From Cash to Accrual Budgeting and Accounting in the Public Sector: The Dutch Experience

Traditionally, governments used to deploy input‐based budgeting systems and cash‐based accounting systems. However, these systems do not provide the information that is necessary for a government to operate efficiently and effectively. Therefore, a growing number of countries have already shifted or are planning to shift from cash‐based to some form of accrual accounting in the public sector. Usually, the implementation of some accrual‐based system is linked to wider financial management reforms including performance management requiring information on cost. This paper focuses on the Dutch experience with the shift from cash‐based accounting and budgeting systems to an accrual‐based system.     

Performance and Accountability: Budget Reform in New Zealand

Since 1984, New Zealand has made major changes in public sector management. This article describes the perceived problems with the previous New Zealand system and discusses the reforms designed to address these problems. The changes attempt to increase efficiency by: (1) separating commercial functions from other government operations; (2) strengthening lines of ministerial and executive accountability; and (3) designing budget and financial management systems to improve measurement of public sector performance. This last reform includes shifting from an input to an output-based system, changing from cash to accrual accounting, and creating different forms of appropriations for different types of government activities. While it is too early to assess whether the reforms are successful, we note potential problems.     

Public finance management reforms in Somalia: a case study on Somalia's finance professionals

There is an unprecedented and pressing need for a major legislative public financial management reform in Somalia to bolster the technical and professional efforts of implementing a modern system of public financial management across the country. Currently, there is no independent auditing authority to enable citizens to access information on the use of public resources. However, the success of any reform depends on establishing strong public budgeting systems as well as developing strong public finance training programs and policy linkage on financial management policies and procedures.     

Accounting and accountability: recent developments in government financial information systems

In developed countries, governmental accounting is considered as an integral part and a successful aspect of public sector reforms. In developing countries, besides being a tool for government financial management modernisation, accounting is regarded as a weapon against fraud and waste in government. The aim of this article is to compare, taking the IPSAS No.1 as a benchmark, the information content of the financial statements submitted by the central governments of Anglo‐Saxon, Nordic, European Continental and Mercosur zone countries. The results give us a point of reference as to where the central governmental accounting of each country studied lies in the ‘spectrum’ from cash to full accrual accounting and to what extent the IPSASs are able to fit into diverse public administration styles in order to improve the transparency, accountability and reliability of the financial information disclosed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Accrual Budgeting: Accounting Treatment of Key Public Sector Items and Implications for Fiscal Policy

Budgeting in accrual terms is one of the most controversial issues in public sector accounting. In this paper, we analyze the accounting treatment of problematic elements of the financial statements when introducing accrual budgeting, and discuss the effects of the analyzed accounting alternatives on fiscal policy. We focus on three pioneer countries in the implementation of accrual budgeting and accounting: the United Kingdom, Sweden, and New Zealand. The accounting standards of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board, the European System of Accounts, and the Government Finance Statistics Manual of the International Monetary Fund are taken as benchmarks.     

How Well Does Accrual Accounting Fit the Public Sector?

In this 'controversy' we challenge the unqualified application of full accrual accounting within the Australian public sector. In particular, attention is directed to the recognition and valuation for financial reporting purposes of public sector resources that are of a non-financial nature, such as library and museum collections. Our main contention is that attempting to recognise such resources at monetary values within the financial reports of public sector organisations is a contrived, imprecise and inappropriate practice that threatens to occlude rather than enable the accountability of public sector institutions and their managers. Building from this accountability theme, we present perspectives on promoting accountability for the technical accounting practices which have been imposed within the public sector.     

Financial Control in Australian Government Budgeting

With the arrival of accrual accounting and "accrual output budgeting," there have been huge changes in the mechanism of central financial control in the budget-dependent Australian public sector. This article outlines and evaluates these changes. The new parliamentary appropriations arrangements are discussed, as is the increased role played by nonappropriated departmental "own-source" funding. The shift of emphasis from legislative to administrative financial controls is noted and analyzed. Consideration is given to the implications of this shift of emphasis, and of the increased complexity of the financial control framework, for fiscal transparency and democratic accountability.     

Downsizing the civil service in developing countries: golden handshakes or smiling farewells?

