Does accrual accounting alter fiscal policy decisions? - Evidence from Germany
Désirée Christofzik
European Journal of Political Economy, 2019, vol. 60, issue C
Abstract:
Many governments have replaced traditional cash-based accounting with some form of accrual-based accounting system. However, empirical evidence on the effects of the public accounting system on fiscal policy is scarce. Following rules by the federal states, municipalities in Germany have adopted accrual-based accounting systems gradually. By exploiting variations over time and across states I find no evidence for an impact on the overall financial balance. However, my findings suggest that accrual accounting has altered the structure of the budget. Revenues from the sales of non-financial assets have decreased significantly. This supports the hypothesis that municipalities had used these one-off measures before to meet fiscal constraints. Using data on entities controlled by the municipalities, the analysis provides no evidence for repercussions on these public funds, institutions or enterprises.
Keywords: Public sector accounting; Accrual accounting; Local public policy; Fiscal rules; Stock-flow adjustments (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H71 H72 H83 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)
Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0176268018305147
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
Related works:
Working Paper: Does accrual accounting alter fiscal policy decisions? Evidence from Germany (2019) 
Working Paper: Does Accrual Accounting Alter Fiscal Policy Decisions? - Evidence from Germany (2019) 
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:poleco:v:60:y:2019:i:c:s0176268018305147
DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2019.07.003
Access Statistics for this article
European Journal of Political Economy is currently edited by J. De Haan, A. L. Hillman and H. W. Ursprung
More articles in European Journal of Political Economy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().