THE INSTITUCIONALIZATION OF PUBLIC SECTOR ACCOUNTING REFORMS: THE ROLE OF PILOT ENTITIES ABSTRACT The global financial crisis has emphasized the need for harmonized public sector accounts. Concerns about accountability, transparency and sustainability have emerged to the top of the political agenda leading several countries to initiate serious reform efforts in public sector accounting. Across the world there has been a general trend for public sector accounting moving into resource-oriented and accrual-based systems, supported by the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), to complement traditional cash accounting and reporting systems. These processes have followed different implementation strategies sometimes also involving different stakeholders. In the institutionalization process of public sector accounting reforms, pilot entities seem to be strategically important to consider, especially in cases where the new system involves significant innovations and complexities to be implemented by many and diverse entities at the same time. This paper introduces new theoretical arguments to explain, combining the new institutional theory with institutional logics, the importance of having pilot entities to the process of public sector accounting reforms implementation. Using Portugal as an illustrative case, it addresses both the perspective of stakeholders and decision-makers who decided on the use of these experiments, and the perspective of the pilot entities themselves. Main findings show that the use of pilot entities is acknowledged important in a jurisdiction where prudence seems to be of relevant value to assure success in implementing accounting innovations. However, pilot entities must be offered enough means and support, so they can cope with the changes and offer relevant feedback to supervising bodies, which can be useful to improve the system to be finally and generally adopted. Additionally, pilot entities must have a more committed attitude towards the reforms. ?

--

Keywords: accounting innovations,IPSAS,implementation strategy,institutional theory,institutional logics.