Description

For the last decade accrual accounting has been presented as the reform for public sector
accounting and the basis for the wider New Public Management reforms and the
marketisation of the public sector (Barton 2005, Ellwood and Newberry 2007, Ouda 2004
& 2005, Wynne 2007, etc). However, it is becoming increasingly clear that the claimed
benefits of introducing accrual accounting are not being realised in practice. In the few
countries which have actually adopted this reform, for example, Australia New Zealand
and the UK, the evidence is now suggesting that, if their governments’ knew then what
they know now, that the move to accrual accounting may never have taken place
(Dorotinsky, 2008).