Government Financial Information Research Articles

Adopting IPSAS to improve governmental accountability in Spain: an empirical study

In Spain, a new General Public Accounting Plan has been approved adapting Spanish accounting criteria to the IPSAS issued by the IFAC, which could strengthen the quality of governmental financial information and favour accountability via enhanced financial transparency, the benchmarking analysis and the efficiency of public services. A major issue when endorsing IPSAS is the measurement bases used in accounting. Regardless of problems of reliability, the fair value (FV) accounting proposed by the IPSAS aims to favour the understanding, efficiency assessments, timeliness of financial reports and to improve benchmarking analysis. This paper examines whether FV would improve the accountability of public administrations in Spain and thus favour the transparency of financial statements. Based on an empirical research on the Spanish central supreme audit institution (SAI) and on 11 regional SAIs, findings indicate that the adoption of FV could favour transparency and accountability in Spain, although it would depend on several factors such as the information included in the notes, the staff training in valuation methods, the hiring of external appraisers and the existence of generally accepted methods of estimation.

Impact of IPSAS on reforming governmental financial information systems: a comparative study

The diversity in reformed governmental financial information systems created a need for harmonized international accounting standards, resulting in the elaboration of the IPSAS (International Public Sector Accounting Standards). By means of a survey on experts, this study examines the extent to which European governments adopt IPSAS accrual accounting and how the differing levels of adoption can be explained. The study reveals diversity in the adoption process of IPSAS and accrual accounting. Some governments still use cash based accounting. Only a minority apply IPSAS. The majority of local and central governments apply accrual accounting disregarding IPSAS. The trend toward accrual accounting can be explained by the need for transparency and efficiency. The fact that the IPSAS are unique and offer specific know-how is the main argument for making use of them. However, a number of jurisdictions do not adopt IPSAS because they transfer their own local business accounting rules.Points for practitionersThe transition to business accounting is an important element of New Public Management in that modernized governmental management needs useful financial information, and business accounting is supposed to accomplish this need. An important characteristic of the IPSAS accounting standards is that governments are not obliged to adopt them and thus their adoption depends on a free choice. Therefore, it is clear that the success of IPSAS strongly depends on setting out its strengths and highlighting the necessary conditions to be met. Based on this article, an important condition is that practitioners keep in mind that in governments business accrual accounting rules are not a substitute for IPSAS.

DESENTRALISASI PENGAMBILAN KEPUTUSAN DAN PENERIMAAN IMPLEMENTASI SISTEM IMFORMASI KEUANGAN DAERAH (SIKD) DI KOTA/KABUPATEN BEKASI

This study examines influence decentralization of decision making toward implementation Government Financial Information System (SIKD) to test of the influence of implementation Government Financial Information System (SIKD) toward performance officer and satisfaction officer as intervening and moderating variable.This research represents the empirical test which used convenience sampling techniques in data collection. Data were collected from 10 officers for each 6 of Bekasi. Data analysis uses Structural Equation Model (SEM) with the program Plural Least Square (PLS).Result of hypothesis examination indicates that seven hypothesis are given but which are accepted five hypothesis and two hypothesis is only refused. Accepted hypothesis 1 there are positive influence between decentralization of decision making to adoption officer and significant. Accepted hypothesis 2 there are positive influence between decentralization of decision making to implementation Government Financial Information System (SIKD) and significant. Accepted hypothesis 3 there are adoption officer to implementation Government Financial Information System (SIKD) and significant. Accepted hypothesis 5 there are decentralization of decision making to design SIKD and significant. Accepted hypothesis 6 there are negative influence between decentralization of decision making to implementation Government Financial Information System (SIKD) that is mediated by adoption officer which adoption officer is moderating variable and significant. Refused hypothesis 4 there are positive influence between design SIKD to implementation Government Financial Information System (SIKD) but not significant. And Refused hypothesis 7 there are negative influence between decentralization of decision making to implementation Government Financial Information System (SIKD) that is mediated by design SIKD which design SIKD is not moderating variable and also not significant.

ICT risk for government financial management information system

The paper deals with the development of risk management plans for the Information Technology Center of Department of Comptroller General under Ministry of Finance in Thailand. There were a total of 14 risk factors that would potentially impact the operations of the Government Financial Management Information System. The dependency on contractors, and public protests and riots were perceived to be a high risk contributor. Afterwards, the plans to help minimise or transfer risk were developed such as benchmarking, backup site, remote control centre and contractor audits. Furthermore, the discussions with the members from other public agencies and private firms were made. The international comparisons were also conducted. Finally, the implications were discussed.

Conceptual Design: A Critical Element of a Successful Government Financial Management Information System Project

This technical note describes need of conceptual design as a critical element of a government financial management information system project. Governments are increasingly turning to computerized financial management systems to help them respond to the demand for better information. This note describes the conceptual design for government financial management information systems (GFMIS), and explains why is it critical to the success of a GFMIS project. Key factors that influence the preparation of the conceptual design are discussed. The main stakeholders in the preparation of the conceptual design are also elaborated.

