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The aim of this study is to critically evaluate the institutionalisation of International Public Sector Accounting Standards in Indonesia.

This case study approach relies on obtaining its data from document sources and interviews with relevant people and/or organisations involved in policy-making and implementation of IPSAS in Indonesia. To inform the study, we developed and used an integrated model of institutionalisation based on the work done by Dillard et al. (2004) and Dambrin et al. (2007).

Our model shows that dissemination of new ideals and the transformation of these new ideals into new discourses were institutionalised at the economic and political level. However, the creation of a new [accounting]technique took place in the organisational field, instead of organisational level. The internalisation of IPSAS in the organisational field is characterised by limited use of IPSAS-based reports for making decisions. Overall the institionalisation of IPSAS in Indonesia is dominated by actors external to local governments.

The study’s results reflect the specific socio-economic and political contexts for a specific point in time.

Policy-makers in developing nations should consider the applicability of IPSAS in accordance with the actual needs and capacities of their local governments.

The findings show that developing nations and international organisations have underestimated the technical and institutional issues of developing nations in the globalisation of IPSAS.

The study extends institutional theory by developing a new model to conceptualise the dynamic processes, the role of actors and outcomes of public sector accounting reforms in an emerging economy.

To better understand the use intensity of e-government service offerings among citizens, a considerable number of studies have examined correlations between various attitudinal constructs related to such offerings and citizens’ service adoption (intentions). This investigational paper aims to take a different angle by exploring associations between a set of 11 objectively identifiable household and individual behavioral and socio-demographic characteristics on the one side and three levels of e-government services use on the other.

The empirical analysis is based on survey responses of a random sample of 17,012 individuals residing in Germany.

Ordinal logistic regression analysis suggests that citizens with low use levels of public e-service offerings are most likely younger male persons with low levels of computer literacy, internet affinity and education, who have a migration background and live in small mid-level-income households located in rural communities.

The findings imply that public institutions may find it difficult to rapidly raise e-government acceptance by distributing only “technocratic” information explaining various service options. Public authorities should consider supplementing “pure” information programs by measures which ensure that the software of e-government service platforms is designed in a way guaranteeing a very high level of “usability”. Furthermore, they should analyze whether the benefits of providing e-government services in specific foreign languages outweigh the costs of such a service extension. If this is the case, an easy-to-use software menu item should be introduced which enables citizens to switch to another common foreign language.

The contribution of this paper results from the analysis of a set of objective predictors of e-government service use in a large random sample of citizens residing in Germany, whereas most prior studies are based on surveys of small convenience samples in other countries.

The purpose of this paper is to make policy recommendations for the current fiscal decentralization discussion by examining the operating mechanisms of local taxes, unconditional grants, and conditional grants within the fiscal relationships between the national government and local governments in Korea.

After examining the current fiscal relationships between the national government and the local governments, this paper analyzes trends of local taxes, unconditional grants from both national and high-level local governments, and conditional grants from both national and high-level (or provincial level) local governments between 2002 and 2015. Local governments are classified into high-level local governments, and three types of low-level local governments are: si, kun, and ku.

Since the structure of local government finances in Korea is very complicatedly intertwined, the present decentralization discussion regarding increasing the share of local tax revenues may not achieve its purpose of fiscal decentralization. The authorities in charge of revenue allocation should be first decentralized at high-level local governments; high-level local governments should then arrange unconditional and conditional grants from high-level local governments to low-level local governments while taking into consideration unconditional and conditional grants from the national government to low-level governments.

The dichotomy between the central government and local municipalities has been utilized in the existing discussion regarding fiscal decentralization in Korea, but this study highlights the important resource allocation roles of high-level local governments.

An attempt will be made to shed light on the course and pattern of the decentralization process by analyzing the historical development of local government and the territorial-administrative reform of 2015-2020 in Albania and the factors that have been shaping it. The scope is to understand the impact of the reform elements on the subnational governments and in general their overall impact on the government. The purpose of this paper is to fill the gap in the existing literature for Albania and at offering some insights on the administrative-territorial reform. Furthermore, it will contribute to the current debate on fiscal decentralization in South Eastern European (SEE) countries and the public management model implemented after the last reforms.

The first section analyzes the historical development of local government reforms from the 1990s to today and will help to identify if there is instrumentalism advocacy. The second section explains the determinants of the local government’s fiscal autonomy in Albania of the period from 2003 to 2016. Three indicators are used as proxies for fiscal decentralization: the proportion of subnational expenditure over national expenditure, of total subnational revenues over total revenues of central government and the indicator of own subnational revenues over total revenues of the central government. The data from the budget and the revised budgets are then compared.

