As opposite, in private sector accounting (for the purpose to improve the financial position of the company) the sales are recognized when the products or services have been rendered and the payment has been received or is expected to be received in a very short time. The costs are recognized as deduction from income if there is a subjective view that these costs are to lead to future income generation in the coming periods. Usage of accrual accounting is considered an advantage for public firms as balancing expenses and income is a good controlling and performance measure. On the other hand, in public sector, the income for the company does not depend on the performance of the management, nor does the expenditures are not a function of beneficiaries actions, accrual accounting system must be adopted to the specific economic nature of these organizations. This difference in accounting by private…...

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References

1) Sunder, S. A Theory of Accounting and Controls for Organizations Producing

2) Basic Governmental Accounting Principles, available at  http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/pubs/arm/arm2.htm 

3) Besselman, Joseph J., Ashish Arora, and Patrick Larkey, "Buying in a Businesslike Fashion: And Paying More?" Carnegie Mellon University Working Paper, January 1999.

Public- Versus Private-Goods, School of Management, Yale University.

GASB No.34's government financial reporting model: Evidence on its information relevance, published in The Accounting eview. This article looks at a government accounting regulation, GASB No. 34, which requires lower level governments to provide "consolidated, government-wide financial statements.," which of course will require reconciliation between the different entities and the overall government financial statements. The authors examine this regulation from the perspective of its main objective, which is to provide better quality information to stakeholders about government budgets, both on an organization level but also on a government-wide level. This rule was passed in the interest of improving transparency, thus the authors sought to test the rule's effectiveness at providing information relevant to assessing a government's default risk.
The authors argue that this is the case. The null hypothesis is that GASB No. 34 would be found to have improved information quality, and that it did so. They found that…...

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References

Plummer, E., Hutchison, P. & Patton, T. (2007). GASB No.34's government financial reporting model: Evidence on its information relevance. The Accounting Review. Vol. 82 (1) 205-240.

Government Accounting Office in America (GAO)
This is an examination of the Government Accounting Office in America. The writer discusses the history, purpose and background of the GAO as well as the duties that the office is charged with performing. The writer then analyzes literature that illustrates the office in action. The final discussion revolves around the question, "Is the office effective or is it a waste of money." There were four sources used to complete this paper.

During the last few years there has been a public outcry and demand to investigate government spending. The public was brought stories by the media about the government paying thousands of dollars for toilet seats, and spending hundreds of dollars on a screwdriver and other such tools. When the reports began to surface about wasted government spending the public became angry. Lobbyists across the nation began to demand an accounting of not only tax…...

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Bibliography for a listing of non-GAO publications.) It should be noted that, as with any effort to put current events into historical context, alternative interpretations are possible. Often debated are the intent and motivation of the framers of the Constitution who created the census. In this report, we have quoted the Constitution and various laws relating to the decennial census and have attempted to place their language in an historical context. We are not, however, providing our own independent review or interpretation of the constitutional and statutory issues discussed in this report, which, unless otherwise noted, are based primarily on the analysis contained in the various publications and documents we relied upon in preparing this report.

Short answers to some frequently asked questions about the decennial census are in appendix 1. Appendix 11 contains information on changes in the apportionment of the membership of the House of Representatives between the 1920 and 1990 Decennial Censuses by region of country and on changes in the nation's population and its undercount by race and ethnicity between the 1950 and 1990 censuses, as well as a snapshot of the growth and cost of census-taking since the first decennial census in 1790. Major contributors to this report are identified in appendix III.

L. Nye Stevens Director, Federal Management and Workforce Issues

Chapter 1

Why Take the Census?

Accounting Fundamentals for ealthcare Management
This paper examines governmental and nonprofit accounting and discusses how it differs from commercial accounting. In the accounting field, there may not always be a clear distinction between the three types of organizations. The dividing line between business and nonbusiness organizations may depend on the incidence and relative importance of the nonbusiness characteristics found in an entity. The funds of such organizations are usually earmarked for specific purposes and must be used in accordance with laws, regulations, or contractual requirements.

