Assessing the quality level of information after implementing the standards and establishing accrual accounting in the public sector based on the financial reporting cycle

Introduction

Perceptions of the quality of public sector accounting information vary among stakeholders, and previous research in the field of public sector accounting has identified only the indicators of the financial reporting supply chain from the perspective of individuals within the accounting profession. They offer limited insights and ignore many of the factors that can affect the quality of public sector accounting information; Therefore, to identify and comprehensively describe the various factors affecting the quality of public sector accounting information in Iran and its promotion strategies, the use of financial reporting chain supply areas, because it includes all stakeholders, the possibility of comprehensive study to identify components affecting the quality of accounting information provides the public sector that is the product of the financial reporting cycle.
 

Research Questions

In this research, an attempt has been made to measure the operational stages of the implementation of the accrual accounting system by using the monitoring and evaluation chain model and to evaluate the success of the said system from the perspective of all stakeholders of the financial reporting cycle; Therefore, the main question of the present study is, What is the quality level of information in the public sector after the implementation of standards and the establishment of accrual accounting based on the financial reporting cycle?
 

Methods

The present research has been done using a mixed research method in two parts: qualitative and quantitative. The statistical population of the research in the qualitative sector, faculty members of universities and executive directors and employees of the public sector and in the quantitative sector are 146 stakeholders in the areas of financial reporting supply chain. Data analysis in the foundation data theory method was performed in three stages of open, axial and selective coding and, based on that, a qualitative research model was designed.
 

Results

The results of the present study show the extraction of 92 concepts, along with statistics of 25 categories and 13 cultural factors, increasing organizational productivity, accountability, legal factors, training of specialized manpower, political factors, environmental conditions, economic factors, stakeholders, accounting information, organizational and management factors. Then, according to the importance of the subject, the identified indicators are placed in the form of two questionnaires and the importance and performance of each factor is determined using the significance-performance analysis technique. The results of significance-performance matrix analysis showed that all variables were analyzed in the first area of ​​the significance-performance matrix and no factor was placed in the areas of performance retention, low priority and elimination as much as possible. This means that respondents have little satisfaction with these features and do not consider their performance desirable; But these factors are important to them.
 

Discussion and Conclusion

In this research, first, by identifying and extracting the components affecting the quality level of information in the public sector and providing a model in this field, an effective step is taken to identify the factors affecting the quality of public sector accounting information. Findings of the research using data-based theory method showed cultural factors, increasing organizational productivity, accountability, legal factors, training of specialized manpower, political factors, environmental conditions, economic factors, stakeholders, accounting information, organizational factors, and management as factors The main influences on the quality of public sector accounting information include 26 components and 92 indicators. In the following, according to the importance of the issue, the importance and performance of each factor have been determined using the Significance-Performance Analysis (IPA) technique. The results of the importance of factors using the significance-performance analysis (IPA) technique showed that all variables are analytically located in the first area of ​​the significance-performance matrix and no factors are in the areas of performance retention, low priority and elimination as much as possible. This means that all variables scored low in terms of performance (respondents' satisfaction), but these variables were important to them. Such a situation indicates that examining the quality of public sector information in terms of these variables requires immediate corrective action and in this regard are a high priority. In other words, the analysis of the importance-performance of factors affecting the quality of public sector accounting information showed that in terms of importance and performance of factors affecting the quality of public sector accounting information are in the focus area. This means that respondents have little satisfaction with these characteristics and do not consider their performance desirable; But these factors are important to them. Placing all factors in the focus area indicates that such factors require immediate corrective action, and  therefore are a high priority. Managers and planners, to increase the quality of public sector accounting information, as well as increase the use and achieve positive consequences, should make more efforts to improve the situation of these factors and change the current situation to achieve the desired situation, because the findings indicate that the situation of such factors is not favorable and requires vital attention. Also, the results of ordering and prioritizing the variables showed that the variables of lack of technical facilities, economic management, lack of strict rules, providing transparent financial reporting and eliminating the weaknesses of the accounting and financial reporting system have the highest weights, and the variables of stakeholder views have the lowest weights. This result indicates the high importance of the variable of lack of technical facilities in the quality of financial reporting in the public sector. In other words, the factor of lack of technical facilities has the highest and the variable of conflict of views of stakeholders has the least importance among the factors affecting the quality of financial reporting in the public sector.