Systematic review of examining the implementation of accrual accounting in public sector and health system: challenges and solutions

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Mohammad Hossein Mehrolhasani 1
Masoud Abolhalaj 2
Mahmoud Nekoei Moghadam 3
Reza Dehnavieh 4
Mozhgan Emami 5
1 Assistant Professor, Medical Informatics Research Center, Institute for Future Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran
2 PhD Student, Health Services Management, Faculty of Management and Medical Informatics, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Director General of financial resource and budget planning office of Ministry of Health, Tehran, Iran
3 Associate Professor, Research Center for Health Management, Institute for Future Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran
4 Assistant Professor, Research Center for Health Modeling, Institute for Future Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran
5 Health Services Management, Research Center for Health Management, Institute for Future Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran
Abstract
Introduction: Nowadays, major changes have made in governmental structures, particularly health systems. In these organizations, increasing costs and customer expectations have shifted government attention towards the proper management of resources. Undoubtedly the decision to manage resources properly requires information including financial information which provided by accounting system. There are two types of manner of cash and accrual which used in the public accounting system. In the cash accounting, disadvantages such as lack of relevant information on how to manage the assets and liabilities has led that nowadays, many countries are moving towards accrual accounting. About this reform in governmental accounting system, the researchers were prompted to determine the challenges of deploying such a system. Methods: This study is a systematic review, aimed to consider the challenges of implementing accrual accounting in the public sector in 2012. For this purpose, 28 articles with keywords of accrual accounting+challenges, accrual accounting, accrual accounting+challenges were explored from domestic databases like SID, magiran and international sites such as Google scholar, science direct, Emerald, Health Business and their content were analyzed. Results: Challenges to deploy the accrual accounting in public sector were grouped in six categories of management and leadership (Justified and supported by senior management of the implementation), followers (Accounting auditors and specialized consultation teams in executive levels of the system), environment (Surveillance system), structure (organizational structure relevant to mentioned change and development of a system for evaluating the performance of the work), manpower (Expertise, motivation and satisfaction of manpower) and work processes and standards (Development of strategy and action plan and feedback from the performance and existence of a specific theoretical framework to the public sector. Conclusion: Based on the results, it was recognized that three concepts of management and leadership, followers and environment are as three driving factors in the deployment of accrual accounting in the public sector which influence the lower levels namely structure, manpower and process as independent factors and technology and knowledge are key factors in relationship between mentioned categories. So, according to these variables, it is recommended that a Road Map is developed for change in financial system and change management is done by it. Keywords: Accounting; Accounts Payable and Receivable; Financial Audit; Financial Management

Keywords

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Health Information Management
Volume 10, Issue 5 - Serial Number 5
Autumn 2013
Pages 750-760