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At the beginning of the new millennium, the need for renewal of the existing Russian model of the state has been acknowledged. This has involved the reconstruction of accounting and financial reporting in favor of accruals. This is what constitutes the subject-matter of this interpretative study. Given the paucity of research efforts on the topic, the present monograph seeks to describe and analyze, and by so doing, to contribute to knowledge about Russian central government accounting in times of change. To tackle the general purpose, two levels are incorporated in order to link reform initiatives for the government as a whole with the attempts being made to implement them at one Russian university. The major questions to be addressed are whether, why and eventually how there have been changes at the central government level, and whether there are links to the university and its accounting system. This study concludes that changes at the central government level have had their initial and most direct impact on formal rules at the university, but little or no impact on its everyday management activity.

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Konstantin Timoshenko holds a doctoral degree from the Bod› Graduate School of Business at the Bod› University College, Norway. He is currently employed as an Associate Professor there. His research interests are predominantly within the domain of Russian public sector reforms in general, and changes in public sector accounting in particular.

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