How the Reform of Government Accounting Bases Affects Fiscal Transparency:Theoretical Logic and International Practice
Fiscal transparency is a fundamental requirement and key feature of a modern economic system.Government accounting,as the core technical support for providing financial information,plays a crucial role in promoting fiscal transparency.This paper examines the breadth and depth of financial information disclosure as a starting point and theoretically explains how the reform of accrual-based government accounting affects fiscal trans-parency,along with its transmission mechanism.Using panel data from 56 countries between 2010 and 2019,we employ a bidirectional fixed-effects model,panel quantile regression model,and mediation effect model to con-duct empirical tests.The results indicate that the reform of government accounting to accrual-based accounting significantly and robustly improves fiscal transparency.As fiscal transparency increases,the marginal effect of accounting reform on transparency follows a pattern of initial growth before stabilizing.The heterogeneity analysis reveals that the reform's positive effect is stronger in developed countries compared to developing countries.Further mechanism tests show that the reform enhances fiscal transparency by curbing government opportunistic behavior and strengthening public participation.
government accountingaccounting basis reformaccrual accountingfiscal transparency
万方数据
维普
