Enterprise resource planning system reforms of European Union member states in association with central government accrual accounting and IPSAS adoption

Abstract

PurposeThis paper examines the enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems of 27 European central governments and the governments' respective information technology (IT) reforms, facilitator role and association with accrual accounting reforms as premise of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS).Design/methodology/approachThis paper presents a qualitative and content analysis of 27 European Union (EU) member states (MSs) regarding the states' IT and accounting maturity in association with accrual accounting as breeding ground for IPSAS convergence based on published surveys on behalf of Eurostat, web data and emails collected from authorized officials.FindingsThis paper has found that (1) increased accounting and IT maturity scores of central governments are associated with the establishment or upgrade of ERP systems; (2) ERP systems prove to facilitate and support accrual accounting adoption; (3) in majority, EU MSs adopt similar ERP vendors to implement accrual accounting reforms; (4) with prevalence among ERP vendors, the Systems Application Products (SAP) ERP software proves to be a success story toward public sector accounting (PSA) reforms.Research limitations/implicationsRespective information on the ERP systems' facilitation to financial accounting reforms is collected only for 17 central governments.Originality/valueThis paper highlights the facilitation of ERP systems as reform drivers to accrual accounting change of EU MSs, through IT modernization. This paper links the ERP practices with specific ERP vendors pointing out the vendors' similarities. This paper presents examples of European ERP reforms and sets the reforms as reference for central governments that wish to embark on ERP and accrual accounting reforms.

The influence of public sector audit digitalisation on local government budget planning: evidence from Brazil

“…The case of Brazil reveals an additional role for public audit organisations in reforms: in the absence of a sponsor and an environment with high interpretive flexibility (Power, 1996), public audit organisations may assume the coordination role. Our results add nuance to the studies showing the interconnection between (accounting) reforms and information technology development (Bekiaris and Markogiannopoulou, 2023) by indicating a “silent” or “creeping” form of MTEF's regulation by auditors through computerized data collection systems. On the one hand, adverse effects related to the audit illusion (Power, 1996, 1999) might emerge; for instance, when auditees start to conform to auditor requirements via decoupling (when a process is only ceremonial adopted for legitimization) or through colonisation (when audit “colonises” the organization and creates auditees to make its processes possible).…”

Combining theories to investigate the acceptance of accrual accounting

“…and their ability to support change. Adequate IT systems have been identified as an important driver of accrual accounting reforms worldwide (Bekiaris and Markogiannopoulou, 2023;Frintrup et al, 2022). On the other hand, the observed incompatibilities between national legal systems and the principles of accrual accounting have resulted in significant delays, adaptations and even postponements of the reforms in several jurisdictions (Adhikari and G arseth-Nesbakk, 2016;Baskerville and Grossi, 2019).…”