Governmental financial information reforms and changes in the political system: The Argentina, Chile and Paraguay experience

AbstractThis article analyzes the effects of changes in the political system‐from dictatorship to democracy‐on financial information systems and on their reform. We chose to study Argentina, Chile and Paraguay as these three countires share a similar geographic and social‐political context. They all had dictatorial governments during the second half of the 20th century and peformed a transition to democratic systems in the 1990s. We provide a brief overview of the political context and of government accounting regulations, both before and after the transition. We propose an adaptation of Lüder's contingency model to be applied to the situation in these three countries. This model enables us to identify the principal agents and motives favouring or prejudicing the implementation of reforms to financial information systems. Ours is the first academic study of reforms to government financial information systems in three Latin American countries that have made the transition from dictatorship to democracy, identifying the contingent factors that have affected the adoption of reforms. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Governmental financial transparency in MERCOSUR member countries

In the last century, the MERCOSUR member countries have carried out reforms aimed at achieving better public financial information for governmental decision-taking. Important changes are currently taking place on the international public accounting scene, and the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) has published International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), by which it seeks to ensure that governmental financial reports include financial information of sufficient quality to support decision-making by different users, and at the same time to improve the comparability of the financial information presented by public sector bodies throughout the world. In this article, we examine the consistency of the information included by MERCOSUR member countries in their current year-end governmental public financial reports with the public financial reporting practices recommended by IFAC, in order to determine whether further efforts are needed to improve transparency and comparability. Points for practitioners The article may help government practitioners in MERCOSUR countries to become aware of the divergences which exist regarding the governmental financial information offered by each of the countries in MERCOSUR. Moreover, it could help to set up a common project of account reform which would take IPSAS as its model. This unified framework for accounting policies would increase the coherence of financial information and would establish a common measurement basis to assess the financial results of all of the MERCOSUR countries.

Could fair value accounting be useful, under NPM models, for users of financial information?

International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) are an essential quality-control factor for Public Sector Accounting Systems in European Union member states. The compliance of the latter systems with IPSAS could be influenced to a large degree by perceptions of how useful these standards are in enabling the needs of financial information users to be met. Therefore, the aim of this article is to investigate the capability of fair value accounting to improve the usefulness of governmental financial information so that administrative reforms may be undertaken with the implementation of New Public Management (NPM) postulates. The theoretical section of the article studies the relevance of fair value accounting with respect to meeting the information requirements for implementing NPM models. This is followed by the results of empirical research carried out to determine the opinions of one of the main groups of information users concerning the practicality of fair value accounting and its association with the solvency and feasibility of fair value measures. To achieve this aim, we applied the χ2 test and the ρ Spearman test and obtained findings about the capability of fair value accounting to meet the new information requirements under NPM models more effectively than under historical cost accounting.

The harmonization of government financial information systems: the role of the IPSASs

The publication of International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSASs) in the field of governmental financial reporting has raised the necessity for a wide-ranging discussion about the harmonization of public sector accounting systems. The article has a double aim: to show the adoption or not of IPSASs in local and central government and to analyse the level of convergence between the different countries studied. In order to achieve these objectives, we carried out an empirical study, whose results allow us to show that while some accounting systems are very close to the IPSASs model, others are completely different. Nevertheless, we think that this could be a starting point and that in the near future countries could tend towards IPSASs more and more, which may be the most probable way to reach convergence accounting systems between them.

E-Government and Public Financial Reporting

Technology has changed the way public organizations relate to the public. Government's use of the Internet and other associated technologies, known as e-government, could become the instrument that makes regular timely information on public finances more forthcoming. New technologies can improve government responsiveness and empower individual citizens. By making government financial information available, the public could continuously assess a government agency through everyday interaction. The financial accountability of government and its response to public demands for information and services are thus a contribution to government openness. It is therefore relevant to determine whether public organizations are also becoming more aware of the importance of placing financial information on their Web sites to help in decision-making processes. This article focuses on the e-democracy process, specifically the transparency of government information, by analyzing governmental financial disclosures on the Web as a tool for the public to assess its financial accountability. To this end, an empirical study was carried out on regional governments in Spain.

Are Citizens Significant Users of Government Financial Information?

This article reports on the use that the public makes of the budgetary and financial reporting produced by Spanish local authorities. The authors show financial reporting influences voting behaviour. Although citizens cannot decide how much tax they have to pay or the volume or quality of the services, they can control public management when it comes to election time. Accounting information can reflect the results of public policies and consequently serve as a vehicle for communicating the economic effects of political management. The authors make a strong case for more ‘popular’ financial reporting so that government accounts can be understood and properly used by non-specialists.

