The contribution of international accounting standards to implementing NPM in developing and developed countries

Abstract

SUMMARYIn recent years, numerous countries have undertaken administrative reforms to implement New Public Management (NPM) postulates. The implementation of NPM involves new information needs for decision taking by public managers. In this context, public sector accounting plays a key role as an information system for the successful implementation of NPM. The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) is undertaking an international accounting harmonisation project to establish high-quality public sector standards to meet the new information requirements under NPM worldwide. This article examines the capability of IFAC accounting measurement bases to meet information needs under NPM postulates, in both developing and developed countries, analysing the differences between these types of countries. The National Accounting Standard Setters (NASS) of 47 countries were asked about the usefulness and viability of Fair Value Accounting (FVA) to implement NPM postulates, especially those concerning improved efficiency, enhanced information transparency and benchmarking analysis.

Measuring accrual-based IPSAS implementation and its relationship to central government fiscal transparency

“…Further, confirmatory factor analysis was obtained for the internal validity of each accrual dimension relationship and loading factors that construct accrual level as the latent variables. Thirdly, this article demonstrates an empirical test involving 77 central governments (OECD, non-OECD, BRICS) from 2008 to 2015 for panel datainstead of cross-sectionalaccrual accounting development and extends Bolívar and Galera's (2012) and Galera and Bolívar's (2007 studies of the impact of accrual-based IPSAS on government financial or fiscal transparency. This article is organized as follows: first, it presents the theoretical framework of accrual accounting adoption and hypothesis development regarding its association with fiscal transparency.…”

“…In the public sector, financial transparency is conceptually related to the adoption of international accounting standards (see IPSASB, 2016), accrual-based accounting practices (see Mellor, 1996;Robinson, 1998) and more general New Public Management (NPM) best practices (see Galera & Bolívar, 2007). Accrual-based IPSAS reflects better quality in various dimensions of government reports, such as understandability, comparability, and consistency (IPSASB, 2016).…”

“…There are several kinds of research focusing on empirical evidence of the adoption of global accounting standards on government transparency. Galera and Bolívar (2007) have empirically demonstrated perceptions from National Accounting Standard Setter (NASS) respondents from 47 countries according to the role of IPSAS in promoting NPM postulates, such as improving information transparency, efficiency, and benchmarking analysis. In particular, IPSAS encourages fair value measurement, which is perceived to provide more accurate and complete information, since it considers the current market and economic environment, thus improving the relevancy, understandability, and timeliness of government financial statements.…”

The enabling role of institutional entrepreneurs in the adoption of IPSAS within a transitional economy: The case of Estonia

“…All in all, this case study reveals how public sector accounting and reporting systems change at the interplay of favorable exogenous and endogenous forces, which occur at the macrolevel and microlevel of a specific country. This article contributes to existing public sector accounting literature on IPSAS adoption (e.g., Brusca et al, ; Brusca et al, ; Christiaens et al, ; Jones & Caruana, ; Navarro Galera & Rodríguez Bolívar, , ; Oulasvirta, ) by offering a theoretical understanding of accounting changes in the public sector. By integrating both the shift of institutional logics and the disruptive (but positive) role of the institutional entrepreneurs in a theoretical framework based on neoinstitutional theory, this article proposes an analytical framework that can also be used for other studies examining accounting changes.…”

“…The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), which leads the harmonization of public sector financial reporting internationally, has promoted accrual accounting for the public sector (IFAC, ). For this reason, its special standards‐setting board, the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB), has released 40 accounting standards for public sector entities such as governments and local authorities/municipalities—the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS; Deloitte, ; IPSASB, ; Navarro Galera & Rodríguez Bolívar, )—and also approved a Conceptual Framework in 2014 (IPSASB, ).…”