Brazil's experience in IPSAS implementation

Abstract

Considering the small number of empirical studies on the adoption of the IPSAS in Latin American countries, this article aims to understand the implementation of IPSAS in Brazil, presenting the national institutional arrangements, the progress made since the beginning of the reform, the challenges encountered in the Brazilian scenario and the results observed until 2017. The New Institutional Theory (NIT) is used to know the actors' point of view, and the transition barriers outlined in Ouda's study (2008) were considered. The key players in the process of conducting and promoting the Brazilian government accounting reform were interviewed and a questionnaire was applied during a meeting of the Technical Group for Standardization of Accounting Procedures (GTCON). The results show that although the process of adoption of IPSAS in the Brazilian Government was initiated in 2008, the reform is still in an early stage, requiring more interaction among the actors involved.

Keywords

• IPSAS
• Brazil
• Governmental accounting reforms