The Impact of IFRS Adoption on Public Sector Financial Statements

Following a sector neutral approach to standard setting for about a decade, New Zealand adopted International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for profit‐oriented entities and all other sectors including the public sector, from 2007 with the option to adopt early in 2005. Some studies have examined the impact of IFRS adoption on the accounts of profit‐oriented entities and found that this change had a significant impact on assets, liabilities and equity. This study examines the impact of adoption of IFRS on New Zealand public sector entities’ financial statements. We analyse and compare the reconciliation notes of IFRS and pre‐IFRS New Zealand Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (NZ GAAP) reported in the first IFRS annual reports of all New Zealand public sector entities. The results indicate that there have been some significant increases in assets and liabilities, and significant decreases to overall equity in some sub‐sectors of the public sector. The primary causes of such changes were recognition of employee entitlements (IAS 19) and recognition of derivative financial instruments (IAS 39) for many public sector entities, as well as remeasurement of deferred taxation for public sector commercial enterprises (IAS 12). In addition, public sector entities made many reclassifications between current and non‐current financial statement elements that did not impact on the aggregate balances of the entities’ balance sheets. In general, the findings of this study are similar to findings of studies that examined the impact of IFRS on private enterprises. The findings of this study contribute to the understanding of the implication of IFRS adoption and might be useful to policy makers and regulators who are currently reviewing the applicability of IFRS to public sectors in Australia and New Zealand and other countries.     

International experiences in whole of government financial reporting: lesson-drawing for Spain

This article focuses on whole of government accounts from a comparative perspective and identifies key lessons for Spain and other European countries with a continental accounting system. The authors examine the issues involved in whole of government financial reporting in New Zealand, Australia, the UK and North America. They conclude that whole public sector consolidated accounts are not currently feasible in Spain and that consolidation should start at each level of government.     

Consolidation in the public sector: a cross-country comparison

This article analyses consolidated annual accounts in the public sector in six countries (Sweden, the UK, the USA, Canada, New Zealand and Australia) highlighting the differences and similarities in approaches. The authors also examine international trends and take an in-depth look at the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB).     

VALUE FOR MONEY AUDITING IN NEW ZEALAND: COMPETING FOR CONTROL IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR

This paper provides an overview of the changing role of performance or Value for Money (VFM) auditing in the New Zealand public sector. In many countries there has been a strong interest in public sector reform and the place of accounting technologies such as VFM. A theoretical framework, derived from public policy literature, is used to explain the changing role and relevance of VFM auditing in New Zealand. Within the policy process problems, solutions and opportunities are relatively separate streams. Expert groups or epistemic communities compete to define the problem and to advocate their particular solutions. The Office of the Auditor-General is presented as an epistemic community within the New Zealand policy process and the technology of VFM as a solution to the problems of the day. However, the Treasury (NZ) also developed a policy solution involving radical restructure of the public sector, challenging the existing role of VFM. In response, the Audit Office re-defined the role of VFM auditing as a service to the parliamentary select committees. The changing role of VFM illustrates the flexible and the contestable nature of accounting technologies and casts some doubt on the argument that the growth of accounting in the public sector is inevitable.     

From bookkeeping to strategic tools?: A discussion of the reforms in the Nordic hospital sector

This paper presents some aspects on the introduction of more accountable management control reforms in the Nordic hospital sector. A contingency model is used to analyse the complexity of the public sector government. Contextual and behavioural variables are discussed to explain the reform processes in the Nordic countries.Several international field studies in the hospital settings show that there are similarities and differences in the implementation of the management reforms in the European countries. The most striking difference is the level of central state versus local government participation in the reform processes. In the Nordic countries, the reform initiative is centrally driven. But there are differences as to the use of national standard prices and pricing of services made by the hospitals themselves. Commercial-like management logic such as accrual accounting is gradually being introduced on a general level. However, there are different motives and directions of changes in the countries.The interpretation and use of accounting information by key clinicians needs careful evaluation. It is at this level of the individual clinical actors that the most important decisions are made about how resources are spent on hospital patient treatments.     

