Abstract

This study aims to advance our knowledge about the role of accrual accounting regimes in financial decision-making process at Higher Education Institutions. The advantages of accrual accounting in the public sector are well documented from the theoretical perspective. However, empirical findings are relatively rare and primarily rely on either normative arguments or storytelling narratives drawn from case studies. Our paper intends to fill this void by combining archival and survey data from higher education institutions. We investigate whether and to what extent universities with accrual accounting enhance fiscal performance. Based on the results of Mahalanobis distance matching and regression with matched pairs, accrual accounting regimes have a small but positive impact on reducing the debt ratio of such institutions. This paper has the potential to provide information regarding the intended effects of accrual accounting on public organizations.

摘要

本研究旨在增进我们对权责发生制会计制度在高等教育机构财务决策过程中的作用的了解。从理论角度来看，权责发生制会计在公共部门的优势已得到充分证明。然而，实证研究结果相对较少，主要依赖于规范性论证或案例研究中的故事叙述。我们的论文旨在通过结合高等教育机构的档案和调查数据来填补这一空白。我们调查采用权责发生制会计的大学是否以及在多大程度上提高了财政绩效。根据马哈拉诺比斯距离匹配和匹配对回归的结果，权责发生制会计制度对降低此类机构的债务比率具有虽小但积极的影响。