The HM 'Treasure's Island': A Theoretical Analysis of Central Government Accounting Standards in UK Yuri Biondi Hot

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Uploaded by Yuri Biondi     Uploaded date: August 01, 2014    
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Publication date
January 08, 2013
Author(s)
Paper language
Abstract
Since the nineties, UK has been progressively adopting a Governmental accounting reform purporting to interpret and mimic accounting standards and practices from the private sector. Since 2009, the UK set of accounting standards applicable to the whole of central government entities is based upon the international accounting standards (IFRS) initially designed for commercial enterprises, the latter standards having extensively inspired the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS). This article summarizes the main pattern of this English accounting reform and analyses some theoretical and practical concerns raised by its application of a fair value accounting model to the public administration. Among others, these concerns are illustrated by the case of public private partnerships (PPP, PFI) that have been held off balance sheet (eluding then accounting and budgetary controls) notwithstanding their material impact on English public deficit and debt. The paper drives then relevant considerations and implications for representation and control of public deficit and debt in UK and in general.
Preferred Citation
Biondi, Yuri (2016), The HM ‘Treasure's Island’: The Application of Accruals-based Accounting Standards in the UK Government. Accounting in Europe. Volume 13 - Issue 1, pages 81-102. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17449480.2016.1142096
Keywords
governmental accounting; UK; PPP; PFI; IPSAS; IFRS; conceptual framework; fair value
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Category
  • Comparative Research
  • Financial accounting
  • International Accounting / Accounting Harmonization
Type of Paper
Working paper

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