CONTEXTUAL FACTORS AND MOTIVATORS OF THE ACCOUNTING DEVELOPMENTS IN ESTONIAN LOCAL GOVERNMENTS 1. Toomas Haldma, Helje Jõgi University of Tartu

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1 CONTEXTUAL FACTORS AND MOTIVATORS OF THE ACCOUNTING DEVELOPMENTS IN ESTONIAN LOCAL GOVERNMENTS 1 1. Introduction Toomas Haldma, Helje Jõgi University of Tartu By the end of the last century the initiatives within the framework of New Public Management (NPM) encouraged the adaptation of private sector management techniques within the public sector, as well as development of assessing performance measurement in order to monitor the degree of efficiency and effectiveness with which the public services are delivered, and to evaluate the financial consequences of management decisions. The public sector reform will also modify the traditional channels of accountability. Because of this, the governmental accounting systems evolve in order to face the challenges of the 21 st century public sector requirements. At the beginning of the century, as revealed analysis arranged by Lüder and Jones (2003), the stage of development of the national governmental accounting systems is very variable. In the course of the recent transition process, Estonia has simultaneously experienced many economic, social and political changes. As a result of the dramatic shifts in operating conditions, the country s local government system has also undergone both a financial and a management reform. These alterations have also implications to the nature and practice of accounting systems. The main purpose of this paper is to apply the contingency approach to explain the contextual factors influencing innovations and the motivators (stimuli) of these processes in Estonian local government accounting during the last decade. The crucial issue is the transition from cash-basis principles towards the accrual bases accounting introduced in Estonian local government system. We describe the recent innovations in Estonian local municipalities and discuss how the contextual factors have interfered in the change process. The paper analyses these factors of the local government accounting reform during the three stages of the Estonian accounting reform: the introductory, system-building and system improvement stages. The paper is organized as follows. The next section sets a theoretical framework for the analysis, drawing on the phased approach and contingency approach. The third section will analyze the legal framework for the Estonian local governments reform and subsequently the regulatory framework of the accounting reform in Estonian local governments will be described. Fifth section will analyse the motivating 1 The current paper is based on an investigation supported by the Estonian Science Foundation Grant No

2 drivers of the process of implementation accrual bases accounting. Finally, concluding remarks on the study will be presented. 2. Theoretical framework of the study In accounting research, the influencing impacts on accounting system are often studied with help of contingency approach. A contingency model of governmental accounting was developed by Lüder (1992) to specify the social-politicaladministrative environment and its impact on governmental accounting innovations (Lüder, 1994, p. 1). This model was designed in circumstances of the absence of reform stimuli, unfavourable structural variables and the presence of implementation barriers. Subsequently, the main contextual features have changed through the governmental fiscal stress and dominating superiority of managerialism doctrine (Lüder, 1998, p. 118). Innes and Mitchell (1990, p. 4) pointed out, that contingency theory attempts to explain why accounting system exists in a particular form within an organization at a given point in time. The dynamics of moves or changes are not prescribed. Although the original contingency model of governmental accounting, developed by Lüder, included only contextual variables (see Chan et al., 1996, p. 19) during the next years the attitudinal and behavioural variables were added to the contextual variables. Consequently, the contingency model has been modified and improved during last decade. The latest version the Financial Management Reform Process (FMR) Model (Lüder, 2003) consists two contextual features (legal system and institutional arrangements of the process of setting accounting norms and rules; main stimuli that trigged the reform), three behavioural features (reform drivers; political promoters; stakeholders) and two instrumental (attitudinal) features (reform concept; implementation strategy). Some can distinguish three generation of contingency models in governmental accounting (see Monsen and Näsi, 1998). At the same time the attitudinal and behavioural variables can be regarded as drivers of the accounting innovation or change (Mattisson et al., 2004). Bailey (1998, p. 1462) suggested that the phased approach could be used to divide an accounting reform into periods. In the current paper, the phased approach has been involved in order to divide the accounting reform into periods and to expand the scope of the Estonian governmental accounting reform. Literature analysis revealed that the phased approach has been used through different steps of the reform describing governmental accounting innovations in Portugal (Jorge, 2005, p ). Ellwood (2002) argues that an effective reform of public sector financial management is a long and incremental process. Changes in accounting systems are often part of wider changes in management process. Therefore, the change drivers itself can be influenced by a wide range of management decisions and changes in the organisation. Innes and Mitchell (1990) describe the mismatch between the accounting system and its environment, which creates a tension and pressure for change. They explain the accounting change process drivers in terms of facilitators, motivators and catalysts, which have been widely used also by other researchers (see Laitinen, 2001; Luther and Longden, 444

