Legitimating International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS): the case of Spain

Examinations of the growth in the adoption of International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) at a global level have focused on Anglo-Saxon countries. This paper considers the implications of IPSAS adoption in Spain. The authors found that a combination of factors, such as the political need to demonstrate improvements in public sector accountability, ‘code-law’ based systems of governance, European Union pressures for the harmonization of business accounting and the credibility resulting from major international institutions adopting IPSAS, all contributed to its legitimation in Spain.