Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and Federal Government Financial Reporting

This article considers the nature of generally accepted accounting principles and how well they match the purpose and activities of the federal government. A comparison of fundamental differences affecting accounting and reporting for private business and the federal government shows that although the generally accepted accounting principles do not work for the federal government, it does not follow that the federal government has nothing to gain from these principles.     

Signaling Government Financial Reporting Quality to Credit Analysts

The quality of governmental financial reporting and auditing is of continuing concern to oversight bodies and to those interested in the financial accountability of governments. While governments may have operational incentives to improve financial reporting, external incentives depend on external users' ability to distinguish cities with better reporting practices from those with inferior systems. Two methods that cities with better systems may use to distinguish themselves are the GFOA's Certificate of Excellence for Financial Reporting and through the reputation of the audit firm. This article examines whether the degree of reliance that bond raters place on accounting data is influenced by the Certificate and by the type of auditor. In addition, since inadequate fees have been cited as a possible cause of substandard audits, we examine the trend in audit fees for cities for the period 1985–1989. The findings suggest that the use of a Big Eight audit firm does increase the reliance placed on cities' financial statement numbers but there is only weak evidence that the Certificate has a similar effect. In addition we find evidence of a significant decline in audit fees for the period 1985–1989.     

Financial Reporting by Australian Nonprofit Organisations: Dilemmas Posed by Government Funders

Nonprofit organisations comprise a growing and important sector of the Australian economy. This sector is being used by governments to an increasing extent for the delivery of services. The most common manner in which nonprofit organisations are funded by government is through the provision of grants, contracts or service agreements. Nonprofits discharge their accountability for these funds through reporting guidelines issued by the government funders. This article examines the financial accountability requirements of government funders, in one jurisdiction in Australia to support the central argument that the emphasis on ‘upward and external’ accountabilities serve as a functional and control tool on the sector. This emphasis detracts from the development of the ‘downward and internal’ mechanisms of accountability which are the essential building blocks for the strategic development of the capacity of the sector to respond to calls for greater accountability.     

Building Ethical Capital: Perceptions of Ethical Climate in the Public Sector

This article examines influences on public servant perceptions of ethical climate in the public sector. The array of beneficial outcomes produced by perceptions of a positive ethical climate, the existence of government programs aimed at improving ethical climate, and implications for government accountability and trustworthiness all argue for a better understanding of the sources of these perceptions. Empirical analyses of survey responses from employees of the U.S. federal executive branch show that individuals in leadership positions perceive the ethical climate more positively. Conversely, work tenure tends to worsen perceived ethical climate, although supervisory status attenuates this negative effect. Ethics training, interaction with ethics officials, and perceived knowledge about ethics topics consistently influence perceptions of ethical climate and advice‐seeking behavior in a positive way. A set of results related to advice‐seeking behavior serves to reinforce the important role of ethics officials.     

Municipal Government Revenue Forecasting: Issues of Method and Data

In this article the authors investigate the impact of the choice of time series method, the length of the data stream used to estimate the model, and the frequency of the data on forecasting accuracy for own source, non-tax general fund revenue for six Connecticut municipalities. The authors find that exponential smoothing models are generally the most accurate. They also conclude that local government officials should rely on bimonthly rather than monthly or quarterly data and retain, in a readily usable format, more than three years of data.     

现代行政公正的伦理导向：平等、自由与诚信

现代行政不仅需要有服务宗旨,需要责任原则和人道原则,尤其需要公正。只有以公正为基础,坚持加强公共行政伦理建设才能适应当今社会发展的需要和人的需要,才能更好地促进公共行政的建设和发展。现代行政的公正应遵循平等、自由和诚信等基本伦理原则。     

政府定位——行政改革分析的新角度

如何摆正社会、市场与政府的关系，何者应该发挥主导作用，这两个问题时时刻刻在影响着中国行政改革的进程。为促使中国行政改革能够自觉、稳妥地进行，本文从中国20余年间起伏的改革历程出发，结合国际社会政府定位的基本理论观点、经验和教训，在否定政府决定论和市场决定论的基础上，断定采取国家社会组合模式，尽管会阻力重重，但这可能是中国政府定位惟一正确的形式，也是中国行政改革的方向。     

The Liberal Justification for Local Government: Values and Administrative Expediency

There are several important justifications for autonomous units of local government, derived from the writings of J. S. Mill and later theories concerning the value of pluralism. These arguments fail to show that local government is a morally necessary, as opposed to expedient, adjunct to liberal-democratic government. The paper develops from J. S. Mill's ideas on liberty a more substantive justification for local government based on the principle that local government can be a means for ensuring that the determination of collective decisions are made solely by those people affected by the decision.     

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.     

"入世"后政府管理体制的变化趋势

世贸组织(WTO)规定,加"入世"贸组织的应当是主权国家或者单独关税地区.世贸组织的各项协议,与任何多边条约一样,是各成员国政府依据权利义务平等原则达成的契约性文件.因而"入世"是一种政府行为,世贸组织中各成员的关系首先是政府之间的关系.     

Federal Financial Reporting: Some views of R.K. Mautz

A number of proposals would apply Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), as developed for reporting the financial performance of for-profits, to federal financial reporting and budget accounting. Critics of these proposals include R.K. Mautz, a distinguished professor of accountancy. This article summarizes some of Mautz's conceptual objections to the use of private GAAP by not-for-profits and indicates his preferred approach to improved financial reporting by government.