Accounting‐related research in PPPs/PFIs: present contributions and future opportunities

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to review research investigating the implications of public private partnership (PPP) schemes for public investment, focusing on the role and effects of accounting as it relates to the assessment, management, control, reporting, accountability and policy direction of these arrangements. Based on this review, it aims to offer reflections on future directions for this research agenda. Design/methodology/approach - This paper derives five research themes adapted from the PPP research agenda outlined by Broadbent and Laughlin as a framework to guide a literature-based analysis and critique of the relevant PPP literature published up to December 2010. Findings - The review highlights the range of interesting contributions that extant accounting-related research has made to current knowledge about PPP policy and procedure. From this, concentrations of research effort are identified (its largely technical, critical, procurement-oriented and Anglo-centric focus), and opportunities for future research are proposed. With regard to the latter, the opportunities proffered have in common a need to question the nature and functioning of PPPs, consider the complexities of PPPs in action, and explore connections between research and practice. Originality/value - The main contributions this paper makes relate to understanding the “state of the art” of accounting-related PPP research, the progress this research agenda has made in line with Broadbent and Laughlin's agenda, as well as insights into fruitful directions future research could take.

[1]  Iqbal Khadaroo,et al.  Accountability and value for money: a theoretical framework for the relationship in public–private partnerships , 2011 .

[2]  J. Baxter,et al.  The Changing Nature of Contracting and Trust in Public-Private Partnerships: The Case of Victorian PPP Prisons , 2010 .

[3]  Patrick T.I. Lam,et al.  Preferred risk allocation in Chinas publicprivate partnership (PPP) projects , 2010 .

[4]  Kenneth A. Merchant,et al.  Paradigms in accounting research: A view from North America , 2010 .

[5]  Ole Helby Petersen,et al.  Regulation of public–private partnerships: the Danish case , 2010 .

[6]  J. Guthrie,et al.  Performance Audit of the Operational Stage of Long Term Partnerships for the Private Sector Provision of Public Services , 2010 .

[7]  Anne Stafford,et al.  Financial black holes: The disclosure and transparency of privately financed roads in the UK , 2010 .

[8]  I. Demirag,et al.  Costs, outputs and outcomes in school PFI contracts and the significance of project size , 2010 .

[9]  Ronald W McQuaid,et al.  Changing reasons for public–private partnerships (PPPs) , 2010 .

[10]  Pamela Stapleton,et al.  Making concessions: Political, commercial and regulatory tensions in accounting for European roads PPPs , 2010 .

[11]  Jesús Galende,et al.  Innovation in public–private partnerships (PPPs): the Spanish case of highway concessions , 2010 .

[12]  Public private partnership financiers' perceptions of risks , 2010 .

[13]  M. Beck,et al.  Crucial silences: When accountability met PFI and finance capital , 2010 .

[14]  J. Koppenjan,et al.  Public–Private Partnerships in Urban Infrastructures: Reconciling Private Sector Participation and Sustainability , 2009 .

[15]  D. Watson.  The Rise and Rise of Public Private Partnerships: Challenges for Public Accountability , 2008 .

[16]  Eoin Reeves.  THE PRACTICE OF CONTRACTING IN PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS: TRANSACTION COSTS AND RELATIONAL CONTRACTING IN THE IRISH SCHOOLS SECTOR , 2008 .

[17]  Iqbal Khadaroo,et al.  The actual evaluation of school PFI bids for value for money in the UK Public Sector , 2008 .

[18]  Bernardino Benito,et al.  An example of creative accounting in public sector: The private financing of infrastructures in Spain , 2008 .

[19]  I. Demirag,et al.  Accountability and Value for Money in Private Finance Initiative Contracts , 2008 .

[20]  Teemu Malmi,et al.  The future of interpretive accounting research-A polyphonic debate , 2008 .

[21]  A. Coulson.  VALUE FOR MONEY IN PFI PROPOSALS: A COMMENTARY ON THE UK TREASURY GUIDELINES FOR PUBLIC SECTOR COMPARATORS , 2008 .

[22]  Guðrið Weihe,et al.  Public-Private Partnerships and Public-Private Value Trade-Offs , 2008 .

