In Spain, a new General Public Accounting Plan has been approved adapting Spanish accounting criteria to the IPSAS issued by the IFAC, which could strengthen the quality of governmental financial information and favour accountability via enhanced financial transparency, the benchmarking analysis...

<title>Abstract</title> Local governments in many countries are implementing administrative reforms within the framework of New Public Management (NPM) in order to improve the quality and productivity of public services. The use of performance indicators and benchmarking facilitates evaluation of efficiency...

<italic>In order to evaluate financial sustainability, public sector managers are being pressured to provide better financial information and information transparency. This article examines the role of accounting in assessing the sustainability of local governments and analyses of the usefulness of...</italic>

Governmental financial transparency is an essential element in the implementation of policies to overcome the present crisis of public finances. The international financial reporting standards aim to improve governmental transparency and accountability through the use of new accounting models....