On the road towards IPSAS with a maturity model: a Swiss case study
International Journal of Public Sector Management
ISSN: 0951-3558
Article publication date: 18 January 2021
Issue publication date: 18 June 2021
Abstract
Purpose
The International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) have driven the modernisation of public systems of financial information. The extent and pace of their implementation remain uneven. The goal of this study was to measure whether and how much governmental accounting standards converge towards IPSAS' true and fair approach.
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical context of the 26 Swiss cantons was used to apply a simplified maturity model. Under two successive reforms (maturity stages), each canton's accounting standards was assessed and scored. The derived maturity levels indicate how close—or far—each canton has stood from a state of full IPSAS compliance (full maturity), at each stage of the process.
Findings
As Swiss cantons have a certain degree of autonomy in setting their own accounting standards, the evolving paths they followed when implementing IPSAS were heterogeneous. The maturity level attained by each canton within each stage thus varies. However, the results show that the two successive reforms had an overall favourable impact on Swiss cantonal accounting standards compliance with IPSAS, and fairly improved the faithfulness of reported financial information.
Originality/value
This research contributes to the international literature on public accounting standards and provides new insights for the assessment of convergence with IPSAS.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
We are indebted to all the cantonal finance department senior budget officers who provided us with the necessary information to compute maturity levels, to the members of the Swiss Public Sector Financial Reporting Advisory Committee who took time to rank and compare the criteria to assess the convergence and to Michelle Bailat-Jones for her editing assistance.
Citation
Soguel, N. and Luta, N. (2021), "On the road towards IPSAS with a maturity model: a Swiss case study", International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 34 No. 4, pp. 425-440. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPSM-09-2020-0235
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited