Cash versus accrual accounting measures in Greek municipalities: proxies or not for decision-making? Online publication date: Wed, 30-Jul-2014
by Sandra Cohen
International Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Performance Evaluation (IJAAPE), Vol. 8, No. 3, 2012
Abstract: Cash figures still constitute the main basis for performance assessment and resource allocation decisions in the Greek public sector even though accrual accounting information is available. The scope of this paper is to compare accrual accounting and cash accounting figures in order to assess whether such a policy could be justified on the grounds of cash eventually reflecting a fair proxy of accrual measures. Our analysis is based on 370 municipality observations over the period 2002 to 2004. The empirical findings of our study show that approximately 70% of the accrual revenues (expenses) figures can be explained on the basis of cash based revenues (expenses) as well as specific municipality socio-economic factors. Our findings shed light on the long-lasting Greek public administration shortcomings that may have contributed to the public sector financial crisis that Greece is experiencing since the end of 2009.
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Performance Evaluation (IJAAPE):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:
Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.
If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com
Our Blog 
Follow us on Twitter 
Visit us on Facebook