Education in public sector accounting at higher education institutions in Germany

IMPACT

So far, there is little evidence on the relevance of public sector accounting (PSA) in the academic education of public administrators. This article presents empirical evidence of PSA in public administration and public management programmes in German universities. The authors show that PSA is almost irrelevant in research universities compared with programmes at universities of applied sciences—particularly at the bachelor level. If taught at all, subjects such as financial reporting, budgeting and cost accounting dominate the curricula; others are represented to a minor degree. Building on this, the authors discuss factors influencing the role and integration of PSA content in the respective curricula. They argue for broadening the narrow legalistic teaching of accounting and budgeting at undergraduate level and for introducing accounting basics in graduate programmes in research universities.

ABSTRACT

Empirical data about PSA education in Germany is rare. This article provides some basic information and explanation. Based on the analysis of curriculum documents and on expert interviews, the paper presents a detailed empirical picture of the relevance of PSA in programmes training public administrators in Germany. While accounting issues are quite relevant in bachelor programmes at universities of applied sciences, they are less relevant at the master’s level of such universities and almost irrelevant in research universities. Several factors influencing the decision to include PSA in the respective curricula were identified, among them the representation of accounting professors in the faculty, the development status of accounting reforms at the respective government level and the demands of recruiting authorities.

KEYWORDS:

• Accounting education
• Germany
• public sector accounting education (PSAE)
• public sector education
• research universities
• universities of applied sciences

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Christoph Reichard

Christoph Reichard is Emeritus Professor of Public Management at the University of Potsdam, Germany. His main research areas are public financial management, performance management and human resource management.

Nicole Küchler-Stahn

Nicole Küchler-Stahn is Professor of Public and Nonprofit Management at HTW Berlin, Germany. Her main research areas are performance budgeting, budgeting and accounting reforms and diversity management in the public sector.

John Siegel

John Siegel is Professor of Public Management at the Berlin School of Economics and Law, Germany. His main research areas are strategic management, organizational change and resource management in public administration.