Investigating the Effect of the Implementation of Accrual Accounting on the Accountability of Managers of the Universities of Medical Sciences in the North-west of Iran

In recent years, many attempts have been conducted to use accrual accounting in the reporting system of the public sector of some countries such as Iran. Since the main purpose of accounting and financial reporting system in the Universities of Medical Sciences is to provide the information which will assist managers effectively in implementing accountability, the present study examines the effect of implementing accrual accounting on the accountability of managers of the Universities of Medical Sciences in the North-west of Iran.

The present research is a field survey. The population of this research consist of all managers of the North-west Universities of Medical Sciences of Iran in 2014 among 341 subjects. By using the table of determining sample size by Morgan and Krejcie, 181 subjects were achieved as the sample size, and the units of samples were selected through cluster sampling method. Data collection tools include a researcher-made questionnaire. In order to analyze the data, the descriptive statistics, one-sample t-test, t-test for independent groups, and ANOVA have been used by SPSS Software Version 20.

The implementation of accrual accounting in the Universities of Medical Sciences has a significant and positive effect on seven dimensions of the accountability of managers including public, financial, professional, legal, social, and operational dimensions.

From the viewpoints of managers in the Universities of Medical Sciences, the implementation of accrual accounting has a significant and positive effect on accountability; therefore, the implementation of accrual accounting leads to increase the level of accountability.