Now in beta · For practitioners and audit teams
IPSAS Desk
The technical reference desk for teams without one.
Ask any IPSAS question in plain English. Get a sourced answer with the exact paragraph citation, written so it can go straight into your working papers. Built specifically for IPSAS — not IFRS with public-sector content bolted on.
What it does
Twenty seconds. Paragraph reference. Plain English.
A senior PFM advisor bills somewhere between USD 800 and USD 2,000 per day. For most public-sector accounting questions, that's the wrong tool — too expensive, too slow, and unavailable when you need an answer in time for the close.
The Desk is the right tool for those questions. Ask in plain English. Upload supporting documentation if it helps. You get back the applicable standard, the specific paragraph(s), the recommended treatment for your context, and — where it matters — a note on what working-paper documentation an auditor will expect.
Every answer is grounded in the actual IPSAS source text. Citations are real and verifiable. The Desk is designed never to invent a paragraph reference that doesn't exist.
IPSAS-first
Built for IPSAS first, not IFRS with public-sector mode.
Most AI accounting tools were built for the IFRS / FASB market and added IPSAS later, if at all. The result: shallow handling of the standards that matter most in public sector — IPSAS 23 (non-exchange revenue), 24 (budget reporting), 32 (service concession arrangements), 35 (consolidated statements), and the GFS reconciliation that ties government accounts back to fiscal reporting.
The Desk is built around those standards, by a practitioner who applies them on real engagements. The IFRS-equivalent treatments are there too, where they help — but the centre of gravity is public sector.
How it works
Three steps. Sourced answer.
Set your context
Tell the Desk your jurisdiction, entity type, reporting basis (cash, modified accrual, full accrual), and which IPSAS standards you've adopted. Answers are tuned to your situation, not generic.
Ask in plain language
“We received a USD 4m grant from a bilateral donor with conditions tied to construction milestones. How do we recognise this under IPSAS 23?” The Desk identifies the applicable standard, reads any documents you upload, and answers in context.
Use the answer
Paragraph citations, recommended treatment, suggested working-paper note. Copy what you need into your file. The citation is verifiable — it points to a real paragraph in a real standard.
Who uses the Desk
Built for teams who need a defensible answer fast.
Senior accountants and CFOs in government
For when the question is too hard for the team but too small to bring in a consultant. Get a sourced answer fast, defend it to your auditor, move on.
Audit firms outside the Big Four
For firms that audit governments but don't have a public-sector technical desk. The Desk fills that role: ask, cite, document, sign.
PFM advisors and donor-project staff
For consultants who need to give a defensible answer quickly to a Ministry counterpart, with the citation already attached.
Limits
What the Desk doesn't do.
The Desk is a research and reference tool, not a replacement for professional judgment or audit. It will give you a sourced position on an IPSAS question; you and your team are still responsible for the accounting decision and the audit response.
It also doesn't pretend to know what it doesn't know. If a question requires entity-specific information the Desk doesn't have, it asks. If a question falls outside IPSAS into local statute or regulation, it says so — unless you're on a Customised plan, where local statute and regulation can be added to the Desk's reference base.
Trust signals
Sourced answers. Built by a practitioner, not a chatbot vendor.
The Desk is curated and operated by Gregg Pavitt, a public financial management specialist with 25 years of work across Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the Pacific. The reference base is the actual IPSAS standards — IPSAS 1 through the most recently issued — plus IPSASB framework documents and selected public-sector application guidance. Updates are pushed as standards are revised.
Donors funding the underlying consulting practice
Pricing
Try it free. Subscribe when you've used it on a real question.
Start with a 14-day free trial — generous query allowance, no credit card needed to look around. Add a card to keep going past day 14.
For audit firms, ministries, and donor-funded organisations, see team and organisation pricing. Customised plans (your local statute and regulation added to the reference base) are available for organisations that need them.
FAQ
Common questions
- How is this different from ChatGPT or general AI tools?
- ChatGPT will confidently cite IPSAS paragraph numbers that don't exist. The Desk is grounded in the actual standards: every citation is traceable to a real paragraph. If the answer isn't in the source, the Desk says so.
- How is this different from IFRS Buddy / Acclara / IFRS Companion?
- Those tools are excellent at IFRS. They handle IPSAS as a secondary feature, if at all. The Desk is built for IPSAS first.
- Can it handle our local jurisdiction?
- Standard plans answer in IPSAS terms with general public-sector context. Customised plans add your local statute, regulations, and accounting manual to the reference base, so the answer reflects your specific compliance environment.
- Will the answer hold up in an audit?
- The citation will. The accounting position is yours and your auditor's to agree on — but the Desk gives you a defensible, sourced starting point with the paragraph reference your auditor will ask for anyway.
- What if I'm just learning IPSAS?
- The Desk is built for practitioners with a working knowledge. If you're learning the standards, IPSAS Drills is the better starting point.
Drills + Desk go together.
Drills builds your team's reflexes on routine treatments. Desk handles the hard cases when they come up.