Service Efforts and Accomplishments Reporting: Has Its Time Really Come?

In April 1994 GASB released Concepts Statement No. 2, Service Efforts and Accomplishments Reporting , bringing required SEA external financial reporting a very large step closer to reality. Before long, public financial officials may be required to annually report measures of performance. We are now about halfway through the experimentation phase established in Statement 2. This article summarizes the status of GASB's SEA experimentation process. It then suggests important behavioral, auditing, and other issues which GASB ought to address before proceeding with any formal pronouncements regarding SEA reporting requirements.     

Failure of auditors: The lack of compliance for business combinations in China

This empirical study investigates the compliance of 344 Chinese listed companies with the Accounting Standard for Enterprises No. 20‐Business Combination, a mandatory reporting standard applicable to companies involved in business combinations. China has recently reformed its auditing sector, enabling private firms to provide auditing services. The results of the study show a low level of compliance by Chinese listed companies. While companies audited by Chinese domestic auditors have significantly lower compliance than companies audited by Big Four auditors on supplementary disclosure that is mandatory under the Chinese accounting standards, compliance remains low even after companies receive unqualified reports from these international auditors. There appears to be a lack of commitment, and possibly expertise, among Big Four auditors, in fully applying the reporting requirements of the business combination standard in a Chinese setting. This raises concerns about the independence of Chinese auditing in disclosing reliable information about business combinations. Broader theoretical contributions of the paper go beyond the Chinese context by problematizing whether well‐resourced international auditors uphold internationally expected standards or succumb to local non‐compliant practices.     

Measuring Financial Condition: A Study of U.S. States

This study tests a measure of financial condition using government‐wide information as required under the new financial reporting model set forth in GASB Statement No. 34. The measure consists of four financial condition dimensions in cash, budget, long‐run and service‐level solvencies, and 11 financial condition indicators. Results show that the measure is relatively reliable and valid and that government‐wide information reported under the requirements of GASB Statement No. 34 provides a useful reporting framework to evaluate financial condition of a government. Additionally, financial condition among states varies greatly and there is much room for improvement.     

The Why and How of the New Capital Asset Reporting Requirements

New requirements for reporting capital assets associated with the governmental funds of state and local governments are among the most significant changes that will be required by Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Statement No. 34. Under Statement No. 34, the historical cost of these assets, including general infrastructure assets (for example, roads and bridges), must be reported in the government-wide Statement of Net Assets. The cost of using those assets—generally depreciation expense—must be reported in the government-wide Statement of Activities. This article explores why the GASB established these requirements and how it worked with preparers and others to make meeting these requirements less costly.     

The New Governmental Financial Reporting Model under GASB Statement No. 34: An Emphasis on Accountability

After more than a decade and a half of research, study, and public comment, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) in June 1999 issued the standards for a new governmental accounting model, GASB Statement No. 34, Basic Financial Statements—and Management's Discussion and Analysis—for State and Local Governments (hereafter Statement No. 34). These new standards introduced significant operational accountability by adding a set of additional government-wide financial statements to the current set of fund-based financial statements, which had previously focused on fiscal accountability. Other changes have resulted in substantially improved accountability in the government reporting model.     

How preferences,information and institutions interactively drive agenda‐setting: Questions in the Belgian parliament, 1993–2000

In this article an integrated framework of agenda‐setting is proposed that incorporates the two main accounts of agenda‐setting: the information‐processing approach by Comparative Agenda Project scholars and the preference‐centred account advanced by Comparative Manifestoes Project scholars. The study claims that attention allocation is determined at the same time by preferences, information and institutions, and that attention allocation is affected by the interactions between these three factors. An empirical test is conducted that draws upon a dataset of parliamentary questions/interpellations in Belgium in the period 1993–2000. It is found that attention in parliament is indeed driven by preceding party manifestos (preferences), by available information (media coverage) and by institutional position (government or opposition party). The evidence establishes that agenda‐setting is also affected by the interactions between preferences, information and institutions. Actors, given their preferences, treat information in a biased fashion, and institutions moderate information's role.     

