Ken Crofts
Lecturer
School of Accounting and Computer Science
Charles Sturt University
Panorama Avenue
BATHURST NSW 2795
AUSTRALIA
Phone +61 2 6338 4055
Managing Editor: Associate Professor Jayne Bisman, School of Accounting, Bathurst
Editors: Dr P. Mathews, School of Commerce, Wagga Wagga
Dr R. Tierney, School of Marketing and Management, Bathurst
Ms K Mather, School of Computing and Mathematics, Wagga Wagga
The Faculty of Business Working Paper Series is intended to provide staff and students with a means of communicating new and evolving ideas in order to encourage academic debate. Working papers, as the title suggests, should not necessarily be taken as completed works or final expressions of opinion. All working papers are subject to review prior to publication by one or more editors or referees familiar with the discipline area. Normally, working papers may be freely quoted and/or reproduced provided proper reference to the author and source is given. When a working paper is published on a restricted basis, notice of such restriction will appear on this page.
With the increasing devolution of service delivery from government to non profit organisations (NPOs), there has been an escalating flow of public funds to NPOs through a variety of funding mechanisms including grants, competitive tendering and annual funding allocations. Given this rise in publicly funded, but privately provided services, and the largely discretionary nature of grant funding, it is important for both the public funding agency and the funding recipient to be accountable for the use of these public funds. Concerns have been raised about the lack of public accountability where services traditionally carried out by the government have been devolved to private providers, yet there has been limited empirical research undertaken in Australia to determine the nature and extent of any accountability gap arising as a result of such arrangements. Of the limited empirical research that has been undertaken, most studies have examined public services devolved to private, for-profit providers as a result of outsourcing or other commercial arrangements such as public private partnerships (PPPs). There is a dearth of research relating to accountability for public services provide by public benevolent institutions in Australia, especially faith based organisations or religious institutions.
This research paper reports on a pilot study of one particular religious institution providing social services in eastern Australia. From the research it can be ascertained that the institution is a ware of its accountability obligations to government funding providers in the form of reports and other information requested by government agencies. However, this is considered to be routine in nature and the managers in the organisation seem more focused on maintaining the public profile of the institution through meticulous reporting and controls within the accounting and accountability systems used throughout the institution. The use of accountability systems within the institution point to a stewardship view of accounting and accountability, rather than a sacred-secular divide where accounting and accountability are relegated to a support role being considered profane.