Accounting in and for US Governments and Non-profit Organizations: a Review of Research and a Call to Further Inquiry

Abstract

Abstract The US government is arguably the largest organization in the world. The budget of the federal government alone runs into the trillions of dollars. From military bases and food aid in foreign countries to domestic prisons, highways and schools, the impacts of the federal, state and local governments are woven into the textures of daily life. Moreover, for at least the past 25 years, it has been the site of a far-reaching transformation. Under what has come to be called the “New Public Administration,” every level of the US government is being reconfigured to lessen, if not efface, the distinctions between public and private modes of organizing and to exert greater control over public service personnel. Notably, this effort is built on the expanded use of accounting practices. A similar transformation is underway in the strategies and procedures of non-profit organizations. However, government and non-profit organizations do not receive the sustained interest of accounting scholars. In this chapter, we present a selective review of some of the main strands of management accounting research on government and non-profit organizations in the US. We identify some research questions to spark attention to this crucial substantive domain of accounting practices.