[23]  Anne Stafford,et al.  The Cost of Using Private Finance to Build, Finance and Operate Hospitals , 2008 .

[24]  J. Gill,et al.  Identifying and controlling risk: The problem of uncertainty in the private finance initiative in the UK's National Health Service , 2008 .

[25]  D. Cahill,et al.  Value for money? Neoliberalism and New South Wales prisons , 2009 .

[26]  J. Andrew.  Prisons, the profit motive and other challenges to accountability , 2007 .

[27]  Chris Lonsdale,et al.  Managing contracts under the UK's Private Finance Initiative: evidence from the National Health Service , 2007 .

[28]  Eoin Reeves,et al.  Piloting Public-Private Partnerships: Expensive Lessons from Ireland's Schools' Sector , 2007 .

[29]  J. Guthrie,et al.  Public Sector to Public Services: 20 Years of 'Contextual' Accounting Research , 2007 .

[30]  J. Shaoul,et al.  Partnerships and the role of financial advisors: Private control over public policy? , 2007 .

[31]  W. Chua.  Accounting, measuring, reporting and strategizing – Re-using verbs: A review essay , 2007 .

[32]  J. Shaoul,et al.  Evidence based policies and the meaning of success: the case of a road built under Design Build Finance and Operate (DBFO) , 2007 .

[33]  Stewart Player,et al.  An Examination of the UK Treasury's Evidence Base for Cost and Time Overrun Data in UK Value-for-Money Policy and Appraisal , 2007 .

[34]  L. English.  Performance Audit of Australian Public Private Partnerships: Legitimising Government Policies or Providing Independent Oversight? , 2007 .

[35]  I. Lapsley,et al.  Redefining the Boundaries of Public Sector Accounting Research? , 2006, Accounting, Finance & Governance Review.

[36]  Anne Stafford,et al.  Highway Robbery? A Financial Analysis of Design, Build, Finance and Operate (DBFO) in UK Roads , 2006 .

[37]  T. Hopper,et al.  Critical Theorising in Management Accounting Research , 2006 .

[38]  Ezekiel Chinyio,et al.  Private Finance Initiative in the healthcare sector: trends and risk assessment , 2005 .

[39]  Mervyn K. Lewis,et al.  Are Public Private Partnerships value for money? , 2005 .

[40]  Tim Dixon,et al.  Lessons from the private finance initiative in the UK , 2005 .

[41]  L. English.  Using public–private partnerships to achieve value for money in the delivery of healthcare in Australia , 2005 .

[42]  R. Hodges,et al.  Accounting for the U.K.'s Private Finance Initiative: An Interview‐Based Investigation , 2005 .

[43]  M. Flinders,et al.  The Politics of Public–Private Partnerships , 2005 .

[44]  Jean Shaoul,et al.  A critical financial analysis of the Private Finance Initiative: Selecting a financing method or allocating economic wealth? , 2005 .

[45]  Chris Lonsdale.  Risk transfer and the UK private finance initiative: a theoretical analysis , 2005 .

[46]  A. Akintoye,et al.  Perceptions of positive and negative factors influencing the attractiveness of PPP/PFI procurement for construction projects in the UK: Findings from a questionnaire survey , 2005 .

[47]  Christine Cooper,et al.  Independently verified reductionism: Prison privatization in Scotland , 2005 .

[48]  C. Lonsdale.  Post-Contractual Lock-in and the UK Private Finance Initiative (PFI): the Cases of National Savings and Investments and the Lord Chancellor's Department , 2005 .

[49]  J. Koppenjan.  The Formation of Public‐Private Partnerships: Lessons from Nine Transport Infrastructure Projects in The Netherlands , 2005 .

[50]  J. Broadbent,et al.  The Role of Pfi in the UK Government's Modernisation Agenda , 2005 .

[51]  Christopher Findlay,et al.  Financing Public Infrastructure: Darrin Grimsey and Mervyn K Lewis, Public Private Partnerships: The Worldwide Revolution in Infrastructure Provision and Private Finance, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, 2004 , 2005 .

