IPSAS, EPSAS and other challenges in european public sector accounting and auditing

Abstract

Accounting and budgeting systems at all government levels and public sector entities in Europe have undergone substantial reforms under the New Public Management paradigm and a great variety of accounting and audit practices have been implemented in governments and public sector entities throughout Europe. As a consequence, the harmonization of public sector accounting in European Union Member States has been introduced into the EU political agenda. The chapter aims to synthetize the state-of-the-art in public sector accounting, budgeting, and auditing in some European countries while in parallel to take stock of the main challenges that public sector accounting faces in Europe. Moreover, it intends to critically evaluate the development of the European Public Sector Accounting Standards (EPSAS) as a tool for the harmonization of public sector accounting in Europe.