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The influence of Jeremy Bentham on recent Public Sector Financial Reforms
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

The influence of Jeremy Bentham on recent Public Sector Financial Reforms

Graham Bowrey and Ciorstan Smark
Journal of New Business Ideas and Trends, Vol.8(1), pp.1-34
2010
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Abstract

Business and Management new public management public sector financial accountability Jeremy Bentham
Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to identify and examine the similarities of Bentham's work and the New Public Management practices currently influencing public sector financial reforms. Design/methodology/approach- The theoretical framework of this paper is shaped through a reflection of Bentham's work on utilitarianism, public administration, bookkeeping and publicity (reporting) and a review of the rationale behind the relatively recent New Public Management ideology which has driven many of the recent public sector financial reforms. Research limitations/implications- The paper argues that many of today's public sector financial accountability processes and procedures associated with recent public sector financial reforms, which are based on New Public Management, reflect much of Bentham's work. For example the preparation of publicly available budget reports such as Portfolio Budget Statements, which contain the proposed annual expenditure of government departments and are used to assist in the discharge of public sector organisations' financial accountability, could be linked to Bentham's principle of publicity. Findings- The key finding of this paper is that research based on Bentham's work will improve the understanding of the recent New Public Management based public sector financial reforms.

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