The international debate on accrual accounting

Since the introduction of New Public Management, a widespread reform of the whole accountability system taking place in different countries around the world. A crucial aspect of the accountability reforms is the introduction of the accrual accounting in Central Government. A lot of countries apply the accrual basis accounting in their budgeting and reporting systems, even if there are broad differences in the implementation. However, the academic debate on accrual accounting is far from conclusion. In this paper, we systematically review the state-of-the-art of the debate on accrual accounting in public sector, highlighting the pillars of the accrual accounting. Accordingly, we propose a model of analysis for the financial accountability reforms in Central Government. Finally, we propose a research agenda to deepen the critical aspects and the unsolved questions with respect to the adoption of a full accrual accounting system in Central Government.