Investigating the Impact of Public Sector Accounting Reforms on Accountants’ Identity by Focusing on the Actor-Network-Theory

New public management is an evolving phenomenon and accounting has played a central role in its reforms. The investigations have shown that accounting reforms have fallen short of expectations and this cannot be simply related to the technical design of accounting tools. Understanding and implementing public-sector accounting reforms require looking at accounting as a social and human practice rather than a technical device. So this research aims to investigate the impact of public sector accounting reforms on accountants’ identity by focusing on the Actor-Network-Theory. The statistical population of the present research is all the employees of accounting and finance departments in the governmental agencies of Ilam city. Using Cochran’s formula, a sample of 113 people is determined. The data of 121 completed questionnaires are analyzed by SPSS using chi-square and t-test. The result has shown that the reforms have not been implemented in accordance with the four stages of the process of forming the Network of Actors; in other words, unified and cohesive actors networks have not been created. Also, according to the literature, four types of identities are identified among accountants. The largest number of them is Ascendant Accountant. Accounting innovations may imply the design and study of technical features, but the success of their implementation requires attention to the human dimension. Disregarding this dimension will have serious adverse consequences such as increased stress, weakening of motivation, morale, illness, and even tangible negative effects on employee identities, which lead to a low level of acceptance of the reforms and even its limited impact.