Panorama actual de la contabilidad pública: Análisis de la situación española dentro de su entorno internacional

In the last years, international governmental accounting standards have been developed, with an especial relevance in the case of IFAC pronouncements. On the other hand, important experiences for reforming public sector accounting are in progress in different countries and entities, as in the case of the OECD, NATO and European Commission. Simultaneously, a new conceptual framework has been set up, in a parallel way to business accounting. During the first half of the nineties, many accounting innovations and reforms have been introduced in Spanish governmental accounting. However, the new international developments require a deep reform of our system, in order to adapt its principles and standards to the new micro and macroeconomic financial reporting requirements. The purposes of this paper are, on the one hand, to present the main features of international trends on governmental accounting reforms. On the other hand, it looks for an analysis of the most relevant policies for reforming the current Spanish system, considering our legal and political framework, as well as our administrative and cultural traditions.