Interactions of financial assistance and financial reporting competency: Evidence from local government in Papua and West Papua Indonesia

Abstract

Good local government financial statements are financial statements according to the qualitative characteristics of financial statements, which are relevant, reliable, comparable and understandable. However, the phenomenon shows that there are still weaknesses in financial reporting in several local governments in Indonesia, especially in the provinces of Papua and West Papua based on the findings of the Audit Board of the Republic of Indonesia (IHPS II BPK, 2017). The purpose of this study is to obtain empirical evidence of the role of moderating financial assistance and apparatus competency on the quality of government financial reports. Explanation of the relationship between variables was using an institutional theory perspective. The survey was conducted in 2018 on 42 Local Governments in Papua and West Papua. Methods of processing and analyzing data were using SEM-PLS with WarpPLS 6.0 statistical software. The results of the apparatus competency research have a positive effect on the quality of financial statements. A financial resistance positively strengthens the influence of apparatus competency on the quality of local government financial reports. Thus, efforts to overcome the presentation of quality financial statements require competent apparatus through the existence of financial assistance policies. Limitations of the study are the method of collecting data using a questionnaire and that it is very possible for the bias to occur. Therefore, efforts to achieve better results need to be accompanied by an interview method in order to obtain additional information as a comparison of respondents' answers; 2) the determination coefficient value of R-square is 0.41 or 41% indicating that there are still 0.59 or 59% variability in the quality of Local Government Financial Statements (LKPD) which can be explained by other variables outside the research model.