THE DEVELOPMENT OF CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORKS OF ACCOUNTING FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR

This paper offers a review of the conceptual framework projects that have been done by, or on behalf of, accounting standard-setting bodies, and that have concerned themselves with public sector accounting. Developments since 1966 in North America are the primary focus, although the UK and New Zealand are also explicitly addressed. The major theme identified is the ubiquity of the user/user needs approach, despite the continuing lack of evidence about user needs. The paper tries to explain this and concludes that standard-setting bodies have used these conceptual frameworks to establish their own legitimacy, by appealing to the public interest.     

以市场检验推动公共服务型政府建设

20世纪80年代以来,在"新公共管理"运动的推动下,以英国、新西兰、澳大利亚为代表的一些国家普遍实行了"公共服务市场化"改革。这一改革浪潮席卷世界,并逐步发展成为大多数国家转变政府职能的一种主流模式。实践证明,与传统的政府"自给自足"和"垄断供应"模式相比,以市场检验为标志的公共服务改革大大降低了公共服务供给成本,提高了公共服务效率,改善了公共部门运行绩效,并为充分运用市场力量推动政府改革提供了新的机遇和动力。     

Infrastructure Accounting for Local Authorities: Technical Management and Political Context

Internationally, there has been mounting interest in the subject of accounting for infrastructure assets and their deterioration. In New Zealand, the adoption of full accrual accounting across the public sector from 1989 has meant that local authorities have been grappling for some time with the problem of how best to account for these assets in a manner which is relevant for both managers and elected representatives. This paper reviews methods of accounting for infrastructure in New Zealand local authorities, and explores how infrastructure assets and related expenses might be accounted for in a manner which is consistent with both the New Zealand accounting profession's conceptual framework and the requirements of democratic decision making over the allocation of resources.     

A BUDGETHOLDING EXPERIMENT IN NEW ZEALAND

This paper provides a case study of a New Zealand health centre which embarked on a budgetholding (similar to UK fundholding) trial in 1992. The case study is grounded in the changes underway in the New Zealand public sector and in the management and organisation of health care. The case discusses the impact of the budgetholding trial on the practice and reflects on the future of budgetholding in New Zealand. Initial indications are that general practitioners are moving away from practice based budgetholding and are combining into Independent Practice Associations (IPAs) to facilitate contract negotiations and to provide additional leverage in dealing with secondary care providers.     

An Assessment of the Impact of IFRS Adoption on Public Sector Audit Fees and Audit Effort – Some Evidence of the Transition Costs on Changes in Reporting Regimes

While many countries have adopted International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for private sector enterprises, New Zealand (NZ), Australia and the United Kingdom adopted IFRS for all sectors, including the public sector. This approach is consistent with the concept of sector‐neutral accounting standards that gained wide acceptance in NZ and Australia in the early 1990s. Although a number of studies have assessed the impact of IFRS adoption in the private sector, and the public sector has provided some evidence as to the effects of IFRS adoption on financial statements, the costs of adopting IFRS have not been examined. One measure of cost is the change in audit fees in an IFRS reporting environment. The authors examine the impact of IFRS adoption in the NZ public sector on audit fees and audit effort. They obtained data regarding audit fees and audit effort in the NZ public sector and compared the pre‐adoption year with the first year of adoption for all segments. Their results indicate a substantial increase in audit fees and audit effort in the first year of IFRS adoption for all segments, with some variation across the segments. Two sectors, local authorities and energy companies, have had significant increases in audit fees and audit effort. These findings provide some empirical evidence regarding the cost of transition to IFRS and are of interest to researchers and regulators in countries that are currently considering transitioning to IFRS or IFRS‐based International Public Sector Accounting Standards standards in reporting for the public sector.     

Public Sector Reform in New Zealand and Its Relevance to Developing Countries

Does New Zealand's success story have lessons for developingcountries contemplating public sector reform? That questionusually elicits one of two reactions, both inadvisable in theauthors' view. The first reaction is to be impressed with theefficacy of the reforms and conclude that they should be adopteduncritically in other countries. The second reaction is thatthe special conditions existing in New Zealand are such thatnone of its reform experience is relevant to others. The authorstake a middle position, maintaining that poorer countries canindeed extrapolate from the experience of their higher incomeneighbor despite the different conditions under which they haveto operate. New Zealand's comprehensive overhaul of its publicsector affords both general principles and specific elementsrelevant to countries looking to improve the quality, efficiency,and cost effectiveness of their public service sectors, anda careful analysis of those reforms can ascertain what mightbe transferable and what principles might apply.      

