Adoption of International Public Sector Accounting Standards in Public Sector of Developing Economies -Analysis of Five South Asian Countries

Abstract

We examined the extent of adoption of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) in South Asia and the challenges that are decelerating this process. The moderating organization, International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSAB), instituted IPSAS in an effort to improve financial reporting by public sector organizations and for comparability purposes. The aims of this research were to establish to what extent the IPSAS has been adopted in South Asia and determine the drawbacks contributing to its slow adoption process. To answer the study questions a literature review of the South Asian countries that have adopted the IPSAS was conducted. The study findings show that most of the South Asian nations have adopted the IPSASs though to different extents. Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have implemented the IPSAS but taking different approaches and directions, while India still uses the cash based accounting system. The key barriers include; lack of experienced staff, delay in provision of information by the public entities, and lack of a defined implementation timeframe which seem to cut across these countries.

International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) Adoption: An Institutional Perspective

“…Therefore, their existence was deemed as hindering rather than supporting such adoption. These views align with (Wang and Miraj 2018;Khdir and Białek-Jaworska 2020;El-Helaly et al 2020) that the weaker institutions and politicians, obstacles to infrastructure, and infrastructure corruption would impair the foreign investments inflow in greater ways than the adoption of international harmonised standards.…”

A Small Step Taken to Ensure Proper and Systematic Accounting Application Has Ensured Highest Revenue Earning in Tripura: A Critical Accounting Analysis of PIRSA System

“…It had positive impact through enhanced efficiency, effectiveness, accountability and allowed for better costing of programmes and services provided by government (Patrick, Danladi, Caleb, & Linda, 2017). But, it is found that some common challenges are faced by nations in South Asia in the adoption of IPSAS standards such as lack of experienced staff, inadequate change management structures, failure by the governments to institute professional committees to oversee the reforms, and inconsistencies in the adoption process by the individual public entities (Wang & Miraj, 2018). Accounting reforms, and its internal and external financial control systems give an impulse to all managerial fields -strategic management, human resources management, management by objectives, etc.…”

“…It is a significant step by these departments for strengthening the accounting system and proper fund management for getting positive support to fulfil shortages of funds as much as possible and for minimising deficits of funds for the State. It may be mentioned here that the PIRSA System was implemented by the author of this paper when he was working in those departments as an AO 15 at FCS&CA Department, and OSD (Finance) 16 at DHE and TTAADC in addition to his ongoing academic service.…”

Consolidated financial statement information and group reporting in the central government: a user-oriented approach

“…However, the possible benefits must be compared to the costs of implementation, such as personnel, training and consulting and ICT costs (Grossi and Pepe, 2009; Heald and Georgiou, 2000; Hepworth, 2017). In addition to resource and knowledge barriers (Wang and Miraj, 2018; Adebisi et al. , 2019), institutional barriers (Robb and Newberry, 2007; Oulasvirta, 2014) must also be anticipated.…”