Comparing Cost Accounting Use across European Countries: The Role of Administrative Traditions, NPM Instruments, and Fiscal Stress

Cost accounting in public organizations is not often studied from a comparative perspective , particularly at the national level of government . While it is often claimed that factors such as New Public Management (NPM) and fiscal stress are the primary drivers of government cost accounting , an important but understudied factor is the administrative tradition of the government , which may influence the use of cost accounting and tools like it . This article examines the perceptions of top public executives regarding cost accounting use across 19 European countries . It focuses on three key factors identified in the literature as potentially being associated with cost accounting use—administrative traditions , NPM instruments , and fiscal stress . Findings show that administrative tradition and the use of NPM instruments are related to cost accounting use , but fiscal stress is not related to cost accounting use in the countries in our study .