Many countries are still struggling to adapt to the broad and unexpected effects of modernization initiatives. As changes take shape, governments are challenged to explore new reforms. The public sector is now characterized by profound transformation across the globe, with ramifications that are yet to be interpreted. To convert this transformation into an ongoing state of improvement, policymakers and civil service leaders must learn to implement and evaluate change. This book is an important contribution to that end. Reforming the Public Sector presents comparative perspectives of government reform and innovation, discussing three decades of reform in public sector strategic management across nations. The contributors examine specific reform-related issues including the uses and abuses of public sector transparency, the ""Audit Explosion,"" and the relationship between public service motivation and job satisfaction in Europe. This volume will greatly aid practitioners and policymakers to better understand the principles underpinning ongoing reforms in the public sector. Giovanni Tria, Giovanni Valotti, and their cohorts offer a scientific understanding of the main issues at stake in this arduous process. They place the approach to public administration reform in a broad international context and identify a road map for public management. Contributors include: Michael Barzelay, Nicola Bellé, Andrea Bonomi Savignon, Geert Bouckaert, Luca Brusati, Paola Cantarelli, Denita Cepiku, Francesco Cerase, Luigi Corvo, Maria Cucciniello, Isabell Egger-Peitler, Paolo Fedele, Gerhard Hammerschmid, Mario Ianniello, Elaine Ciulla Kamarck, Irvine Lapsley, Peter Leisink, Mariannunziata Liguori, Renate Meyer, Greta Nasi, James L. Perry, Christopher Pollitt, Adrian Ritz, Raffaella Saporito, MariaFrancesca Sicilia, Ileana Steccolini, Bram Steijn, Wouter Vandenabeele, and Montgomery Van Wart. Giovanni Tria is president of the Italian School of Public Administration and a professor of economics at the University of Rome Tor Vergata. Giovanni Valotti is dean of the Bocconi Undergraduate School and a professor of public management at Bocconi University (Italy). Reforming the Public Sector How to Achieve Better Transparency, Service, and Leadership BROOKINGS INSTITUTION PRESS Copyright © 2012 THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION and SCUOLA SUPERIORE DELLA PUBBLICA AMMINISTRAZIONE (SSPA) All right reserved. ISBN: 978-0-8157-2288-5 Contents 9 Public Sector Performance: Managing Governments by the Numbers Geert Bouckaert............................................................................................................................................................................................10 Chapter One IRVINE LAPSLEY Shedding Light or Obfuscating? Audit in an NPM World This chapter examines the significance of audit in contemporary society. The role of audit within the public sphere—and its role in what has come to be called New Public Management, or NPM—has become the subject of intense debate. Specifically, this discussion focuses on the extent to which audit practices and audit work have become a dominant reference point in everyday lives of citizens as they go about their business, whether in a personal capacity or in the course of fulfilling workplace commitments. In this discussion the phenomenon of audit practice is scrutinized from the perspective of whether the tools and techniques of audit actually enhance or inhibit, or even negate, transparency in public finances and public administration. This chapter has six sections. First there is an exploration of what NPM means and the role of audit and accounting within this phenomenon. Second, audit practices are examined from the perspective of the "Audit Explosion." Next there is a discussion of the impact of audit practices in shaping the development of the "Audit Society," a concept that builds on the idea of the Audit Explosion. The fourth section presents an examination of the practices and technologies of auditors, who operate within the sphere of public services. Fifth, there is a discussion of what transpires when the Audit Society meets the Risk Society. This section examines whether audit technologies and the context in which they are deployed actually aid transparency in public finances and public administration. Finally, I set forth my conclusions on the implications of the preceding discussions. An NPM World The idea of the NPM world was first advanced by Christopher Hood. His initial reflections were based on policy developments in the United Kingdom in the 1980s. Subsequently, he examined the variable diffusion of NPM ideas internationally. These ideas advanced by Hood have proved to be immensely significant in understanding, studying, reflecting on, and analyzing public sector reforms. There is now an immense literature on the NPM phenomenon. The attributes identified by Hood remain hallmarks by which analysts can