Note on a New Zealand replication of the Innes et al. UK activity-based costing survey

Activity-based costing (ABC) is a well known technique for costing products and providing management information. This note reports the results of a faithful replication in New Zealand (NZ) of Innes et al.’s 1999 UK survey of ABC usage and a comparison of the results of the two surveys.Adoption rates were found to be similar, with NZ companies showing slightly lower rates of implementation of ABC than UK companies. However, once they had implemented the method, NZ companies demonstrated greater commitment to ABC across more areas of the firm than UK companies. ABC systems in NZ tended to display less complexity than their UK counterparts. Strong correlations were found in the different uses of ABC by industry sector, but there were contrasting perceptions on the success and importance of some ABC applications.This study provides an insight into ABC in NZ, data on trends in ABC experiences between two countries of widely differing size and geographic location, and suggestions for further research.     

Are ICTs promoting government accountability?: A comparative analysis of e-governance developments in 19 OECD countries

This paper tries to assess to what extent Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) enable better accountability in public bureaucracies through e-governance initiatives. Accountability has extended its meaning to embrace, besides financial accountability, openness and transparency initiatives which aim at making both the control of government by the citizenry and public discussion between citizens and governments easier. New styles of governance represent a change from traditional bureaucratic systems to pluricentric systems. This article conducts an empirical study of the effect of ICTs on accountability in the central governments of the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and 15 EU countries, the latter representing around 84% of the EU population. Our analysis shows that developments and changes in financial accountability levels depend on both the context and characteristics of public administration styles and on how information is disclosed. The results in the political and citizen dialogue dimensions of public accountability show that the application of ICTs to the public sector, fits well into any kind of public administration style, especially at the billboard stage, since it does not entail substantial changes in the style of the government to citizen (G2C) relationship.     

Does it Pay to Work in the Public Sector? Evidence from Three Decades of Econometric Analyses

Evidence suggests there were some large positive pay premiums in the UK public sector between the 1970s and early 1980s, but by the end of the 1990s only female public sector workers benefited from working in the public sector. The gradual erosion of other traditional benefits of working in the sector, such as greater job security and more generous pension entitlements, reinforces this conclusion. In addition to indicating where further research is required, this article presents a full taxonomy of the econometric results and addresses New Labour's renewed emphasis on regional pay (to reflect the regional cost of living) that should be of interest to practising managers concerned with recruitment, retention and motivation of public sector employees.     

The translation and sedimentation of accounting reforms. A comparison of the UK,Austrian and Italian experiences

Since the late 1980s, there has been a significant and progressive movement away from the traditional Public Administration (PA) systems, in favour of NPM-type accounting tools and ideas inspired by the private sector. More recently, a new focus on governance systems, under the banner Public Governance (PG), has emerged. In this paper it is argued that reforms are not isolated events, but are embedded in more global discourses of modernisation and influenced by the institutional pressures present in a certain field at certain points in time. Using extensive document analysis in three countries with different administrative regimes (the UK, Italy and Austria), we examine public sector accounting and budgeting reforms and the underlying discourses put forward in order to support the change. We investigate the extent to which the actual content of the reforms and the discourses they are embedded within are connected over time; that is, whether, and to what degree, the reform “talk” matches the “decisions”. The research shows that in both the UK and in Italy there is consistency between the debates and the decided changes, although the dominant discourse in each country differs, while in Austria changes are decided gradually, and only after they have been announced well in advance in the political debate. We find that in all three countries the new ideas and concepts layer and sediment above the existing ones, rather than replace them. Although all three countries underwent similar accounting and budgeting reforms and relied on similar institutional discourses, each made its own specific translation of the ideas and concepts and is characterised by a specific formation of sedimentations. In addition, the findings suggest that, at present in the three countries, the PG discourse is used to supplement, rather than supplant, other prevailing discourses.     

