Abstract
The paper wants to highlight some accounting practices in the early stage of the adoption of accrual accounting in Higher Education Institutions. The accounting reform was one of the core aspects of a process of enforced hybridization of HE institutions. Exogenous and endogenous (organizational) issues emerge, that undermine transparency and comparability of accounting information. Based on structured interviews in 14 Italian universities, the paper provides evidences of the main aspects that hinder the transparency and the comparability of accounting information with the risk to deprive the new accounting rules of their potential for change. Resistance to change could be observed, resulting in a partial or distorted adoption of the new accounting rules: some practices, in particular, aimed at safeguarding the interests of a particular group. The paper propitiates further research based on case studies aiming at understanding how public organizations tend to design internal accounting procedures that preserve the prerogatives of particular groups within the organization. The research overturns the rhetoric of the adoption of managerial practices for the enhancement of efficiency, effectiveness and economy by showing how organizations shape these practices in order to keep the status quo unchanged.
Highlights
The paper investigates the factors that hinders comparability and transparency of financial reporting in a public setting characterized by great autonomy in operations and long-term projects
The analysis focuses on the most innovative aspects of the reform: (a) the measurement of the financial performance, which was ignored in the former accounting system, and (b) the greater importance given to entity-wide financial statements rather than to the financial statements of the organizational units, i.e. the departments
The adoption of public sector accrual accounting is often associated to the need of measuring efficiency and ensuring financial sustainability
Summary
The paper investigates the factors that hinders comparability and transparency of financial reporting in a public setting characterized by great autonomy in operations and long-term projects. The analysis considers the accounting policies adopted by 14 Italian universities immediately after the shift from commitment-basis to accrual accounting. With reference to accounting issues, the reform aimed at ‘ensuring the transparency and homogeneity of accounting systems and procedures, and at enabling the assessment of the financial sustainability as well as of the net assets of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs)’. According to the expectations of the legislator, the transition to the new accrual-based accounting system improves the quality and the relevance of financial information and enhances the capability of university governing bodies and of the Ministry of University and Research (MIUR) to take decisions. The article wants to shed light on the factors that may deprive the shift to accrual accounting of expected benefits such as comparability and transparency of accounting information
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