Local Government Characteristics, Adoption of Accrual Accounting, and Government Performance

Accrual accounting is the accounting basis that began to be applied to Indonesian Government Accounting Standards (SAP) in 2015. This study aimed to examine the effect of local government characteristics on the financial performance of local government using the adoption of accrual-based Government Accounting Standard as a mediation variable. The sample is the local government in the Provinces of DIY and Central Java. This research was analyzed by Partial Least Square (PLS). The results showed that leadership education background, experience using the accrual basis, complexity, and local government's wealth have a positive effect on the adoption of accrual-based Government Accounting Standard. Furthermore, leadership education background, and experience using accrual basis have a positive effect on the financial performance of local government. In contrary, the adoption of accrual-based Government Accounting Standard and local government's expense have a negative effect on the financial performance of local government. The adoption of accrual-based Government Accounting Standard mediates the effect of leadership education background, experience using accrual basis, and local government's wealth on the financial performance of local government.