The concept of standard cost identifiable as a driver of conjunction between Public Accounting and Public Management

The topics of Public Accounting and Public Management are frequently discussed separately in the international scientific literature: aim of the paper is to identify the possible connection themes between the two disciplines. In this perspective, a significant interest can be identified in the concept of standard cost, an abstraction that usually pertains to the profit-oriented private sector. The analysis of standard costs in the Public Sector originates at the European level from the introduction of the Maastricht Treaty parameters in the 1990s and in particular from the new accounting discipline introduced by the Treaty. The new discipline has been the basis of many accounting reforms that have taken place in the European context which have generated, in some countries, the integration (or in some cases the replacement) of the traditional Cash Basis Accounting (used in the Public Sector) with the Accrual Basis Accounting (used in the private sector). In order to pursue the declared aim, the paper proposes the following articulation: the Public Accounting dilemma (Accrual Basis Accounting vs. Cash Basis Accounting); the analysis of the different cost variations deriving from the different Public Accounting models; the cost analysis for Management Control purposes, the determination of the different cost configurations, the derivation of the standard cost and finally, the use of the standard cost as a driver in the reengineering processes implemented by the Public Management. The revision of the organizational models, an activity pertaining to Public Management, represents the solution of the critical issues indicated by the cost analysis - and in particular of the standard cost analysis - implemented by the Management Control derived from Public Accounting. In this perspective, the concept of standard cost (obtained through the full costing methodology) can be considered the driver of conjunction between Public Accounting and Public Management.