Conference, LUCAS RECORDS MANAGEMENT AND ACCOUNTABILITY OF GOVERNANCE By Azman Mat Isa Humanities Advanced Technology & Information Institute (HATII) Glasgow University

Conference, LUCAS RECORDS MANAGEMENT AND ACCOUNTABILITY OF GOVERNANCE Research background Research questions Research method Governance Corporate governance Government & e-Government Records management Accountability Risk management

Conference, LUCAS Research Background Records play a crucial role in most human endeavors and they are essential to all of our business and social interactions. Records are the basis of our legal system. Government functions and accountability, medical treatment and scientific research all depend on them (Duranti, 1998). Specialists in records management often state that records have to be preserved for the accountability, but they rarely explore what accountability is and what role these records play in accountability processes (Meijer, 2001).

Conference, LUCAS Research Background (cont’d) Ironically, research shows that some areas of public administration are reluctant to embrace the contribution records management can make to good governance and accountability (Meijer, 2001). It is important to tease out the nature or ontology of records so as to understand their importance in ensuring accountability. This research is carefully designed to investigate the way in which records fulfill this role.

Conference, LUCAS Research Background (cont’d) What are these? WorldCom Enron Lord Hutton Inquiry Dr Harold Shipman Australian government in 1980’s Is there any relationship between records management, trust, risk, transparency and accountability?

Conference, LUCAS Research Questions 1. Are records being created according to the way they should be created? 2. What role do records play in the accountability processes and the management of risk? 3. Why is records management not regarded as essential for good governance, public or private?

Conference, LUCAS Research Method Case studies NHS Greater Glasgow Health Board Life Insurance Company in Edinburgh Strategic overview Private sector vs. public sector

Conference, LUCAS Governance Governance is about processes, not about ends. It is about the process by which power and authority is exercised in a society by which government, the private sector and citizens’ groups articulate their interests, mediate their differences, and exercise their legal rights and obligations. (Fukuda-Parr and Ponzio, 2002) Governance is a process for reconciling the ambitions of the individual or group with the need to preserve and develop a ‘common weal’ which binds through shared interests. (Davies, 1999)

Conference, LUCAS Corporate Governance Corporate governance is a system by which business corporations are directed and controlled. (OECD, 2004) A view emerged that traditional governance was not capable of coping with a rapidly changing work environment which produced new challenges and threats to accountability in the early 1990s.

Conference, LUCAS Corporate Governance (cont’d) Corporate governance promotes corporate fairness, transparency and accountability. Corporate governance does not guarantee success and sustainability of organisations, however, it does provide a better approach for organisations to demonstrate transparent and accountable governance. (OECD, 2004) Corporate governance in the private sector is different from that in the public sector.

Conference, LUCAS Government A trusted government is one that can demonstrate its accountability and transparency and is continually striving to improve value delivery and increase cost- effectiveness. FoI suggests that governments need to be more transparent and accountable for their actions and decisions. Openness and transparency are set to replace traditions of secrecy and deference. (O’Neill,2002)

Conference, LUCAS E-Government e-Government is a generic term that refers to any government functions or processes that are carried out in digital form externally over the internet and internally over intranets. For e-Government to work effectively and efficiently, it is essential that the public have access to accurate and authentic information. First and foremost we must capture & maintain accurate records!

Conference, LUCAS Records Management Poor recordkeeping attracts corruption like flies to a carcass. (McKinnon, 1994) Reliability and authenticity of electronic records are mainly assured through procedural means. (Duranti, 2001 and InterPARES, 2001) ISO compliance – globalisation.

Conference, LUCAS Accountability Accountability can be achieved by: Compliance with the law and internal & external regulations Fulfilling auditing requirements Response to challenge. (Shepherd & Yeo, 2003) To support accountability requirements, recordkeeping systems must be designed to ensure the creation of adequate records and their capture, maintenance and accessibility over time. (Upward, 2000)

Conference, LUCAS Risk Management The process of analyzing exposure to risk and determining how to best handle such exposure. Balance score card - a new way to assess how well their organization is functioning, how to predict future performance, and how to align the organization toward new strategies to achieve breakthrough performance. What role can records management play? Not merely operational!

Conference, LUCAS In a nutshell … Good corporate governance is more crucial in the public sector than the private sector as governments are directly accountable to the members of the public. Strategic approach to records management is vital to facilitate recordkeeping and retrieval.