New Public Management, institutional theory and changes in public accounting: a theoretical essay
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21680/2176-9036.2025v17n1ID38673Palavras-chave:
Public Accounting. Public Management. Institutional Theory. Accountability.Resumo
Objective: This essay proposes to discuss the changes in the public sector accounting arising from the reform proposed by new public management (NPM), based on institutional theory. The research was motivated by the growing need for accountability in public management, with focus on timely accounting information demanded by internal and external users.
Methodology: The study is divided into two main parts. The first discusses the theoretical concept and characteristics of NPM, as well as the relevant factors behind its global development. The second part reports the changes in public sector accounting in the context of NPM, with special attention to the complexities in implementing the changes, considering cash and accrual accounting regimes and asset recording.
Results: The discussion promoted in this essay demonstrates that, despite accounting being seen as fundamental to the implementation, development, and achievement of NPM, cultural, political, and institutional aspects can directly affect the desired outcome. This includes the transition from traditional public administration and new public administration.
Study Contributions: The essay provides an institutional theory perspective for public sector accounting, specifically related to the change process by NPM. The analysis emphasizes the importance of accounting in implementing NPM while recognizing the challenges and complexities that arise in implementing the changes, including the influence of cultural, political, and institutional factors.
Downloads
Referências
Alsharari, N. M. (2020). Accounting changes and beyond budgeting principles (BBP) in the public sector: Institutional isomorphism. International journal of public sector management, 33(2/3), pp. 165-189.
Anderson, E., Griffin, G., & Teicher, J. (2002). Managerialism and the Australian Public Service: valuing efficiency and equity?. New Zealand Journal of Industrial Relations, 27(1), 13-31.
Augustinho, S. M. & De Lima, I. A. (2012). A nova contabilidade pública brasileira como instrumento de transparência sobre as contas públicas. Revista Brasileira de Planejamento e Desenvolvimento, 1(1), pp. 76-88.
Ball, I. (1994). Initiatives in public sector management and financial management: the New Zealand experience. In A. Andersen (Ed.). Financieel beheer, verslaggeving en prestatiemeting bij de Rijksoverheid, Symposium verslag, Circustheater Scheveningen, 10127/1.
Ball, R., & Grubnick, D. (2008). Globalization of accounting standards: Implications for the international community. Journal of International Accounting Research, 7(2), 1-13.
Borins, S. (1998). Lessons from the new public management in commonwealth nations. International Public Management Journal, 1(1), 37-58. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/S1096-7494(99)80085-3
Brash, D. (1998, June). New Zealand's Economic Reforms: A Model for Change: speech by the Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
Broadbent, J., & Laughlin, R. (2009). Performance management systems: A conceptual model. Management Accounting Research, 20(4), pp. 283-295.
Burke, W. W. (2017). Organization change: Theory and practice. (5th ed.). Sage publications.
Burns, J., & Scapens, R. W. (2000, March). Conceptualizing management accounting change: an institutional framework. Management Accounting Research, 11(1), pp. 3-25. doi: https://doi.org/10.1006/mare.1999.0119
Brunsson, N. (2006). The organization of hypocrisy: Talk, decisions and actions in organizations. Copenhagen Business School Press.
Carpenter, V. L., & Feroz, E. H. (2001, October-November). Institutional theory and accounting rule choice: an analysis of four US state governments' decisions to adopt generally accepted accounting principles. Accounting, organizations and society, 26(7-8), pp. 565-596. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0361-3682(00)00038-6
Carvalho, J. M. de. (2010). A contabilidade e a teoria institucional: Uma análise sob a perspectiva da sociologia das organizações. Revista Contabilidade & Finanças, 21(53), pp. 69-85.
Carvalho, F. M., Rodrigues, L. L., & Craig, R. (2017). The impact of New Public Management on the Brazilian public sector accounting practices. Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, 13(4), pp. 485-502.
Christiaens, J. R. (2003). Accrual accounting reforms in Belgian local governments: A comparative examination. Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management, 15(1), pp.92-109. doi: https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBAFM-15-01-2003-B006
Comitê de Pronunciamentos Contábeis (CPC). (2007). Pronunciamento Técnico CPC 00 -
Estrutura Conceitual para a Elaboração e Apresentação das Demonstrações Contábeis. CPC.
DiMaggio, P. J., & Powell, W. W. (1983). The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism
and collective rationality in organizational fields. American Sociological Review, 48(2), pp. 147-160.
DiMaggio, P. J., & Powell, W. W. (1991). The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. American Sociological Review, 56(2), pp. 147-160.
Durler, M. G., Carment, T. M., & Kennett, D. L. (2002). Bridging the Gap-Using Modified Accrual Accounting Systems to Prepare Full Accrual Government-wide Financial Statements. Journal of Government Financial Management, 51(1), pp. 46-56.
Ferlie, E., Ashburner, L., Fitzgerald, L., & Pettigrew, A. (1996). The new public management in action. Oxford University Press, USA.
