Governmental Accounting Reform: Evolution of the Implementation in Flemish Municipalities

Some studies measured the success of adopting governmental accounting reforms revealing conceptual and practical problems. However, these empirical studies only consider the starting point assuming that implementation difficulties are just transition problems that will disappear automatically in time. This study concentrates on how implementing a governmental reform evolves after a number of years. Looking at 1995, 1997 and 1999, it reveals that the level of compliance in Flemish municipalities increased only slightly in 1997 and remained unchanged in 1999. It evidences that there is no self‐regulating effect of implementing governmental reforms, even after a period of almost 5 years of experience.