Cultural contexts and governmental digital reporting

The way in which public sector entities disseminate information publicly is affected by the degree of transparency adopted, and the construction and management of websites are increasingly essential elements of modern public administration. Nonetheless, differences in this process exist among governments worldwide, probably due to different contextual factors. This article examines and discusses the approach of Anglo-Saxon, South American and Continental European central governments to the use of the Web as a means of making financial disclosures. To measure the disclosure of governmental financial information on the Internet, an index has been defined, taking into consideration the data considered to be relevant for a potential user, gathering the data visiting their websites. The results show that the way different countries use the Web for financial disclosure is deeply rooted in and follows from their administrative culture. In conclusion, the Continental European and South American governments should improve their digital reporting.

Legislatures and Budget Oversight in Latin America

Reforming budgetary institutions for effective government is a critical task for emerging economies. Strengthening the role of parliament in the budget process is an integral part of the restoration of democracy throughout Latin America, which requires a re-equilibration of executive and legislative prerogatives in public policy. The role of legislatures in public budgeting and public finance management has nevertheless been largely overlooked in the first stage of economic reform. This is starting to change, as the contribution of legislatures to the budgetary process is currently being re-evaluated, both in developed and, more recently, in developing countries.1 It is increasingly being recognised that parliaments have a critical role to play to strengthen economic governance, improve transparency in public finances and ensure government accountability. Enhancing legislative scrutiny of the budget and oversight of its execution is increasingly considered as a means to strengthen government accountability and curb corruption (OECD, 2002; G8, 2003).2 The international financial institutions are particularly keen to promote greater transparency in public finance management and to improve governmental financial information systems in emerging economies...

Introducing Financial Management Information Systems in Developing Countries

In the past decade, developing countries have been encouraged to reform their public expenditure management systems and have increasingly embarked on major projects to computerise their government operations. Most popular among these have been projects to computerise government accounting and payment operations, by introducing government financial management information systems (FMISs).

Introducing Financial Management Information Systems in Developing Countries

In the past decade, developing countries (DCs) have been encouraged to reform their public expenditure management systems and have increasingly embarked on major projects to computerize their government operations. Most popular among these have been projects to computerize government accounting and payment operations, by introducing government financial management information systems (FMISs). This paper investigates the reason for almost universal failure to implement and sustain FMISs in DCs. It starts with a review of the received wisdom in implementing these projects, and then analyzes problems in its application in the DC context to identify key factors to explain why FMIS projects have been so problematic. Based on the identified negative factors, suggestions for addressing them are offered in the hope of improving success rates.

Introducing Financial Management Information Systems in Developing Countries

In the past decade, developing countries (DCs) have been encouraged to reform their public expenditure management systems and have increasingly embarked on major projects to computerize their government operations. Most popular among these have been projects to computerize government accounting and payment operations, by introducing government financial management information systems (FMISs). This paper investigates the reason for almost universal failure to implement and sustain FMISs in DCs. It starts with a review of the received wisdom in implementing these projects, and then analyzes problems in its application in the DC context to identify key factors to explain why FMIS projects have been so problematic. Based on the identified negative factors, suggestions for addressing them are offered in the hope of improving success rates.

Citizens’ access to on-line governmental financial information: Practices in the European Union countries

Abstract In recent years we are witnessing simultaneously the need for public sector entities to be more transparent in the information they publish and a series of technological advances that are changing the way these entities relate to citizens. This latter fact could support the former; that is, the information and communication technologies – particularly the Web – could be put to use by governments and become the instrument through which to provide the citizens with regular accurate information on the public finances. In this context, this article (1) explores whether public sector entities (more specifically, the central public administrations of the EU countries) are becoming aware of the importance of including financial information on their Web sites that citizens can use in their decision making, and (2) proposes a model that will facilitate citizen access to financial information.

Accounting and accountability: recent developments in government financial information systems

AbstractIn developed countries, governmental accounting is considered as an integral part and a successful aspect of public sector reforms. In developing countries, besides being a tool for government financial management modernisation, accounting is regarded as a weapon against fraud and waste in government. The aim of this article is to compare, taking the IPSAS No.1 as a benchmark, the information content of the financial statements submitted by the central governments of Anglo‐Saxon, Nordic, European Continental and Mercosur zone countries. The results give us a point of reference as to where the central governmental accounting of each country studied lies in the ‘spectrum’ from cash to full accrual accounting and to what extent the IPSASs are able to fit into diverse public administration styles in order to improve the transparency, accountability and reliability of the financial information disclosed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Suggestions for Alternative Measures of Budget Balance for South Africa

The following hypothesis was set and tested by this study: is the conventional budget balance, as generally accepted and used, still relevant for South Africa? The paper found that several possible alternatives are available but each must be viewed from the standpoint of their applicability to the South African context. Several were not suitable for South Africa-only because of a serious lack of available data needed to make them operational. The paper also highlights the need for reforms in government financial information in South Africa.

Suggestions for Alternative Measures of Budget Balance for South Africa

The following hypothesis was set and tested by this study: is the conventional budget balance, as generally accepted and used, still relevant for South Africa? The paper found that several possible alternatives are available but each must be viewed from the standpoint of their applicability to the South African context. Several were not suitable for South Africa-only because of a serious lack of available data needed to make them operational. The paper also highlights the need for reforms in government financial information in South Africa.