Are higher education institutions in Europe preparing students for IPSAS?

• Date: 24 July 2019
• Published date: 24 July 2019
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPSM-12-2018-0270
• Pages: 363-378
• Author: Berit Adam,Isabel Brusca,Eugenio Caperchione,Jens Heiling,Susana Margarida F. Jorge,Francesca Manes Rossi
• Subject Matter: Public policy & environmental management

Are higher education institutions

in Europe preparing students

for IPSAS?

Berit Adam

Berlin School of Economics and Law, Berlin, Germany

Isabel Brusca

Department of Accounting and Finance, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain

Eugenio Caperchione

Department of Economics “Marco Biagi”,

University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy

Jens Heiling

EY, Stuttgart, Germany

Susana Margarida F. Jorge

Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal and

Research Centre in Political Science, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal, and

Francesca Manes Rossi

Department of Management and Information Technologies,

University of Salerno, Fisciano, Italy

Abstract

Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to analyze whether higher education institutions (HEIs) in EU

Member States are aware of the relevance of the ongoing reforms in public sector accounting (PSA) and the

need to prepare their students to become expert professionals in that area. It particularly assesses whether

these organizations currently provide, or will provide in the near future, education on International Public

Sector Accounting Standard (IPSAS)/EPSAS, so that a sufficient number of graduates will be ready to match

the foreseeable demand for experts in IPSAS/EPSAS.

Design/methodology/approach –Adopting a purposive sample, the paper compares the situation in four

EU countries (Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain). Data have been obtained through a questionnaire

provided to selected professors in relevant HEIs in the selected countries.

Findings –HEIs are giving only limited room to PSA and financial management, with differences in terms of

program offerings and coverage of topics among the four countries. Furthermore, in most cases, the programs

are adapted to the national budgetary and accounting standards and courses are seldom focused on the

IPSASs.

Originality/value –The paper contributes to the literature on PSA harmonization, through an innovative

analysis of PSA and financial management teaching, both at national and international levels.

Keywords Accrual accounting, Comparative analysis, Education programmes, IPSASs,

Public sector accounting reforms

Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction

Public sector accounting (PSA) reforms have characterized European countries since the

advent of New Public Management (Hood, 1991, 1995) and are still animating the debate

among standard setters, legislators and accountants’associations.

Previous literature shows that recent reforms in accounting systems have favored the

adoption of accrual-based systems in many countries (Lapsley et al., 2009; Pina et al.,

2009), at least for reporting purposes (Brusca et al., 2015). In this stream, the International

Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSASs) have been considered and used as a

Received 21 December 2018

Revised 1 April 2019

Accepted 23 May 2019

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Higher

education

institutions in

Europe

InternationalJournalof Public

SectorManagement

Vol.33 No. 2/3,2020

pp.363-378

©EmeraldPublishingLimited

0951-3558

DOI10.1108/IJPSM-12-2018-0270

363

reference for introducing accrual accounting in many countries (Christiaens et al., 2015),

but also for modernizing existing accrual accounting systems, as in the case of Spain

and Portugal.

With the adoption of IPSASs or of national standards based on them, PSA systems will

therefore undergo profound changes. Such reforms require the availability of skilled

personnel, with an adequate knowledge of both accrual accounting and the specificities of

the public sector (such as budgeting, cash accounting, etc.), as well as of the international

standards. In fact, one of the challenges for adopting IPSASs is the education of

professionals, due to the high cost that this implies the time needed to properly forming the

staff is also a critical issue, and may vary depending on the starting position of a country

(i.e. whether a country already applies accrual accounting), the level of knowledge of

accounting staff, the extent HEIs already offer public sector accounting courses.

Even if civil servants may receive initial training as well as they can update their knowledge

along their career path, in accordance with the principles of Life Long Learning (Reichard, 2017),

taking courses on PSA or public financial management (PFM) while at university might be

beneficial for public organizations and for managers and civil servants. This would allow public

entities to hire individuals already expert in PFM, saving resources for training (Oldfield, 2017).

Thus, the question arises as to whether universities and polytechnics (higher education

institutions (HEIs)) offer the required knowledge and skills for students in order to facilitate PSA

reforms, namely, those involving IPSASs or IPSAS-based standards, and eventually E PSASs.

The paper asks whether HEIs are offering, or will offer in the near future, degrees or courses

substantially covering PFM and PSA, and in particular IPSASs. It also explores whether these

programs are, or will be, at undergraduate or post-graduate level and whether they are isolated

programs, or have a common design and a common policy.

In doing so, the relevance of executive training, e.g. some of the programs taught by

Verwaltungsakademien in Austria and Germany, is not neglected, but the research

focuses on education provided by universities and polytechnics as a possible facilitator for

a new generation of managers and civil servants. The key point is that, in order to

successfully contribute to the reforms’implementation, it is necessary to have

professionals available with adequate PSA skills, and in particular IPSASs knowledge.

Even if civil servants may improve their knowledge through training courses, the

universities still play a pivotal role by providing students with appropriate basic

knowledge (Thom, 2019). HEIs should prepare professionals and experts in PSA able to

support and drive PSA and financial management reforms, including, in the European

setting, the expected implementation of EPSASs. As a consequence, it is important to

investigate the type of education provided to individuals who might be engaged in public

administrations, both as employees or consultants.

These questions are all but new: previous research discussed the status of PSA education

(Egenolf and Willis, 1983; Henry, 2005), as well as the content of programs in public

administration and public policy courses (Hajnal, 2015). Still, PSA seems to be quite a

neglected subject in academic courses (Fox, 1977), because of both a limited offer by

universities (Egenolf and Willis, 1983; Henry, 2005) and a limited interest by students

(Martin and Waymire, 2017). In addition, most of this research considers the US, but not the

European context.

In order to fulfill this gap, this paper compares the situation in four EU countries (Germany,

Italy,Portugal and Spain),with the aim to identify commonand diverging elements concerning

how PSA is taught in public HEIs. This point is pivotal for predicting the possibility of having

a sufficient number of qualified public sector accountants in the near future.

In this regard, the main research questions the paper tries to answer are:

RQ1. How are HEIs offering education in PSA and financial management matters?

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