Institutionalization of IPSAS Accruals: Perspectives of Practitioners from a Developing Economy

Abstract

The government of Ghana is simultaneously implementing accruals accounting and its convergence with the complex International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS). Consequently, the study investigated factors that could stifle the transition from the cash basis to the IPSAS accruals basis in public sector financial reporting. The study adopted the mixed method approach where eight practitioners were sampled for an interview based on the quantitative results. The study findings show that the use of accrual information, competencies of accountants, leadership support and personal valence of employees could affect the transition to IPSAS accruals. The results also show that human resources practices, may not affect the transition whereas financial resources availability may not influence employees’ support for the change. However, the effect of the competencies of accountants on the transition to IPSAS accruals, and the no influence of financial resources on employee’s valence to support IPSAS contradicts the quantitative results. The findings of the study may imply that the transition to IPSAS is likely to succeed if policymakers use the accruals information to make decisions, demonstrate political will, deploy competent accountants to covered entities and assure accounting staff about their job security