Education in public sector accounting at higher education institutions in Germany

Empirical data about PSA education in Germany is rare. This article provides some basic information and explanation. Based on the analysis of curriculum documents and on expert interviews, the paper presents a detailed empirical picture of the relevance of PSA in programmes training public administrators in Germany. While accounting issues are quite relevant in bachelor programmes at universities of applied sciences, they are less relevant at the master's level of such universities and almost irrelevant in research universities. Several factors influencing the decision to include PSA in the respective curricula were identified, among them the representation of accounting professors in the faculty, the development status of accounting reforms at the respective government level and the demands of recruiting authorities.