Analysis of Changes in External Accountability and Accounting in Privatized Industries: A Case Study of British Gas

This study investigates the consequences of regulation for organizational and accounting change in privatized industries by means of a case study of the gas industry, with particular emphasis on issues of accountability and the role of accounting information. The paper extends Stewart and Ranson's (1988) discussion of the distinctive conditions which apply to public and private sector organizations by highlighting an important interim phase in relation to privatized industries, where public service obligations coexist to varying degrees with private sector objectives. The extension of their framework of public and private sector models to include a new 'commercial' model provides the basis for an analytical framework encompassing the three cultures — that is, public service, commercial and competition — which is used to understand organizational change in the gas industry.