Management Accounting Change in the French Public Sector: A New Institutionalist Perspective

Résumé du document

In the public sector management accounting change is often associated with the implementation of New Public Management (NPM) principles. This article uses the new institutionalist perspective to analyze the implementation of a new performance measurement and management system in a large French public firm, thus contributing to documenting the implementation of NPM in France. We observed various forms of decoupling at the utilization stage of the system. Findings contribute to suggesting three steps in the adoption of managerial innovations (design, implementation, and utilisation) and validate prior research regarding the impact of power, actors' resistance and internal legitimacy concerns on decoupling. Keywords: New institutionalism, new public management, France, accounting change, decoupling, performance measurement systems

Extraits

[...] The priority is reaching an adequate level of security. ( ) Plus the regularity of train circulations. We are not at the top either. You cannot have 36 priorities. When a superior tells me “this is your priority”, I answer I care about it but it is not my priority”. It is an important element, we are making efforts. When all other points are at the top, it can be my priority. (ESTDIR) Pettersen's interpretation illuminates the action plan decoupling we observed. [...]

[...] Our observations tend to confirm that control has been increased. As one sector's director put it: reporting forces us to enter deeply into details. It demands for instance details on crossbeam's replacements. I know that if on one track I am at 17% and at the same time at 80% globally, I will be called into account” (SECDIR). This control is perceived as legitimate: is our contracting authority [ . ] It is therefore logical that we owe it transparency” (ESTDIR). [...]

[...] Sahlin-Anderson, K. and Engwall, L The dynamics of management knowledge expansion, in The Expansion of Management Knowledge, Sahlin- Anderson, K. and Engwall, L. (eds) Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 277-296. Staw, B. M. and Epstein, L. D What bandwagons bring: effects of popular management techniques on corporate performance, reputation and CEO pay, Administrative Science Quarterly 523-566. Tyrrall, D.E The UK railway industry: a failed experiment in transaction cost economics, European Business Journal 38-48. [...]

[...] The French Revolution does not escape the rule. Admittedly unions at F-Rail are very powerful but as far as we know, the new performance management system has not been discussed with unions, which are keener to scrutinise HR policies and other elements likely to impinge workers' interests. The coercive imposition of the new performance management system led to decoupling and eventually to re- designing of the scorecard, with the responsibility thereof given to rail professionals, not finance experts anymore. Pollitt and Bouckaert (2004) have proposed to distinguish two groups of countries with respect to adoption of NPM. [...]

[...] This will complement the available body of research regarding the diffusion of innovative accounting systems in the European public sector. Our aim is also to contribute to understanding adoption processes. Hence we will focus on the analysis of possible decoupling. Indeed, as we shall explain below, decoupling (i.e. a difference between the formal adoption of innovations in organisations' formal structures and the actual impact of adopted innovations on organizations' operational activities), a central notion in new institutionalist reading, tells us how innovations are adopted, thus contributing to an understanding of the adoption processes. [...]