[52]  Thomas Ahrens,et al.  Management Accounting as Practice , 2005 .

[53]  A. Akintoye,et al.  The allocation of risk in PPP/PFI construction projects in the UK , 2005 .

[54]  G. Hodge.  The risky business of public–private partnerships , 2004 .

[55]  Graeme Hodge,et al.  Risks in Public-Private Partnerships: Shifting, Sharing or Shirking? , 2004 .

[56]  Graeme Bowles,et al.  Public–private partnerships and contract negotiations: an empirical study , 2004 .

[57]  Glenn Maguire,et al.  Development of PPPs IN Victoria , 2004 .

[58]  R. Officer.  Public or Private: Where Government Should Draw the Line , 2004 .

[59]  David Watson,et al.  The Challenge for Public Accounts Committees in Evaluating Public-Private Partnerships , 2004 .

[60]  M. Lilley,et al.  A Private-Sector Perspective , 2004 .

[61]  R. Walker,et al.  Risk Weighting and Accounting Choices in Public‐Private Partnerships: Case Study of a Failed Prison Contract , 2004 .

[62]  S. Newberry.  Trade in Services: Wider Implications for Accounting Standard-Setters and Accountants , 2004 .

[63]  J. Broadbent,et al.  PPPs: Nature, Development And Unanswered Questions , 2004 .

[64]  D. Hensher,et al.  Melbourne's Public Transport Franchising: Lessons for PPPs , 2004 .

[65]  John Quiggin,et al.  Risk, PPPs and the public sector comparator , 2004 .

[66]  R. Hodges,et al.  Reporting PFI in Annual Accounts: A User's Perspective , 2004 .

[67]  Liisa Kurunmäki,et al.  A hybrid profession—the acquisition of management accounting expertise by medical professionals , 2004 .

[68]  J. Broadbent,et al.  Government concerns and tensions in accounting standard-setting: the case of accounting for the Private Finance Initiative in the UK , 2005 .

[69]  C. Richard Baker,et al.  Investigating Enron as a public private partnership , 2003 .

[70]  J. Gill,et al.  Evaluating the Private Finance Initiative in the National Health Service in the UK , 2003 .

[71]  B. Rutherford.  The social construction of financial statement elements under Private Finance Initiative schemes , 2003 .

[72]  Jean Shaoul,et al.  Partnerships: for Better, for Worse? , 2003 .

[73]  S. Newberry,et al.  Fiscal (ir)responsibility: privileging PPPs in New Zealand , 2003 .

[74]  J. Froud.  The Private Finance Initiative: risk, uncertainty and the state , 2003 .

[75]  J. Guthrie,et al.  Driving privately financed projects in Australia: what makes them tick? , 2003 .

[76]  David Heald,et al.  Value for money tests and accounting treatment in PFI schemes , 2003 .

[77]  M. Beck,et al.  The UK Financial Sector and Risk Management in PFI Projects: A Survey , 2003 .

[78]  J. Shaoul.  A Financial Analysis of the National Air Traffic Services PPP , 2003 .

[79]  J. Shaoul,et al.  Controlling the PFI process in schools: A case study of the Pimlico project , 2003 .

[80]  R. Walker.  Public-Private Partnerships: Form Over Substance? , 2003 .

[81]  Erik-Hans Klijn,et al.  Institutional and Strategic Barriers to Public-Private Partnership: , 2007 .

[82]  Melvin J. Dubnick.  Accountability and ethics: reconsidering the relationships , 2003 .

[83]  J. Baxter,et al.  Alternative management accounting research—whence and whither , 2003 .

[84]  Paul A. Grout,et al.  Public and private sector discount rates in public–private partnerships† , 2003 .

[85]  Mervyn K. Lewis,et al.  Accounting for Public Private Partnerships , 2002 .

[86]  R. Hodges,et al.  Investigating Standard Setting: Accounting for the United Kingdom's Private Finance Initiative , 2002 .

[87]  M. Spackman.  Public-private partnerships: lessons from the British approach , 2002 .

[88]  O. Hart.  Incomplete Contracts and Public Ownership: Remarks, and an Application to Public-Private Partnerships , 2002 .

