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Consolidation principles and practices for the UK government sector

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  • David Heald
  • George Georgiou

Abstract

Government accounting reform has in certain industrialised countries become a recognisable component of market-oriented New Public Management reforms. A key dimension is the conversion of accounting from the traditional cash basis to accruals, usually anchored in GAAP as developed for that country's private sector. Taking the UK proposals for Resource Accounting and Budgeting, this paper shows that issues concerning consolidation are proving both important and troublesome. After reviewing private sector experience with consolidation, the structure of UK central government is carefully mapped. The limited area for consolidation proposed by the UK Treasury as the basis for constructing Departmental Resource Accounts is criticised. Attention is paid to the complex structure of public service delivery, with much of that now done by quasi-public organisations outside both the proposed departmental boundary and the national accounts aggregate of general government. This paper does not examine the related topic of Whole-of-Government Accounts.

Suggested Citation

  • David Heald & George Georgiou, 2000. "Consolidation principles and practices for the UK government sector," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(2), pages 153-167.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:acctbr:v:30:y:2000:i:2:p:153-167
    DOI: 10.1080/00014788.2000.9728932
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Mian, Shehzad L. & Smith, Clifford Jr., 1990. "Incentives for unconsolidated financial reporting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(1-3), pages 141-171, January.
    2. Thain, Colin & Wright, Maurice, 1995. "The Treasury and Whitehall: The Planning and Control of Public Expenditure, 1976-1993," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198277842.
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    Cited by:

    1. José Ramón Sánchez-Serrano & David Alaminos & Francisco García-Lagos & Angela M. Callejón-Gil, 2020. "Predicting Audit Opinion in Consolidated Financial Statements with Artificial Neural Networks," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 8(8), pages 1-14, August.
    2. Rowan Jones, 2003. "Measuring and Reporting The Nation's Finances: Statistics and Accounting," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(1), pages 21-28, January.
    3. Biondi Yuri, 2017. "Which Accounting Regulation for Europe’s Economy and Society: Workshop organised by the Laboratory of Excellence on Financial Regulation (Labex ReFi) Under the auspices of the European Parliament, Eur," Accounting, Economics, and Law: A Convivium, De Gruyter, vol. 7(2), pages 1-5, July.
    4. Sheila Ellwood, 2003. "Bridging the GAAP across the UK public sector," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(2), pages 105-121.
    5. Alessandro Lombrano & Luca Zanin, 2013. "IPSAS and local government consolidated financial statements—proposal for a territorial consolidation method," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(6), pages 429-436, November.
    6. Heald, David & Steel, David, 2018. "The governance of public bodies in times of austerity," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 149-160.
    7. Sheila Ellwood & Sue Newbury, 2006. "A bridge too far: a common conceptual framework for commercial and public benefit entities," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(1), pages 19-32.
    8. Ouda, H.A.G., 2005. "Transition to Accrual Accounting in the Public Sector of Developed and Developing Countries : Problems and Requirements. With Special Focus on the Netherlands and Egypt," Other publications TiSEM dc37e60a-cd56-49a7-971f-6, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    9. Andreea CIRSTEA & Stefan Dragos CIRSTEA, 2015. "A Brief Analysis Of Public Sector Consolidated Financial Statements Researches," Annals - Economy Series, Constantin Brancusi University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 6, pages 93-99, December.

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