ACCOUNTABILITY AND CREDIBILITY IN THE MANAGEMENT OF COMPLEX HAZARDOUS TECHNOLOGY

The requirements for dependable management of complex hazardous technologies include multiple barriers against serious failure, clear accountability for errors, and credibility for the decision-making process. Unfortunately, these requirements are in direct conflict. These conflicts can undermine the public's assurance that their health and safety concerns are being properly addressed. These conflicts can be reduced by the adoption of policies that enhance information exchange and evaluation, thereby, complementing the current policies based on physical safe guards and adversarial processes.     

Implications of GASB's New Reporting Model for Municipal Bond Analysts and Managers

This article explores the implications of the new Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Statement No. 34 reporting model for municipal bond analysts and managers. Bond analysts and state and local government managers have overlapping objectives for the use of governmental financial information, but managers also face the costly task of implementing the new model. The new and improved financial information provided by the new reporting model will permit users of the information to better understand a government's long-term and short-term financial position and changes in financial position. The new model also has important ramifications for evaluating performance, particularly regarding the reporting of net costs for each program or function.     

The Limits of External Empowerment: EMU, Technocracy and Reform of the Greek Pension System

This paper seeks to explain an aborted attempt at reform of the Greek pension system, following a series of previous failures. It applies the framework of rational choice institutionalism in order to examine the strategy and setting of the relevant actors. The pension system had become a huge fiscal burden on the state, threatening Greece's position in the European Union. Moreover, its gross inequalities of provision and bureaucratic inefficiency were symptoms of the embedded clientelism and 'disjointed corporatism' that stood in the way of the government's self-proclaimed 'modernization' programme. In the event, though EMU entry requirements empowered the reform momentum, a combination of the strategic weakness of key actors and the entrenched opposition of sectoral interests dissipated the initiative. The failure suggests the relevance of the wider social setting to reform: in particular, the weakness of the technocratic community and the relative absence of a supportive 'advocacy coalition', beyond the dominance of the 'party state'. Faced with criticism, the political leadership sought to protect their electoral position and postponed pressing decisions. The case study raises important questions about the scope for such reform in Greece and the future stability of the 'Euro-zone'.     

Two Cheers for Paperwork: The Value and Burden of Federal Reporting

In principle, reporting by state and local governments to thefederal government is essential to the design and implementationof national policy. In practice, reporting often engenders resentmentof federal intrusion and is often dismissed as a waste of stateand local resources. Is reporting useless? Does it strengthenthe federal government at the expense of state and local governments?We asked federal, state, local, and site officials about thevalue and burden of five specific reporting systems in elementaryand secondary education. Common assumptions about reportingdid not correspond to respondent reactions. Both value and burdencascade through the intergovernmental system, reaching policymakersin all governments. Although critics seldom discriminate betweentypes of reporting, we found that reporting designed to improvecompliance with federal standards evoked different judgmentsof value and burden than reporting designed for assistance.These results suggest some new approaches to federal policygoverning the collection of information and to the design ofindividual reporting systems.     

The diffusion of environmental management standards in Europe and in the United States: An institutional perspective

ISO 14001, released in 1996, provides the basic framework for the establishment of an Environmental Management System (EMS) that can be audited and certified. ISO is not only an acronym for the International Organization for Standardization, but is also a term that refers to its Greek meaning: equal. The main rationale for the creation of ISO 14001 was that its worldwide acceptance should facilitate international trade by harmonizing otherwise diffuse environmental management standards and by providing an internationally accepted blueprint for sustainable development, pollution prevention, and compliance assurance.However, the implementation of ISO 14001 varies significantly across the globe. A significant number of firms have adopted ISO 14001 in Western Europe and Asia. In December 1999, 52% of the 14,106 ISO 14001 certified facilities were located in Western Europe and 36% in Asia. On the contrary, very few American companies have adopted this voluntary standard. U.S. certified facilities accounted for only 4.5% of the total of ISO 14001 certified facilities in the world in December 1999.The U.S. institutional environment seems acting as a deterrent to ISO 14000 adoption as U.S. companies are fearful of the certification process which lays their performance open to public scrutiny. The opposite is true in Europe, where governments have encouraged the adoption of environmental management standards by setting up a trusted certification system and providing technical assistance to potential adopters.This paper offers a conceptual framework to analyze this variation in adoption rates. It is proposed that the regulatory, normative and cognitive aspects of a country's institutional environment greatly impact the costs and potential benefits of ISO 14001 adoption and therefore explain the differences in adoption across countries. The analysis is supported by data collected from a phone questionnaire to 140 firms in Europe and a questionnaire mailed to 152 firms in the U.S.     

