Reforming Australian Public Sector Accounting: an Episode of Institutional Thinking

In recent years in Australia, accounting reforms have been developed which have resulted in the application of commercial systems of accounting to diverse public sector organisations. The reforms, which include the requirement to recognise infrastructure and heritage resources as assets in financial reports, endorse financial notions of accountability and performance that have been traditionally applied within private sector, profit-seeking organisations. Such notions are applied to a range of public sector organisations for the first time, even though the primary missions or objectives of many of these organisations are social, rather than financial in orientation. This study critically examines recent Australian public sector accounting reforms. It demonstrates the application of the Australian conceptual framework in developing accounting pronouncements which apply accrual accounting to diverse public sector organisations. Thus, the study enhances an understanding of the role of such frameworks in specific instances of accounting change.