Despite Albania’s commitment to decentralize its government functions, there is still work to do. The territorial and administrative reform has not generated the expected results. Almost 90 percent of the revenues still come from the central government’s unconditional transfers. Therefore, the Albanian Government should build capacities and skills, and train the employees of each level of government that currently benefit from international assistance.

The analysis represents a single case study on the territorial-administrative reform in Albania. Its implementation started in 2015 and it is probably too early to discuss outcomes. However, it might be useful to analyze the first results after a two-and-a-half-year period of implementation of reforms. Despite contributing to the existing gap in the literature, additional research will be necessary to better understand the decentralization process not only in Albania, but in all SEE countries.

It is necessary to first understand the lack of initial output, as well as the various challenges faced, in order to take the corrective measures on time.

This paper discusses in detail the reform adopted and the progress made by the Albanian local government units. The reform attempts to develop better relationships between the central and local governments and hence improve their service delivery, transparency and accountability. This paper is the first one that is attempting to analyze the initial output of the territorial-administrative reform of 2015-2020.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the extent of central government financial information disclosed in accordance with accrual-based International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) and to investigate the environmental factors affecting this level, drawing on the contingency theory framework.

This study uses a self-constructed checklist of 116 items to measure the IPSAS disclosure level by 100 public sector entities from different countries across the globe during the period 2015–2017. Panel regressions have been used.

The results show significant differences in compliance levels with IPSAS disclosures across nations. They reveal a positive influence of the degree of government openness (political culture), quality of public administration and management and prior experience with International Accounting Standards (IAS)/International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in the public sector on this level, whereas government financial condition is a nonsignificant factor.

The research findings are potentially relevant to academics, researchers, practitioners, standard-setters and government policymakers. By examining the influencing factors of IPSAS disclosure level, this paper paves the way for further investigation of this topic with a more extensive set of micro and macroeconomic variables whether at the central or local government level in other jurisdictions

This study provides new insights into the assessment of the transparency and completeness of government accrual-based financial statements. Based on the contingency theory, this paper is the first to empirically investigate the factors affecting the level of disclosure under accrual-based IPSAS by central government entities in a cross-country analysis.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework for assessing the maturity level of electronic government (e‐government).

The conceptual framework is based on two models: the intellectual capital (IC) management and the capability maturity model integration (CMMI).

The framework is composed of four input areas (human capital, structural capital, relational capital, and IT investment) and five maturity stages (web presence, interaction, transaction, integration, and continuous improvement). These areas are assessed by using the IC management model and the CMMI model. Employing the IC management process enables not only practitioners to effectively manage resources, but also auditors to more objectively assess the input area. Using the CMMI model allows governments to conduct process‐based assessments.

The paper contributes to the literature and practice in the following ways. First, it outlines how to define and assess key attributes of e‐government activities. It can help governments to enhance the awareness and understanding of maturity levels of e‐government. Second, this research expands the scope of current studies on a maturity model by providing a balanced view between input factors (resources) and results (maturity stages). For practitioners, assessing the input factors enables them to realize how to prioritize strategies and resources. For academics, this attempt sheds light on the concepts of IC in e‐government studies. Third, considering the CMMI model will be helpful to conduct an objective and useful assessment. On the basis of a matrix for assessing maturity levels, governments can conduct self‐assessment and establish stable and mature implementation processes.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

In the spirit of ‘Europe of the Regions’, local authorities are responsible for responding to the main interests, needs and preferences of the country’s citizens. Regional and local administrative authorities provide citizens with the necessary public goods, which reflect the trend towards ‘glocalisation’ in public administration at the European level, more significantly in the states in which the political system recently became democratic. With this background, the effectiveness of local self-government depends not only on local authorities’ decision-making freedom but also on (financial) support for it through decentralisation, and the member states of the European Union (EU) employ different strategies to achieve the same goal, with varying degrees of success. Within this context, our chapter offers a comparative analysis of the administrative, financial and local self-government decentralisation in member states, which include the southern and eastern regions on the outer edges of the EU. The general goal of our study is to identify the main trends in the present administrations and their challenges, as well as best practices that can offer lessons to other member states which are reforming their administration through decentralisation. In addition to the identified challenges, solutions and best practices, our study reveals a tendency towards consolidation at the level of regional government not only in the terms of legal responsibility but also of administrative budgets, thus generating an assumption of improvement in the general quality of governance in the member states.