Public Services & Charities SIG Seedcorn Research Funding Call
Deadline for applications is 30 September 2023.
We are pleased to report that the BAFA’s Public Services and Charities SIG is, once again, in the position to provide funding for this scheme. Funding of up to £2,000 is available to researchers to investigate broad issues in public-sector, public-services or not-for-profit accounting (for a maximum of three successful applications).
Context for Research
The PSC SIG acts as a forum for all those interested in the financing, accounting and financial management of public services and charities. Particularly since the 1970s, many governments have engaged in reform processes aimed at bringing business concepts, techniques and values into the public sector. This movement (termed New Public Management) has resulted in major shifts in management, accountability and governance systems; such shifts often being associated with a ‘modernisation’ agenda. During this time, there has also been a growth in wider not-for-profit sector activity (particularly in the charitable sector), with similar ideas being promoted. Indeed, growth in these organisations has often been openly promoted by government, sometimes based on policy objectives related to a perceived ‘appropriate’ balance of government and non-government activity. More recently, both the public and the not-for-profit sector have witnessed an increase in co-production and collaboration in the provision of public services, an increasing role of digitalisation and the emergence of grand challenges, such as health and environmental crises. In such a context, studies of the management, accountability and governance processes within the public and not-for-profit sectors are vital, not only to improve the processes, but also to inform policy making within government.
While any area of research relating to financing, accounting and financial management of public services would be considered for funding, the following indicate some areas that may be of interest:
- Audit and assurance challenges.
- The role of professions in the public and not-for-profit sectors.
- Governance and regulation in the public and not-for-profit sectors.
- Integrated public-service provision and integrated planning.
- Managing accounting change.
- Managing in a time of significant financial constraint.
- Partnership arrangements relating to service delivery.
- Performance measurement, management and reporting.
- Financial Management in the public and not-for-profit sectors.
- Concepts and metrics of public-sector financial sustainability.
- The use of data and big-data analysis, and the digitalisation era in the public and not-for-profit sectors.