Sonia Dasí Rodríguez, Juan Francisco Martínez Pérez and Manuela Pardo del Val
In an environment where favoring organizational learning is imperative, the option of business cooperation is considered an optimal means to transmit knowledge between companies…
Abstract
In an environment where favoring organizational learning is imperative, the option of business cooperation is considered an optimal means to transmit knowledge between companies and to encourage the generation of new ones. But differences in organizational cultures of the cooperation partners can make this process difficult. Through an empirical study of small and medium‐sized companies that had established international cooperation agreements during 1997 and 1998 in the Valencian community (Spain), the influence of the differences in size and in national culture of the partners in organizational learning is observed.
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Patrícia Gomes, Isabel Brusca, Maria J. Fernandes and Estela Vilhena
This paper aims to research the reforms toward International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) implementation and the perceptions about the use and usefulness of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to research the reforms toward International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) implementation and the perceptions about the use and usefulness of accounting information in the context of local government in the Iberian Peninsula. The paper focuses on the perspective of chief financial officers (CFOs).
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods. Beyond the study of the context of the reform in both countries through the consultation of legislation and official documents, the authors collected primary data through a survey addressed to the local CFO to catch both countries' perceptions and beliefs toward the topic under research.
Findings
The authors' findings evidence that both countries have made strong efforts to adapt IPSAS to both countries' national standards. The coercive and mimetic isomorphism and the private accounting normative were important determinants in the reform. Looking at perceptions, budget information continues to be perceived as the king information for public management and decision-making. In a comparative way, the Portuguese CFO seems to be more optimistic concerning the use and usefulness of the new accounting system. The strong orientation of CFO to cash-basis and budgeting information is an important explanation of the lower use and usefulness, essentially in the Spanish context. The regression results show that individual perceptions and beliefs on the accounting reform influence the opinion about the usefulness and use of financial information.
Research limitations/implications
The use of the survey method has some limitations very discussed in the literature that are also applied in this study.
Practical implications
The paper has the potential to contribute to the academic, political and practitioner discussion of the core purposes of financial accounting information in the public sector and financial accounting information's impacts on the European Public Sector Accounting Standards (EPSAS) framework.
Originality/value
The recent adoption of the new accounting system in local governments of both contexts contributes to knowledge on the public sector accounting reforms toward the transition to accrual accounting and the IPSAS. The innovative character of the paper contributes to better clarify how the perceptions of the accounting reform influence the usage level of public financial information.