Usefulness of consolidated government accounts: A comparative study

ABSTRACT

This comparative empirical study on consolidated government accounting reforms in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Sweden reveals contextual differences affecting their adoption and usefulness. It can help policy-makers, public managers, and academics understand the gap between claims associated with the adoption of accounting technologies and their usefulness, as well as provide insights into dichotomies between their global proliferation and localized adaptations.

IMPACT

The belief in the usefulness of GAAP-based consolidated government accounts is not matched by a political will to make them more relevant. Although such systems are rhetorically appealing to reformers, once implemented, however, they struggle to compete against an institutional inertia of continued reliance on older accounting systems such as budgetary and statistical systems. The way forward requires asking how to best realign political incentives to focus on the longer-term benefits from using GAAP-based systems, such as improved clarity over long-term fiscal liabilities and transparency over the financing of hybrid entities that span both the public and private sectors.

KEYWORDS:

• Accruals accounting
• Australia
• Canada
• consolidated government accounts
• New Public Management
• New Zealand
• Sweden
• United Kingdom

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express their gratitude for the comments of our anonymous reviewers. We also thank the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants’ (ACCA) Certified Accountant’s Educational Trust (CAET) for grant-funding this study. CAET is Registered UK Charity No. 313219.