Accounting and the emergence of care pathways in the National Health Service

This paper examines the effects of New Public Management reforms on the information infrastructure underpinning the work of public service professionals. Focussing on the case of the British National Health Service (NHS), the paper argues that hospital accounting reforms played a significant role in the emergence of standardised models of clinical practice. The paper moreover argues that, under the label “care pathways”, such standardised models of clinical practice became embedded in the information infrastructure of the NHS and concludes by discussing their implications for the work of doctors and hospital accountants.

Accounting and the 'insoluble' problem of health care costs

Health service accounting reforms are frequently promoted, explained or justified with reference to ageing populations, expensive medical technologies and their purported implications for the cost of health care. Drawing on Foucault’s genealogical method, we examine the emergence of concerns regarding health expenditure in the wake of the creation of the British National Health Service in 1948, and their relationship with health service accounting practices. We argue that concerns regarding the cost of health care are historically contingent rather than inescapable consequences of demographic and technological change, and that health service accounting practices are both constitutive and reflective of such concerns. We conclude by relating our analysis to current attempts to control costs and increase efficiency in the health services.

The adoption of IPSASs in the Iberian Peninsula: the perspective of the standar-setters

The last decades have been fruitful in reforms in public sector accounting across the world, namely moving from cash-based into accrual-based regimes. In this process of bringing public sector accounting close to business accounting, International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSASs) have been developed and adopted in several countries. In the EU context, public sector harmonization among member-States is currently being considered, namely via the development of European Public Sector Accounting Standards (EPSASs). Both IPSASs and EPSASs are understood as, among other things, important to contribute for a more informative and transparent financial reporting of public sector entities and governments. Moreover they are expected to approximate public sector accounting and the National Accounts, hence allowing for more reliable information to monitor fiscal discipline among EU countries. The Iberian countries, after using accrual accounting in the public sector for more than twenty years (Spain from middle 1980s and Portugal from 1990s), have acknowledged the need to embark in an international harmonization process adopting IPSASs, particularly after the adoption of IFRSs in the business sector, which was creating some difficulties for consolidated accounts. Spain has passed the Chart of Accounts for the Public Sector through the Order EHA/1037/2010, which is adapted to IPSASs; Portugal has just passed Law-decree 192/2015, September 11, and is expecting to start implementation in 2017. In both countries a central role in this reform has been assumed by the national standard-setters for public sector accounting. Based on the “Actor Network Theory” to help understanding how and why organizations interact and how this interaction could have an impact on their choice of accounting policies, this paper aims to analyse, from the Iberian public sector accounting standard-setters perspective, how the adoption/adaptation of IPSASs has been considered and developed in these countries. Research questions to be considered are the following, which will be asked in interviews to the members of the standard-setting committees in both Portugal and Spain: • What were the driving forces leading to the decision to adopt and implement IPSASs? • Which other governmental bodies’ experiences, if any, were considered in the adoption of IPSASs? • What specific steps were/are being undertaken to prepare for the conversion from the existing system to IPSASs? • What were/are the institutional challenges faced/expected to face? • What assistance have been received from IFAC and/or IPSASB, or from other sources, if any, throughout the adoption/implementation? • How can the success of the adoption/implementation be characterised? • What benefits can/have the government derive/derived from the adoption and implementation of IPSASs? The paper is expected to contribute to the understanding of the issues underlying the process of embarking in public sector accounting reforms towards IPSASs.

Accounting logic and new professional in healthcare: a case study

The central place hospitals occupy in health systems transforms them into prime target of healthcare reforms. This study aims to identify current trends in organizational structure change in public hospitals and explore the role of accounting in attempts to develop controls over professionals within public hospitals. The analytical framework we proposed crosses the concept of “new professionalism” (Evetts, 2010), with the concept of “accounting logic” for controlling professionals (Broadbent and Laughlin, 1995). Looking for a more holistic overview, we developed a qualitative and exploratory study. The data were collected trough semi-structured interviews with doctors of a clinical hospital unit. Content analysis suggests that, although we cannot say that there is a complete and generalized integration of accounting information in the clinical decisions, important improvement has been made in that area. Despite the extensive literature developed on this topic, there is any empirical studies of authors are aware that allow us to realize how real doctors in reals day-to-day work integrated these trends of change in theirs clinical decisions.

