Conclusions: Accounting and hybridised public governance

This chapter presents conclusions of the Handbook’s endeavour to delve into complex relationships between accounting and hybridised public governance. The Handbook has connected three elements - accounting, public governance and hybridisation - by asking: how can we understand the role and impacts of accounting in reflecting on and contributing to meeting the current and prospective needs of hybridised public governance? Emphasising three trajectories - network governance, collaborative governance and digital governance - the authors have discussed those inter-organisational and inter-sectoral arrangements, calculative practices, accountability, budgeting, performance measurement and reporting systems that operate and are enacted in the interface between public, private and civil society activities. The book contributes to inter-disciplinary accounting literature by redefining and reassessing accounting theories and practices from the perspective of hybridised public governance, by recognising the complex multifaceted constellations and conflicts of values, and by exploring new types of interdependencies between different types of hybrid actors, citizens and digital technologies.