Central government accounting reform in Malta : is it just an illusion?

Abstract

The central government of Malta is in the process of changing its traditional budget-oriented cash-based accounting system. The process started in 1999 and is still ongoing. An empirical study, supported by documentary research, Lüder‘s ―Financial Management Reform Process Model‖ (2002) is applied in this context in an attempt to assess the conduciveness of the environment surrounding accounting reform towards such change. The findings indicate that the long-winded reform at the central government level of Malta may only be illusory because once the statistical reporting requirements for Eurostat were achieved, the accounting reform died, and the original raison d'être was lost. Contrary to expectations, the evidence indicates that the small size of the country may have acted as a negative factor on the government accounting reform process. It also appears that the availability of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS,) and their consideration by the EU Commission for EU member states, acted as another deterrent.