The pervasive role of accounting and accountability during the COVID-19 emergency

Purpose This paper introduces the second part of a AAAJ special issue on accounting, accountability and management during the COVID-19 emergency. The authors analyse the themes that emerge from the second part of the special issue, which allows us to identify the diverse accounting and accountability practices across different geographical and organisational contexts. The authors also provide an overall picture of the contributions of the special issue, with insights into avenues of future research. Design/methodology/approach Building on the first part of the AAAJ special issue, the paper draws together and identifies additional emerging themes related to research into the COVID-19 pandemic and how it impacts accounting, accountability and management practices. The authors reflect on the contributions of the special issue to the interdisciplinary accounting research project. Findings The authors identify two macro-themes and outline their contributions to the accounting literature. The first deals with the changes and dangers of accounting and accountability practices during the pandemic. The second considers accountability practices in a broader sense, including reporting, disclosure and rhetorical practices in the management of COVID-19. Practical implications The paper shows the pervasive role of accounting and accountability in the unprecedented and indiscriminate health crisis of COVID-19. It highlights the important role of special issues in producing timely research that responds to unfolding events. Originality/value This paper contributes to current debates on the roles of accounting and accountability during COVID-19 by drawing together the themes of the special issue and identifying future interdisciplinary accounting research on the pandemic's aftermath.

Testing times: governing a pandemic with numbers

Purpose: Using Dean's (2010) analytics of government, this research explores how regimes of governing practices are linked to the underlying policy rationalities in dealing with the UK government's COVID-19 testing policies as a strategy for governing at a distance, including how targets were set and operationalized. Design/methodology/approach: This paper draws on the UK government's policy documents, other official publications (plans) and parliamentary discourse, together with publicly available media information related to its COVID-19 policies. Findings: This research reveals that, with respect to the governance of COVID-19 in the UK, testing has the dual role of inscription for the government's performance and classification for the pandemic risks. The analysis illustrates that the central role of testing is as a technology for classification for identifying and monitoring the virus-related risks. Moreover, our discourse analysis suggests that initially COVID-19 testing was used by the UK government more for performance communication, with the classificatory role of testing and its performativity as a strategic device evolving and only being acknowledged by government gradually as the underlying testing infrastructure was developed. Research limitations/implications: This paper is based upon publicly available reports and other information of a single country's attempts to control COVID-19 over a relatively short period of time. Originality/value: This paper provides a critical understanding of the role of (accounting) numbers in developing an effective government policy for governing COVID-19. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Managing expectations with emotional accountability: making City Hospitals accountable during the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey

Purpose: This paper explores the role of the COVID-19 pandemic in the financial and parliamentary accountability mechanisms of public-private partnership (PPP) “City Hospitals” in Turkey. Diverse and changing accountability mechanisms are explored regarding budgetary, affordability and emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: This is a case study of City Hospitals in Turkey. Empirical data are collected and analyzed qualitatively from publicly available government and related sources, Turkish National Audit reports (Sayistay), strategic healthcare investment plans, relevant laws, decrees and NGO reports and news articles. Findings: Existing accountability mechanisms for arranging and/or delivering value-for-money (VfM) in Turkish PPP hospitals are weak. This provided policy makers with more flexibility to manage expectations of its citizens in dealing with COVID-19 pandemic. Political decision makers, through PPPs, created political capital for themselves by engaging in emotional accountability at the expense of better financial and parliamentary accountability. Originality/value: This article contributes to the literature by articulating how roles of accountability change in crisis and introduces the concept of emotional accountability during a period of heavy infrastructure investments in City Hospitals in Turkey. © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited.