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During the first half of the nineties, many accounting innovations and reforms have been introduced in Spanish governmental accounting. In this context, the purposes of this paper are, on the one hand, to present the main features of local financial reporting legal requirements, which are very close to the central state accounting regulations, as well as real accountability and quality of reported information. On the other hand, this paper looks for an analysis of the main differences and similarities of accounting regulation among Spanish regional governments, identifying practices and users' expectations, as the result of a survey developed by the authors.. Also presented are some proposals concerned with a possible harmonised accounting and reporting common framework, in order to maintain the traditional homogeneity that has characterised the past governmental accounting system in Spain.

In recent years, most Organisation for Economic and Cooperation Development (OECD) countries have brought in important reforms into their public accounting systems with the objective of both improving public service management and increasing the transparency and accountability of governments. Reforms of government accounting share a common direction towards the implementation of accrual-based accounting systems. In this context, this paper presents the situation of local government accounting systems in European countries with the aim of showing the degree of uniformity/ heterogeneity that currently exists among the countries considered and why differences persist nowadays, trying to classify countries into groups according to accounting practice. Results show that three groups of countries can be identified: the first continues using the cash basis; in the second, an accrual or modified accrual basis is used for financial accounting but the cash basis still persists in the budgetary system; in the third, an accrual or modified accrual basis is used both in budget and in financial accounting.

Until the end of 1997, governmental accounting in Portugal was characterised as essentially cash-based budgetary accounting, using singleentry as the bookkeeping method. The only compulsory accounting system was Budgetary Accounting. As many countries all over the world, nowadays Portugal is implementing a reform of the whole governmental accounting, which has as most important innovations the use of double-entry within a system compulsorily integrating accrual-based Financial and Cost Accounting along with Budgetary Accounting (still essentially cash-based). The main purpose of this paper is to describe and analyse the reform and current situation of governmental accounting in Portugal, especially discussing the accrual basis implementation. In particular, it shows that not only governmental accounting reform in Portugal has been going towards international harmonization, but also problems that have arisen are common to others faced by several countries. Perspectives of future evolution are also presented.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of the Law on Budgetary Stability of 2012 over the level of accumulated debt in Spanish municipalities. The paper also analyses the influence of the socioeconomic environment, political factors and budgetary indicators on the level of accumulated debt for the 2008–2014 period, which coincides with the economic crisis.

The paper uses panel data methodology. First, the t-test of difference of means is used to analyse which political variables are significant. Then, the analysis is carried out using the generalised method of moments in order to obtain the explanatory variables of the level of debt.

The results show that in 2013–2014, the Law on Budgetary Stability did not have a significant effect on reducing the accumulated debt. However, the law has led to a change of the trend in debt levels, as the debt decreased from 2013 to 2014. Moreover, population, unemployment, immigration, personnel expenditure, direct fiscal pressure and level of investment have an influence over the level of accumulated debt.

This paper contributes to analyse to what extent the Law on Budgetary Stability has affected accumulated debt. The study reveals a slight impact on reducing debt, although it is not significant. An original aspect of this paper is that it uses dynamic models to study the accumulated debt of Spanish municipalities. The study shows the impact of socioeconomic, environmental and political factors as well as of budgetary indicators on the level of debt in the context of economic crisis.

En este artículo se analiza el impacto que tiene la normativa de estabilidad presupuestaria española del año 2012 en el nivel de deuda acumulada de los municipios españoles. También se contrasta la influencia del entorno socioeconómico, político y presupuestario en el nivel de deuda viva durante el periodo 2008-2014 que coincide con la crisis económica.

Para alcanzar los objetivos, se utiliza la metodología de datos de panel. En primer lugar, se realiza un test de medias por el cual se descartan las variables políticas no significativas. Posteriormente, se plantea el Método Generalizado de Momentos (GMM) para obtener las variables explicativas del endeudamiento.

Se evidencia que durante el periodo 2013-2014, la normativa de estabilidad no ha tenido un efecto significativo en la reducción de la deuda viva. No obstante, la legislación ha permitido cambiar la tendencia del nivel de deuda, ya que durante 2013-2014 el endeudamiento se redujo. Además, se constata que la población, el desempleo, la inmigración, la concentración política, los gastos de personal, la presión fiscal y la inversión influyen en el endeudamiento.

La aportación de este trabajo radica en analizar en qué medida ha repercutido la normativa de estabilidad presupuestaria en el nivel de deuda viva. Se ha evidenciado un ligero impacto en la reducción de endeudamiento, aunque no es significativo. Resulta original la aplicación de modelos dinámicos en el estudio de la deuda viva española. Asimismo, se establece el impacto que tienen los factores del entorno político, socioeconómico y presupuestario en un entorno de crisis económica.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the circumstances that have conditioned the development of education in Spain from the enlightenment to the present day.

Multidisciplinary scientific approach that combines the interpretation of the legal texts with the revision of the doctrinal and theoretical contributions made on the issue.

From the beginning of the nineteenth century, the history of education in Spain has been marked by constant fluctuations between the reactionary instincts, principally maintained by the Catholic Church and the conservative social classes, and the progressive experiments, driven by the enlightened and the liberals first, and the republicans and the socialists later. As a consequence of that, the fight for finishing with illiteracy and guaranteeing universal schooling underwent permanent advances and retreats, preventing from an effective modernization of the Spanish educative system. On the one hand, renewal projects promoted by teachers and pedagogues were inevitably criticized by the ecclesiastical hierarchy, obsessed with the idea of preserving the influence of religion on the schools. On the other hand, successive governments were weak in implementing an educational policy which could place Spain at the level of the other European and occidental nations.

