New development: New public management values and public sector accounting education in Australia—A ‘reflection-in-action’ perspective

IMPACT

This article contributes to the continuing debate on the impact of the new public management (NPM) values on public sector accounting education (PSAE) in universities. Informed by the author's personal experiences in Australian universities, it offers valuable insights into how NPM-driven financial rationales by top university management play a pivotal role in the fall of PSAE in universities. Higher education providers, policy-makers and professional accounting bodies worldwide will find this reflective piece valuable regarding their strategic thinking in producing next-generation professional accountants.

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on an insider's critical reflections on the impact of new public management (NPM) values on public sector accounting education (PSAE) in universities. Drawing on the ‘reflection-in action’ approach, it contributes to the higher education and NPM literature by demonstrating whether and how NPM-driven financial rationales by university top management play a significant role in the fall of PSAE in an undergraduate accounting programme. The article proposes a new course on public sector accounting as a sustainable option.

KEYWORDS:

• Australia
• New Public Management (NPM)
• public sector accounting education (PSAE)
• reflection-in-action
• university

Acknowledgements

I thank Dr Jens Heiling, Professor Berit Adam, Professor Susana Jorge and Professor Sotirios Karatzimas (the guest editors) and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. Note that the data supporting this study's findings are based on the author's personal observations; therefore, they cannot be made publicly available due to privacy and ethical restrictions. The author received no direct funding from any sources to conduct this study; however, time and logistic support from Prince Sultan University are greatly appreciated.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Zahirul Hoque

Zahirul Hoque is Professor of Accounting in the College of Business Administration of Prince Sultan University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Adjunct Professor, La Trobe Business School, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. Formerly, he worked at La Trobe University, Deakin University, Charles Darwin University, Griffith University, the Victoria University of Wellington and the University of Dhaka. His research interests include public sector accounting and financial management, performance management and the balanced scorecard, accounting and accountability in emerging economies and performance auditing.