Performance measurement and accountability in an Australian fire service

New Public Management (NPM) techniques have been widely adopted in Australian public sector organisations. NPM stresses the concept of accountability, and in this context reporting mechanisms are important. All government and semi-government authorities provide annual reports, but the usefulness of these annual reports in assessing operational and financial performance is open to question. We ask what performance measures are important in the context of the provision of fire services. The study evaluates annual reports of fire services to determine operational and financial performance in the Australian state of Victoria, which has four different models of fire service provision in three different fire service organisations. The study finds that annual reports are based on financial results, some basic performance measures and narrative describing some operational results. External stakeholders are well served by the financial reports, but find difficulty in assessing operational performance trends and comparative operational performance from these reports. It is difficult to asses the relative performance outcomes of the three different organisations. Few operational indicators are published, despite prior problems in fire services which have lead to parliamentary enquiries. The lack of useful performance measures impacts negatively on the demonstration of accountability to external stakeholders.