In recent years, numerous Latin-American countries have been carrying out reforms in their public accounting systems with a view to improving the information that guides the decision-making process. However, bearing in mind that, in general terms, the accounting systems adopt the accrual basis, there still exist differences in accounting practices. Nevertheless, this situation could be modified since, for the first time, an international agency, which is the case of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), has issued official standards for the financial elaboration of public entities' reports which, if adopted, could actively contribute to accounting harmonization. In this context, the objective of our article is to compare the financial reporting practices recommended by the IFAC's IPSAS with those showing the annual public financial reporting of the South Cone countries, with a view to measuring the level of adaptation that would be necessary in each of them if they intend to achieve harmonization, adopting this model as a reference framework for these countries' disclosure of public financial information.
International Public Accounting Standards (IPSAS); Public Financial Information; Public Accounting Harmonization; South Cone Market
