Levi Gårseth-Nesbakk

Reforming central government accounting in diverse contexts: A three-country comparison

The purpose of this paper is to unravel similarities and differences across countries approaching the accrual accounting model, yet being situated in diverse institutional contexts. We tackle this by conducting a comparative study of accounting developments in three heterogeneous settings, namely Nepal, Norway, and Russia. The selection of settings is designed in a way to observe commonalities and variations in approaching accounting reforms between one of the poorest countries on earth, one of the richest nations, and one of the world’s growing superpowers. This study draws on institutional theory, particularly the DiMaggio and Powell’s (1983) idea of how organisations comply with institutional requirements in framing rules and practices. Document search represents the major method of collecting data. As our evidence shows, the institutional forces identified across the three settings were not of one single kind, but rather from segmented institutional environments.

Implementing public sector accruals in OECD member states: Major issues and challenges

Abstract Drawing on extended new institutional theory, this paper has striven to make heard the voices of accountants, budget officers, and policy makers involved in implementing public sector accruals in different OECD member states. Such voices of the organisational actors and the challenges that they are encountering in the process of implementing accrual accounting and budgeting in their specific settings are missing in the existing public sector accruals literature. The empirical findings of the study demonstrate that the political and technical ambiguities in implementing public sector accruals across countries are much broader than outlined in the academic work and presented in the reports and studies of the proponents. Such challenges, when cascaded down to the organisational level, have brought about vast uncertainty and confusion amongst most of the budget and treasury officers who deal with public sector accruals in their specific jurisdictions, threatening the legitimacy at the organisational level. More communication and collaboration amongst the actors at institutional, organisational-field and organisational levels are therefore needed to build a coherent body of knowledge in facilitating public sector accruals reforms across countries.

The Construction of Materiality in Government Accounting: A Case of Constraining Factors and the Difficulties of Hybridization

This paper illuminates materiality features during experimentation with central government accounting in Norway. Data was collected using observations, interviews, informal conversations and documents. We found that materiality was constrained by numerous factors, including: time, disagreement, coordination and communication difficulties, actors’ background, standardizing and thinking ahead. Moreover, a mixture of theoretical accounting approaches and construction forms was found, indicating a hybridization‐based experimentation and materiality construction. Therefore, construction came about as an effect; materiality was often constructed implicitly, and not aligned with its defined elements. Finally, we comment on associated implications for accounting complexity and endeavors to make accounting changes.

Management of financial resources in municipalities - the significance of size and alternative regulatory responses to a financial crisis

This study examines the management of financial resources (MFR) in Norwegian municipalities in the context of a financial scandal called the Terra scandal. Two research questions are addressed. First: what was the regulatory response to the wrongdoing in the Terra scandal? Second: what preventive measures of financial debacle, similar to the Terra scandal, have Norwegian municipalities taken? The Norwegian regulatory response to the Terra scandal was soft in nature, requiring few changes for the municipalities. The preventive measures in place vary between the examined municipalities. Few measures have been developed after the Terra scandal, suggesting the municipalities have not done much to proactively change their MFR-control systems, however, size matters. Larger municipalities have striven to build competence or improve their internal control system. Some of the smaller municipalities are depending on dispassionate individuals who safeguard them from financial debacle. Although effective in the short run, this leaves the municipalities vulnerable in the long run.