IPSAS for the public sector: what it changes for your accounts

International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) ask public bodies to account on an accrual basis: recognising assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses when they arise, not only when cash moves. For a ministry or municipality, that is a shift from a chequebook view to a complete financial picture.

In practice it means fixed assets are capitalised and depreciated over their useful life, liabilities and provisions are recognised as they are incurred, and revenue is matched to the period it relates to. Auditors can then trace every balance back to the transaction and the person who recorded it.

A system built for IPSAS keeps this consistent automatically: the asset register drives depreciation, disposals and revaluations post straight to the ledger, and every entry carries a complete audit trail. URBIS is designed around exactly this — public-sector accrual, reconciliation and auditability from day one, rather than bolted on afterwards.