The accounting harmonization challenge in the European Union and the EPSAS

The European Commission decided in 2013 that a new set of accrual- based standards named European Public Sector Accounting Standards (EPSAS), which would have International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) as a reference, should be developed for the EU Member States (MS). This signalled the beginning of the public sector harmonization journey in the European Union that is still in progress despite the long time that has already elapsed. In this chapter, we present the process that the development ofEPSAS has followed so far, and we discuss the structures created to deal with EPSAS development, the content of the EPSAS conceptual framework and the EPSAS governance issues. Moreover, we analyze the issue papers and the screening reports developed during the process. Finally, the EPSAS implementation challenges are addressed, concentrating on the cost of implementation and the ambiguous relation between IPSAS and EPSAS.