Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• Ali Mohammadi ¹
• Heidar Mohammadzadeh Salteh ²
• Zahra Dianati Deilami ³
• Yaqoub Aghdam Mazraeh ⁴

¹ Ph.D. Candidate Accounting, Marand Branch, Islamic Azad University, Marand, Iran

² Associate Professor of Accounting Department, Marand Branch, Islamic Azad University, Marand, Iran

³ Associate Professor of accounting, Faculty of financial sciences, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran

⁴ asisitant professor of accounting, sofian branch , Islamic Azad University, Azarbayjan,Iran

Abstract

Because of the important part of the information required to be met through financial accounting and reporting systems, the existence of valid criteria to ensure the proper quality of financial reporting is one of the most important pillars of the public sector accountability system. The present research seeks to investigate the challenges of financial reporting quality in the public sector by using the Grounded Theory approach. A sampling of snowball from 27 experts (including professors and managers of executive agencies) was interviewed in 2018. The analysis of the interviews led to the identification of the categories. Each of these factors has sub-categories and concepts. The results of this research show that the categories of financial reporting quality in the public sector are the budget structure, public sector infrastructure, human resource quality, accounting system and accounting, education, and accountability system of the community as well-known underlying factors. Lack of qualified human resources, lack of academic professors and professional experts, low level of systemic-analytic thinking, change in politicians' attitudes and human resource resistance to innovations as inputs. Weaknesses in the implementation of accrual accounting, total failure to implement operational budgeting, political influence in the decision-making process, inaccessibility to the annual budget performance statement, and the lack of recognition of some items of financial statements as processes were identified. The consequence of the financial reporting quality in the public sector is the failure to achieve the public sector financial reporting goals, the lack of allocation of funds to public sector expenditures, the exacerbation of the budget deficit, the scarcity and inefficiency of public finance reporting, the increased loss of resources and the lack of accountability.

Keywords

• The quality of financial reporting in the public sector
• budgeting structure
• accountability
• Grounded Theory Approach