Evolution of EU public sector financial accounting standardisation: critical events that opened the window for attempted policy change

Abstract

This paper analyses agenda-setting for EU policy change in respect to public sector accounting harmonisation, adopting the garbage can model for its theoretical framework. It utilises qualitative research methods to determine what caused the window of opportunity to open, why it led to a proposal for compulsory public sector accounting standardisation for member states and why the International Public Sector Accounting Standards were not adopted by the EU. It concludes that harmonised accrual accounting is likely to be only a minor instrument of EU fiscal governance and its Excessive Deficit Procedure aiming to prevent governments running structurally unbalanced public finances.