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Thomas Holde Skin­nerup

Assistant Professor

Subjects
Public management Organisation Financial management Budget Accounting Public sector

Primary research areas

Public sector accounting

My interest is in how public organizations are governed through accounting, and how external governing mechanisms are translated into the organizational control system.

University management

Empirically I work with how accounting is used to govern Danish universities. The increasing pressure on universities to be impactful and save money, changes we govern them. I investigate how performance measurement, funding schemes, quality assurance, external reporting, and rankings affect the strategic and operational management of universities

I work for a better public sector with less nonsensical work

My research focuses on how calculative practices are used in governing and controlling public organizations, employees, and services.  

In the face of rising expectations and limited resources, politicians and officials constantly introduce new accounting technologies to improve public services. However, more often than not these technologies fail to deliver their promises. My interest is understanding how this can be, and what we can learn from the good and bad cases of using accounting in the public sector. 

I see accounting as a social, rather than technical, practice where interest and power are central to understanding the multiple roles and effects of accounting. I primarily use sociological and organizational theories to help me investigate in-depth cases of how accounting is used by different actors. 

Outside activities