‘No politics in the agenda-setting meeting’: plenary agenda setting in the Netherlands

The process of agenda setting is fundamental to politics, yet there is surprisingly little research about this process in parliamentary systems. The reason for this lacuna is that agenda setting tends to occur behind closed doors. The Dutch Tweede Kamer is an exception to this rule: decisions about the parliamentary agenda are made in public. This study examines agenda setting in the Dutch parliament from an issue-competition perspective. It looks at a sample of more than 400 agenda-setting meetings of the Dutch parliament between 1998 and 2017. It finds that opposition parties which stand far from the government make proposals on issues that they ‘own’; these proposals are supported by other opposition parties, parties that stand close to them and focus on the same issue. Coalition parties and parties that stand far away sabotage these proposals.     

Parliamentary questions and oversight in the European Union

Delegation in the European Union (EU) involves a series of principal‐agent problems, and the various chains of delegation involve voters, parties, parliaments, governments, the European Commission and the European Parliament. While the literature has focused on how government parties attempt to monitor EU affairs through committees in national parliaments and through Council committees at the EU level, much less is known about the strategies opposition parties use to reduce informational deficits regarding European issues. This article argues that the European Parliament (EP) offers opposition parties an arena to pursue executive oversight through the use of written parliamentary questions. Using a novel dataset on parliamentary questions in the EP, this article examines why Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) ask questions of specific Commissioners. It transpires that MEPs from national opposition parties are more likely to ask questions of Commissioners. Questions provide these parties with inexpensive access to executive scrutiny. This finding has implications for the study of parliamentary delegation and party politics inside federal legislatures such as the EP.     

Is the Sun Setting on Cosmopolitan Justice?

Reports on the UN criminal tribunals and the related hybrid courts raise grave concerns about their sustainability in terms of costs and their legal standards in respect of evidence. The effectiveness of the current courts is compared to the domestic prosecution of offenders from the Auschwitz concentration camp. Although the Auschwitz court failed to capture the enormity of the crime of genocide, there are nonetheless good reasons to re-visit the use of domestic courts and other remedies for such crimes today, particularly after adoption of the genocide law by nation states. Ideals of cosmopolitan justice behind the UN courts are being exported to societies that are ill-equipped to apply or afford them; and domestic legal development suffers as a consequence.     

Global Renewable Electricity Policy: A Comparative Policy Analysis of Countries by Income Status

Although the drivers of renewable electricity (RE) are well-established among Western high-income countries, little is known about the factors that encourage RE development elsewhere. This paper analyzes an unprecedented, original dataset of 149 countries from 1990 to 2010 to compare the policy instruments and other factors that influence RE adoption across low-, middle-, and high-income countries. We find the factors driving RE development vary both across income group and between hydroelectric and non-hydro generation. Most notably for environmental concerns, non-hydroelectric RE generation is driven by feed-in-tariffs and renewable portfolio standards in high-income countries, feed-in tariffs alone in middle-income countries, and by subsidies in low-income countries. Non-policy drivers of RE also vary by country income level.     

