ABSTRACT
Accounting in the public sector has become a topic of widespread interest and debate. In the last few years both the language and the practice of accounting have entered much more frequently and forcefully into debates about the management, accountability and even scope of public sector activities. Appeals have been made to the apparent inefficiency, lack of cost effectiveness, and unprofiability associated with activities that reside within the public sector. Referring to the existing economic calculus, it has been said that we are 'living beyond our means', supporting that which is not 'economically viable' and either unable or unwilling to face 'the facts of economic reality'. Although there is a long history of investing in accounting mechanisms for recording, planning, controlling and making visible public sector activities, within a very short period of time recent pressures for change have succeeded in challenging the adequacy of existing public accounts and management accounting practices. New demands have been made for the practices and practitioners of accounting to become ever more implicated in public sector management.
