Transcript June Pallot

June Pallot:
Voice of Reason in
New Zealand Public
Sector Reforms
By
James Guthrie
Professor of Accounting, The University of Sydney
And
Susan Newberry
Associate Professor of Accounting, The University of Sydney
Invited plenary, 4th international conference on accounting,
auditing and management in public sector reforms EIASM,
Siena, September 7-9, 2006
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Summary
 June’s work has been hailed
internationally as providing a voice
of reason and serious research from
a country that forged ahead with its
public sector reforms
 Object: To outline key ideas from
June Pallot’s collected works
 Her professional experiences
informed her understanding and
appreciation of theory, as well as her
understanding of research findings
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1. Introduction
 Her vast array of
publications which
ranged across
scholarly refereed and
professional articles,
parliamentary papers,
book chapters, public
media commentary,
etc.
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1. Introduction
 June was unique in that she
moved over two decades between
the world of public sector
management and accounting
practice and the world of national
and international scholarly
endeavours with ease and grace
 A woman, who through her
energy and commitment,
confronted the NZ Treasury
reform agendas
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Sections
2.
June’s professional and academic career,
highlighting her contribution in building
academic networks and participation in practice
3.
A brief review of her scholarly publications
identified by major themes over two decades
4.
Identifies and discusses several scholarly themes
running through her work
5.
The conclusion highlights June’s role in New
Zealand’s public sector reform, both as
participant and observer, which provided both
critique and conscience
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2. A Brief History of June’s Professional
and Academic Career
 A feature of June’s career was her desire to contribute not
just as an academic, but also to policy development and
debate.
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3. A Brief History of June’s Professional
and Academic Career
 In 1993, New Zealand marked the
occasion of 100 years of being the
first country in the world to give
women the right to vote by striking
100 Suffrage Centennial medals.
June Pallot was the recipient of
one of these medals
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3. A Brief History of June’s Professional
and Academic Career
 CV indicates…
building academic
networks
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4. A Brief History of June’s Scholarly Ideas
Early 1980s to Early 1990s
 The need for change in
governmental accounting
and the need for
especially developed
concepts and accounting
applications for the
public sector
 Philosophical work for
her PhD research
 “Communitarian” perspective and a democratic belief
system that she retained for the remainder of her career
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3. A Brief History of June’s Scholarly Ideas
1990-2000: Tracking the Reforms
 New Zealand’s leadership
in financial management
reforms meant that
international observers
showed keen interest in the
latest developments and
June’s updates
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3. A Brief History of June’s Scholarly Ideas
1994-1999: Internationalization of the NZ
reforms and why the spread of NPFM
 Attempted to understand and
explain how ideas spread
 Perhaps because of New
Zealand’s leadership, June
also provided more detailed
commentary and critique
about specific aspects
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3. A Brief History of June’s Scholarly Ideas
1986-1996: Stories
from the “inside”,
privatised entity
and the audit office
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3. A Brief History of June’s Scholarly Ideas
1996 - 2002:
Exploration of
transformation
within local
government
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3. A Brief History of June’s Scholarly Ideas
2001 - 2004: Outspoken critic of NZ public
sector transformation reforms
 Later, damaging effects
became apparent both within
New Zealand and to outside
observers
 June described some of
these effects
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4. June’s Research Directions
 Importance of accounting
change and unique nature of
public sector in Pallot (1998)
 This is a noted feature of
“New Public Financial
Management” reforms (Olson
et.al)
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4. June’s Research Directions
 Accounting change and unique nature of public
sector
 Accounting for infrastructure assets
 Participated in and observed New Zealand’s
reforms
 Call for a broader concept of governance
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5. Summary and Conclusions
 The paper’s main objective was to outline key
ideas from June Pallot’s collected work
 Her contribution spanned across theoretical and
practical issues associated with:
•
•
•
•
Governance
Accountability to Parliament
A contextual Public Sector Accounting
An enabling Public Sector Management and Accounting
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5. Summary and Conclusions
 In one of her last published works (Newberry and
Pallot, 2005), June challenged the view that
technical accounting matters were not neutral and
politically insignificant
 Highlighted how technical mechanisms have
contributed to the reduction in the size and capacity
of central government
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6. Future Research Directions
 Government budgeting and what were the intended
consequences and—in practice—the actual outcomes
 Business sector-derived accounting practices carry with
them underlying ideas about assets as private property,
about capital maintenance, about companies as
separate entities
 The nature of public infrastructure and issues of
funding, renewal (PPP) and intergenerational equity
issues
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6. Future Research Directions
 Issues of network governance and boundary issues
associated with control and public accounting in
public service delivery
 Tensions between constitutional control and public
accountability
 Governance issues, and a series of challenges for
accounting
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