Does IPSAS Meet Heritage Assets’ User Needs?

ABSTRACT

Public organizations need to custody and protect heritage assets. This article questions the appropriateness and quality of the unique International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSASs) in delivering financial reports that meet the user needs in regard to heritage assets. By refining the earlier findings in Italian local governments with data from a completely different region being Flanders, the results highlight that the IPSASs are lacking an important area of expectations from a relevant user need perspective, being the local ruling politicians. Finally, current article improves previous publication by examining the different kinds of responses in the light of certain municipal characteristics.

List of abbreviations

IFRS: International Financial Reporting Standards IPSASs: International Public Sector Accounting Standards IPSASB: International Public Sector Accounting Standards Boards UNESCO: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

KEYWORDS:

• Comparative research
• heritage assets
• IPSAS
• local government
• user needs

Notes

¹ www.unesco.org.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Natalia Aversano

Natalia Aversano is an assistant professor in Accounting at University of Basilicata and holds a PhD in Public Sector Accounting. She teaches accounting for profit and nonprofit organizations and conducts research on public and private sector accounting. Her publications mainly concern IPSAS, harmonization of government financial information systems, heritage assets, IFRS 13, accounting education.

Johan Christiaens

Johan Christiaens is a professor in the Department of Public Governance, Management and Finance at Ghent University and director of ARPS (Accounting Research Public Sector UGent-EY). He is a member of the Comparative International Governmental Accounting Research Board (CIGAR). His research focuses on public and nonprofit sector accounting and auditing. He has published articles in Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, International Review of Administrative Sciences, and Public Management Review, among others.

Tine Van Thielen

Tine Van Thielen is a doctoral researcher at the Department of Human Resource Management and Organizational Behavior at the Ghent University, Belgium. Her research interests include performance management systems and team performance.