PurposeThe International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) have driven the modernisation of public systems of financial information. The extent and pace of their implementation remain uneven. The goal of this study was to measure whether and how much governmental accounting standards converge towards IPSAS' true and fair approach.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical context of the 26 Swiss cantons was used to apply a simplified maturity model. Under two successive reforms (maturity stages), each canton's accounting standards was assessed and scored. The derived maturity levels indicate how close—or far—each canton has stood from a state of full IPSAS compliance (full maturity), at each stage of the process.FindingsAs Swiss cantons have a certain degree of autonomy in setting their own accounting standards, the evolving paths they followed when implementing IPSAS were heterogeneous. The maturity level attained by each canton within each stage thus varies. However, the results show that the two successive reforms had an overall favourable impact on Swiss cantonal accounting standards compliance with IPSAS, and fairly improved the faithfulness of reported financial information.Originality/valueThis research contributes to the international literature on public accounting standards and provides new insights for the assessment of convergence with IPSAS.

Using the context of the 26 Swiss subnational governments, this paper aims to empirically identify factors driving—or not—the use of accounting and reporting standards aimed to increase financial faithfulness. Because the 26 entities had a certain autonomy, as they jointly implemented two major successive accounting reforms over the past forty years, policy outcomes were heterogeneous. Findings suggest that both citizen demand and government supply-side factors contribute to explaining the extent to which each entity’s policy led to a faithful reporting. This paper thus highlights some of the challenges in implementing supranational (e.g., IPSAS, EPSAS) or national accounting standards at lower tiers, when governments have some leeway over the process, while yet facing strong democratic scrutiny.