The modernization of public accounting in Portugal: Effects of the introduction of the principles of new public management

Abstract

Presently living in a period of fast economic changes, governments have found the need to adopt measures that promote the rationalisation and profitability of the available resources. As a member of the European Union and simultaneously of the European Economic Community, Portugal is obliged to meet the convergence criteria set out in the Pact of Stability and growth, and therefore forced to introduce reforms. This study includes some the recent reforms introduced in Portugal in the scope of the new public management, and the revision of the literature available on the subject. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.