Frederickson, H. G., Smith, K.B., Larimer, C. W. & Licari, M. (2018). The public administration theory primer. (3nd ed.). Routledge. doi: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429494369
Frumkin, P. & Galaskiewicz, J. (2004). Institutional isomorphism and public sector organizations. Journal of public administration research and theory, 14(3), pp. 283-307.
Soeiro, T. M. Wanderley, C. A. (2019). A teoria institucional na pesquisa em contabilidade: uma revisão. Organizações & Sociedade, 26, pp. 291-316.
Greenwood, R., & Hinings, C. R. (1996, October). Understanding radical organizational change: Bringing together the old and the new institutionalism. Academy of Management Review, 21(4), pp. 1022-1054. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/259163
Gruening, G. (2001, Spring). Origin and theoretical basis of New Public Management. International Public Management journal, 4(1), pp. 1-25. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/S1096-7494(01)00041-1
Hood, C. (1991, March). A Public Management for Ail Seasons?. Public Administration, 69(1), 3-19. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1991.tb00779.x
Hood, C. (1995, February-April). The ‘New Public Management’ in the 1980’s: variations on a theme, Accounting, Organizations and Society, 20(2/3), pp. 93-109. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/0361-3682(93)E0001-W
Hood, C. (2007). What happens when transparency meets blame-avoidance? Public Management Review, 9(2), pp. 191-210.
Hood, C., & Dixon, R. (2015). A government that worked better and cost less?: Evaluating three decades of reform and change in UK central government. Oxford University Press.
Hooper, K. C., & Kearins, K. (2003). Substance but not form: Capital taxation and public finance in New Zealand, 1840-1859. Accounting History, 8(2), pp. 101-119. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/103237320300800206
Hughes, O. E. (2012). Public management and administration: An introduction. Macmillan International Higher Education.
James, O. (2007). "The paradox of isomorphic mimicry and institutional change: A case study of public sector reform in the United Kingdom". Public Administration, 85(4), pp. 743-76
Jones, L. R., & Kettl, D. F. (2003). Assessing public management reform in an international context. International Public Management Review, 4(1), pp. 1-19. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9780470774779.ch1
Kearney, R. C., & Hays, S. W. (1998). Reinventing government, the new public management and civil service systems in international perspective: The danger of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 18(4), pp. 38-54. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371X9801800404
Kelly, R. M. (1998, May-June). An inclusive democratic polity, representative bureaucracies, and the new public management. Public Administration Review, 58(3), pp. 201-208.
Kickert, W. J. M. (1997). Public management in the United States and Europe. In W. J. M. Kickert (Ed.). Public Management and Administrative reform in Western Europe. (pp. 34-35) Edward Elgar Publishing.
Laegreid, Per. Transcending new public management: the transformation of public sector reforms. Routledge, 2017.
Lapsley, I. (2009). New public management: The cruellest invention of the human spirit? Abacus, 45(1), pp. 1-21.
Lapsley, I., & Pallot, J. (2000, June). Accounting, management and organizational change: A comparative study of local government. Management Accounting Research, 11(2), pp. 213-229. doi: https://doi.org/10.1006/mare.2000.0129
Lawrence, T. B., & Buchanan, S. (2017). Power, institutions and organizations. The Sage handbook of organizational institutionalism, p. 477-506.
Lei Complementar nº 101, de 4 de maio de 2000. (2000). Estabelece normas de finanças
públicas voltadas para a responsabilidade na gestão fiscal e dá outras providências. Brasília, DF. Diário Oficial da União.
Lei nº 11.638, de 28 de dezembro de 2007. (2007). Altera e revoga dispositivos da Lei nº 6.404, de 15 de dezembro de 1976, e da Lei nº 6.385, de 7 de dezembro de 1976, e estende às sociedades de grande porte disposições relativas à elaboração e divulgação de demonstrações financeiras. Brasília, DF. Diário Oficial da União.
Lei Complementar nº 131, de 27 de maio de 2009. (2009). Acrescenta dispositivos à Lei
Complementar nº 101, de 4 de maio de 2000, que estabelece normas de finanças públicas voltadas para a responsabilidade na gestão fiscal e dá outras providências, a fim de determinar a disponibilidade, em tempo real, de informações pormenorizadas sobre a execução orçamentária e financeira, em meios eletrônicos de acesso público. Brasília, DF. Diário Oficial da União.
Lima, I. S., & Niyama, J. K. (2015). Adoção das IFRS no Brasil: Impactos na qualidade das
informações contábeis das empresas de capital aberto. Revista Contabilidade Vista & Revista, 26(3), pp. 75-96.
Lynn, L. E., Jr. (1998). A critical analysis of the new public management. International Public Management Journal, 1(1), pp. 107-123. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/S1096-7494%2899%2980087-7
Mathiasen, D. G. (1999). The new public management and its critics. International public Management Journal, 2(1), pp. 90-111. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/S1096-7494(00)87433-4
Meyer, J. W., & Rowan, B. (1977). Institutionalized organizations: Formal structure as myth and ceremony. American Journal of Sociology, 83(2), pp. 340-363.
