CALL FOR PAPERS - CONFERENCE

The IV International Congress of Public Sector Accounting (ICPSA), under the theme "Challenges in a changing world”, will be held on 14 and 15 March, 2024 at the School of Technology and Management (ESTG) of the Polytechnic of Leiria (Portugal). It will bring together academics, researchers and professionals from this area of knowledge to discuss the new challenges of public sector accounting in a changing world. This Congress will be jointly organized by ESTG and the Portuguese Institute of Chartered Accountants.

Challenges faced by governments and other public sector entities in the pursuit of accountability have increased. Today's society requires public sector entities to have progressively higher levels of dialogue, transparency and accountability.

Public sector managers are increasingly required to behave responsibly in the administration of resources, demanding adequate accountability through financial and non-financial information, including economic, social and environmental information.

Public sector accounting has followed part of this evolution by approximating private sector models, adopting the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) and implementing monitoring mechanisms, namely internal control and auditing measures. But new trends, such as integrated reporting and public sector sustainability reports, require changes in public sector accounting.

A transparent public administration must be based on communication, and there must be an effective dissemination of public information. In today's democratic society, characterised by low levels of trust in public institutions, transparency is one of the most effective tools in the fight against corruption.

To face these new challenges, in this Congress, themes such as accountability in financial management, non-financial reporting, and management of corruption risks in public sector entities will be widely debated with contributions from specialists of recognized national and international merit.

Authors from a wide range of countries and professional organizations are encouraged to submit, for the parallel sessions, papers on different topics of current trends in public sector accounting and financial management. It will be an excellent opportunity to disseminate scientific knowledge, exchange experiences
and transfer knowledge among academics, researchers and chartered accountants.

Thus, the proposed areas are:

• Public sector reforms and Accounting Harmonization;
• Budget and Public Financial Management;
• Financial Reporting in the Public Sector;
• Management Accounting in Public Sector Entities;
• Sustainability Reporting in the Public Sector;
• Accountability in the Public Sector;
• Digital technologies and sustainability of public entities;
• Audit and internal control in the public sector;
• Challenges in the teaching of public sector accounting;
• Fraud and forensic accounting.

Deadlines
Deadline for submission of full paper - December 31, 2023
Notification of the decision - February 4, 2024
Deadline for registration of authors with accepted papers - February 15, 2024
Congress dates - March 14–15, 2024

Submission Guideline
All submissions should be sent in a communication format, in accordance with the general and specific rules defined below, through the Easychair platform.

The Organizing Committee will assume that the submission of works is known to all the authors involved.
Full papers have a limit of 9,000 words (approximately 25 pages), including references, abstracts, figures and tables.

All papers presented at the Congress will be analyzed and discussed during the session by a discussant expert in the field of public sector accounting, namely another author presenting work in the same session or an expert.

Format of papers to be submitted
Papers should be submitted in two files, typed using Times New Roman (regular style and font size 12) and in MS Word. Page size should be A4, a single column with a 2.5 cm margin on both sides, double line spacing, and justified text. All pages of the manuscript (including tables and figures) should be numbered.

The first file must include the title and typology of the work (full article or abstract); submission area; abstract, not exceeding 150 words; name, email and institution of the authors; contact of the author(s); and keywords (a maximum of five). Authors should indicate whether they authorize their papers to be submitted
for publication on the web site of OCC.

The second file must contain the paper, beginning with the title and typology of the work and an abstract (at most 150 words). It must not include any information that identifies the author(s).

Papers may be submitted in Portuguese, Spanish or English. However, abstracts must always have an English version.

All references should use the Harvard reference method.
Peer review and notification

The submitted papers will be evaluated by two members of the Scientific Committee
(double-blind preview process).

Congress registration
The Congress programme will include only complete papers whose presenting author completes the registration process.
The cancellation policy is available on the Congress website.

Publication of papers
The full text of the papers included in the Congress programme will be published in a digital format with an ISBN unless authors clearly state they would not wish so.

Best paper award, 4th ICPSA
The Scientific Committee will award the "Best Paper Award, 4th ICPSA” based on the evaluation of the double-blind review process. The winner will be announced at the closing session, and the award will be presented to the authors at the Congress.

Congress dates
14 - 15 March 2024.

Venue
School of Technology and Management, Polytechnic of Leiria, Campus 2 - Morro do Lena - Alto do Vieiro, 2411 - 901 Leiria.

City of Leiria
The municipality of Leiria is the capital of a Portuguese district located in western Central Portugal on the coast. Its attraction is evident: rivers, beaches, pine forests, lagoons, salt pans, rock shelters, religious and civil architecture, museums, spas, popular traditions in their purest manifestations, handicrafts, and rich and varied gastronomy.

Travelling to Porto
In the heart of Portugal, Leiria is about 120 km from Lisbon, 180 km from Porto, and is served by four highways (A1, A8, A17 and A19) and a railway line; the Linha do Oeste.