In recent years rising cost awareness has entered public service. This is apparent both in the
areas of material and human resources. For instance in the German state of Hessen (Hessia)
cost-output accounting and double-entry bookkeeping have been introduced. Furthermore all
German states are subject to a debt brake to cut off new borrowings up to the end of the
current decade. As a consequence the steadily increasing public tasks must be managed by a
decreasing number of staff. The 'value' of public employees however is not recorded anywhere.
Andrea Seilheimer presents various operational in- and output-oriented methods of Human
Resource Accounting and illustrates their application in the civil service. She also gives an
overview of the legal framework and of the requirements for an implementation of Human Resource
Accounting methods in the civil service. In addition to this she gives structural
recommendations for a Human Resource Accounting system in the public service. Seilheimer takes
a new perspective combining the domains Controlling and Human Resources presents cogent and
well-funded arguments for the introduction of Human Resource Accounting methods into public
service - e.g. by means of SAP - and shows new research paths for the social sciences.