3 2001). Facilitators are drivers, which are necessary but not sufficient for a change to occur (such as, for example, an adequate number of accounting staff). Motivators are drivers, which influence the change in a general manner (such as competitiveness of market). Finally, a third set of drivers directly associated with the timing of change is termed catalysts (such as arrival of a new accountant). Innes and Mitchell (1990) point out that motivators and catalysts act positively to generate change but could only become effective where suitable facilitating conditions exist. Besides the positive influences on accounting change Lüder (1992) and Groot and Lukka (2000) distinguish also the impact of barriers or obstructers on the accounting change. Facilitators, motivators and catalysts may be necessary to create a potential for change and innovations, but action by individuals is needed to overcome the barriers to change. Therefore, to analyse the conceptual aspects of the accounting reform in Estonian local governments, we use an integrated theoretical framework of contingency approach describing the factors influencing governmental accounting change and the phased approach to the change, which we try to merge into a single theoretical framework. 3. Development of local governments in Estonia Having regained independence in 1991, Estonia has undergone fundamental political and structural changes over the last decade, which has also affected the operation of its governmental units on the State as well as on the municipal level. The principles of the local government are stipulated in the Constitution of the Republic of Estonia which was adopted by a referendum held in The Chapter 14, article 154 of the Constitution provides that all local issues shall be resolved and regulated by local governments, which shall operate independently in accordance with law. Duties may be imposed on local governments only pursuant to law or by the agreement with the local government. Expenditures related to the duties of the state imposed by law on local governments shall be funded from the state budget. According to the article 155 the local government units are rural municipalities and cities. Nowadays the territory of Estonia is divided into 15 counties (maakond) and 241 local government units, comprising 39 cities (linnad) and 202 rural municipalities (vallad). At the beginning of 1990s Estonian local government system was based on two tiers. Counties formed the local government units of the second tier, those were formed on the basis of the former Soviet administrative units. The first tier of the local governments comprised cities, rural municipalities and towns. Upon providing state support to local budgets, the Soviet principles based on standard expenses calculated on the basis of the expenses of the previous year prevailed in several occasions. Such system did not allow for sufficient separation of the local budgets from the state budget. By the autumn of 1993, all the administrative units of the first tier had acquired the status of local government and from 1994 a new local government organisation was put into effect, which completed the local government reform. The local government system began functioning at one tier, which consists of rural municipalities and cities. The counties became the regional administrative units, the 445

4 county governors became the representatives of the state in the counties. During a package of the laws regulating the local government was adopted. This set includes the following acts, which have also impact on the regulation of financial management and accounting issues in local governments: Local Government Organisation Act (adopted in 1993); Rural Municipality and City Budgets Act (adopted in 1994); Rural Municipality and City Budgets and State Budget Correlation Act (adopted in 1994, in force up to 2002); Local Taxes Act (adopted in 1994); According to the Local Government Organisation Act, section 10, an each municipality is an independent public legal person and an economic and accounting entity. Highest decision-making in the local governments belongs to the municipal council elected for three years by the residents. In addition to the council, municipal organs comprise a municipal board, which is responsible for administration and financial management of local authority, and committees and sub-committees. Local budgets are separated from the state budget. The procedure for preparation, approval and implementation of local budgets has been established by the Rural Municipality and City Budgets Act. 4. Regulatory framework for the governmental accounting reform The FMR Model has been applied to explain the different variables that have been involved in the governmental accounting change on the example of several countries (see Lüder and Jones, 2003b; Bourmistrov and Mellemvik 2005). Lüder s FMR Model (2002) uses two groups of contextual features (see figure 1): - the legal system and institutional arrangements of the process of setting accounting norms and rules; - the main stimuli that triggered the reform. Proceeding from this list of the features, we shall subsequently analyse their impact on the accounting reform in Estonian local governments. In the process of improving Estonian financial accounting and reporting regulation one can distinguish between three stages: - the introductory stage ( ); - the system-building stage ( ) and - the system improvement stage (since 2003). These stages are discussed in more detail by Haldma (2004). In what follows, within the framework of the development of Estonian accounting and reporting regulation, we will analyse the contingencies of local government accounting. 446

