Trends and Open Issues in Governmental Accounting Systems: Some Elements of Comparison

The countries in the Central American region, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama, have carried out a reform process of their public financial management systems, seeking to guarantee higher-quality, reliable and timely information, using mainly the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS). In this context, the chapter has a double objective. On the one hand, valuing from the Model of Contingency of the Professor Lüder, the influence of the environment in the implementation of processes of innovation in systems of government financial management in the Central American region. On the other hand analyze the main implementation strategies in the process of adoption or adaptation of IPSAS in these countries. For this purpose, interviews have been made with those responsible for the process of implementation of IPSAS in the countries of the region, as well as an in-depth review of the documents and legislation issued in government financial administration in these countries.

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The Process of Modernization of the Public Accounting Systems in the Central American Countries

Advances in Electronic Government, Digital Divide, and Regional Development - Tools, Strategies, and Practices for Modern and Accountable Public Sector Management ◽

10.4018/978-1-7998-1385-9.ch004 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 97-122

Author(s):

Carlos Eduardo Araya-Leandro ◽

Maria del Carmen Caba-Pérez ◽

Antonio Manuel López-Hernández

Keyword(s):

Central America ◽

Financial Management ◽

Management Practices ◽

International Federation ◽

Central American ◽

Accounting Systems ◽

Governmental Accounting ◽

The Public ◽

Implementation Processes

With the purpose of increasing the quality of public financial information, improving decision-making, transparency and accountability processes, the countries of the Central American region have made substantial efforts to improve their governmental accounting systems. For this reason, most countries have chosen to implement the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) issued by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). This process has been enhanced by the impulse of international financial organizations that aim to these countries advancing their government financial management practices. In this context, the objective of this research is to define the IPSAS implementation processes in the countries of Central America as well as to analyze the main elements of the environment that are in favor or against this process, as indicated by Professor Lüder's Contingency Model.

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Understanding governmental accounting change in a developing country context: the case of accrual-based accounting systems adoption by Indonesian local government

Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change ◽

10.1108/jaoc.2008.31504aad.002 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Marwata

Keyword(s):

Local Government ◽

Developing Country ◽

Accounting Systems ◽

Governmental Accounting

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Why Do Firms Write Off Their Goodwill? A Comparison of Different Accounting Systems

FINANCIAL REPORTING ◽

10.3280/fr2015-001002 ◽

2015 ◽

pp. 23-40 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Francesco Avallone ◽

Claudia Gabbioneta ◽

Paola Ramassa ◽

Marco Sorrentino

Keyword(s):

Good Deal ◽

Financial Statements ◽

Cash Flows ◽

Accounting System ◽

Anglo Saxon ◽

Accounting Systems ◽

Ifrs Adoption ◽

The Future

Increased comparability of financial statements across adopting countries is one of the main objectives of IFRS adoption. The level of achievement of this objective, however, is still debatable. While some studies have documented that crosscountry comparability of financial statements has increased after IFRS adoption, other studies have found that comparability has actually decreased since 2005. We contribute to this debate by studying whether the motivations for goodwill writeoff are the same or vary across countries with different accounting systems. Although a good deal of research has investigated the motivations for goodwill writeoff, our study is the first to analyze whether these motivations vary across countries with different accounting systems. We find that firms that expect low cash flows in the future are more likely to report goodwill write-offs if they are located in countries with an Anglo-Saxon accounting system than if they are located in countries with a Continental accounting system. These results suggest that IFRS are "interpreted" differently in different countries and that harmonization of financial statements has not been fully achieved yet.

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