IPSAS or IFRS as the Framework for Public Sector Financial Reporting? New Zealand Preparers’ Perspectives

The last 30 years have seen public sector accounting in many countries undergo considerable change. More recently, some governments adopted accrual accounting and International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), some adopted modified International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) while others continued with cash‐based accounting. New Zealand (NZ) has, for more than two decades, followed a sector neutral approach to financial reporting and standard setting where the same accounting standards were applied to all entities in all sectors: for‐profit, not‐for‐profit and the public sector. This period included the adoption of IFRS by for‐profit entities with minor modifications for the public sector. The suitability of IFRS for the public sector has been questioned and, recently, standard setters in NZ decided to adopt a sector‐specific standard‐setting approach with multiple tiers for each sector. The for‐profit sector will continue to follow IFRS but reporting standards for the public sector will be based on IPSAS. In this period of change we sought the views of preparers of public sector financial reports regarding the users of such reports and their preferences for the public sector reporting framework. We also sought the views of the preparers regarding the usefulness of each financial statement for users, and whether the benefits of reporting by their organisations exceeds the costs. The findings indicate support for maintaining IFRS as a basis for reporting in the NZ public sector. However, IPSAS modified to NZ conditions is also perceived as an acceptable option by respondents in this study. The income statement is, in the opinion of the respondents in this study, the most useful statement while cash flows appear to hold little value. A high proportion of respondents believe that the benefits of reporting exceed the costs, which contradicts the view that such reports are mainly compliance documents that provide little value. This finding contributes to the continuing debate on costs versus benefits on the recent introduction of IPSAS as the reporting framework for the public sector and the perceived appropriateness of IPSAS in public sector reporting.     

The Balanced Scorecard in New Zealand Health Sector Performance Management: Dissemination to Diffusion

Many countries are turning to the balanced scorecard to measure and manage performance in the public health sector. Questions remain, however, about the usefulness of this tool for promoting accountability and strategic management in this domain. This paper draws on diffusion of innovations theory and international comparisons to explore the effectiveness of a BSC in New Zealand hospitals. The findings suggest that the NZ hospitals BSC has some way to go in moving from its current status as a mandated reporting requirement to become an effective mechanism for supporting health sector accountability and management.     

‘Pushing the Boundaries’ versus Identifying the Boundaries: An Institutional Perspective on NPM Principles

This paper considers the boundaries of new public management (NPM) principles in the context of the mandate for a commercial approach within a New Zealand state‐owned enterprise (SOE). Investigating a commercial approach to NPM through an institutional theory lens, the case study highlights complexities and potential conflict between structured NPM principles and the more complex reality. Analysis reveals blurred lines and boundaries have implications for public sector organisations such as SOEs, government and other stakeholders, where managers push the boundaries beyond the point where stakeholders are comfortable. Thus, a key challenge involves developing clearer institutional boundaries to balance freedoms with stakeholder acceptability.     

Derivatives Usage and Financial Risk Management in Large and Small Economies: A Comparative Analysis

The objective of this paper is to expand and update previous New Zealand — based surveys in order to compare and contrast risk management practices of firms in the small, foreign trade-dependent economy of New Zealand to those of firms in the considerably larger, more developed US, UK, and German markets. This survey examines patterns of usage, reasons and objectives for derivatives use, and reporting and control procedures and finds that the practice of hedging with derivative instruments among New Zealand firms appears to be evolving as global markets become more integrated. We find that the percentage of firms involved in hedging, both large and small, has grown since the last New Zealand surveys, and that New Zealand firms have many of the same reasons and objectives for using derivatives as firms in the much larger American and European economies. We also find that the focus on control and reporting derivatives transactions in New Zealand is similar to that of firms in the other countries and appears to have strengthened since previous surveys.     

The governance of public bodies in times of austerity

Private sector governance arrangements have been imported into UK public bodies under the influence of New Public Management reforms. This paper draws on a cohort study of 14 public bodies to assess the appropriateness of this practice and the impact of fiscal austerity during the study period of 2010–16. Based on multiple sources, including interviews with Chairs and Chief Executives, it shows that, though similar to private corporate Boards in appearance, public Boards are often excluded from the strategy role. They are also vulnerable to the elastic definition of policy over which Ministers assert dominance, thereby blurring accountability. It demonstrates the tension between vertical accountability to government principals and horizontal accountability to stakeholders. During the study window, public bodies were abolished, broken up, merged, reconfigured or taken back into core government, as the UK Government imposed austerity measures to reduce the size of the fiscal deficit and to diminish government roles in delivery, financing and regulation of public services. Surviving public bodies in the study suffered deep budget cuts and less autonomy from central control. These findings are interpreted as evidence of the re-territorialisation of the UK public sector, with accruals accounting and accounting consolidation practices playing a facilitating role.