Many countries have reconfigured vertical coordination between public sector organizations through reforms driven by New Public Management, constitutional changes, and policy challenges. These shifts affect hierarchical relationships and governance regimes with significant implications for accounting, audit, budgeting, and funding arrangements. While scholars in economics and public administration have extensively studied vertical reforms, accounting research has largely overlooked how these institutional changes shape accounting systems and practices.
The special issue examines how vertical public service reforms impact public sector accounting, audit, budgeting, and financial management. The editors seek to understand how diverse national approaches to vertical coordination influence accounting technologies and practices, and conversely, how accounting itself can influence vertical coordination arrangements. This is relevant given emerging concerns about accountability mechanisms, audit effectiveness, and performance measurement in complex hierarchical contexts such as multi-level EU governance and federal funding initiatives.