Abstract:
Australian public sector reforms have emphasised the accountability of agencies for the
performance of management. Despite considerable diversity in public sector organisations,
annual reports have been promoted as an appropriate tool to discharge the accountability of
all government agencies. However, there remains an absence of consistent empirical evidence
as to the value of the annual report for reporting on management performance. Further,
debates about the role of public sector annual reports often become intertwined with notions
of the quality of reports. Prior research has investigated the incentives of agencies to enter
annual reporting awards as a means of signalling the quality of management. However, the
research ignores the possibility that the value of annual reports to discharge performance
accountability and the value of entry into an annual reporting award may vary depending on
the type of public sector agency and on the relationships between stakeholders. This study
focuses on the Queensland public sector and the Queensland Annual Reporting Award
(QARA) and uses a series of case studies to examine the value of the annual report as a
means of discharging accountabilities. The results reveal a cross sectional variation in the
perceived value of the annual report in discharging accountabilities. In some cases it was
thought that alternative forms of communication provided a more suitable means to discharge
the accountability demands of stakeholders. Further, while annual reporting awards provide a
mechanism to supply a credible signal of quality, it will only be used in those situations
where the participants identify direct benefits of entry.