5 STIMULI Financial/ Economic Crisis Financial Scandal Dominating Doctrine Requirements of Public Sector Reform REFORM DRIVERS Government Commissions Professional Associations Audit Institutions Standard Setting Bodies Consulting Firms Scholar Networks Epistemic Communities POLITICAL REFORM PROMOTERS Members of Government Members of Parliament REFORM CONCEPT IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY Authoritarian/ Participative Central Guidance One-/Multi-Step INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS Legal System State Structure Administrative Structure Civil Service Culture STAKEHOLDERS General Public Parliament Line Departments/ Agencies Statistical Offices Lines of Influence Lines of Impact Feed Back Loops OUTCOME OF THE REFORM OR REFORM STAGE Figure 1. Financial Management Reform Process Model (Lüder, 2002, p. 12). Lüder and Jones (2003a, p. 43) pointed out that in those countries where the responsibility for national and local government accounting is split between different ministries of a government or between autonomous government levels, one can observe a diverging development of accounting systems for a longer period of time. The authors added that accounting reforms are first initiated at the local government level and are followed much later by corresponding national 447

6 governmental accounting reforms. As this evidence was based on the experience of developed countries, we will analyse the appropriateness of this statement in the circumstances of Estonia as a transition country undergoing its accounting reform. The introductory stage Estonia started its accounting reform at the beginning of the 1990s when it was still a part of the Soviet Union. In July 1990, more than a year before independence was regained in August 1991, the Regulation on Accounting was adopted by the Estonian Government. This event was the first step towards creation of marketeconomy accounting environment in Estonia. The Regulation on Accounting came into effect from 1 January In the contemporary sense, the Regulation was quite modest in content and volume, consisting of only ten pages. But the introduction of subjective valuation elements (depreciation rates, inventory valuation methods, assets valuation methods, etc. decided by companies) into the accounting practice, formation of a particular accounting policy, institution of some (unfortunately, not all of them, but under the particular circumstances this was also understandable) basic accounting principles, such as the realization principles, the matching principle, the historical cost principle appeared to be extremely radical changes in the accounting framework of Estonia. The Regulation on Accounting, section 2, stipulated that the bodies of State and local government funded from the state and local budgets are required to organize their accounting recording and reporting. Section 4 added that state and local governments have based their accounting in accordance with instructions and recommendations issued by the Ministry of Finances. As it was mentioned above, the local government reform was first completed in 1994 and therefore accounting issues were not improved substantially during the first stage of national accounting reform. The Local Government Organisation Act provides the general framework for municipal economic management and budgeting. Chapter 5 of the Act is entitled Economy and budgeting. This chapter regulated only general requirements on annual budgets, for example a requirement of a balanced budget was introduced. Any particular accounting issues were not mentioned. The Local Government Organisation Act is not reformed very often. Consequently, by the end of the first stage of Estonian accounting reform, local government accounting issues have not given much attention. The system-building stage In the middle of the 1990s, the development of the business environment in Estonia was affected by the conceptual changes and improvements in the legal system (particularly in taxation), ownership changes (the most intensive period of privatization was ) and increasing FDI inflow. Therefore, the main problem was: how to build a forward-looking and flexible accounting regulation system, which would enable Estonian accounting integration into the European accounting framework. After a comprehensive exploration, 448

