PUBLIC SECTOR COMBINATIONS: A NEW CHALLENGE FOR IPSASB

Mitu Ina () and Adriana Tiron Tudor
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Mitu Ina: 1Department of Audit and Accounting, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania,

Annals of Faculty of Economics, 2013, vol. 1, issue 2, 540-549

Abstract: The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) has released in June 2012 a Consultation Paper (CP) entitled “Public Sector Combinations†(PSCs) to initiate discussion on the possible accounting treatment for these events. The purpose of this paper is to examine and to provide an overview, regarding the reactions of various categories of preparers, users, auditors, standard-setters and other interested parties to this CP. The research involves a qualitative approach based on the detailed examination and the content analysis of twenty six comment letters that are collected from the official website of the IPSASB. To this end, we analyse the answers to seven specific matters for comment (SMCs) and nine preliminary views (PVs). This research shows that the proposals generally encounter favourable reactions by the different organizations around the world. Most of the respondents that provide general comments support the need for guidance in this area and provide specific comments for improvement. However, some differences of opinion between respondents have been detected. Furthermore, respondents from France are not satisfied with the provisions of the CP and suggest that the text should emphasize on amalgamations. Another three respondents are of the view that transactions between public sector entities (PSEs) cannot be likened to commercial transactions and recommend the IPSASB to explore more in depth public sector oriented situations. The results of this study indicate that for this standard to be successful, further investigations concerning the PSCsâ€(tm) theoretical and practical implications are necessary. The importance of this topic, as well as the impact of the IPSASB on the government combinations accounting treatment impose the necessity of examining the feedback of worldwide organizations which are interested on this issue. Thus, this paper is original in that it addresses the problem of a possible accounting treatment for PSCs in the standard development process of IPSASB, emphasizing a significant gap in the literature regarding accounting treatment specific for these events.

Keywords: public sector combinations; IPSASB; Consultation Paper; comment letters (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L32 M41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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