It Takes a Village: Peer Effects and Externalities in Technology Adoption

Do social networks matter for the adoption of new forms of political participation? We develop a formal model showing that the quality of communication that takes place in social networks is central to understanding whether a community will adopt forms of political participation where benefits are uncertain and where there are positive externalities associated with participation. Early adopters may exaggerate benefits, leading others to discount information about the technology's value. Thus, peer effects are likely to emerge only when informal institutions support truthful communication. We collect social network data for 16 Ugandan villages where an innovative mobile-based reporting platform was introduced. Consistent with our model, we find variation across villages in the extent of peer effects on technology adoption, as well as evidence supporting additional observable implications. Impediments to social diffusion may help explain the varied uptake of new and increasingly common political communication technologies around the world.     

Latin–American public financial reporting: recent and future development

In recent years, numerous Latin–American countries have carried out reforms in their public accounting systems, with technical cooperation provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Taking into account the lack of international accounting standards for the public sector, USAID has designed a model termed Integrated Financial Management System for Latin America and the Caribbean (IFMS or SIMAFAL). This model is intended to provide better financial information for governmental decision‐taking as regards the allocation of resources; a further goal is to achieve greater transparency and for a higher degree of responsibility to be accepted for the commitments made and the results of activities undertaken. Important changes are currently taking place on the international public accounting scene and the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) is pressing for the adoption of a set of international public accounting standards by Latin–American countries. In this article, we compare the level of information included in the year‐end governmental public report in Latin–American countries which have carried out their reforms outside SIMAFAL with that of others which have followed this model. Second, we examine the extent to which the public financial reporting practices recommended by IFAC coincide with those adopted by the above countries. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Foreign-Trade Agreements: A New Federal Partner?

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the GeneralAgreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) shift power away fromstate and local government in the federal system. They imposenew rules on the exercise of state and local powers over procurementand the regulation of food, environmental, health, product andservice standards, investments, services, financial services,economic development, and land transportation. States will haveto comply with various reporting and registration requirements,and may be subject to stricter nondiscrimination obligationstoward imported goods and services than under the commerce clauseof the U.S. Constitution. State and local governments will bejudged by international panels, whose judgments the United Statesmust enforce or suffer trade sanctions from aggrieved tradingpartners. Yet, states have not strongly opposed NAFTA and GATT.The greatest state opposition has been to automatic preemption,which the Clinton administration promised to avoid as much aspossible. Nevertheless, increased power over federalism hasmoved to the executive branch, business, and trade-dispute panels,with less power for state and local governments.     

CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS IN PERFORMANCE INFORMATION

Abstract: This paper outlines the current state of play in relation to performance information in the Australian Public Service. It highlights the findings of the evaluation of the past decade of management reform in The Australian Public Service Reformed and the Management Advisory Board's Building a Better Public Service in relation to performance information. It outlines some of the recent initiatives at commonwealth level to improve the quality of performance information. It touches briefly on benchmarking (noting that this topic is covered by other papers at the same session and at the conference). It sets out the rationale behind the recent changes to annual reporting requirements for commonwealth departments: to provide parliamentarians with more focused information and reduce unnecessary duplication and paper overload. Reports so far have tended to confirm the success of this strategy, with some modifications required to provide more detail in agencies' documentation provided at budget time. It sets out the findings of the recent Department of Finance paper on the use of evaluation in the 1994–95 Budget—in summary, some 75% of proposals for new spending or savings in the budget were influenced by the results of evaluation. Finally, it makes some observations about the success of the Australian system of making public servants responsible for outcomes as well as outputs, and suggests that this is in part the reason why we have been able to make our evaluation strategy stick.     

An Investigation of the Characteristics of Local Governmental Units Disclosing High Deposit and Investment Credit Risk as Defined by Governmental Accounting Standards Board Statement No. 3

As a result of severe financial losses by local governments in the mid-1980s due to falling interest rates, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board Statement No. 3 was issued. The GASB No. 3 provides information for assessing a government's actual and future deposit, investment market, and credit risks. This article investigates the number of governments disclosing deposits and investments in the high risk category and determines if there are common characteristics among those reporting high risk deposits and investments.