7 internal discussions, careful consideration and some testing in practice, the Estonian Accounting Law (EAL) was passed by the Estonian Parliament in June 1994 and came into effect in January One of the most conceptual issues of the EAL was an attempt to create the facilities for merging the Continental European approach with the Anglo-American approach. In these circumstances the accounting framework and procedures in Estonian companies and institutions have since 1995 been legally regulated by the Estonian Accounting Law as a frame-law and by the Estonian Accounting Standards issued by the EASB. This combination had a number of advantages, in particular in the initial period of the accounting reform, speeding it up and enabling the transition process to be flexible. According to the EAL, section 2, the law applied among other institutions also to central and local government entities. They were required to comply their accounting with the general principles of the EAL (sections 1-16), but the majority of the guidelines were still issued by the Decrees of the Ministry of Finance. On the one side, section 4 of the EAL stipulated that business transaction of the institutions, which applied the EAL, are recorded on an accrual basis. On the other, these sections excluded the requirements on financial statement (were disclosured in sections 18-24). In June 1996 due the amendments to the Law, the application was expanded also to public legal persons. As it was mentioned above, according to the Local Government Organisation Act, an each municipality is an independent public legal person. The public legal persons were required to apply the entire EAL. Consequently, the accounting issues of local government entities were regulated by two different EAL sections, which caused some confusion among the local government entity officials. More detailed accounting guidelines were given by the Decrees of the Estonian Ministry of Finance. First accounting guidelines for central and local government entities were adopted in In the introduction to guidelines it was mentioned that this regulation will replace the central and local government accounting regulation issued by Decree of the Ministry of Finance of the Soviet Union in It means, that up to 1994, three years after Estonia regained its independence, the accounting issues for central and local government entities were regulated by guidelines, which originated from the period of centrally planned economy. Through the new guidelines, referring to the sections 1-16 of the EAL, it was made the first attempt to apply a business or accrual accounting model to municipal accounting. Theoretical suitability of Estonian business sector accrual model, which itself was first applied for four years, since 1991 only, was taken to the local governments as granted and therefore the change was considered to be first place technical in its nature. In the contemporary sense, the guidelines included some obscure sections and contradictions to the EAL. According to the section 7 of the guidelines, an accounting entity was required organize its accounts in such a way as to ensure relevant, objective and comparable information. At the same time all items of the financial statements were prescribed. The same section also required to prepare and publish financial statements and report on the implementation of the state budget, although the EAL did not require within the sections 1-16 of the EAL the preparation of financial statements. 449

8 The operating transactions were recorded with a mixed system, including as a cashbasis as well accrual basis principles. According to the section 8 of the guidelines, the utilization of state budgetary resources was recorded on cash-basis and accounting issues for non-budgetary resources (for example, for revenues from municipal enterprises, municipal agencies and municipal assets) on accrual basis. This mixed system was replaced by solely accrual basis through the amended guidelines in But it seems that for the governmental institutions the mixed accounting system has posed a lot of problems and confusion. This reflected also in the formats of the financial statements, required by the guidelines. For example, according to the Rural Municipality and City Budgets Act and the formats of the financial statements, the loans were recorded as revenue. Although the EAL defined the format of the balance sheet basing on decreasing liquidity (beginning from cash and ending by intangible assets), for local governments required a balance sheet and a chart of accounts basing on increasing liquidity. In addition, the financial statement formats change almost every year without giving any reason or substantial explanations. However, since 1998 the accrual-basis principles of accounting have been formally introduced. The system improvement stage The new, amended version of the EAL, which came into force in 2003, has also expanded the scope of the Law, involving in accordance with sections 2 and also central governmental institutions (the Law has applied to them since January 2004). The Ministry of Finance is responsible for the organization of state accounting and financial reporting pursuant to the EAL. This objective is conducted by the general rules for organisation of the accounting and financial reporting of the state and the state accounting entities (riigi raamatupidamise üldeeskiri) which are based on and are in compliance with the accounting principles generally accepted in Estonia and the international public sector accounting standards and in accordance with which the state accounting entities are required to organise their accounting and financial reporting. Section 36 of the EAL stipulates, that the general rules also explain and specify the requirements of the accounting principles generally accepted in Estonia as regards the state and the state accounting entities and serve as the accounting policies and procedures for the state as a whole. The existence of the general rules does not release the state accounting entities from the obligation to establish their own accounting policies and procedures. The general rules establish also the procedure, necessary for the Ministry of Finance to organise state accounting and financial reporting, for regular reporting by the state accounting entities, local governments, legal persons in public law, and other accounting entities which are not state accounting entities or companies but over which the state exercises dominant influence. 450

