The role of annual reports in ensuring accountability: The case of development agencies in Turkey

Abstract

Regional development agencies (RDAs) are governance-based institutions that aim to help a specific region to socioeconomically develop by ensuring cooperation among the public sector, the private sector, and nongovernmental organizations within that specific geographical region. In Turkey, which was not able to eliminate the regional differences via centralized policies, development agencies (DAs) were established as "the new-type organizations of public management" in the early 2000s. Taking part in regional development that is a vital area and not having a usual organization have increased the expectations from these agencies. Today, there is a great pressure on DAs concerning their accountability. The best way to understand the level of accountability of DAs that have an approximately 10-year history is to analyze the annual reports they have to announce to the public. This chapter carries out a content analysis on disclosure items in the annual reports of 25 DAs in Turkey and examines their level of accountability to their stakeholders.