بررسی آثار پاسخ‌گویی سازمان‌های بخش عمومی بر رابطه بین کیفیت گزارشگری مالی و عملکرد آن‌ها

دستیابی به عملکرد بهینه و مطلوب در تمامی زمینه‌ها از اهداف اصلی هر سازمانی است. بر این‌اساس، این مقاله با استفاده از نظریه مدیریت عمومی جدید و نظریه نمایندگی، به مطالعه نقش واسطه‌ای پاسخ‌گویی در رابطه بین کیفیت گزارشگری مالی و عملکرد سازمانی دستگاه‌های دولتی پرداخته است. آزمون الگو و فرضیه‌های پژوهش با استفاده از داده‌های مربوط به 209 پرسش‌نامه جمع‌آوری‌شده از حسابداران و مدیران دستگاه‌های دولتی استان سیستان و بلوچستان در سال 1399 انجام شد. نتایج الگوی نهایی پژوهش نشان داد که کیفیت گزارشگری مالی و پاسخ‌گویی دارای آثار مثبت و مستقیمی بر عملکرد سازمانی است. هم‌چنین، کیفیت گزارشگری مالی دارای آثار مثبت و مستقیمی بر پاسخ‌گویی دستگاه‌های دولتی است. افزون‌بر این، نتایج نشان‌دهنده آثار واسطه‌ای متغیر پاسخ‌گویی در رابطه بین کیفیت گزارشگری مالی و عملکرد است. این یافته‌ها نشان می‌دهد که دستگاه‌های دولتی برای بهبود عملکرد خود، باید بدنبال بهبود کیفیت گزارشگری مالی و سیستم‌های پاسخ‌گویی بهتر باشند.

Study of the effect public sector organizations’ accountability in the relationship between financial reporting quality and their performance

1IntroductionAccountability in the workplace is a wellresearched organizational phenomenon that has been recognized as a fundamental component of successful organizations. In recent years, programs that try to increase transparency and accountability have been widely explored as tools to improve access to and quality of public services.  The public sector in developing countries (such as our country) is now demanding strong accountability for governmental agencies (Adhikari and Mellemvik, 2011). The delegation of responsibility and the demand for an accounting of the execution of that responsibility, establishes an accountability relationship between an actor (such as an employee) and a forum (such as a manager).New public management and agency theory are relevant for understanding accountability mechanisms in public sector organizations. The new public management theory is a multidimensional concept (Hood, 1995). The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s recommendations for financial transparency and increased efficiency in the public sector are in line with new public management theory (ArellanoGault and Lepore, 2011). Agency theory has thereby become relevant to publicsector reform under the new public management framework (Boston, 2016). Accordingly, the new public management theory and agency theory are the basis of this paper.Similar to other developing economies, Iran’s economy faces problems such as low institutional capacity, lack of transparency, and high levels of corruption. In recent years, corruption in Iran has increased significantly compared to other countries (Rezaei et al., 1394). The aim of the present study is to rectify the preceding limitations. Actually, achieving optimal performance in all areas is one of the main goals of any organization. According to this, drawing on the new public management and agency theory, this paper examines the mediating role of accountability in the relationship between financial reporting quality and the performance of governmental agencies. 2 Research HypothesesBased on the theoretical literature and the conducted studies, research hypotheses were developed as follows. The present study has four primary hypotheses.First hypotheses: financialreporting quality has a positive impact on governmental agencies’ performance.Second hypotheses: financialreporting quality has a positive impact on governmental agencies’ accountability.Third hypotheses: governmental agencies’ accountability has a positive impact on their performance.Fourth hypotheses: accountability has a mediating role on the relationship between financial reporting quality and governmental agencies’ performance. 3 MethodsThe statistical population of this research consists of all accountants and managers with a minimum of three years’ work experience in the governmental agencies in Sistan and Baluchestan province. The study used simple random sampling for its statistical population. In spite of the pursuit of the researchers via the HR department of the Sistan and Baluchestan governorate, the exact number of the accountants and managers was not found. However, the approximate number of accountants and managers in different governmental agencies was considered a large statistical population. Using Morgan’s table for large populations (from 100,000), the sample size consisted of 384 persons. After removing unsuitable questionnaires, totally 209 (54.4%) questionnaires were completed and used in this study.In the present study, financial reporting quality was the independent variable. The questionnaire developed by Tran et al. (2021), as a prominent questioner, which consists of 13 questions was utilized. Also, to measure the performance of governmental agencies,   a questionnaire developed by the authors based on the face validity, consisting of 31 questions was used. In addition, a scale of 14 items developed by Mack and Ryan (2006) is used to measure accountability, comprising eight items of public accountability and six items of financial accountability. Finally, the environmental uncertainty is used as a control variable for measuring a questionnaire developed by Namazi and Rezaei (1396). Possible answers to questions in this study are categorized on a 5point scale. Also, the collected data was calculated using Excel software and it was analyzed using SPSS23 and AMOS24. 4 ResultsThe result of research’s final model showed that at a confidence level of 95%, financial reporting quality and accountability has a positive and direct effect on the organizational performance. Also, the financial reporting quality has positive and direct effect on the accountability of governmental agencies. In addition, the results show the mediating effects of variable accountability on the relationship between financial reporting quality and performance. 5 Discussion and ConclusionThe goal of this research is to study the effects of mediating role of accountability in the relationship between financial reporting quality and the performance of governmental agencies in Sistan and Baluchestan province. In general, based on the results of the present study and according to the significant effect of the financial reporting quality and accountability on the performance of governmental agencies, and since the main objective of financial reporting (a component of which is financial reporting), provides useful data to help actual and potential users (such as managers) in their logical decision making, disclosure of information, more quality will lead to the usefulness of decision making and  better accountability for users. These findings suggest that governmental agencies seeking to improve their performance need to improve financial reporting quality and accountability system.Keywords: Financial accountability, Operational accountability, Information quality, Performance.