9 According to the section 37 and 38 the state accounting entities shall prepare their annual reports in accordance with the requirements of the EAL and the general rules. The annual accounts of the state shall contain an additional report on the implementation of the state budget, subdivided according to the state budget adopted by the Estonian Parliament (Riigikogu) for the accounting year. According to the section 41 the annual reports of local government entities shall contain an additional report on budget implementation of local government entity. Therefore, it can be concluded that beginning from 2004, the EAL covers the regulation of the accounting principles of all types of institution. The business entities and public legal persons have followed the EAL and the accounting standards for years and are accustomed to doing so. But our observations revealed that for the central governmental institutions the switch from cash-basis to accrualbasis accounting in January 2004 has posed a lot of problems and confusion. Thus the public sector has adopted the main principles and rules of private sector accounting. Our general observation showed, that the development of Estonian public sector accounting from cash-basis to accrual basis one can be regarded, in particular in the light of the New Public Financial Management Framework, as an attempt to adopt the accounting principles that applied in the private sector. Our finding supports Jorge (2005), who argued that the strong influence of business accounting seems to favoured the governmental accounting development, namely introducing accrual based accounting. Still, public sector accounting is different from private sector accounting. Public sector organizations shall prepare budget and perform within limits of approved budget. Budgeting is interrelated to accounting, because accounting gives budget execution, i.e. actual amounts of revenues and costs. According to Lüder and Jones (2003a, p. 33), budgeting and budgetary control are fundamentals of government accounting. 5. Stimuli for governmental accounting change In this section, using the theoretical framework described in section 2, we try to analyse the main set of change drivers influencing the development of local government accounting issues. According to Groot and Lukka (2000, p.6) the drivers of change are actions, development, actors and circumstances that cause, provoke or facilitate change processes to take places. In our opinion a local governmental accounting system can be regarded as an information system. Changes in organizational arrangements of the system are influenced by facilitators and barriers. We argue, basing on the analysis of the development of local government accounting, described in Section 4, that the local governmental accounting regulation (acts, laws, guidelines etc.) serves as the main facilitating condition of the change. But as it was revealed in section 4, the accounting guidelines for central and local government entities, adopted in 1995, included some unclearness and variability concerning the implementation of the accrual basis accounting procedures. Other barriers were, firstly, a weak knowledge about business accrual based accounting principles, while the accountants in local governments were used to use cash-basis and fund accounting principles for years. Secondly, proceeding 451

10 from the latter, a limited retraining of the officials of local governments and also ministries. Thirdly, a weak inspection and control from the side of Ministry of Finance. The main responsibility of local authorities was to submit the require statements, the substantial or methodical control was not arranged from the side of Ministry. An official from a local government commented: If you have submitted in proper time the statements, they were also accepted already without any control. Stimuli (motivators and catalysts) create a potential for change, and corresponding actions by individuals are needed to overcome the barriers to change. According to Lüder and Jones (2003a), stimuli are events that trigger accounting reform activities. These events can be problems facing governments, external or internal requirements, and opportunities for the governmental accounting reform. An analysis of the Estonian governmental accounting reform stimuli revealed that neither financial scandals nor fiscal/economic crises happened in Estonia to precipitate the need for a reform in governmental accounting. The first significant incentive for an accounting reform seems to have been European integration, whose influence increased since the middle of the 1990s, when Estonia submitted an application to join the European Union. Similar consequences have been pointed out by Jorge (2005) concerning an investigation of Portuguese variables and by McKendrick (2005) about Romania. These stimuli are oriented towards securing public sector reputation nationally in comparison with the business sector, internationally in order to regain an image of a modern and progressive country (see Lüder and Jones, 2003a, p. 45). As the second stimulus in Estonian circumstances we point out expanding the NPM concept, improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the public sector based on better financial and non-financial information. Since the beginning of the 21 st century the management by objectives has been an important term in Estonian public sector management. A number of authors have seen government accounting reforms as a part of NPM (see Lüder, 1994; Guthrie, 1998). On the basis of our analysis in section 4 we argue that the third very important stimulus has been the dominating doctrine about superiority of business accounting as suitable for public management (Laughlin and Pallot, 1998). An analysis of the business and governmental accounting issues during the three stages of the Estonian accounting reform revealed that during the second, system-building stage ( ) and the third, system improvement stage (since 2003) the strong influence of business accounting seems to have favoured the introduction of accrual-based financial accounting. Our interviews with financial officials in Estonian municipalities revealed the auditors requirements as the fourth group of stimuli. The auditors demands for governmental accounting change mainly result from the legal requirement to fairly present the government s financial position (Lüder and Jones, 2003a, p. 45) or a gap between this requirement and the actual financial reporting (see above section 4). In our opinion, the auditors influence on the development of local government accounting issues can be regarded as a motivator. The latter was characterized by Innes and Mitchell (1990) as drivers supporting the change in a general manner. The requirement of professional auditing of local governments in Estonia has been changing: in some periods the audit was required by the Local Governments Organisation Act, while in others it was excluded. Only since 2004, due to the requirement of the EAL, depending on the size of local government budgets, the 452

