Management Control Systems and Public Sector Reform: A Fijian Case Study

Abstract

Even though new public management (NPM) has been viewed as a transferable technology, its adoption in developing countries has often been questioned. As most developing countries have colonial pasts, it is important to see public sector changes within the prevailing institutions, traditions and practices that originated in colonial eras. By using a case study approach, this study explores how organisational accounting and control systems, as part of the reform process, are implicated in the complex web of social, cultural and political contexts. The implementation of such a reform process can be seen as problematic due to contradictions between the applicability of new technologies, such as accounting techniques, and the prevailing social practices, which are influenced by different values, beliefs and traditions.