Abstract:
The purpose of this study is to examine the readiness, status, prospects and
challenges of the adoption and implementation of the International Public Sector
Accounting Standards (IPSAS) by public universities in Ghana. The study is
quantitative in nature, and employed the descriptive research design. The random
sampling technique is used to select 198 Audit and Finance staff from four public
universities in Ghana. Descriptive statistics of frequency, percentage, mean and
standard deviation are used for the analysis. It is found that public universities in
Ghana are highly ready to implement IPSAS. Also, the status of IPSAS adoption
and implementation is found to be high. Further, IPSAS prospects of fraud and
corruption reduction, reduced tasks involved in financial reporting process,
improved comparability of financial information, and improved and strengthened
good governance and relations are identified as some of the prospects of IPSAS
adoption and implementation. Finally, challenges of high cost of adoption and
implementation, low level of management commitment, user unfriendliness of
IPSAS, inflexibility of existing organisational culture to accommodate IPSAS
adoption and implementation, among others are also identified. It is concluded
that if financial support and expert training are not provided, full adoption and
implementation may not be realised. The study, thus, recommends that
management of public universities in Ghana should train finance and audit staff
and make funds available for IPSAS adoption and implementation.
