In March 2013, the EC announced the development of European accounting
standards for the public sector. The European Public Sector Accounting
Standards (EPSAS) aim to harmonise public sector accounting across and
within EU Member States. EPSAS are still in the process of development,
they have not been implemented yet and there is no binding decision
about their future implementation. In this chapter, the evolution of a European
public sector accounting system is described and the emergence of
EPSAS are outlined. The benefits and challenges of implementing EPSAS
are discussed, and the concept of the current EPSAS draft is compared
with the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS). Besides,
the potential process of implementing EPSAS is described. Finally, future
challenges in terms of adopting EPSAS are discussed.