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ACCA Strategic Professional · Strategic Business Leader · Public sector governance

A regional health authority is funded by taxpayers and is run by an appointed board. Citizens complain that the board has no duty to explain to the public why it closed a rural clinic, and the elected regional council cannot require changes. Which weakness in public sector governance does this most clearly indicate?

The weakness is inadequate public accountability. The board spends taxpayer money and affects service users, yet it need not justify its decisions and elected representatives cannot require changes. The case gives no evidence about targets, planning horizons or internal audit independence, so those are not the issue.

  1. AExcessive short-termism in strategic planning
  2. BInadequate public accountability to those who fund and are affected by the serviceCorrect
  3. COver-reliance on performance targets
  4. DA lack of internal audit independence

Explanation

The key facts are that the board does not need to explain its decisions and elected representatives cannot compel change. That is a failure of accountability to taxpayers and service users. Nothing in the case points to planning horizons, targets or internal audit.

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