The Degree of Implementation of Program and Performance Budgeting and its Effect on the Degree of Accounting Disclosure in Jordanian Universities

Abstract

  This study is aimed at testing the application of program and performance budgeting and its impact on the level of optional accounting disclosure in universities within Jordan, both public and private. In an attempt to meet the objectives of the study, the researcher utilized a questionnaire as the main research instrument in measuring the levels of program budgeting implementation, performance, and discretionary accounting disclosure. It also sought to look into the effect of program and performance budgeting on the level of optional accounting disclosure. The research covered both the public and the private universities in Jordan including the employees in the financial departments of the universities. The researcher successfully gathered 217 completed questionnaires for statistical evaluation and utilized the statistical package for social sciences, known as SPSS, along with multiple and simple linear regression analyses to explore the effect hypotheses among the study variables, thus completing the statistical analysis. The findings revealed that public universities exhibited a greater application level of program and performance budgeting compared to their private counterparts. Furthermore, it indicated that the levels of voluntary disclosure were notably high in both sets of universities. Nevertheless, the comparative analysis revealed that public universities surpassed private institutions in terms of program and performance budgeting application levels alongside voluntary disclosure levels. The results from multiple regression analyses confirmed a statistically significant relationship between the implementation of program and performance budgeting, along with its dimensions of projects and programs, affecting the degree of optional accounting disclosure dimensions in Jordanian universities. However, the findings did not reveal any influence of the activities field on the level of optional accounting disclosure across its dimensions. The study put forward several recommendations, with a key suggestion being the necessity for more thorough investigations into why activities have a diminishing influence on disclosure.