ACCA Strategic Professional · Strategic Business Leader · Public sector governance
A national transport agency is funded by taxes. Its chief executive reports to a minister, who answers to parliament, but the agency has been criticised because no one can say who is answerable when a rail project overruns. Which weakness in public sector governance does this most clearly show?
The case shows unclear lines of accountability. In public sector governance, responsibility should run clearly from agency management through the minister to parliament. When nobody can be held answerable for a project overrun, that accountability chain has broken down.
- AUnclear lines of accountabilityCorrect
- BExcessive shareholder influence
- CFailure to maximise profit
- DLack of product diversification
Explanation
Public bodies must have clear chains of accountability from executives to ministers to the legislature. Here no one is answerable for the overrun, so accountability is unclear. Profit and shareholders are not primary public sector governance drivers.
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