Building legitimacy for European public sector accounting standards (EPSAS): A governance perspective
International Journal of Public Sector Management
ISSN: 0951-3558
Article publication date: 28 August 2019
Issue publication date: 14 April 2020
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to look at the European public sector accounting standards (EPSAS) project development path to explore how governance and legitimacy issues intertwine when a new standard-setting system is developed.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative interpretative multimethod approach is adopted, which encompasses document analysis and participative observations.
Findings
The analysis shows the role of governance dimensions, including institutional participation and consensus, in the process for securing the legitimacy of accounting standards and the related setting processes, pointing to the critical issues emerging throughout the development of the EPSAS project.
Originality/value
The definition of public sector accounting standards poses significant challenges to the accounting profession and regulators alike. A paradigmatic case of such challenges is represented by the decisions to develop harmonised EPSAS. A key contribution of this paper is to connect legitimacy dimensions with network governance, offering a view of the input, output and procedural dimensions associated with decisions to legitimise EPSAS and how these may be affected by network governance.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Although the paper is the result of an equal joint effort by the authors, their primary individual contributions are reflected in the following sections of the paper: Giovanna Dabbicco – Sections 2–4 and Ileana Steccolini – Sections 1, 5 and 6.
Citation
Dabbicco, G. and Steccolini, I. (2020), "Building legitimacy for European public sector accounting standards (EPSAS): A governance perspective", International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 33 No. 2/3, pp. 229-245. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPSM-12-2018-0264
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited