Building legitimacy for European public sector accounting standards (EPSAS): a governance perspective

Purpose: This paper looks at the EPSAS project development path to explore how governance and legitimacy issues intertwine when a new standard-setting system is developed. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative interpretative multimethod approach is adopted, which encompasses document analysis and participative observations. Findings: The analysis shows the role of governance dimensions, including institutional participation and consensus, in the process for securing the legitimacy of accounting standards and the related setting processes, pointing to the critical issues emerging throughout the development of the EPSAS project. Originality/value: The definition of public sector accounting standards poses significant challenges to the accounting profession and regulators alike. A paradigmatic case of such challenges is represented by the decisions to develop harmonised European public sector accounting standards (EPSAS). A key contribution of this paper is to connect legitimacy dimensions with network governance, offering a view of the input, output and procedural dimensions associated with decisions to legitimise EU public sector accounting standards and how these may be affected by network governance.