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The purpose of this paper is to analyse the reasons why Sri Lanka adopted International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) recently. Many less developed countries (LDCs) have introduced IPSAS during the recent past. However, little research has been conducted to study the New Public Financial Management and accrual accounting and their impact on LDCs.

Using a qualitative approach, the methods of this paper consist of interviews, a documentary review and participatory observation in the Ministry of Finance and Planning (MOFP) and Auditor General’s Department of Sri Lanka, and present a critical interpretation supported by the perspective of globalisation.

The findings of the research indicate that the public sector reforms and the transition from cash accounting to accrual accounting in the public sector have been strongly affected by the global pressures imposed by international agencies such as International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) and the World Bank (WB). Empirical evidence shows the dysfunctional impact of globalisation in the public sector accounting standards as there are major structural issues yet to resolve. There are increasing doubts over whether the change to accrual accounting is worth the costs and the additional risks involved.

The results of the interviews are based on the knowledge and past experiences of interviewees. What is generalisable is an understanding of the processes and mechanisms that relate to the way the public sector accounting functions.

This paper adds new literature on public sector accounting in LDCs, which recognises the nexus and interests of international agencies and practice of public sector accounting.

We analyze the quality of accounting information reported by public firms in Latin America and United States of America.

To reach our objective, an exploratory and descriptive research was developed. To analyze the dimensions of accounting information quality, the operational model present in literature were applied which assess the persistence in earnings (Dechow & Schrand, 2004), the level of conservatism (Ball & Shivakumar, 2005), accounting earnings management (Pae, 2005) and accruals quality measurement (Dechow & Dichev, 2002), in a sample composed of publicly traded companies in the markets of Latin America and the North America (represented by USA), totaling 2,526 companies, from 2005 to 2011.

Our results evidenced that financial reporting of Latin-American companies are less conservative (except for Brazilian companies) and has similar level of earnings management in comparison to the North-American ones. Concerning to the quality of accruals it was observed that there are significant differences especially related to accruals of Brazilian companies.

Our results suggest differences in the quality of accounting information, originated by the economic environment where the company is inserted. So, investors must be careful when they are comparing firms between these markets, because the results were different for some cases, which may lead the investors to make misallocation of his resources.

We expanded previous literature by the use of various proxies for accounting quality, comparing firms on emerging markets with the major capital market (USA), and the crises period of time.

The study contributes to the literature on public value and performance examining politicians’ and managers’ perspectives by investigating the importance they attach to the different facets of performance information (i.e. budgetary, accrual based- and non-financial information (NFI)).

We survey politicians and managers in all Italian municipalities of at least 80,000 inhabitants.

Overall, NFI is more appreciated than financial information (FI). Moreover, budgetary accounting is preferred to accrual accounting. Politicians’ and managers’ preferences are generally aligned.

NFI as a measure of public value is not alternative, but rather complementary, to FI. The latter remains a fundamental element of public sector accounting due to its role in resource allocation and control.

The preference for NFI over FI and of budgetary over accruals accounting suggests that the current predominant emphasis on (accrual-based) financial reporting might be misplaced.

Public value and performance are multi-faceted concepts. They can be captured by different types of information and evaluated according to different criteria, which will also depend on the category of stakeholders or users who assesses public performance. So far, most literature has considered the financial and non-financial facets of performance as virtually separate. Similarly, in the practice, financial management tends to be decoupled from non-financial performance management. However, this research shows that only by considering their joint interactions we can achieve an accurate representation of what public value really is.

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to examine the contextual variables that influence the pace of public sector reforms through the adoption of accrual accounting for the Indonesian public sector.

Design/methodology/approach – The study employs a historically informed study based on a modified version of the Luder's (1992) Contingency Model (LCM). The data are drawn from official documents issued by the Indonesian government about reporting system for the public sector in the country and interviews with the key figures involved in the public sector accounting reforms in Indonesia. The study also uses publicly available information addressing the recent progress in the implementation of the accrual accounting system in the Indonesian public sector.

Key findings – The adoption of accrual accounting in the Indonesian public sector was stimulated by the economic crisis, prodemocratic movements, and international pressures for the reform of the public sector. However, the public sector accounting reforms in the country are confronted with significant implementation barriers which include legal issues, the lack of political supports, and skilled human resources. These barriers in turn threaten the intended purposes to be achieved through the greater economic and public sector reforms in the newly democratic Indonesia.

Research limitations/implications – The arguments of the study should be understood in the context of the institutional setting of Indonesia as a developing country. Nonetheless, the findings of this study show an example of the complexity faced through the use of the private sector accounting practice in the public sector context.

Originality/value – The findings of the study support the notion that the nature of legal system, political support, and human resource capacity influence the extent to which an accounting system is adopted in the public sector.

Purpose – Previous studies distinguish revenue management based on discretionary accruals; the research of studies is to investigate the factors that affect the finance manager at the discretionary accrual in General financial information statement.

Design/Methodology/Approach – Literature review models used in research aimed at detecting any company that performs the company’s discretion to fulfill the accrual of interests internally. This research study also discusses the relationship between earnings and discretionary manager behavior.

Findings – The researcher wants to re-examine the hypothesis of market efficiency on Indonesia’s capital market. The current company information technology uses greatly influences worldwide investor interest to invest on Indonesian’s capital market. Emerging Indonesia Capital market status becomes very interesting to be studied.

Originality/Value – It also presented the shortcomings of current research and the trends for future study in capital market.

