Högskolan i Skövde

Background: Several accounting scandals have caused a development from rules-based to principles-based regulation. Swedish municipalities follow the principle-based recommendations issued by RKR (The Council for Municipal Accounting). An explicit requirement of component depreciation has been introduced prior to 2014. The principles-based regulatory framework raises some choices regarding the introduction and demands that professional judgments are made. There is some risk that comparability decreases. This risk could be reduced by being inspired by and do similarly to what the previous actors have done. Questions: How do municipalities introduce component depreciation based on the principles-based regulatory framework? What underlying factors affecting the choice and what are the effects of the transition to component depreciation?

Purpose: This study aims to create an understanding of how various municipalities’ behavior is influenced by the limited guidance that principle-based system gives when component depreciation is being introduced. It also seeks to explain the effects of the transition.

Method: The study is based on a qualitative approach in which five in-depth interviews were conducted with five different municipalities. The respondents were selected through a targeted selection depending on how far they have come in the change process.

Results and conclusion: The study shows that municipalities primarily choose to use component depreciation for new investments, how the old fixed assets should be handled is somewhat unclear. Furthermore, municipalities tend largely to be inspired by and collaborate with each other. Cooperation takes place but in different ways depending on whether it is a large or small community. Small municipalities often collaborate with each other and are inspired by the larger municipalities, while the larger municipalities cooperate with each other and are inspired by the private sector. Component depreciation gives rise to a need for increased internal cooperation between the various municipal departments