This article examines the political processes surrounding public sector accounting standard setting, in particular, the Australian decision to adopt sector-neutral International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). It contends that the history of private and public sector involvement in the...

This paper examines the current move to the international harmonisation of public sector accounting standards in Australia and New Zealand. It argues that an examination of the historical arrangements to standard setting will do much to inform the current dilemmas posed by the current...

This paper focuses on issues and consequences for the public sector from the current policy decision to adopt sector-neutral International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) from reporting periods on or after 1 January 2005. It contends that an examination of the history of private and public...

Accounting practices in the public sector have undergone significant changes and reform in the past three decades (Barret, 1996; Hodges and Mellet, 2003; Guthrie, et al., This has included a trend in moving government accounting and external reporting to cohere with private sector models and approaches...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine the appropriateness of a general‐purpose financial reporting model derived from a “decision‐useful” framework for government departments. Design/methodology/approach – This research in this paper uses a survey methodology to access...

Governments in Australia are in the process of implementing accrual reporting for their departments and governments as a whole. The central issue of this paper is to provide an explanation as to how general purpose financial reporting became a significant issue for governments in Australia....

In the past two decades, the public sector both in Australia and overseas has undergone a period of intense change. The focus has been on efficiency, effectiveness and value for money of public sector operations. The methods by which governments account and report on their operations has...

Probity audits, real time audits which review compliance with process and conformance with guidelines, are gaining popularity in the Australian public sector. Prior research has noted that the conduct of probity audits by auditors‐general may pose problems for their independence. This paper...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine the appropriateness of a general-purpose financial reporting model derived from a “decision-useful” framework for government departments. Design/methodology/approach – This research in this paper uses a survey methodology to access...