Permalink : http://hdl.handle.net/2115/84844

KEYWORDS : Local government;financial statement;unified accounting standard;panel data analysis;disclosure

Since January 2015 Japanese local governments have been required to make and disclose the financial statements based on the new unified public accounting standards. Some municipalities have been late every year, and a minority have never made the statements yet, while most have already disclosed. This paper examines the factors associated with late disclosure and not having started yet by panel data analysis. The results show that: (1) municipalities with a small population or in a disaster area are likely to be late disclosing their financials or might not produce the financial statements at all; (2) municipalities facing a large debt payment are likely to be late disclosing or might not compile the consolidated financial statements. These findings suggest the necessity of support to ensure compliance with the compiling of financial statements by wide-area local governments.