Adoption of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards in emerging economies and low-income countries: a structured literature review

Abstract

PurposeThe aim of the study is to review the extant literature on International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) adoption in emerging economies (EEs) and low-income countries (LICs) (“what do we know?”), and to propose an agenda for future research (“what do we need to know?”).Design/methodology/approachAn analytical framework that builds on diffusion theory is developed. The authors follow the “PRISMA Flow Diagram” to reduce a total of 427 articles from four databases to a final sample of 41 articles. These studies are examined, aided by the analytical framework.FindingsThe authors find that IPSASs are a relevant issue for EEs/LICs. Overall, existing research is often explorative. The authors discover that the majority of articles rely on secondary data collection. While two-thirds of the studies perform a content analysis of pre-existing material, about one-fifth of the articles each collect primary data through means of interviews and questionnaires. The findings offer a holistic understanding of where and at what stages IPSAS reforms stand in EEs/LICs, and what factors influence the progression of reforms to the next stage of diffusion.Originality/valueThe authors outline a number of avenues for further research after discussing the dominating trends and structuring the literature based on our analytical framework. These stem from looking at the blank spots and an identified need to contextualise IPSASs adoption in EEs/LICs.

Accrual Accounting at Different Levels of the Public Sector: A Systematic Literature Review

“…While other studies overview the extent of adoption and the challenges faced by central governments (e.g., , ours differs because we examine the experiences of various levels of government to obtain more comprehensive and nuanced insights into the challenges faced and benefits derived from accrual accounting. This review can be regarded as an extension of Christensen (2007) and complements the reviews by Goddard (2010) on public sector accounting research, Schmidthuber et al (2020), which revolves around IPSAS, and Polzer et al (2021), which focuses on IPSAS adoption among emerging economies.…”

“…(2020), which revolves around IPSAS, and Polzer et al. (2021), which focuses on IPSAS adoption among emerging economies.…”

The future of public sector accounting research. A polyphonic debate

“…Much research has been devoted to that development (for an early 24-year review, refer Christensen, 2007) but consequences of the continuation of largely strict cash-based budgeting are less well known. In the period of change, extravagant claims on behalf of an "accrual revolution" captured the attention of politicians, administrators, auditors, practitioners and researchers (for two recent reviews of public sector accrual accounting, refer Hazhar et al, 2022;Polzer et al, 2022aPolzer et al, , 2022b. One would expect that such excitable claims would result in a rejuvenated PSAR.…”

“…A review of van Helden et al (2021) on PSA in emerging economies shows that many papers attempt to explain failing accounting innovations with reference to the local context in which they are embedded, including political instability, poor governance and a lack of capabilities. The specific reviews on International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSASs) adoption in emerging economies conducted by Polzer et al (2022aPolzer et al ( , 2022b 3. Perspectives on public sector accounting 3.1 Pawan Adhikari PSA reforms in emerging economies have been studied in line with the changing development discourses of international organisations, most notably the World Bank (Hopper et al, 2009).…”

“…There is an understanding that development has become more of an analytical context than a context-specific phenomenon. As is the case with regard to publicness (Steccolini, 2019;Bracci et al, 2021), claims have therefore been made that, by rethinking development, PSAR situated in emerging economies could avoid an encounter with international organisations in the evolving post-Covid era and show how accounting is implicated in wider social issues, which have a direct bearing on people's well-being, including resilience building, co-production, creating public value and addressing climate change and other wicked problems (Kuruppu et al, 2021;van Helden et al, 2021;Polzer et al, 2022aPolzer et al, , 2022bAdhikari and Jayasinghe, 2022). As discussed in wider contexts (Steccolini, 2019), these initiatives would also enable PSA researchers to promote interdisciplinary studies in emerging economies, as well as to contribute to policymaking.…”