Public Sector Accounting in Developing Countries: What We Know and What we Still Need to Know in General and in the African Context in Particular

This review paper examines the achievements, unintended consequences and the changing contexts of public sector accounting reforms in developing countries. In so doing, it points to two important directions for advancing public sector accounting research in developing countries in general and Africa in particular. Firstly, it suggests moving away from the narrow technical contextualisation and the ‘consultancy-based functionalist’ approaches offered by New Public Management (NPM) over the last three decades. Secondly, it advocates rethinking the imposition of the Word Bank’s development discourses on developing countries and applying the notion of ‘development’ as more of an analytical concept that can capture the idea of ‘publicness’, rather than as a phenomenon specific to a developing country context. This may enable public sector accounting research to implicate public value through accounting, which could have lasting impacts on developing countries’ societal and economic development

Comparative Fiscal Performance of Provincial Governments

In Nepal, obstacles and mal practices experienced at the federal level have been cascaded down to lower tiers of the government. The province governments have carried out the financial legacy of federal government, a legacy which has drawn much criticisms for its failure to ensure transparency and accountability. The spending of province and local governments has not been as expected. This has largely stifled development activities

Learning accountability in the public sector: the experience of Kerala

Given that learning has become a core element in addressing the ever-increasing complexities in public sector accountability, we investigate two issues in this paper: (1) how learning was involved in the process of disseminating a competency framework (CF) in four state departments in Kerala, India; and (2) an analysis of the challenges involved in this process, using the theoretical insights from learning accountability. Although the CF would revitalise governance and accountability mechanisms by establishing a conducive environment for administrators to learn in, the nuances of the existing administrative structure limited the scope of this learning exercise. The CF in Kerala generated fear, tension and resistance amongst the administrators, due to a perceived gap between the very objectives of the CF and the administrative settings, in which learning was insignificant. The paper argues that imposing public administrators’ accountability reforms, such as the CF, would be meaningless until an emphasis is placed on learning accountability. Furthermore, there is a need to ‘unlearn’ or ‘discard’ the prevailing traditional learning and accountability practices; unless this is achieved, a conducive environment for learning accountability cannot be institutionalised, nor can reforms such as the CF be materialised

Public sector accounting in emerging economies:a review of the papers published in the first decade of Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies

Purpose – A review of papers on public sector accounting in emerging economies, as published in ‘Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies’ (JAEE), first decade.Design/methodology/approach – A reflection on the issues covered and achievements made in the reviewed papers in the context of extant knowledge in this domain.Findings – A majority of the research in JAEE is dominated by accounting reforms inspired by New Public Management (NPM). Performance management, budgeting and accrual accounting are the main topics in the reviewed research. NPM claims, which can range from usability and use of a new accounting repertoire, to desirable impacts on efficiency and service delivery, are often not fulfilled . Many papers attempt to explain failing accounting innovations by the local context in which they are embedded, including political instability, poor governance and a lack of capabilities Research limitations/implications – The paper reviews research published in a niche journal, but the findings are related to the wider public sector accounting literature. Practical implications – Public sector practitioners, but also researchers, need to move away from a focus on public sector reforms due to contextual circumstances leading to built-in failures and concentrate instead on understanding how the accounting repertoire works in practice, including routes for improvements therein. Originality/value – An original framework for analysing public sector accounting research in emerging economies is proposed, which, among others, distinguishes between various ambition levels for achieving NPM reforms.<br/

Investigation of the institutional and decision-usefulness factors in the implementation of accrual accounting reforms in the public sector of Tanzania

Purpose: The paper investigates the factors which have resulted in the implementation of accrual accounting reforms ineffective in the central government of Tanzania.Design/methodology/approach: The paper relies on the ideas of institutional theory and some aspects of decision-usefulness so as to delineate the external pressures enforcing the government of Tanzania to embrace accrual accounting and the factors complicating its implementation at organisational level (within government entities). We draw on quantitative techniques and the explanatory and cross-sectional survey research strategies and methods for data analysis.Findings: Our findings suggest that the coercive pressures from donors and auditors along with the normative pressures surfaced by the training of employees generate a significant impact on designing the effective administrative model of accrual accounting. In a lesser extent, pressures from the National Board of Accountants and Auditors and cultural factors are positively correlated to the implementation of accrual accounting in the Tanzanian context. Of the factors we examined, the management changes are proved to be least effective. Unawareness of the key stakeholders has caused weak political and regulatory commitments. Accrual accounting implementation is further exacerbated by inadequate technical and personnel competence. Ultimately, the implementation of the accrual accounting has increased significant managerial accountability though a major segment of such behavior is unexplained by the factors we employed in the study.Practical implications: The effective implementation of accrual accounting relies on improvements in cultural and human-related issues. What is important to understand is that accrual accounting is more of a management reform incorporating changes in broader aspects of institutional and accountability mechanisms, rather than just an adoption of particular accounting technologies. Without such broader changes, accrual accounting reforms can be detrimental providing the technocrats and government officials with a space for manipulating financial information, Tanzania serving as an example.Originality/value: The study highlights the case of an emerging economy in which accrual accounting is actually in effect and has impacted on managerial accountability, but is struggling to engender intended results and outcomes at organisational level

