Accounting for infrastructure assets in the public sector: The state of the art in academic research and international standards setting
The political, social and economic importance of public sector infrastructure assets means that they need to be accurately accounted for in financial statements. Research interest in this issue grew in the mid 1980s as a result of concerns over the deterioration of public infrastructure and as a consequence of the shift towards the use of accrual accounting in the public sector. After more than 30 years of debate, there is still no consensus in the academic literature regarding the best accounting treatment for infrastructure assets.