THE IMPACT OF IPSAS ADOPTION ON SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT: A CROSS COUNTRY ANALYSIS

The paper explores whether the change in International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) is an essential factor affecting a country's tourism investment over seven years (2014-2020). The current study employs quantitative analysis to examine the influence of IPSAS adoption on the sustainable development of tourism in 159 countries located in the Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean. The results indicate that the introduction of IPSAS has a positive impact on global tourism investment. Applying IPSAS will increase oversight and accountability over-tourism projects and enhance foreign investors' confidence in achieving sustainable tourism. The results also show that Asia-Pacific countries reached the highest level of foreign tourism investment during the study period, followed by Europe and Latin America, then the Middle East and African countries. The findings of this paper provide a greater understanding of the impact of the transparency and accountability requirements included in the IPSAS in attracting foreign investment and promoting sustainable tourism development. Consequently, public sector policymakers must devise effective strategies to advance IPSAS reporting policies. These results have global implications because sound financial reporting and economic planning are crucial for African countries' development, sustainability, and other world regions. This article is one of the few that examines the effect of IPSAS adoption on FDI as a proxy for Sustainable Tourism Development. Additionally, it makes an innovative methodological addition to the literature on the macroeconomic impact of IPSAS adoption by developing a scoring system for IPSAS transition degree, as no other research has employed this way of estimating transition degree.