Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to provide insights about the process of adaptation of countries’ accounting standards to the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS). Using a comparative international perspective involving Portugal and Spain, the paper relies on the concept of “translation”, developed under the actor-network theory, to understand how the IPSAS became an obligatory passage point and how its implementation became a public policy introduced in the public sector accounting reforms in these countries, and what have been the main drivers and actors in the process. It contributes to showing how, in practice, countries are mobilized and enrol in the adoption of IPSAS.
Highlights
The last decades have been fruitful in reforms in public sector accounting across the world, namely moving from cash-based to accrual-based regimes
Various studies have been conducted on International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) adoption in many countries and three groups of countries can currently be differentiated within the EU context (Christiaens, Reyniers and Rollé 2010; Ernst and Young 2012; Bellanca and Vandernoot 2014; PwC 2014 and 2015; Brusca et al 2015; Christiaens et al 2015; Jones and Caruana 2016; Association of Chartered Certified Accountants 2017; Argento, Peda and Alexander 2018)2: 1. Countries that applied IPSAS or have standards similar to IPSAS: Austria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom
Portugal and Spain are amongst the first IPSAS adopters within EU Member States; important advice can be derived from the experiences of these countries. As it becomes clear from above, the two countries are at different stages of adapting their public sector accounting systems to IPSAS – Spain has already been implementing them since 2010, so the new system is reaching some form of establishment and consequences in public sector entity accounts have started to be visible; while Portugal just recently passed the main legislation and is only starting implementation
Summary
The last decades have been fruitful in reforms in public sector accounting across the world, namely moving from cash-based to accrual-based regimes. This has become a powerful tool to gain some sort of influence on the evolution and reform of financial reporting in countries which benefit from financial aids or loans (especially underdeveloped and emerging countries), as well as on public sector entities audited by supranational audit bodies, such as the EU Court of Auditors Another important development bringing many actors close to the IPSAB’s vision of adopting international standards was the EU decision, to make it a requirement for listed companies in its Member States to report under IFRS since 2005. This was a key point for the success of IPSAS as a worldwide reference for reforming public sector accounting systems. Various studies have been conducted on IPSAS adoption in many countries and three groups of countries can currently be differentiated within the EU context (Christiaens, Reyniers and Rollé 2010; Ernst and Young 2012; Bellanca and Vandernoot 2014; PwC 2014 and 2015; Brusca et al 2015; Christiaens et al 2015; Jones and Caruana 2016; Association of Chartered Certified Accountants 2017; Argento, Peda and Alexander 2018)2: 1. Countries that applied IPSAS or have standards similar to IPSAS: Austria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom
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