Some researchers have suggested innovative ways to successfully implement civil service reform in developing countries. Although most approaches to implementing public sector management reform are still very much process-driven, and focus almost exclusively on civil service reform, long-term success in making the public sector more efficient may be better assured if civil service reform is but one outcome of a broader public sector management reform agenda. Particularly, re-focussing from traditional input-driven reform thinking towards output-oriented measures, such as the introduction of accrual budgeting in the public sector, may well result in greater popular acceptance and, thus, longer-term success for sensitive reform programs. Although output-driven accrual budgeting is by no means a panacea for all public sector illnesses, it can at least set the scene for profound and durable cultural change in the public sector. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Why Governments Should Produce Balance Sheets

This contribution to a controversy argues that accrual reporting at the whole of government level is appropriate and necessary as it provides a full picture of a government's financial position, discloses the impact of policy over the longer term (and therefore the sharing of the burdens between current and future taxpayers), focuses the attention of governments and public sector managers on the management of total resources and obligations and introduces discipline in financial reporting and therefore ensuring the integrity of the reported information.
Yet, accrual reporting, whether at the whole of government level or individual agency level, will not bring about changes of behaviour necessary to realise the full benefits of financial and other management reforms unless it is complemented by an accrual planning and budgeting regime to ensure that financial performance is planned and assessed on the same basis.     

Public Financial Management Systems and Countries' Governance: A Cross‐Country Study

The objective of this study is to explore whether a relationship exists between public financial management (PFM) systems and expert perceptions of countries' governance in an international cross‐country study. We examine the extent to which variations in accounting, budgeting and auditing practices are associated with governance in a sample of 97 countries that represent different levels of development, analysing the differences between countries classified into factor, efficiency and innovation‐driven economies. Our concept of governance perception includes three dimensions: accountability, government effectiveness and corruption. We find that countries with a higher level of economic development show, on average, more sophisticated PFM systems characterized by the presentation of accrual‐based financial statements, the application of value for money audits and higher budget transparency. When analysing the sub‐samples of countries according to the level of economic development, we find that countries with similar governance perception scores show different patterns of PFM practices, suggesting that there is no one‐size‐fits‐all approach. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

PLATEAUS NOT SUMMITS: REFORMING PUBLIC FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT IN AFRICA

Successful public sector reform is rare in Africa. Over 12 years, Ethiopia transformed its public financial management (PFM) to international standards and now has the third best system in Africa that is managing the largest aid flows to the continent. This article presents a framework for understanding PFM reform based on the Ethiopian experience. Reforms succeed when they are aligned with the four drivers of public sector reform: context, ownership, purpose, and strategy. PFM is a core function of the state and its sovereignty, and it is not an appropriate arena for foreign aid intervention—governments must fully own it, which was a key to the success of Ethiopia's reform. The purpose of PFM reform should be building stable and sustainable “plateaus” of PFM that are appropriate to the local context, and they should not be about risky and irrelevant “summits” of international best practice. Plateaus, not summits, are needed in Africa. Finally, a strategy of reform has four tasks: recognize, improve, change, and sustain. Ethiopia succeeded because it implemented a recognize–improve–sustain strategy to support the government policy of rapid decentralization. All too often, much of the PFM reform in Africa is about the change task and climbing financial summits. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Experience of a financial reforms project in Bangladesh

This article reviews the efforts of the Government of Bangladesh aimed at reforming the public sector financial management system as part of overall public administration reforms through a technical assistance project jointly sponsored by the government and the Department for International Development, Government of the UK. It has evolved through initial setbacks into a highly successful project delivering tangible outputs over the last three years, with prospects for future extension until reforms are internalized and become self‐sustaining. Attempts have been made in this article to analyse and evaluate the underlying reasons for the problems in the first year of implementation as well as the factors that contributed to the recovery of the image of the project and its continuing successes in successive phases. The article highlights the lessons learned from the project in its bad as well as good times and suggests that this experience can be of great value to those undergoing the same type of reform experiment. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

微博实名制之思

作为网络社会的新型信息舆论平台,可以说近年来微博在众多的社会公共事件中扮演了重要的媒介角色,因此即将实行的微博实名制一经公布便引起了多方关注,这一政策的推出给微博平台带来了许多积极的影响,如更加稳定的运行环境、用户的言语自律等,同时也带来了一些无法忽视的问题。重点即在于对此政策利弊之处给予综合考量,并对实名制之后的微博管理提出合理的思考和建议。     

