1. How much would implementation improve comparability in practice?
Pia Heyman, Head of Department
Curt Johansson, Senior Adviser
April 26, 2012

2. The Swedish Public Sector
The Swedish Public Sector consists of:
The Central Government sector with Agencies and Authorities (250), not private organisations
Local Government with County Councils (18) and Municipalities (290)

3. Organisation of Central Governmentu n r i e : M y D p a m S w d C b ( 24 ) 12 A g - M i n s t e r y D p a m

4. Sweden Accrual accounting in the 1990s
Basic Regulations from 1980 (Public Utilities etc.)
Important change for Sweden if we are to implement IPSAS: great expansion of disclosures
Comparison with statistics according to ESA would probably not be improved substantially

5. IPSAS allow different accounting policies
IPSAS 17 – Property, plant and equipment
IPSAS 31 – Intangible assets
Full implementation of IPSAS could still imply differences across countries

6. Budgeting practices
Budget principles and methodology are national concerns and differ between countries
Budgets on full accrual basis might be rare
There may be three different types of bookkeeping accounts to produce:
Financial Statements
Budget Reports
National Accounts

7. Including local and regional governments
In order to be useful in comparisons, accounting standards should also include local and regional governments
But, that will increase the complexity of implementation

8. Pia Heyman pia.heyman@esv.se Curt Johansson curt.johansson@esv.se