One distinction of nonbusiness organizations is that they generally have no single indicator of performance, such as profit or net income. FASB:CS-4 provides two performance indicators for financial reporting for nonbusiness organizations:

They provide information about the nature and relationship between inflows and outflows of resources.

They provide information about service efforts and accomplishments.

FASB: CS-4 also sets forth the distinctive features of the nonbusiness organization:

Nonbusiness organizations receive significant amounts…...

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Horowitz, K.J. (2006, February 26). State and Local Government Accounting Principles. Retrieved on Aril 15, 2011 from Mercer County Community College website:  http://www.mccc.edu/~horowitk/documents/Chapter02D.pdf 

Ruppel, W. (2010). Governmental Accounting Made Easy. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Siegel, J.G., & Shim, J.K. (2006). Barron's Accounting Handbook (4th ed.). Hauppage, New York: Barron's Educational Series.

Accounting, by its nature, requires a set of standards that are exactly the same industry-wide. If there were not established rules for determining revenues, profits, expenses, and other influences on a company's bottom line, there would be no way to evaluate a corporation's effectivity, production, or potential. A lack of established standards would also mean that no two companies could be honestly compared, since their accounting methods could be so significantly different that their financial statements showed vastly different accounting methods.
In light of these potential discrepancies in reporting methods, the bodies that govern accounting have established Generally Accepted Auditing Standards, or GAAS. Generally These principles are required to be applied in all accounting situations, and they are extensive enough so that almost every possible scenario has a standard response. Interest owed in Houston is reflected on a financial statement in the exact same way that interest owed in New York…...

Wood was used more for recording, ink and seals were used to write accounts on top of a piece of wood. It was used mostly by everyone as it was inexpensive plus it was very easy to write on top of it. Marked stick also played many roles, also known as counting tally. ut in fourteenth century, there was an argument for a decline in tallies and to increase the use of paper which was found in England. Still this was an expensive import, in a result tally remained there for many years along for efficient calculation's an abacus was used.
y 1700, few professional accountants were found in Scotland for the Italian method of book keeping. ut by 1800 there were many professional accountants who were operating in the major Scottish towns as the knowledge of accounting became even more common in the business community. The notable accountants were…...

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Bibliography

Basil Selig & Robert Henry. "Accounting History: Some British Contributions" 1994.  http://www.google.com.pk/books?id=avQ6KzZEzHoC&printsec=frontcover&dq=accounting+history&sig=BzfVxGuY9YCOP2zRSRbDXtQIeCM

However, when a shock happens that changes that pattern, the information is no longer relevant. In periods of turmoil, only the most up-to-date information is relevant. The usefulness of the information wanes quickly as the behavior of the company becomes more erratic. After a period of erratic behavior and change, the company may be forced to make internal changes that affect the way they do business. They may make changes that affect their inventory management, sales cycle, stock levels, supply chain, distribution network or other fundamental business functions. New patterns may emerge and the old information no longer applies.
The term "relevancy" can have many different meanings depending on what is happening with the company. A new accounting regime may need to be instituted when a change takes place. Looking at the most recent historical information is one way to determine the relevancy of the accounting information. The analyst needs…...

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References

Cadwalader, Wickersham, & Tact LLP. 1999. Application of the Safe Harbor for Forward-

Looking Statements. Findlaw. Accessed April 23, 2009

.

Giroux, G. (n.d.). American Big Business and Cost Accounting. In a Short History of Accounting and Business. Accessed April 23, 2009

government welfare. Discussed: should the government provide fewer or more benefits for single parents on welfare. Thesis, three reasons to support, at least 4 quotes and paraphrases on each page from experts.
Should the Government Provide More or Fewer Benefits for Single Parents on elfare?

elfare reforms have been a continuous debate for years. The latest reform regarding single parents and government benefits has stirred controversy and initiated studies to determine the effects of new policies. hile many critics believe the new reforms are too harsh and simply increase the number of poverty level families, the new policies with reduced benefits are making a positive significant impact in reducing the number of single parent recipients and placing them in the employment arena. Therefore, the government should provide less benefits to single parents on welfare.

