A Bibliometric Analysis of International Public Sector Accounting Standards Implementation in Developing and Emerging Economies Towards Poverty Eradication

Abstract

This study aims to examine how far International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) implementation has achieved its aim of improving financial reporting quality in public finance management, thereby reducing financial leakages towards poverty eradication in developing and emerging economies. It examines the dominant trend in the literature on the knowledge about IPSAS implementation benefits,  common challenges of IPSAS implementation and the potential avenues for further research in IPSAS implementation scholarship. This study used a systematic bibliometric review framework grounded in public value theory. The bibliometric analysis followed the PRISMA flowchart, reducing the total of 626 articles from four databases to 46 that were analysed in this study. Findings demonstrated that, the trending IPSAS research area focus more on IPSASs benefits and implementation challenges. However, despite widespread knowledge of the benefits, the implementation gains are hindered by competing interests, political underpinning, capacity building, and costs, to the detriment of quality financial reporting. The significant reciprocal association between corruption and financial reporting quality permeates compliance judgments, culminating in underdevelopment due to mass embezzlement that hinders infrastructural development, resulting in household poverty and a tendency towards failure to actualise United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (UNSDG) 1 by 2030. Findings reveal the need for further studies on IPSAS and digital technological innovations, such as cloud computing, to minimise implementation costs and capacity-building issues. IPSAS implementation literature is scarce in local government grassroots governance systems, taxpayers' trust in government, IPSAS and debt management in jurisdictions,  intergenerational poverty eradication through IPSAS. Findings also highlight the necessity for deeper theoretical analysis regarding IPSAS implementation outcomes, as most reviewed studies failed to ground their research in relevant theoretical frameworks to strengthen their arguments. Henceforth, this study recommends selfless collaboration among 
stakeholders, such as scholars of accounting, government, donor agencies, and financiers to actualise UNSDG 1.