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The UK is said to have more accountants than almost any other nation on earth. Thanks to reforms in the way the public sector is run, the "Big Four" accountancy firms and the accountancy profession generally has become more powerful and more influential than ever before. But what do these accountants actually do and what does it mean for taxpayers?To find out, Simon Cox meets the residents of Birmingham, who are dealing with the reality of the accountants' decisions. And he speaks to the nation's top accountants to ask how their profession is changing and what the future holds.The last 20 years have seen many services which used to be run by local councils outsourced to the private sector. Capita, formed by a former government accountant, has taken the lion's share of these contracts, which often involve a team of Capita accountants deciding where to make cuts in local services. In Birmingham a massive IT and 'business transformation' contract between Capita and the City Council is proving highly controversial - with claims that it is diverting money away from public services and into private sector profit.Private Finance Initiatives (PFIs) form another kind of management model which accountants helped create and which added to the growth of the Big Four accountancy firms - Deloitte, Ernst and Young, KPMG and PriceWaterhouseCoopers - over the last two decades. Birmingham is home to one of the biggest PFI contracts ever signed, with a private contractor in charge of roads, trees and street lights. Have the accountants engineered a good deal for Birmingham?The next big growth area for the accountants is the NHS as doctors seek their help in commissioning and managing local services under the health service reforms. But what does this mean for the people on the NHS front line?Reporter: Simon Cox Producer: Lucy Proctor.

Each year the number of deaths in every hospital in England is recorded and compared with national averages for the range of patients and conditions treated. The results are published by a company called Dr Foster in The Hospital Guide.The Guide has a solid reputation. Its findings are studied and used by leaders of the NHS. Dr Foster's statistical expert says that high mortality statistics should act as a 'smoke alarm' raising investigation of standards at a hospital. The Care Quality Commission praises Dr Foster's "powerful analysis of hospital trusts" and the Health Secretary says: "We expect all hospitals to examine this data carefully and take action wherever services need to improve".But some leading statisticians question the reliability of mortality statistics as an indication of clinical quality. And they believe that many pockets of poor practice go undetected in hospitals with good mortality scores.Critics also see the publication of such data as an invitation to the press to distort the available evidence by calculating numbers of 'needless deaths' within the NHS. Such calculations have in fact been produced and then given widespread publicity. The NHS Medical Director calls them "clinically meaningless and academically reckless". But they continue to make the front pages.Gerry Northam reports from hospitals which have "worryingly high" mortality statistics according to Dr Foster and asks how much this really shows about their quality of care.Producer : Ian Muir-Cochrane Editor : David Ross.

Probation staff are currently being told where they will be working under a radical reform of the service. The government is transferring the management of low and medium risk offenders to private companies and high risk cases will be handled by a national probation service.The Justice Secretary, Chris Grayling, says the reforms are necessary to cut reoffending rates and save money which will be ploughed back into providing support to all prisoners who have served less than 12 months.But opponents claim the reforms are being rushed in and will put the public at risk.Last month, it was announced the plans have been delayed. They were due to come into effect in May but the start date has been put back until July.The new private providers will only be paid in full if they achieve a reduction in reoffending. The programme speaks to one of the companies bidding for the contracts which says payment by results will lead to innovation and visits a prison which says it is already achieving success in a pilot scheme working with prisoners serving under 12 months.But Home Affairs correspondent Danny Shaw also talks to probation staff about their fears for the future of partnership working and hears why some of them are threatening to quit the service.Producer: Paul Grant.