IPSAS in Latin America: innovation, isomorphism or rhetoric?

ABSTRACT

Over the past 30 years, many initiatives have been undertaken to reform public administration in Latin American countries. Among other aspects, the reforms seek to improve the transparency and accountability of the public sector by modernizing public accounting and budgeting systems. The adoption of accrual accounting in the public sector has been seen as an innovation and it is driven by the implementation of IPSAS. This paper sheds light on the process of reform of public financial management in Latin America and the state of implementation of IPSAS. The paper analyses the driving forces for adopting or adapting IPSAS, as well as the obstacles and challenges in doing so.

IMPACT

Latin America is at the forefront of the IPSAS implementation. This article analysis the factors that are contributing to this achievement. The reforms in this part of the world have the potential to become a reference for other implementation projects. The experiences and initiatives analysed in this paper will help managers and policy-makers to understand the relevance that adequate accounting systems have for public management, as well as the challenges that IPSAS implementation has in practice.

KEYWORDS:

• Accounting harmonization
• accrual accounting
• IPSAS
• Latin America
• Latin American accounting systems
• public financial management reforms (PFMR)
• public sector accounting

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).