Accounting and various aspects of finance
Ahmad Mahdavi; Ali Zabihi; Abassali Pouraghajan
Abstract
The purpose of this research is to evaluate the challenging areas of accrual accounting implementation in the General Department of the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Mazandaran province. The methodology of this study is mixed. In the qualitative part, through systematic screening, the challenging ...
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The purpose of this research is to evaluate the challenging areas of accrual accounting implementation in the General Department of the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Mazandaran province. The methodology of this study is mixed. In the qualitative part, through systematic screening, the challenging areas of accrual accounting implementation in the public sector are identified. Subsequently, these dimensions' reliability is assessed in two stages of Delphi analysis. Finally, in the quantitative part, through interpretive ranking analysis, the study seeks to evaluate the areas identified in the context of the General Department of the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Mazandaran province. The results of the study in the qualitative part indicated the existence of 9 challenging areas for the implementation of accrual accounting in the public sector, and during the process of fuzzy Delphi analysis, 8 criteria were confirmed as the reasons for the gap in the implementation of accrual accounting. Then, in the quantitative part, the study determined that the challenge of applying accounting standards of the public sector is a key factor in creating a gap in the implementation of accrual accounting in the General Department of the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Mazandaran province. The results also indicate that the public sector accounting standards, despite various amendments over the years, have tried to improve the implementation of accrual accounting in the public sector.IntroductionWith the emergence of accounting in the public sector, the nature and form of responsibility and accountability has changed so that organizations gradually moved towards transparency through accounting. These organizations were the guardians of public interests and had to consider themselves responsible for the needs of citizens. The dominant approach at the time of the formation of the role of accounting in the public sector was to focus on the cash basis. In doing so, public sector organizations tried to identify and disclose revenues and expenses identically and at the time of occurrence (Ismail, 2023). However, with the beginning of paradigm changes in the broad field of human sciences, this part of the accounting functions of the public sector has also changed, and many organizations have started moving towards the accrual basis in the disclosure of financial events from the mid-80s. In essence, accrual accounting has been considered the cornerstone of reforming financial information systems in public sectors. This shift was created in response to the acceptance of changes from traditional public management (PM) to modern public management (NPM), driven by the low efficiency of accountability and transparency systems. On the other hand, the emergence of legitimacy approaches, borrowed from business management to promote accountability in the public sector, has fueled the development of citizen rights management mechanisms in the last decade, transforming traditional public financial management (PFM) into modern public financial management (NPFM) (Dissanayake and Dellaportas, 2023). MethodologyIn terms of the results, this study is considered part of development research. This is because the issue of identifying the challenging areas of implementing accrual accounting in the public sector has been investigated in previous research as a main variable or complementary to other operational aspects of government accounting, such as budgeting, responsiveness, internal controls, and others. However, it has not been considered as a theoretical framework for explanation in the General Department of the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Mazandaran province. Conducting this study can help the development of theoretical and analytical literature in this field of study. The existence of this gap in the literature led us to present a model and evaluate the challenging areas of implementing accrual accounting in the public sector through the combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis processes. Therefore, in terms of the type of data, this study should be considered mixed, as the qualitative section identifies the challenging areas of accrual accounting implementation in the public sector through systematic screening, and Delphi analysis is used to confirm the reliability level of the identified dimensions. Then, based on the process of interpretative ranking analysis in the quantitative part, the study seeks to evaluate the challenging areas of accrual accounting implementation in the General Department of the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Mazandaran province. ResultIn this study, an effort was made to identify the most relevant dimensions that contribute to gaps in the implementation of accrual accounting in the public sector. This was achieved through systematic screening of research literature and a subsequent Delphi analysis for reliability assessment of these dimensions. Then, through interpretive ranking analysis, the study aimed to determine the most challenging areas in implementing accrual accounting in the General Department of the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Mazandaran Province. The specific analysis revealed that the challenge of applying public sector accounting standards is the most significant factor contributing to the gap in the implementation of accrual accounting in the General Department of the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Mazandaran Province. ConclusionIn interpreting these results, it should be noted that although the public sector accounting standards have undergone various amendments over the years to improve the implementation of accrual accounting, there remains a lack of coverage in aspects of compliance with Clause (d) of Article (28) of the Accession Law. Certain provisions in the law that regulates a part of the government's financial regulations (2), specifically those concerning spending credits and acquisition of capital assets, suggest that the absence of distinct headings in alignment with the program and budget organization could facilitate the reallocation of resources to different expenditure categories within organizations. This is an issue in the public sector for which a specific mechanism, as per Article (30) of the Program and Budget Law, has not been approved, thus impacting the ability to commit and accurately allocate credits and expenses for capital assets. Additionally, although Circular No. 210786/57, dated 11/7/2014, was issued to public sector organizations to address the obligations of excess reporting and credit allocation for saving realized costs, there exists an implementation gap in this directive. This gap affects the supervisory role in liability obligations, leading to an excess in credit allocation often recorded under other debt headings instead of being classified as reserves for realized expenses or capital obligations.
