Appropriate Financial Reporting Framework in East and Southern Africa

Historically, governments have been reporting in terms of a cash basis of accounting. There is a widely accepted view that accrual based financial reports that are robust and transparent can improve the decision making and accountability of governments. However, there are contrasting views on the accrual based accounting framework that is appropriate for financial reporting in the public sector. As a consequence, governments have either adopted EPSAS, GFS, IFRS, IPSAS, national accounting standards or continued with cash basis accounting for financial reporting. This paper seeks to identify the perspectives of experts and senior officials that prepare financial reports in the Office of the Accountants-General in the public sector of the ESAAG region on the attributes that define the appropriate financial reporting framework for the public sector. Fourteen (14) experts and senior officials in the region were interviewed. Interviews are the main method used by researchers to collect data on various perspectives and attitudes of those interviewed. An Interpretative Thematic Analysis was used to analyse the data collected in order to identify themes and views of the senior officials.