11 majority of local authorities are required to audit. It has to be noted that even before that date a relevant number of local authorities were audited in Estonia. Therefore, although Lüder and Jones (2003a, p. 46) mentioned that auditors requirements are not a significant stimulus for governmental accounting reforms in Europe, in our opinion, these requirements substantially improved the accounting procedures in Estonian local governments moving towards accrual basis and business accounting, and supported the formation and delivery of fairer and more reliable financial information. The above tendencies can mainly be observed in the second and third stage of the accounting reform. 6. Conclusions The present study, focussing on the evolution of the Estonian local government accounting framework and developments in the local government accounting system in association with improvement of the business accounting environment, revealed the following. First, the development of the Estonian local government accounting system is following the development of business accounting system, which can be divided into three different stages - the introductory ( ), system-building ( ) and system improvement stage (from 2003 onwards). Second, the Estonian local government accounting regulation, including different regulatory acts has succeeded a remarkable evolution on the way to transfer cashbasis accounting onto accrual-basis procedures. Third, to analyse the conceptual aspects of the accounting reform in Estonian local governments, we used an integrated the theoretical framework of Lüder s FMR Model describing the factors influencing governmental accounting change, and with the phased approach to the change. Our analyses revealed that the overall climate has been rather favourable for local government accounting innovations in Estonia. This also provides encouragement for future new and deeper innovations. References 1. Bailey, D. (1998), Eastern Europe: Overview, Alexander, D. and Archer, S. (eds European Accounting Guide, 3rd edn. London: Harcourt Brace & Co., pp Bourmistrov, A., Mellemvik, F. (eds) (2005), International Trends and Experiences in Governmental Accounting, Cappelen Akademisk Forlag, Oslo. 3. Chan, J. L., Jones, R. H., Lüder, K. G. (1996), Modeling governmental accounting innovations: an assessment and future research directions., Research in Governmental and Nonprofit Accounting, 9,

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13 18. Lüder, K., Jones, R. (2003a), The diffusion of accrual accounting and budgeting in European governments a cross-country analysis., Reforming governmental accounting and budgeting in Europe, Moderne Wirtschaft, pp Lüder, K., Jones, R. (eds) (2003b), Reforming governmental accounting and budgeting in Europe, Moderne Wirtschaft. 20. Luther, R. G.; Longden, S. (2001), Management accounting in companies adapting to structural change and volatility in transition economies: A South African study., Management Accounting Research, 2001, 12 (3), pp Mattisson, O., Näsi, S., Tagesson, T. (2004), Accounting Innovations in the Public Sector. A comparative analysis of the accrual accounting reform process in the Swedish and Finnish local governments., Paper presented at EAA 27 th congress, 1-3 April, Prague, the Czech Republic. 22. McKendrick, J. Modernization of the Public Accounting Systems in Central and Eastern European Countries: The Case of Romania, Bourmistrov A., Mellemvik F. (eds) International Trends and Experiences in Governmental Accounting, Cappelen Akademisk Forlag, Oslo, pp Monsen, N., Näsi, S. (1998), The Contingency Model of Governmental Accounting Innovations: a discussion., The European Accounting Review, 7, pp Kokkuvõte MAJANDUSARVESTUSE ARENGUT MÕJUTAVAD TEGURID EESTI KOHALIKES OMAVALITSUSTES Toomas Haldma, Helje Jõgi Tartu Ülikool Siirdeperioodil on Eesti kohalike omavalitsuste (KOV) süsteem läbi teinud nii finants- kui ka administratiivreformi, millised avaldavad mõju majandusarvestuse kontseptuaalsetele aspektidele kohalikes omavalitsustes. Artikli eesmärgiks on käsitleda Lüderi (2002) poolt loodud avaliku sektori finantsjuhtimise reformi mudeli rakendamisvõimalusi selgitamaks Eesti kohalike omavalitsuste majandusarvestuse süsteemile mõjuvaid tegureid. Teoreetiliste lähtekohtadena kasutatakse avaliku sektori arvestusele suunatud sõltuvusteoorial põhinevat mudelit (Lüder 1992, 2002) ja Bailey (1998) poolt soovitatud majandusarvestuse reformi etapilist käsitlust. Sõltuvusteoorial põhinev mudel määratleb sotsiaalse, poliitilise ja administratiivse keskkonna ning selle mõju avaliku sektori majandusarvestuse arengule. Majandusarvestuse reformi etapiline käsitlus võimaldab majandusarvestuse reformi jagada etappidesse. Artiklis analüüsitakse lähtudes etapilise lähenemise teoreetilistest seisukohtadest KOV-de arvestussüsteemi arengut läbi Eesti majandusarvestuse kolme arenguetapi - 455

