Susan C. Kattelus

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 governments 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 challenges of cross-disciplinary work: accounting and financial reporting for governments and nonprofits

This introductory article to the special symposium entitled “The Evolution of Governmental and Nonprofit Accounting Education” introduces the five symposium articles that follow. The article also presents information to assist governmental and nonprofit educators in business schools and public administration educators in other colleges within a university in making comparisons between their perspectives and approaches. The authors’ view as accounting professors is that students in both disciplines develop stronger competencies for success in the public sector when their programs integrate context and techniques that come from using alternative instructional approaches and a diverse set of resources.