The effects of structural reforms on productivity and profitability enhancing reallocation: Evidence from Colombia

Estimates for the U.S. suggest that at least in some sectors productivity enhancing reallocationis the dominant factor in accounting for producitivity growth. An open question, particularlyrelevant for developing countries, is whether reallocation is always productivity enhancing. Itmay be that imperfect competition or other barriers to competitive environments imply that thereallocation process is not fully e?cient in these countries. Using a unique plant-levellongitudinal dataset for Colombia for the period 1982-1998, we explore these issues byexamining the interaction between market allocation, and productivity and profitability.Moreover, given the important trade, labor and financial market reforms in Colombia during theearly 1990's, we explore whether and how the contribution of reallocation changed over theperiod of study. Our data permit measurement of plant-level quantities and prices. Takingadvantage of the rich structure of our price data, we propose a sequential mehodology to estimateproductivity and demand shocks at the plant level. First, we estimate total factor productivity(TFP) with plant-level physical output data, where we use downstream demand to instrumentinputs. We then turn to estimating demand shocks and mark-ups with plant-level price data, usingTFP to instrument for output in the inversedemand equation. We examine the evolution of thedistributions of TFP and demand shocks in response to the market reforms in the 1990's. We findthat market reforms are associated with rising overall productivity that is largely driven byreallocation away from low- and towards highproductivity businesses. In addition, we find thatthe allocation of activity across businesses is less driven by demand factors after reforms. Wefind that the increase in aggregate productivity post-reform is entirely accounted for by theimproved allocation of activity.

Mandatory accounting disclosure by small private companies

This article analyzes how mandatory accounting disclosure is grounded on differentrationales for private and public companies. It also explores technological changes, such ascomputerised databases and the Internet, which have recently made disclosure of companyaccounts by small companies potentially less costly and more valuable, thanks to electronicfiling and universal online access to credit information systems. These recent developmentsfavour policies that would expand the scope of mandatory publication for small companies incountries where it is voluntary. They also encourage policies to reduce the costs and enhancethe value of disclosure through administrative reforms of filing, archive and retrieval systems.Survey and registry evidence on how the information in the accounts is valued and used bycompanies is consistent with these claims about the evolution of the tradeoff of costs andbenefits that should guide policy in this area.

Accounting treatment for intangible assets acquired in a business combination under IFRS

The role of intangible assets and the amount of business combinations have increased significantly during the last decades which has caused the need to reform and harmonise the accounting treatment for acquired intangible assets. The aim of this study is to find out how the new accounting standard for business combinations, IFRS 3, has affected the accounting treatment for identifiable intangible assets and goodwill in the examined media companies between 2005 and 2014. The most significant reforms introduced by IFRS 3 have been goodwill impairment test and the fair value accounting for acquired intangibles. This study is conducted by using a descriptive analysis and the empirical data consists of financial statement information of listed Finnish and international media companies. The main objectives of IFRS 3 have been to reduce the amount of acquisition cost allocated to goodwill and allow companies to recognise new intangible assets separately from goodwill. The results of this study show that the amount of the acquisition cost allocated to goodwill has decreased during the examined period and due to the fair value accounting, business acquisitions have made new intangible assets visible that otherwise would have not met the recognition criteria under IAS 38. The application of IFRS has revealed a big amount of invisible assets in the balance sheets but at the same time this has reduced the comparability between companies.