14 sissejuhatava ( ), süsteemi loomise ( ) ja süsteemi arenduse (alates 2003) etapi. Sissejuhatavas etapis kujundas arvestuse arengut a. vastu võetud raamatupidamise põhimäärus, mis rakendas esmakordselt turumajanduslikke majandusarvestuse põhimõtteid Eestis. Riik ja KOV-d kohustusid nimetatud põhimääruse järgi majandusarvestust pidama vastavalt rahandusministeeriumi juhenditele ja soovitustele. Üldiselt ei pööratud siiski KOV-de majandusarvestusele esimeses arenguetapis olulist tähelepanu. Süsteemi loomise etapis lähtuti a. jõustunud raamatupidamise seadust. Kuigi nimetatud seadus reguleeris ka KOV-de majandusarvestuse põhimõtteid, said KOVd täpsed juhised majandusarvestuse pidamiseks rahandusministeeriumi määrustest. Esimene rahandusministeeriumi määrus anti välja a. ja selle abil püüti esimest korda rakendada KOV-des erasektori tekkepõhist arvestusmudelit. Kuni a. kasutati avalikus sektoris majandustehingute kajastamiseks tekkepõhise ja kassapõhise arvestuse segasüsteemi, alles seejärel mindi täielikult üle tekkepõhistele arvestuspõhimõtetele. Süsteemi arenduse etapis hakkas a. kehtima raamatupidamise seaduse uus versioon, mis pöörab varasemast enam tähelepanu ka riigi tasandi majandusarvestusele. Vastavalt raamatupidamise seadusele korraldab riigi raamatupidamiskohustuslaste raamatupidamisarvestust rahandusministeerium, kes kehtestab riigi raamatupidamise üldeeskirja. Riigi ja KOV-de raamatupidamise aastaaruanded peavad raamatupidamise seaduse kohaselt sisaldama täiendava aruandena vastavalt riigieelarve või KOV eelarve täitmise aruannet. Kokkuvõttes on avalik sektor võtnud järjest enam kasutusele üldtunnustatud erasektori arvestuspõhimõtted. Peamiseks avaliku sektori ja erasektori arvestuse erinevuseks on avaliku sektori raamatupidamisarvestuse seotus eelarvestamisega. Tuginedes KOV-de majandusarvestuse arengu analüüsile võib väita, et õiguslik regulatsioon on olnud peamine majandusarvestuse muutusi motiveeriv tegur. Takistavad tegurid olid selgusetus ja ebastabiilsus tekkepõhise arvestuse sisseviimisel, KOV-de raamatupidajate piiratud teadmised tekkepõhise arvestuse põhimõtetest, vähene KOV-de ametnike koolitus ning nõrk ministeeriumite poolne kontroll. Eesti KOV-de majandusarvestuse arengut motiveerivate teguritena võib käsitleda integreerumist Euroopa Liiduga, uue haldusjuhtimise (NPM) põhimõtete rakendamist, tugevat erasektori arvestuse mõju ja audiitorite poolt esitatavaid nõudmisi. 456