Implementing IFRS in local government: value adding or additional pain?

Robyn Pilcher and Graeme Dean

Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, 2009, vol. 6, issue 3, 180-196

Abstract: Purpose - The aim of this paper is determine the impact financial reporting obligations and, in particular, the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) have on local government management decision making. In turn, this will lead to observations and conclusions regarding the research question: “Does reporting under the IFRS regime add value to the management of local government?” Design/methodology/approach - Following analysis of a survey instrument distributed to all local governments in all states of Australia, this research reports on interviews within Australia's largest state – New South Wales (NSW). Findings - In general, findings suggest that for smaller councils and those situated away from the major cities, the time spent on complying with IFRS and various other legislative demands results in management accounting issues often being downplayed. Research limitations/implications - A further paper needs to be conducted in order to determine in the second year of implementation the impact of IFRS – both in Australia and, in the future, in other countries – where local government is implementing IFRS. Practical implications will be evident when all Australian states are compared as NSW is the only state where an IFRS template has been produced for all local authorities. Originality/value - This is the first known analysis of IFRS in local government in Australia, and possibly the world. It utilises both survey and interview instruments within an institutional theory framework to capture the full richness of data available.

Keywords: International standards; Financial reporting; Australia; Management strategy; Local government (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (text/html)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

Related works:
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:eme:qrampp:v:6:y:2009:i:3:p:180-196

DOI: 10.1108/11766090910973920

Access Statistics for this article

Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management is currently edited by Lukas Goretzki and Thomas Ahrens

More articles in Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management from Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Emerald Support ().