IFRS and IPSAS convergence in India : transnational perspectives

In common with several other countries India committed itself to achieving convergence with International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) in the public sector in 2004 and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in the private sector in 2007. In India the convergence decision-making process has been marked by contrasting scenarios in the private and public sectors despite the state being the central decision-maker in both sectors. In relation to private sector convergence there has been much public political debate with the consequence that the convergence process has suffered severe delay in this sector. On the other hand, the convergence process in the public sector appears to have achieved relatively better progress. Despite widely acknowledged benefits of a global set of accounting standards, there are several on-going debates regarding the suitability of a blanket adoption of these standards in terms of country-specific issues such as institutional complementarities, cultural differences, political ramifications, and economic factors. India’s position has been not to adopt fully but to converge towards an amended version of the standards that are similar but not identical in both private and public sectors. In contrast to much prior literature, which views the decision to converge as a given, this study contributes empirical evidence by examining convergence in India as a decision-making process through the theoretical lens of transnational governance. The decision-making process involves state and non-state actors from the national and global fronts. This thesis uses transnational governance concepts such as transnational communications, transnational policy networks and recursivity to analyse the decision-making process. The research methods used in this study are the collection, description and interpretation of relevant primary data collected through interviews and secondary data gathered from documentary analysis. Tabulation and graphics are used for empirical data analysis. This thesis contributes to the understanding of convergence through an in-depth analysis of the preparation or pre-implementation stage of convergence. It etches out the chaotic routes through which the idea of convergence travels before being finalised as an implementation decision. The study finds that convergence as a decision-making process is a complex series of cyclic interactions between national and transnational actors through the medium of a variety of transnational policy networks. These interactions are used by actors to influence the decision-making process. This study found that US delays in IFRS convergence have indirectly played a key role in shaping the decision-making process in India. Delays in US convergence conveyed indirect support to local resistance to immediate convergence. This and other important evidence gathered during the course of this study helped illustrate the different types of transnational influences and the varied local responses to these influences which portray the dynamic and complex two-way negotiations/interactions between transnational and national actors that constitute the convergence decision-making process.