Adoption And Implementation Of International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) By Public Universities In Ghana

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.