The primary focus of this special issue is on the role of accounting in framing and shaping the everyday experiences of citizens, managers and policy makers in public services' delivery. The role of accountants in such settings has grown significantly over recent decades; indeed, today's accountants embody one of the central forms of expertise shaping management practices, organisational processes and regulatory mechanisms in multiple organisational settings. This special issue offers a collection of papers which extend our understandings of the intermingling of accounting practices and bureaucratic procedures, in the context of reforms to and within public service organisations.