The article examines one of the most intriguing issues related to the public sector reforms; the changing accountability systems. In particular the paper deals with the relationship between accounting-based reforms, professional public sector ethos and forms of accountability.
The paper draws on accountability literature, and uses the framework of people processing/changing social services to discuss the evidence gathered in an in-depth case study conducted in a social service public organization between 2007 and 2009.
Accounting, in the field of social work, risks to be often, and erroneously, equated to accountability and control. In social services the use of accounting measure may over-simplify their inner complexity and ambiguity of the outcomes, calling for more comprehensive forms of accountability.
Introducing reforms in social care has to take into account, not just the problems arising in dealing with services but also the existing ethical standards that impact on the way services are delivered and call for other forms of accountability and control, rather than hierarchical and accounting based.
It is argued that accounting innovation may have a different impact in people processing and people changing mode of delivery social services, and accountability can consequently manifests and be perceived in alternative manner within the same entity.
In this article, through the use of the, the case for professional and public sector ethics, autonomy and responsibility in shaping the way accountability manifested and the role of accounting are analysed. It deals with a topic in the under-researched of social care.