Modernizing Algeria's Public Accounting System through the Adoption of International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) in the Context of New Institutional Theory

Abstract

This article aims to define the organizational process followed to update and modernize Algeria’s public accounting system in compliance with the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) within the framework of accounting reform. This research is based on identifying works related to organizational change resulting from the updating of the public accounting system and the new institutional theory as a framework for analyzing practices. The implementation of this new system in Algerian institutions requires organizational changes, taking into account the pressures these institutions face.

A qualitative descriptive study was adopted to achieve the research objectives and reach its results. The study demonstrated the impact of adopting the new system on the public accounting system in Algeria. These changes are the result of a fundamental shift in the public accounting system, which has become primarily based on the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), resulting in accounting and budgetary changes associated with this shift.

These changes were implemented according to a clear legal and regulatory framework, supported by a series of laws and implementing decrees, including Organic Law 18-15, Executive Decree 24-90, and Law 23-07, which illustrate the most significant transformations in the public accounting system in Algeria.

The accounting change process went through two phases: transitional and implementation, in addition to the homogenization of practices, which can be explained based on the new institutional theory through enforced isomorphism, normative isomorphism, and simulation.