International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) Adoption in Africa: Divergence Between Legal Reform and Reporting Quality

Abstract African governments have pursued International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) reform for two decades, but evidence on outcomes remains fragmented. This study asks whether legal adoption of accrual-based IPSAS predicts actual improvement in financial reporting quality. We built two datasets. The first tracks documented IPSAS adoption milestones for 20 African countries between 1990 and 2026, coded from primary government, International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), and academic sources. The second compiles Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) indicator PI-29 scores (Annual Financial Reports) across 24 assessment rounds in 12 countries, drawn directly from PEFA report tables. We apply crisp-set qualitative comparative analysis (csQCA) to the milestone data and a discrete-time survival framework to model time to accrual-stage reporting. Results show no consistent relationship between legal mandate and reporting performance. Ghana's PI-29 score fell from C + to D+ after its 2016 accrual mandate. Liberia and Sierra Leone show PEFA scores moving independently of documented IPSAS status. Mauritius scored A on every dimension across three assessments (2007 to 2015) while remaining on cash-basis IPSAS throughout. The QCA truth table finds no configuration of legal mandate, donor support, and regional bloc membership reaching consistency above 0.60. We conclude that legal adoption of IPSAS is a poor proxy for reporting quality in this region, and that North African Arab Maghreb Union countries follow a distinct civil-law reform track that does not map onto the IPSAS framework at all. We recommend that researchers and donors track PEFA-type performance indicators alongside legal milestones, not in place of them. JEL Classification: H83, M41, O55