EDITOR’S NOTE: We continue our publication of the ASPA Founders’ Forum Fellow (FFF) papers with this piece, number 3 of 14. The papers will appear in alphabetical order, with two papers posted each week until all 14 are online. Previously posted papers may be viewed by going to the Related Articles box below.

Rachel Krefetz Fyall

Since the Friedrich-Finer debate of the 1940s, accountability has been prominent issue within public administration scholarship and practice. Even still, accountability concerns have become more urgent in response to recent structural changes in public service delivery. Within a traditional bureaucratic model, accountability refers to the expectation that those in government should be held responsible for their actions. While many varied forms of accountability exist (see Rainey’s discussion of responsiveness values, 2009, pp. 106-7), traditional discussions of accountability within the public administration literature limit the subject of accountability to “the government” (both elected officials and government employees) (Romzek and Dubnick 1987). As the boundaries distinguishing the public sector have increasingly blurred, however, the simple question of “Who is accountable?” has become more difficult to answer.

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State Auditor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Addresses MassASPA Chapter
Suzanne Bump, state auditor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (SAO) spoke to the ASPA Massachusetts Chapter (MassASPA) saying, “Accountability is what motivates me in government. As you know, I was a legislator and a cabinet secretary. What I liked most about my service was the opportunity to fix systems that had gone off track and improve their service to the people of the Commonwealth.”

Speaking before an audience of public servants, consultants and academics, Auditor Bump stressed the value of transparency in her office. She noted that disclosing information from SAO agency audits provides valuable information to similar agencies. For example her office recently shared findings from an audit of a Massachusetts Housing Authority, giving constructive information to all state-wide Housing Agencies.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: We continue our publication of the ASPA Founders' Forum Fellow (FFF) papers with this piece, number 2 of 14. As stated previously, the papers will appear in alphabetical order, with two papers posted each week until all 14 are online. To receive notices when the articles are posted, sign-up as a Registered Reader at PA TIMES Online.


Erica Copeland

“Americans suspect their government is both ineffective and inefficient.” Numerous scholars of public administration have evaluated and supported this same assumption: the government is failing to meet public expectations. The pessimistic proposition suggests the need for the government to overhaul and to rebuild its relationship with its citizenry to inspire mutual trust. However, improving how Americans see government requires solutions that avoid contrasting ‘the public’ with ‘the bureaucracy’ as if either group is monolithic or entirely distinct from the other. In fact, citizens of diverse backgrounds and beliefs shape the public interest just as public agencies with unique and, at times, conflicting priorities constitute the whole of government. Environmentalists set different priorities than do industrialists similar to how the Environmental Protection Agency may advocate policies that contrast with those promoted by the Small Business Administration.
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