ABSTRACT
This chapter explores stewardship and accountability to conscience. It presents the role of public audit in ensuring accountability in public services. The chapter examines the role of ethics and moral reasoning in public services. It identifies deficiencies in accountability mechanisms in public services and considers the unintended perverse consequences of performance management. The chapter shows how to use the Balanced Scorecard to measure performance more coherently in the public sector. In the UK, public audit and accountability has been the subject of various reviews. The chapter considers how managers can inform their practice with an understanding of social ethics and moral reasoning. It examines ways in which performance is measured at the level of the organization. The chapter explores how managers can try to overcome some of the many difficulties with performance management. Finally, it argues that performance is best improved at the level of the individual. We look in particular at the management of individuals whose performance is poor.
