CALL FOR PAPERS: Special Issue in Financial Accountability & Management Journal
"Changing modes of coordination: Accounting implications of vertical public service reforms"
In recent decades, vertical coordination between public sector organizations have been reconfigured in many countries due to factors including New Public Management (NPM) reforms, constitutional changes, and complex policy challenges. Whilst much research has focused on the economic and policy impacts of these shifts, little attention has so far been given to the role of accounting in shaping or being shaped by these changes. This has left a gap in understanding how public sector accounting systems are affected by vertical reforms and how accounting itself influences coordination. Vertical shifts also impact budgeting, audit, and accountability processes, e.g., as seen in the European Union's Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) or the Biden administration’s American Rescue Plan Act.
This special issue in Financial Accountability & Management aims to explore these topics further by gathering scholarly insights on the implications of changing coordination modes for public sector accounting and financial management, and vice versa. The special issue is open to all types of quantitative and qualitative methodologies, as well as conceptual articles.
A workshop will be held at Cardiff University, Wales, UK, on 7-8 July 2025. The workshop will be hosted by the Public Sector Accounting, Finance and Taxation Research Group (PACCFINTAX) at Cardiff Business School. Authors wishing to present at the workshop should submit a paper proposal (maximum two pages in length) to Dennis De Widt (dewidtd@cardiff.ac.uk) by 31 January 2025. Further details can be gathered with the guest editors: Carmela Barbera (carmela.barbera@unibg.it); Richard Baylis (r.m.baylis@swansea.ac.uk); Dennis De Widt (dewidtd@cardiff.ac.uk); and Yu Kelly Shi (yu.shi@unt.edu).
Deadline for final paper submissions: 31 October 2025.