Nurunnabi, M. (2015, June). Tensions between politico‐institutional factors and accounting regulation in a developing economy: insights from institutional theory. Business Ethics: A European Review, 24(4), pp. 398-424. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/beer.12089
OCDE. (2007). Performance Budgeting in OECD Countries. OECD Publishing. ISBN: 9789264028211
Oliver, C. (1991). Strategic responses to institutional processes. Academy of Management Review, 16(1), 145-179.
Osborne, D., & Gaebler, T. (1992). Reinventing Government: How the Entrepreneurial Spirit is Transforming the Public Sector. Addison-Wesley.
Ouda, H. (2014). Toward a new conceptual framework for government financial reporting. International Journal of Public Sector Management, 27(5), pp. 401-417.
Pallot, J. (1990). The nature of public sector assets: a response to Mautz. Accounting Horizons, 4(2), pp.79-85.
Pecar, Z. (2001, Autumn). Performance Analysis and Policy Transfer as Preconditions of Succesful PA Reform in Slovenia. NISPAcee Occasional Papers, 2(4), pp. 27-42.
Plano Plurianual 2020-2023. (2020). Ministério da Economia, Secretaria de Orçamento
Federal.
Pollitt, C., & Bouckaert, G. (2017). Public Management Reform: A Comparative Analysis - Into The Age of Austerity. Oxford University Press.
Powell, W. W., & DiMaggio, P. J. (Eds.). (2012). The new institutionalism in organizational analysis. University of Chicago Press.
Quattrone, P., & Hopper, T. (2001). What does organizational change mean? Speculations on a taken for granted category. Management Accounting Research, 12(4), pp. 403-435. https://doi.org/10.1006/mare.2001.0176
Rodrigues, L. L., & Craig, R. (2007). Assessing international accounting harmonization using Hegelian dialectic, isomorphism and Foucault. Critical perspectives on accounting, 18(6), pp. 739-757.
Rosenbloom, D. H., Kravchuck, R., & Clerkin, R. M. (2009). Public administration: Understanding management, politics, and law in the public sector. Routledge.
Schick, A. (2014). The metamorphoses of performance budgeting. OECD Journal on Budgeting, 14(2), pp. 49-79.
Silva, A. C. (2018). Isomorfismo institucional na administração pública: um estudo de caso na Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. (Dissertação de Mestrado), Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais.
Styhre, A. (2002, September). Non‐linear change in organizations: organization change management informed by complexity theory. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 23(6), pp. 343-351. doi: https://doi.org/10.1108/01437730210441300
Villadsen, A. R. (2013, August). Similarity or difference? The relation between structure and strategy isomorphism in public organizations. British Journal of Management, 24(S1), S62-S75. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12029
Westwood, R., & Clegg, S. (Ed.). (2009). Debating organization: Point-counterpoint in organization studies. Wiley Blackwell.
Downloads
Publicado
Como Citar
Edição
Seção
Licença
Copyright (c) 2025 REVISTA AMBIENTE CONTÁBIL - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte - ISSN 2176-9036
Este trabalho está licenciado sob uma licença Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Autores que publicam nesta revista concordam com os seguintes termos:
Os autores mantêm os direitos autorais e concedem à revista o direito de primeira publicação, com o trabalho simultaneamente licenciado sob a Licença Creative Comomns Attribution que permite o compartilhamento do trabalho com reconhecimento da autoria e publicação inicial nesta revista.
Os autores têm autorização para assumir contratos adicionais separadamente, para distribuição não-exclusiva da versão do trabalho publicada nesta revista (ex.: publicar em repositório institucional ou como capítulo de livro), com reconhecimento de autoria e publicação inicial nesta revista.
Os autores têm permissão e são estimulados a publicar e distribuir seu trabalho online (ex.: em repositórios institucionais ou na sua página pessoal) a qualquer ponto antes ou durante o processo editorial, já que isso pode gerar alterações produtivas, bem como aumentar o impacto e a citação do trabalho publicado.
A Revista Ambiente Contábil utiliza uma licença Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND (Atribuição-NãoComercial – SemDerivações 4.0). Isso significa que os artigos podem ser compartilhados e que a Revista Ambiente Contábil não pode revogar estes direitos desde que se respeitem os termos da licença:
Atribuição: Deve-se dar o crédito apropriado, prover um link para a licença e indicar se mudanças foram feitas.
Não Comercial: Não se pode usar o material para fins comerciais.
Sem Derivações: Se for remixar, transformar ou criar a partir do material, não se pode distribuir o material modificado.
Creative Commons - Atribuição-NãoComercial-SemDerivações 4.0 Internacional
Português (Brasil)
English
Español (España)
