Reforms and Myths – A History of Swedish Municipal Accounting

Abstract

The article deals with the development of Swedish municipal accounting since the middle of the last century to the present time. The article focuses on reforms of accounting norms on one hand and on myths of accounting on the other. The main conclusions are that the accounting norms will be reformed when the dominating myth of the norms is threatened or changed, that practice influences norms and that reforms of norms do not necessarily lead to changes of practice.