IPSAS as an Anti-Corruption Tool: Insights from Public Sector Reform in Ukraine

This article investigates the institutional role of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) within Ukraine's ongoing public finance reform. Drawing on a qualitative, multi-case research design and grounded in institutional and legitimacy theory, the study explores how IPSAS is interpreted, adapted, and operationalized across different tiers of Ukrainian public administration. While IPSAS is formally embedded in national standards, its implementation remains uneven, oscillating between symbolic compliance and selective functional use.
The research highlights that IPSAS can enhance fiscal transparency, coherence, and accountability only when disclosures are meaningfully linked to public value outcomes, embedded in strategic planning tools, and supported by effective oversight mechanisms. Based on 15 interviews with senior officials from ministries, fiscal agencies, and oversight bodies, the study reveals that IPSAS often functions more as a procedural ritual than as a reform engine. However, pockets of innovation show that institutional entrepreneurship and discretionary agency can repurpose IPSAS as a platform for more legitimate, risk-aware governance.
By recontextualizing IPSAS as a governance tool—rather than merely a reporting framework—this article contributes to the emerging literature on accounting as a transformative force in fragile and transitional states. It offers theoretical and policy insights for designing more effective public financial management systems that strike a balance between technical compliance and democratic accountability.