The association between accounting standards, legal framework and the quality of financial reporting by a government ministry in Uganda

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the association between accounting standards, legal framework and the quality of financial reporting by the Ministry of Water and Environment in Uganda. Design/methodology/approach – The study used a self‐administered questionnaire to survey 120 staff and stakeholders of the Ministry of the Water and Environment. Correlation analysis was employed to determine the association between accounting standards, legal framework and the quality of financial reporting. Findings – Results indicate that accounting standards and legal framework are all positively and significantly associated with the quality of financial reporting, providing evidence of the effect of accounting standards and legal framework on the quality of financial reporting in Uganda Research limitations/implications – Scarce literature using African data means that it is not possible to compare the findings to previous research. Practical implications – The finding of an association between accounting standards, the legal framework and quality of financial reporting implies that the government of Uganda needs to adopt a more robust approach in enforcing compliance to improve the quality of financial reports produced by the Ministry of Water and Environment. Originality/value – This study contributes to the dearth of evidence on government accounting literature in Africa by investigating for the first time, the association between accounting standards, legal framework and the quality of financial reporting by a government department.