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Mattias Haraldsson. Photo.

Mattias Haraldsson

Senior lecturer

Mattias Haraldsson. Photo.

Compromise and avoidance : The response to new legislation

Author

  • Mattias Haraldsson
  • Torbjörn Tagesson

Summary, in English

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to describe, analyze and explain the level of compliance of accounting practices with legislation and generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) within the Swedish water and sewerage sector.

Design/methodology/approach: The empirical data are based on a document study of the annual full cost accounting reports for the financial year 2010. Weobtained complete data from 250of Sweden's 290 municipalities. The data are analyzed by statistical methods. The explanations are based on an institutional theory.

Findings: Most of the organizations surveyed in this study had taken measures in line with the new regulations, but none of them had adapted fully to the new requirements. Thus, we suggest that the industry has responded to the new regulation by compromise and avoidance. The statistical analyses show that compliance with legislation and GAAP is associated with legal form, minority governance, fee, tax base, population growth and audit firm.

Research limitations/implications: This paper provides insight into the factors that explain compliance with accounting regulation. Future research would benefit from researching the decision process when organizations choose to comply or not to comply with specific accounting regulations in the public sector.

Originality/value: Few prior studies focus on the actual compliance of accounting practices at the municipal level in relation to accounting regulation and the factors that explain the level of compliance. Knowledge of the factors that explain compliance to accounting regulation will benefit from future policy decisions on regulation and auditing of public sector accounting.

Department/s

  • Department of Business Administration

Publishing year

2014-08-26

Language

English

Pages

288-313

Publication/Series

Journal of Accounting and Organizational Change

Volume

10

Issue

3

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Topic

  • Business Administration

Keywords

  • accounting
  • accounting regulation
  • public sector accounting
  • public sector reform
  • regulated industries

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1832-5912