Big business in the Russian economy and politics under Putin's rule; The Russian power industry shortly before reforms; Ukrainian metallurgy: the economic link in the oligarchical system. OSW Study 5/2002

Big business in Russia: The pace of ownership transfer in the Russian economy has speeded up considerably over the last year. There has been a significant rise in the number of acquisitions of whole enterprises, and large blocks of shares in individual firms and plants. Similarly the number of mergers, bankruptcies and take-overs of failing firms by their strongest competitors has grown. The Russian power industry: This study is an overview of the current condition and principles on which the Russian power sector has been functioning so far. This analysis has been carried out against the background of the changes that have been taking place in the sector since the beginning of the 1990s. This text also contains a description of guidelines and progress made so far in implementing the reform of the Russian power industry, the draft of which was adopted by the government of the Russian Federation in summer 2001. However, the purpose of this study is not an economic analysis of the draft, but an attempt to present the political conditions and possible consequences of the transformations carried out in the Russian power sector. The final part attempts to evaluate the possibilities and threats related to the implementation of the reform in its present shape. Ukrainian metallurgy: The metallurgic sector, like the east-west transit of energy raw materials, is a strategic source of revenue for Ukraine. Over the last ten years, this sector has become Kiev's most important source of foreign currency inflows, accounting for over 40 per cent of its total export revenues. The growth of metallurgic production, which has continued almost without interruption since the mid-1990s, has contributed considerably to the increase in GDP which Ukraine showed in 2000, for the first time in its independent history.

Resolution Trust Corporation : implementation of the management reforms in the RTC Completion Act : report to Congressional committees /

"B-257544"--P. 1.

Foreign assistance : status of USAID's reforms : briefing report to the Chairman, Committee on International Relations, House of Representatives /

"B-274657"--p. 1.

Analysis of DOD's claimed budgetary savings through management reforms : report to the Congress of the United States /

"B-210895."

Casemix accounting systems and medical coding:organisational actors balanced on "leaky black boxes"

The adoption of DRG coding may be seen as a central feature of the mechanisms of the health reforms in New Zealand. This paper presents a story of the use of DRG coding by describing the experience of one major health provider. The conventional literature portrays casemix accounting and medical coding systems as rational techniques for the collection and provision of information for management and contracting decisions/negotiations. Presents a different perspective on the implications and effects of the adoption of DRG technology, in particular the part played by DRG coding technology as a part of a casemix system is explicated from an actor network theory perspective. Medical coding and the DRG methodology will be argued to represent ``black boxes''. Such technological ``knowledge objects'' provide strong points in the networks which are so important to the processes of change in contemporary organisations.

Functionality of the approach of hierarchical analysis in the full cost accounting in the IRP of a metropolitan airport

This work shows the application of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) in the full cost accounting (FCA) within the integrated resource planning (IRP) process. For this purpose, a pioneer case was developed and different energy solutions of supply and demand for a metropolitan airport (Congonhas) were considered [Moreira, E.M., 2005. Modelamento energetico para o desenvolvimento limpo de aeroporto metropolitano baseado na filosofia do PIR-O caso da metropole de Sao Paulo. Dissertacao de mestrado, GEPEA/USP]. These solutions were compared and analyzed utilizing the software solution ""Decision Lens"" that implements the AHP. The final part of this work has a classification of resources that can be considered to be the initial target as energy resources, thus facilitating the restraints of the IRP of the airport and setting parameters aiming at sustainable development. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Information Society, Teaching, and Learning: Education Reforms in Brazil

This article examines the subject matter of learning within the context of information society, through an inquiry concerning both the reforms in education adopted in Brazil in the last thirty years and their results. It provides a revision on the explanations of school failure based on assumptions of learning problems due to cognitive and linguistic deficits. From the guidelines related with written school forms as well as the constant cultural oppression accomplished inside the school, the article claims the necessity of changing the psychological and pedagogic views that, under the label of democratic practices, determine school institutions and its daily life, by means of instrumental relations with knowledge that disregard the reading practices which are congenial to popular culture.