability in an Unpredictable World: Tales of the Unexpected.

Democracy, accountability, accounting and trust: A critical perspective reflecting on a UK Parliamentary inquiry into the role of government accounts (2024)
Journal Article
Ferry, L., Midgley, H., & Haslam, J. (2024). Democracy, accountability, accounting and trust: A critical perspective reflecting on a UK Parliamentary inquiry into the role of government accounts. Critical Perspectives On Accounting, 99, Article 102738. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpa.2024.102738

Democracy is a contestable concept. Variants have been mobilised/appraised in critical discourse. Concurrently, in efforts to operationalise democracy, accountability is demanded, and thus accounting, relying on a notion of trust. Advocating more stu... Read More about Democracy, accountability, accounting and trust: A critical perspective reflecting on a UK Parliamentary inquiry into the role of government accounts.

Are public sector accounts trusted? Exploring the verdict of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee in the United Kingdom (2024)
Journal Article
Ferry, L., & Midgley, H. (online). Are public sector accounts trusted? Exploring the verdict of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee in the United Kingdom. Public Administration, https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12983

Legislatures face difficult challenges holding modern bureaucratic democracies to account due to the scale, complexity, and diverse impacts on citizens' lives. One way that democracies bridge the gap between the legislature and executive is through f... Read More about Are public sector accounts trusted? Exploring the verdict of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee in the United Kingdom.

Ministerial Directions (2023)
Report
Ferry, L., Murphie, A., & Midgley, H. (2023). Ministerial Directions. [No known commissioning body]

Timeliness of local auditor reporting on local government in England (2023)
Report
Ferry, L., & Midgley, H. (2023). Timeliness of local auditor reporting on local government in England. [No known commissioning body]

We welcome this Public Accounts Committee (PAC) inquiry and the National Audit Office (NAO) report, that it is based upon. Whilst for obvious reasons associated with COVID-19, financial accounts and annual reports of local authorities have been laid... Read More about Timeliness of local auditor reporting on local government in England.

Institutional Entrepreneurship in a Supreme Audit Institution: The National Audit Office and the use of data in financial audit (2023)
Book Chapter
Ferry, L., & Midgley, H. (in press). Institutional Entrepreneurship in a Supreme Audit Institution: The National Audit Office and the use of data in financial audit. In T. Rana, & L. Parker (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Public Sector Accounting. Routledge

This chapter covers the development of digital technology in audit at the United Kingdom’s Supreme Audit Institution, the National Audit Office. It argues that this represented a case of institutional entrepreneurship in which often quite junior memb... Read More about Institutional Entrepreneurship in a Supreme Audit Institution: The National Audit Office and the use of data in financial audit.

Hybridity, institutional logics and value creation mechanisms in the corporatisation of social care (2023)
Journal Article
Ferry, L., Wegorowski, P., & Andrews, R. (2024). Hybridity, institutional logics and value creation mechanisms in the corporatisation of social care. The British Accounting Review, 56(1), Article 101244. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bar.2023.101244

Hybridisation of public services has increased under neoliberalism and New Public Management policies, over the past four decades since the 1980s. Hybrid arrangements for service provision blend public, private and nonprofit approaches to organising... Read More about Hybridity, institutional logics and value creation mechanisms in the corporatisation of social care.

The critical potential of institutional theory revisited - a field study of the rationalisation of budget fairness through agentic actorhood (2023)
Journal Article
Ahrens, T., Ferry, L., & Khalifa, R. (online). The critical potential of institutional theory revisited - a field study of the rationalisation of budget fairness through agentic actorhood. Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, 20(5), 593-620. https://doi.org/10.1108/qram-08-2021-0149

Purpose - This paper seeks to contribute to the debate on the usefulness of institutional theory to critical studies. It pursues this topic by exploring some of the possibilities for allocating local authority funds more fairly for poor residents. Th... Read More about The critical potential of institutional theory revisited - a field study of the rationalisation of budget fairness through agentic actorhood.

A genealogical and archaeological examination of the development of corporate governance and disciplinary power in English local government c.1970-2010 (2023)
Journal Article
Ferry, L., Funnell, W., & Oldroyd, D. (2023). A genealogical and archaeological examination of the development of corporate governance and disciplinary power in English local government c.1970-2010. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 109, Article 101466. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aos.2023.101466

The paper seeks to enhance our understanding of the interaction between the development of disciplinary power in western liberal society and Foucault’s writings on governmentality, through examination of the political processes resulting from the lar... Read More about A genealogical and archaeological examination of the development of corporate governance and disciplinary power in English local government c.1970-2010.

Accountability, emergency and liberty during COVID-19 in the UK 2020-22 (2023)
Journal Article
Ferry, L., Midgley, H., & Green, S. (2024). Accountability, emergency and liberty during COVID-19 in the UK 2020-22. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, 37(1), 176-198. https://doi.org/10.1108/aaaj-07-2022-5931

Purpose The study explains why Parliamentarians in the United Kingdom (UK) focused on accountability through data during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as on how data could be used to improve the government’s response to the pandemic. Design/methodol... Read More about Accountability, emergency and liberty during COVID-19 in the UK 2020-22.

An international comparative study of the audit and accountability arrangements of Supreme Audit Institutions (2023)
Journal Article
Ferry, L., Hamid, K., & Hebling Dutra, P. (2023). An international comparative study of the audit and accountability arrangements of Supreme Audit Institutions. Journal of Public Budgeting Accounting and Financial Management, 35(4), 431-450. https://doi.org/10.1108/jpbafm-10-2022-0164

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to compare the audit and accountability arrangements of Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) internationally. Design/methodology/approach: Building on a theorisation of regulatory space, extended by new audit spaces of... Read More about An international comparative study of the audit and accountability arrangements of Supreme Audit Institutions.

The future of public sector accounting research. A polyphonic debate (2023)
Journal Article
Grossi, G., Steccolini, I., Adhikari, P., Brown, J., Christensen, M., Cordery, C., Ferry, L., Lassou, P., McDonald, B., Raudla, R., Sicilia, M., & Vinnari, E. (2023). The future of public sector accounting research. A polyphonic debate. Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, 20(1), 1-37. https://doi.org/10.1108/qram-09-2022-0135

Purpose – The purpose of this polyphonic paper is to report on interdisciplinary discussions on the state-ofthe-art and future of public sector accounting research (PSAR). The authors hope to enliven the debates of the past and future developments in... Read More about The future of public sector accounting research. A polyphonic debate.

Municipal Corporations in England and Wales: A Tale of Two Countries (2022)
Book Chapter
Andrews, R., & Ferry, L. (2023). Municipal Corporations in England and Wales: A Tale of Two Countries. In R. Andrews, M. van Genugten, U. Papenfuβ, H. Torsteinsen, & B. Voorn (Eds.), Corporatization In Local Government: Context, Evidence and Perspectives from 19 Countries (49-72). Palgrave. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09982-3_3

In the wake of the global financial crisis, local governments in the UK have been under increasing pressure to develop cost-effective and innovative approaches to public service provision. The use of municipally-owned corporations (MOCs) has emerged... Read More about Municipal Corporations in England and Wales: A Tale of Two Countries.