Management Accounting in Public Service Decision Making

Foreword

Public services across the world face the twin pressures of increasing demand for services coupled with tight constraints on the level of financial resources available. Major policy challenges, such as climate change and the impact of disruptive events, including the recent Covid-19 pandemic, only add to these pressures.

In these economic and social conditions, public service organisations, wherever they may be located, require effective decision making about service delivery and the use of resources. Such decision making requires high-quality financial input using state-of-the-art management accounting practices. CIPFA is at the forefront promoting such practice improvements, worldwide, and indeed management accounting is a key building ...