The Boundary of the Public Sector in National Accounts Versus IPSAS

The ongoing debate about the necessity of harmonized accruals-based public accounting standards and the possible implementation of an integrated reporting covering public accounts and government finance statistics (GFS) reporting, have widened the potential scope for comparative research on consolidation practices in Whole of Government Accounts (WGA) and National accounts, notably in the European Union. This development would probably add momentum to broaden the scope of reporting to WGA. The article analyses in depth the conceptual frameworks behind financial reporting and national accounts, to better understand the differences between the definition of public sector and its boundary in national accounts as compared with financial reporting. This would form a useful input to the overall research agenda on WGA.