'Does Your Walk Match Your Talk?' Analyzing IPSASs Diffusion in Developed and Developing Countries

Purpose – This research aims to provide a global overview of the adoption status of IPSASs in the different contexts of developed and developing countries on central government level, particularly delineating key reform issues and attempts to overcome these. Design/methodology/approach – The material for this paper was derived through document analysis and a synthesis of prior research. Applying an analytical framework that combines neo-institutional theory with diffusion theory, this material is re-analysed. Findings – There are substantial differences regarding whether countries acknowledge having experienced large implementation challenges and the extent to which the reform benefits have been achieved. The study sheds light on the (institutional) underpinnings of these differences. Research limitations/implications – First, the analysis could be extended to regional and local governments, as well as social funds. Both qualitative and quantitative strategies are suggested. Second, the implementation of the conceptual framework deserves further attention. Third, further research should more thoroughly scrutinise cost-benefit analyses used for justifying the (non)implementation of IPSASs, and in particular the assumptions that are being made in such analyses. Practical implications – The paper informs policymakers and standard setters by delineating the areas and issues complicating the widespread adoption of IPSASs across countries, including pointing out directions to overcome these. Social implications – Substantial amounts of public money are invested internationally to converge accounting standards and translate them into native languages. A close(r) monitoring is needed to ensure that these efforts obtain sufficient value for money. Originality/value – This study is original as it applies an analytical framework that combines neo-institutional theory and diffusion theory to examine public sector accounting convergence issues internationally. Such an approach explicitly puts a focus on decoupling between reform ‘walk’ (decision) and ‘talk’ (implementation) and helps to analyse the reasons for this decoupling

‘Agents-in-focus’ and ‘Agents-in-context’: The strong structuration analysis of central government accounting practices and reforms in Nepal

Drawing on Stones’ (2005) strong structuration theory, the paper unfolds why and how the key stakeholders of central government accounting in Nepal are involved in the reproduction of routinised accounting practices, resisting the externally-propagated changes. Government accountants (the agents-in-focus) through their capability to control the budget routines have enjoyed a powerful social position in their position–practice relations with the agents-in-context, i.e. professional accountants and international consultants, higher-level officers and administrators, auditors, and politicians. Social position along with historically-imbued dispositions and their conduct and context analysis have enabled government accountants to strategically exercise their agency. Government accountants have articulated duality and a dialectic relation with the agents-in-context, which have resulted in the reproduction of everyday accounting practice and the resistance to the World Bank-led reforms, such as accrual accounting and, more recently, the Cash-Basis IPSAS

(2022). Public Sector Accounting in Developing Countries: What We Know and What we Still Need to Know in General and in the African Context in Particular

This review paper examines the achievements, unintended consequences and the changing contexts of public sector accounting reforms in developing countries. In so doing, it points to two important directions for advancing public sector accounting research in developing countries in general and Africa in particular. Firstly, it suggests moving away from the narrow technical contextualisation and the ‘consultancy-based functionalist’ approaches offered by New Public Management (NPM) over the last three decades. Secondly, it advocates rethinking the imposition of the Word Bank’s development discourses on developing countries and applying the notion of ‘development’ as more of an analytical concept that can capture the idea of ‘publicness’, rather than as a phenomenon specific to a developing country context. This may enable public sector accounting research to implicate public value through accounting, which could have lasting impacts on developing countries’ societal and economic development

Public Finance Management in Federalism

The importance of public financial management in the successful operation of federalism should be realised at all levels and more collaborative approaches to PFM reforms should be pursued involving local authorities, development partners and international organisations, and professional accounting institutions such as the ICAN