This chapter investigates whether earnings management activities increase the likelihood of receiving a qualified audit report. We have carried out this study with a sample of Spanish companies for the period 2001–2009. Previous research on the issue is not only scarce but also suffers from methodological pitfalls. In all cases, researchers have followed a matched sample approach without considering the implications of such approach for the statistical analysis. Despite its great popularity among researchers in accounting, the use of matched-based sampling is susceptible to produce technical errors in the statistical analysis. The main problem consists in the generalization of results obtained with a nonrandom sample to the whole population of firms. Our results do not show a significant relationship between EM and qualified audit reports. We have also addressed whether the international financial crisis has affected our results and concluded that Spanish companies seem to have used EM during the crisis to push down earnings, probably expecting to take advantage of the positive earnings surprises during the postcrisis period. Nevertheless, the financial crisis has not changed the nature of the EM-qualified opinions relationship.

Purpose – This empirical article aims at studying whether, how, and to what extent the South Asian countries have or are planning to move in the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSASs) direction.

Design/methodology/approach – By applying the institutional perspectives, the article seeks to explore the roles and contributions of international financial institutions in the dissemination of public sector accounting reform ideas, particularly IPSASs ideas in South Asia. Document search represents the major method of collecting data for this study.

Findings – The present article demonstrates that the majority of the South Asian countries have envisaged the adoption of the cash basis IPSAS as a way forward in order to implement accrual accounting. International financial institutions have seemingly created a myth in the region that accrual accounting cannot be introduced without first complying with the cash basis IPSAS. However, the countries’ efforts are to a large extent directed at adapting rather than adopting IPSASs in all material respects. In relation to this, the article suggests that the acceptance of IPSASs in South Asia is better understood in terms of legitimacy.

Research limitations/implications – It is beyond the scope of this article to cover the ongoing public sector accounting reforms in South Asia other than IPSASs reforms as well as to reveal accounting changes at other levels than central government level.

Practical implications – The article raises doubts as to whether and to what extent the cash basis IPSAS will help public sector management reforms in South Asia.

Originality/value – Given the paucity of consistent research efforts on the topic in Western English language literature, the present article strives to bring ongoing IPSASs reforms in South Asia into the international arena. The article also contributes to the growing body of the comparative public sector accounting research by presenting the similarities and differences in government accounting reforms, particularly IPSASs reforms, in South Asia.

Purpose – This empirical paper seeks to explore how the shift from traditional budgetary accounting toward accrual accounting declared by the Russian state has affected accounting practices of one public university.

Design/methodology/approach – The empirical data for this research are based on a case study conducted in one state-sponsored university of Russian tertiary education. Our approach is to look at the emergence and implementation of new accounting practices and technologies at the university within the context of broader public sector policy changes occurring in Russia.

Findings – The present study demonstrates that changes at state level have had their initial and most direct impact on formal rules at the university, but little or no impact on its everyday management activity. We claim that the intended changes have so far resulted in more rhetoric than reality, and the changes envisaged have yet to be implemented in university practice.

Research limitations/implications – Since the time frame devoted to this research does not allow the assessment of the final results of the declared reforms, this paper approaches new accounting techniques before they become an established practice at the university. It is also beyond the scope of this research to judge whether these results are applicable to other settings, such as other Russian higher educational establishments.

Practical implications – The paper raises concerns as to whether the old compliance mentality of the Russian state will bring about the desired reform outcome.

Originality/value – This paper provides insights into the nature of Russian public sector accounting change, both at central level and in a specific organizational setting.

This study aims to analyze the effect of top management team (TMT) expertise on real earnings management (REM) and accrual earnings management (AEM) activities in companies in Indonesia by examining a hand-collected secondary data from non-financial publicly listed companies in Indonesia in 2016 and 2017. The expertise of TMT members is measured by possession of a master’s degree, understanding and experience of managed core functional areas, and possession of accounting certifications such as CA or CPA. The results of the study show that the expertise of the members of the TMT has no influence on the activity of AEM in companies in Indonesia. Meanwhile, understanding and experience on the managed core functional areas have a positive influence on REM activities through abnormal cash flows. Possession of accounting certification has a positive influence on REM activities in companies that are in accordance with managerial entrenchment effects, as well as a negative influence on REM activities in companies through abnormal discretionary expenses that are in line with incentive-reduction effects.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the challenges and influential factors experienced in the development of public sector accounting reforms in the emerging economy of Sri Lanka. The reforms aim to improve public governance and transparency while reducing corruption and dishonesty.

Qualitative (thematic) analysis has been employed by using both primary and secondary data. Primary data was obtained by interviewing selected respondents from public sector organisations in Sri Lanka. The respondents were selected by using an expert purposive sampling technique. Apart from the primary data, secondary data such as government reports, relevant literature and paper articles was also analysed in order to produce more robust findings.

The findings indicate that technological and cultural factors have influenced accounting reforms in the public sector in Sri Lanka. In addition, the politicisation and bureaucracy of the public sector as well as sluggish attitudes towards costs have served as prominent barriers to efficient implementation of the reforms.

This study was limited in terms of generalisation because of relatively small sample sizes. A larger sample with more diversity could have enhanced the generalisation of the results which could serve as direction for further research.

This paper is intended to fill a gap in the existing literature on public sector accounting reforms in the context of less developed or emerging countries. It is hopefully valuable for both policy makers and practitioners by allowing them to view the development, challenges and influential aspects of the implementation of New Public Management (NPM) in Sri Lanka in order that they will be able to make informed decisions about adopting more efficient NPM practices to enhance the country’s competitive advantages.