On 10 January 2012 Mr Ian McPhee, the Australian Auditor-General, hosted a book launch for the second edition of Public Sector Accounting and Accountability in Australia at The Australian National Audit Office in Canberra. The book is written by Warwick Funnell, Katherine Cooper and Janet Lee and published by UNSW Press and this event was the first book launch at the Australian National Audit Office in over 110 years.
The book examines the current practices and principles of accountability and the objectives of recent reforms which have transformed the public sector. The book is a very useful resource covering the institutional arrangements for the system of government in Australia, including the foundations on which accountability in Australia’s Westminster type of government is built, the variety of governmental bodies and the accounting and auditing arrangements.
Overlayed on top of these foundations is a very informative narrative on the relationship between government, the Parliament and citizens; drawing out the various dimensions of accountability, and tracing the journey of public sector reform in Australia.
Warwick Funnell, who has had a long relationship with the Australian National Audit Office, commented that “Holding governments financially accountable has long been recognised as the bedrock of the liberties that we enjoy, starting with Magna Carta in 1215. Accountability is the essence of democratic government in the modern world.” Warwick continued, “This has meant that the process to ensure accountability is far more than an accounting exercise. Thus, public officers who are entrusted with ensuring that those who are elected will be made to be accountable have an importance which recognises both financial and historical political imperatives.”
The combined insights into accountability and the fundamentals of our system of government make this book a very useful resource for those working in, or with, the public sector in Australia, or interested in learning about the influences that have shaped public administration today.
Warwick Funnell is Professor of Accounting and Finance and Head of the Accounting and Finance Group at Kent Business School, University of Kent and can be contacted on 01227 (82)4673 or by emailing W.N.Funnell@kent.ac.uk
The launch of this book follows the launch of a previous book in the House of Commons in 2009. The book, In Government We Trust, also had Robert Jupe from the Business School as one of the co-authors as well as Warwick Funnell.
