Caridad Martí

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.

Performance Budgeting and Accrual Budgeting: A Study of the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand

This article analyzes accrual-based performance budgeting systems in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand, focusing on the content and format of implemented performance budgets and the added value that accrual budgeting brings to performance budgeting. In all three countries, full accrual-based costs, revenues, and funding appropriations are linked to specifications of planned and actual performance in terms of outputs/outcomes, thereby increasing the quality of departmental performance reporting. Some differences between the accrual-based performance budgeting models in the three countries are identified.

The Effect of New Legislation on the Disclosure of Performance Indicators: The Case of Spanish Local Governments

This article analyzes the effect of new accounting legislation on the disclosure of performance indicators in the financial statements of Spanish local governments. Based on agency and institutional theories, the article also assesses whether the disclosure of performance indicators is used to make the monitoring of local government performance easier for stakeholders or merely to project an image of good management. The results show that the enactment of new legislation has only led to a partial implementation, most local governments disclosing financial and budgetary indicators but very few providing indicators related to the performance of public services. The institutional theory (symbolic value) seems to be the rationale that best explains this pattern of disclosure.