Analysis of public managers' attitudes toward constraints for implementation of public sector accounting reform in Croatia

Abstract

Applied accounting basis affects the scope of accounting information that are presented in the financial statements and it indicates the financial position and performance of a business entity in a given period. For many years, accrual basis for accounting has been applied in the private sector, but in the public sector full application of accrual basis is still rare and insufficiently represented. This paper investigates and analyses the constraints for the implementation of public sector accounting reform and for the implementation of the accrual basis in public sector accounting. The research was conducted through a survey questionnaire on a sample of 130 budgetary users in 2012 and 242 budgetary users in 2018 in Croatia. Respondents were public managers. Research results showed that the most significant constraints for public sector accounting reform can be summarised in four groups: human resources, financial resources, IT support and long duration and complexity of the process. Public sector managers evaluated financial resources as the most significant constraint. The scientific contribution of this paper is reflected in the supplementation of the literature on public sector accounting reform since it systematically investigates and analyses the constraints that occur in the processes of reform. In addition, scientific contribution is contained in presenting the results of the primary research about the constraints for the implementation of public sector accounting reform and the implementation of the accrual basis in public sector accounting in Croatia.