At the dawn of the twenty-first century, although the country has overcome a good part of its centuries-old backwardness, increasing economic difficulties and old ideological splits keep hampering the quality of teaching, gripped by neoliberal policies which undermine the right to education for all. The reading of this paper offers various historical clues to understand this process.

This paper aims to assess the level of compliance of the Integrated Management Reports of four Brazilian public universities with the International Integrated Reporting Framework.

The authors carried out documentary research on the management reports of four Brazilian public universities for the period 2018–2020. For the analysis, the authors developed a Disclosure Index (DI) that analyzes the content of the reports and allows them to verify the quality of these institutional documents.

The results show that two universities present low quality of their reports with a disclosure rate lower than 50%, while the other two demonstrate evolution in the quality of reporting over the years. In addition, the findings point to the need for greater conciseness in the preparation of reports and accessibility of disclosures, as well as inclusion of the impacts of organizations’ activities on society and the environment.

This research brings relevant contributions by identifying points of improvement in the dissemination of information by management reports from an Integrated Reporting approach and by identifying the need to adopt strategies that expand the understanding and knowledge of the preparers about this new approach.

The authors adapted a DI to measure the adhesion of the management reports of Brazilian universities to the Integrated Reporting approach. The results will be of interest to public organizations that seek to improve information disclosure based on an Integrated Reporting approach.

Financial stress features frequently as an explanatory factor in research into decisions concerning the contracting out, or decentralisation, of local public services, though existing empirical studies are not unanimous in their conclusions. The understanding of how financial crises influence these processes could be enhanced by the use of a dynamic methodology that takes into account the following three aspects: the duration of the financial stress, the effectiveness of the action taken and the time‐lag between the crisis and the response. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This study introduces three important innovations in the methodology employed to study financial stress: the consideration of the duration of a financial stress episode as a key factor in promoting changes in the provision of public services; the effectiveness of the measures taken; and time‐lag, which takes into account the extended time horizon over which the local authority may implement business‐like and organisational changes.

To date, the techniques used to measure the effects of changes in service delivery methods implemented to alleviate financial stress, have not reflected the true nature of the phenomenon. The results obtained when the new approach proposed in this paper was used to examine Spanish local government responses to financial stress during the period 1999‐2007 confirm that the methodology is well‐judged and effective.

This study reveals that local authorities facing financial stress of two, three or four years’ duration present percentages of decentralisation and contracting‐out that are significantly higher than is the case for local authorities that implement the same processes in response to crises of one year. These findings confirm the need to carry out studies that include the duration of financial crises as a determinant factor in change processes.

El estrés financiero como factor explicativo es una característica recurrente en la investigación sobre la privatización/descentralización de los servicios públicos locales, aunque los estudios empíricos previos no son unánimes en sus conclusiones. Nuestro conocimiento de la influencia de las crisis financieras en estos procesos se podría mejorar mediante el uso de una metodología dinámica que tenga en cuenta los tres aspectos siguientes: la duración de la tensión financiera, el tiempo que transcurre entre la crisis y la respuesta hecha, y la eficacia de esta acción. Al aplicar esta nueva metodología, se demuestra que, hasta la fecha, los métodos utilizados para medir los efectos de los cambios en las formas de prestación de servicios, como un medio de aliviar la tensión financiera, no han reflejado la verdadera naturaleza del fenómeno. Los resultados obtenidos con esta nueva propuesta confirman que la metodología aplicada es la correcta y efectiva en los gobiernos locales españoles para el período 1999‐2007.

This paper aim to propose a model of analysis that justifies gamification as an adequate tool to improve the design of services through the human centered design (HCD) methodology.

The present study is a conceptual contribution. Based on the information provided by the academic literature on the design of services, HCD and gamification, the suitability of the proposed model is justified to help the servitized companies to improve the design of their services.

There is a gap in the academic literature about how a servitized company develops its service design process; consumers demand experiences through services; involving consumers in the co-creation of value and co-design of services can guide servitized companies to achieve success with servitization; gamification is an effective tool as a relational marketing strategy.

The review of the literature carried out in this paper provides a solid theoretical basis for future researchers in the area of servitization, service design and relational marketing. However, given the conceptual nature of the research, it is necessary to validate empirically the proposed model.

The proposed model can be useful as a reference for manufacturing companies to guide their servitization process. The study extends the debate on how to integrate the design of services by presenting a model of development based on gamification.

Having knowledge of the end-user is essential throughout the service design process and gamification can be achieved as a HCD technique.

This paper examines and discusses the need for micro-level analyses of academic entrepreneurship and outlines a micro-level research agenda for the study of academic entrepreneurship.

Based on a review of academic literature on academic entrepreneurship, this study focuses on individual actors and suggests some future research agendas.

The authors highlight that more studies dealing with academic entrepreneurship need to take a micro-level perspective, thereby outline several fruitful avenues of research: (1) star scientists and principal investigators, (2) TTO professionals, (3) graduate entrepreneurs, (4) university administrators, (5) policy makers and funders as well as (6) micro-level organisational routines.

This paper derives three main implications for management practice and policy. First, there is a real need to develop the managerial skills, competencies and capabilities of scientists and individuals. Second, policy makers need to ensure the necessary resources to pursue a paradigm shift towards more entrepreneurial thinking and action and create adequate incentives. Third, firms need to offer support and guidance on how to best commercialise and transfer scientific knowledge and ideally complement support structures of universities and research institutes.

This paper provides an organising framework for the study of micro-level academic entrepreneurship and emphasises the need to focus further on individual actors and how their actions, behaviours and approaches contribute to academic entrepreneurship in different institutional, environmental and cultural contexts.