Tsunami Swamps Aid Agency Accountability: Government Waives Requirements

Following the devastating tsunamis of 26 December 2004, Australians were eager to donate money to the relief effort. An issue for many was identifying a trustworthy agency; this could be done through direct knowledge of an organisation, or by depending on the recommendations of a source whose competence and integrity was readily accepted. The Australian government provided this external credibility to the 34 charities it listed on its official tsunami assistance website. However, an investigation of these agencies and the actual appeals conducted by them indicates that the government may have waived its normal requirements by moving away from its two accountability programs, AusAID and ACFID accreditation.     

县政府的代办机构——一位县长眼中的民生服务中心

宁夏回族自治区,永宁县,3月底。西北的汉子一般都很热情,县长丁建懿也不例外。但身为一县之长,说他日理万机也算实至名归。令人感慨的是,在将近一个小时的谈话中,他始终未拿出任何一本资料照本宣科,并且在回答的过程中毫不迟疑,可见所有的资料都已胸有成竹。就像他说的,乡镇民生服务中心已经不仅仅是一个财政问题,而是一个从行政,甚至从宁夏行政历史上都是可圈可点的力作。     

以问责为基础的国家审计发展研究

国家审计从产生之日起,就带有问责的含义。随着民主政治进程的加快,国家审计作为政府问责机制的重要组成部分,其问责的效能日益彰显。同时国家审计的范围随着政府责任的扩充而日益丰富。本文以问责为基础提出合规性审计、绩效审计以及经济责任审计的国家审计发展框架,以期对后期研究有所裨益。     

政府采购代理机构资格认定办法

第一条 为了规范政府采购代理机构资格认定工作，加强政府采购代理机构资格管理，根据政府采购法和国务院有关规定，制定本办法。     

The Role of Fair Value Accounting in Promoting Government Accountability

A key factor to improve the financial accountability of governments is the existence of a set of generally accepted financial reporting of standards, such as IPSAS issued by the IFAC, which seek to enhance information transparency. This paper examines the capability of fair value accounting to improve, through financial transparency, government accountability, analysing the possible effect of the implementation of this measurement basis on understandability, comparability and timeliness—three qualitative characteristics linked to the relevance of financial reporting. This paper further considers whether the difficulties involved in achieving FV estimations could affect government financial accountability. The findings indicate that FVA implementation could enhance accountability by improving understandability, comparability and timeliness in governmental financial reporting, although the use of objective measures to estimate the FV of assets is fundamental. In addition, the type of assets and the existence of an active market are crucial to improving the comparability of financial statements under FVA, whereas improving timeliness could be limited by the possibility of estimating FV measures in‐house.     

地方党政主要领导干部经济责任同步审计的探索和实践

领导干部经济责任审计无论是从世界范围来看还是从我国来看,都是比较新的课题。本文对目前党中央、国务院关于地方党政领导干部经济职责的文件规定进行了归纳综述,据此总结和分析了地方党政领导干部经济责任审计的主要内容和范围。并以审计署首次开展的省部级地方党委政府主要领导干部经济责任同步审计实践为基础,提出了开展经济责任审计应采取自上而下与自下而上相结合等3个基本方法,探讨了界定党政领导干部经济责任的主要原则及其在实践中的运用,并针对目前经济责任审计的难点问题给出了明确责任划分标准、建立规范的经济责任评价框架、进一步构建经济责任审计大格局等3点建议。     

政府会计改革的公共受托责任视角解析

受托责任学派认为,受托责任是现代会计存在之根本原因,公共受托责任是政府会计的基石。然而,政府的公共受托责任与以营利为目的的企业经营受托责任有较大的差别。本文在考察公共受托责任构成及其对政府会计的影响,及公共受托责任与国际政府会计发展趋势的基础上,对我国政府公共受托责任现状进行分析,并对我国政府会计的改革提出建议。     

党政主要领导干部经济责任同步审计探索

大力推进党政主要领导干部经济责任同步审计,是贯彻落实《党政主要领导干部和国有企业领导人员经济责任审计规定》的必然要求,对发挥国家审计的免疫系统功能、提升审计价值具有重要意义。深化党政主要领导干部经济责任同步审计,需要树立三个三的审计理念,确立促进权力运行公开化、资源配置市场化和操作行为规范化的审计新目标,进一步突出与权力运行、资源配置和决策行为紧密相关的审计重点内容,科学评价被审计领导干部的履责情况,按照党委管重大决策、政府贯彻执行的原则,合理划分党委书记的决策责任和行政首长的执行责任,监督党政主要领导干部履行经济责任的绩效,加强问效问责制度建设,实现问效基础上的问责。     

公共财务受托责任、绩效评价与政府财务报告改革

公共财务受托责任的归宿在于绩效评价,政府财务报告是绩效评价所需绩效信息的重要来源.这就要求以绩效评价为导向,从目标、主体、基础、报表体系和报表内容等方面推进政府财务报告改革,使政府财务报告能够提供可靠、相关的绩效信息,来合理评价政府的公共财务受托责任.     

