FROM LEDGERS TO ALGORITHMS: DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IN PUBLIC SECTOR ACCOUNTING

Abstract

Public sector accounting has historically been regarded as the technical language of government, a specialized domain reserved for accountants, auditors, and fiscal administrators who quietly ensure that revenues are collected, expenditures are recorded, and budgets are prepared. Yet, beneath this technical façade lies a deeper truth: public sector accounting is fundamentally a political act, because the way financial information is collected, processed, and communicated determines how governments are held accountable to citizens. For much of the twentieth century, public accounting systems across the world were characterized by manual bookkeeping, fragmented recordkeeping, and opaque reporting processes. This state of affairs made it difficult for legislators to scrutinize the executive, for auditors to detect fraud, and for citizens to demand accountability. In practice, financial reports were often delayed by months or even years, and when they did arrive, they were dense documents comprehensible only to specialists. Such opacity created fertile ground for inefficiency and, in many cases, corruption. Citizens paid taxes but rarely saw in clear, accessible terms how their money was being used.