SOME LIKE IT NON-FINANCIAL... POLITICIANS` AND MANAGERS

 SOME LIKE IT NON‐FINANCIAL... POLITICIANS’ AND MANAGERS’ VIEWS ON THE IMPORTANCE OF PERFORMANCE INFORMATION Mariannunziata Liguori (Queen's University, Belfast) Mariafrancesca Sicilia (Università degli Studi di Bergamo) Ileana Steccolini (Università Bocconi) ABSTRACT Over the last decades the process of modernization in the public sector has fostered the adoption of new accounting techniques, such as accruals accounting and non‐financial performance measurement systems. The purpose of the paper is to test hypotheses on the different perceptions of politicians and managers as to the importance of performance information. Our findings suggest that politicians’ and managers’ views on the importance of performance information are more similar than expected. They also show that accounting innovations are in some cases embraced with enthusiasm (non‐financial performance), whereas in other cases they are hardly recognized (for example, accruals accounting). Keywords: Politicians, public managers, accruals accounting, performance information.