美国加强政府部门内部控制建设的有关情况及其启示

文章介绍了美国加强政府部门内部控制建设的大致发展进程和一些具体实践,并简要总结了5个方面的有益启示,为我国开展政府部门内部控制建设提供了有益的参考。     

The Impact of Rating Agency Reputation on Local Government Bond Yields

This study examines a sample of 12,562 dual-rated local government bond issues including 6,104 split-rated issues to determine which rating agency has the greatest impact on yields. Using a database of municipal bond issues from 1986 to 2002, we show that Moody’s rated significantly more issues than S&P, and that Moody’s ratings were more conservative. However, from 1993 to 1997, there was a reduction in ratings disagreements and in Moody’s market share. Beginning in 1995, Moody’s received negative publicity related to a Department of Justice anti-trust investigation. Moody’s appears to have responded by sharply increasing their relative conservatism in 1997. From 1986 to 1994, Moody’s ratings had a greater impact on bond yields than S&P ratings, but their dominant influence on yields disappears in the recent sample period from 1995 to 2002.

党政领导干部经济责任同步审计的实践与思考

党政领导干部经济责任同步审计的优势已经脱颖而出,并成为各级审计机关不断探索的方向。本文认为,我国政治体制、党的以经济建设为中心的路线、促进领导干部履职尽责、合理界定领导干部经济责任、提高审计效率等客观要求党政领导干部经济责任审计应同步进行。继而从审计管理、组织组合方式、审计内容、审计方法、审计评价原则等方面介绍了吉林省在党政领导干部经济责任同步审计中所进行的探索。最后从如何明确党委书记的主要职责,规范审计评价标准,加强审计结果的运用,延伸责任追究,提高审计干部素质等方面提出建议。     

Joined‐Up Government and the Challenges to Accounting and Accountability Researchers

Abstract: Collaborative working between public sector bodies in the UK, sometimes involving partnerships with private sector and not‐for‐profit organisations, was promoted heavily by the Labour Government (1997–2010) under what is sometimes labelled ‘Joined‐Up Government’. The Conservative – Liberal Democrat Coalition Government, elected in 2010, appears likely to continue to promote such policies. The objective of this paper is to raise awareness of what may be seen as an important and developing agenda in public services in which accounting and accountability researchers are barely visible. The paper reviews the meanings and motivations of joined‐up government and its development in the UK. A number of challenges are presented, including the need to refocus research from an entity to a network perspective; to assess whether joined‐up government delivers value‐for‐money services; to join the debate on the development of related accounting techniques; to seek precision in specifying accountability mechanisms and to adapt our research methods.     

The Implementation and Adaptation of the Balanced Scorecard in a Government Agency

Despite considerable progress in understanding the adoption and practice of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) as a performance management tool in government organisations, how a well‐designed BSC can become a sustainable organisational practice remains under explored and of central importance. Through a qualitative field study carried out within a government agency (Alpha), this paper demonstrates that Alpha's senior management implemented a BSC framework because they believed it would benefit the agency to realise its broader organisational and socio‐economic goals, namely sustainable organisational efficiency and social status. We conclude that an organisation's performance management systems can travel across internal organisational boundaries over time and could be assimilated by organisational actors to become a sustained internal control mechanism in a complex socio‐political setting.     

党政领导干部经济责任同步审计模式研究

当前,理论界对党政领导干部经济责任同步审计的研究尚处于初步探索阶段。中国特色政治体制下的受托经济责任观和党政制度分别是党政领导干部经济责任同步审计的理论与制度基础。文章通过分析中国政治体制下的党委与政府受托经济责任特点、党政领导干部权力运行轨迹和党政职能分工特点,清晰地界定了党政领导干部经济责任同步审计的目标及四个目标经济责任。在此基础上,围绕四个目标经济责任履行过程中"三权一廉"等权力运行的过程和结果,确定对党委和政府应分别进行审计的具体事项,以及界定和区分各自相应的法定经济责任,最终构筑"目标经济责任"导向的党政领导干部经济责任同步审计模式。     

Not‐For‐Profit Ratios for Financial Resilience and Internal Accountability: A Study of Australian International Aid Organisations

Not‐for‐profit (NFP) financial ratio research has focused primarily on organisational efficiency measurements for external stakeholders. Ratios that also capture information about stability, capacity (liquidity), gearing and sustainability enable an assessment of financial resilience. They are thus valuable tools that can provide a framework of internal accountability between boards and management. The establishment of an Australian NFP regulator highlights the importance of NFP sustainability, and affirms the timeliness of this paper. We propose a suite of key financial ratios for use by NFP boards and management, and demonstrate its practical usefulness by applying the ratios to financial data from the 2009 reports of ACFID (Australian Council for International Development) affiliated international aid organisations.