The Need for Enhanced Defense Contractor Cost Management Systems

Technological advances, increasing government regulations, and the structural decline in the size of U.S. defense spending are placing ever-greater requirements on the information provided by the contractor's cost accounting system. A survey of defense contractors reveals that their cost accounting systems are mainly used to provide cost estimation and, accordingly, these systems are not utilized for performance evaluation and managerial decision making. Since the traditional defense contractor's cost accounting systems do not produce the information that management requires, new cost management systems (CMS) must be designed and implemented. The CMS can assist contractors to: (1) obtain financial and operating information to evaluate and improve the performance of contracts, and (2) provide contractors with relevant information to plan, manage, control, and direct contracts. This article examines the effectiveness and efficiency of currently used cost accounting systems by government contractors, discusses the nature and characteristics of the CMS and their relevance for government contractors, and suggests step-by-step procedures for proper implementation of the CMS.     

深化十大社会管理体制改革的具体构想

笔者就利益协调体制、社会保障体制、弱势群体保护体制、流动人口管理体制、民间组织管理体制、基层社会管理体制、社会服务体制、社会工作体制、社会治安体制、社会应急管理体制等十大社会管理体制下一步改革委托提出了一些具体的设想和建议。     

Public Financial Management Reform in South African Provincial Basic Education Departments

Since the transition to democracy in 1994, the South African government has engaged in a sustained programme of public financial management (PFM) reform across the national, provincial and local spheres of government. This study evaluates the progress of the nine provincial education departments (PEDs) in implementing the Public Finance Management Act of 1999 and explores the factors that facilitated or impeded reform. A PFM progress (PFMP) index is constructed to track each PED's performance from 1997/1998 to 2013/2014 and then used to benchmark its progress over time and relative to the education sector as a whole. The indicators comprising the PFMP index assess key PFM functions (budgeting, accounting, financial auditing and audits of performance information), financial leadership and the effectiveness of governance institutions such as audit committees. While there has been considerable progress in PFM, distinct differences in the quality and effectiveness of PFM practices across the nine PEDs remain. Stable top administrative leadership, availability of PFM skills, varying degrees of accountability and departmental capacity to establish PFM systems that conform to new accounting standards drive variances in reform outcomes. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Review of: “Organizational Knowledge. The Texture of Workplace Learning by Silvia Gherardi with the Collaboration of Davide Nicolini”

ABSTRACT

This article provides new empirical evidence about Flemish municipal councilors’ use of financial information in the yearly budget debate. Since councilors generally do not handle information according to “standard use models,” we adopt an innovative method of data collection by scrutinizing their speech for the presence of financial information during the budget debate in Flemish municipalities. The incorporation of financial information in councilors’ contributions to the debate is conceptualized as a particular form of observable use of financial information. We quantitatively assess the presence of both budgetary and accrual financial information using a scoring technique taken from the management accounting literature. Additionally, we analyze whether various political and financial circumstances affect politicians’ mentioning of this information in their deliberations. Our results reveal a strong prevalence of budgetary information in councilors’ speech. This is influenced by both political conditions and the financial position of the municipality.     

Federal Financial Management Control Systems: An Integrative Framework

The increasingly large and complex web of federal government finances seems to require ever more comprehensive and consistent financial management control systems to achieve managerial responsibility. This article identifies a framework for promoting integrated accounting, budgeting, and financial reporting in order to achieve the goal of providing relevant information to management and policy leaders. The article identifies four central areas in which endeavors to develop effective financial management control systems should concentrate: accounting for funds; assessing the cost of operations; managing cash; and collecting money due the government.     

社会管理体制改革中的社会协同问题研究——以社会资本理论为视角的探讨

在市场经济条件下,传统以政府为主体的社会管理体制暴露出许多问题,寻求政府、市场和非政府组织在社会管理领域的均衡点,实现社会管理体制改革中的社会协同问题成为社会关注的焦点。在我国社会管理体制走向多主体,多元化治理的社会管理新模式背景下,实现社会公共事务治理中各系统、各部门、各阶层的协同必将成为社会管理体制改革的关键所在。20世纪90年代兴起的社会资本理论,为改革与创新社会管理体制,实现社会协同提供了一个新的研究视角。