[89]  J. Shaoul,et al.  Private finance and “value for money” in NHS hospitals: a policy in search of a rationale? , 2002, BMJ : British Medical Journal.

[90]  J. Shaoul.  New Developments: A Financial Appraisal of the London Underground Public-Private Partnership , 2002 .

[91]  John Hood,et al.  Managing the Risks of Public-Private Partnerships in Scottish Local Government , 2002 .

[92]  M. Lewis,et al.  Evaluating the risks of public private partnerships for infrastructure projects , 2002 .

[93]  J. Broadbent,et al.  Accounting choices: technical and political trade‐offs and the UK’s private finance initiative , 2002 .

[94]  David Dugdale,et al.  The ABC bandwagon and the juggernaut of modernity , 2002 .

[95]  Steve Vincent,et al.  Going Privately: Partnership and Outsourcing in UK Public Services , 2002 .

[96]  Vicente Pina,et al.  Publicprivate partnership and private finance initiatives in the EU and Spanish local governments , 2001 .

[97]  J. Shaoul,et al.  Appraising and Evaluating PFI for NHS Hospitals , 2001 .

[98]  Anthony Wall,et al.  Substance, Form and PFI Contracts , 2001 .

[99]  Wai Fong Chua,et al.  The role of actor-networks and boundary objects in management accounting change: a field study of an implementation of activity-based costing , 2001 .

[100]  R. Ball,et al.  Private Finance Initiative – a good deal for the public purse or a drain on future generations? , 2001 .

[101]  Jane Broadbent,et al.  Control and Legitimation in Government Accountability Processes: The Private Finance Initiative in the UK , 2001 .

[102]  S. Linder.  Coming to Terms With the Public-Private Partnership , 1999 .

[103]  D. Mayston.  The Private Finance Initiative in the National Health Service: An Unhealthy Development in New Public Management? , 1999 .

[104]  R. Hodges,et al.  Accounting for the Private Finance Initiative in the United Kingdom National Health Service , 1999 .

[105]  David J. Price,et al.  The politics of the private finance initiative and the new NHS , 1999, BMJ.

[106]  J. Shaoul,et al.  PFI in the NHS—is there an economic case? , 1999, BMJ.

[107]  J. Broadbent,et al.  The Private Finance Initiative: Clarification of a Future Research Agenda , 1999 .

[108]  A. Mol.  Ontological Politics. A Word and Some Questions , 1999 .

[109]  Liisa Kurunmäki.  Professional vs financial capital in the field of health care--struggles for the redistribution , 1999 .

[110]  A. Pollock,et al.  Pump-Priming the PFI: Why are Privately Financed Hospital Schemes Being Subsidized? , 1999 .

[111]  P. Grout.  The Economics of the Private Finance Initiative , 1997 .

[112]  P. Gallimore,et al.  Perceptions of risk in the Private Finance Initiative , 1997 .

[113]  C. Hood.  The “new public management” in the 1980s: Variations on a theme , 1995 .

[114]  Homi K. Bhabha.  The Location of Culture , 1994 .

[115]  J. Guthrie,et al.  Changes in the Public Sector: A Review of Recent“Alternative” Accounting Research , 1992 .

[116]  C. Hood.  A PUBLIC MANAGEMENT FOR ALL SEASONS , 1991 .

[117]  Peter Miller,et al.  THE NEW ACCOUNTING HISTORY: AN INTRODUCTION. , 1991 .

[118]  Peter Miller,et al.  ACCOUNTING INNOVATION BEYOND THE ENTERPRISE: PROBLEMATIZING INVESTMENT DECISIONS AND PROGRAMMING... , 1991 .

[119]  Susan Leigh Star,et al.  Institutional Ecology, `Translations' and Boundary Objects: Amateurs and Professionals in Berkeley's Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, 1907-39 , 1989 .

[120]  Wiebe E. Bijker,et al.  Science in action : how to follow scientists and engineers through society , 1989 .

[121]  A. Hopwood,et al.  The archeology of accounting systems , 1987 .

[122]  W. Chua.  Radical Developments in Accounting Thought , 1986 .