The article considers the impact of a major initiative (the National Competition Policy) and pieces of legislation (the Local Government Act and the Local Government Finance Standards) on the internal practices of a large Australian local authority. A theoretical framework is developed using new...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the workings of the internal specifier/provider arrangement, a new organizational form that is not required by government mandate but has become common place in the Australian public sector. Design/methodology/approach – The...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consider the impact of a major initiative (the National Competition Policy) and pieces of legislation (the Local Government Act and the Local Government Finance Standards) on the internal practices of a large Australian local authority....

Accountability in the public sector has generally been discussed in light of public sector auditing and performance measurement. Performance audit or ‘value for money’ audit practice has been implemented at various government levels for assessing three key areas of performance – economy,...