Many critics argue that the economy is responsible for caseload declines (New B7). However, according to a study…...

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Works Cited

Adkisson, Richard V. "Welfare reform: What are the numbers, and does anyone care?" Journal of Economic Issues. March 01, 2001; pp 184.

New, Michael. "Helping the Poor: Strong Work Requirements are the way out of Welfare." St. Louis Post-Dispatch. October 01, 2002; pp B7.

Welfare Reform - More Research Needed on TANF Family Caps and other Policies for Reducing Out-of-Wedlock Births." Government Accounting Office Report. September 11, 2001. 12-01-2002).http://ask.elibrary.com/getdoc.asp?pubname=Government_Accounting_Office_Report&puburl=http~C~~S~~S~www.emediamillworks.com&querydocid=:bigchalk:U.S.;Lib&dtype=0~0&dinst=0&author=&title=WELFARE+REFORM+%2D+MORE+RESEARCH+NEEDED+ON+TANF+FAMILY+CAPS+AND+OTHER+POLICIES+FOR+REDUCING+OUT%2DOF%2DWEDLOCK+BIRTHS++&date=09%2D11%2D2001&query=welfare+and+single+parents&maxdoc=24&idx=5.(accessed

Government accounting is substantially different from other accounting formats, and at the same time the two methods are essentially alike. Accounting for any entity involves, on the most basic level, balancing expenditures and revenues. However, government accounting has one major departure from standard accounting statements: it mush be reconciled with a budget set up in advance by a governing body, like the city council, state legislature, or, in the federal realm, Congress. This difference does not, however, make the basic precepts of governmental accounting significantly different from other types of accounting.
A government accounting statement must track all cash flows, both expected and realized, for an entity that is comprised of possibly hundreds of relatively autonomous entities. Each of these smaller entities has separate budgets, accounts, and in many ways operates independently of the larger entity, such as the state or city. Despite this individuality, a comprehensive report on the status…...

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Work Cited

Georgia Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, 2004. Prepared by State Accounting Office and Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts.

Accounting
Several terms and definitions are valuable to understand financial statements. In the United States, financial statements of public corporations are produced in accordance with the U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. These principles govern how the information for financial statements is compiled and presented. The purpose of these principles is so that all stakeholders can easily understand the statements and make comparisons across both time and across different companies, because the statements are produced and presented in a consistent manner. The International Financial eporting Standards (IFS) are the international equivalent of GAAP. While several countries utilize a national version of GAAP (U.S., Canada, UK, etc.), more than 100 countries use IFS, making this set of standards the most widely-adopted in the world. There is a move to converge national GAAP standards with IFS, including a multi-year project to converge U.S. GAAP with IFS. For now, however, IFS represents a different set…...

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References:

No author. (2012). Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). Investopedia. Retrieved August 18, 2012 from  http://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/gaap.asp#axzz23vrKSd9Q 

PCAOB.org (2012) PCAOB oversees: The auditors of companies to protect investors. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. Retrieved August 18, 2012 from  http://pcaobus.org/Pages/default.aspx 

SEC.gov. (2012). The investor's advocate. Securities Exchange Commission. Retrieved August 18, 2012  http://www.sec.gov/about/whatwedo.shtml

Accounting forms the overall backbone of the financial world. Financial markets are predicated on consumer and user confidence. Without confidence, consumers attempting to make financial decisions will be doing so using inaccurate and incomplete information. The lack of transparency regarding the truthfulness of reported numbers creates uncertainty within the capital markets. This uncertainty regarding the accuracy of information ultimately undermines the overall financial system, causing harm to society in the process. Investors will require higher rates of return, individuals will become unlikely to invest, and innovation could become stifled, harming the quality of life for society overall. Accounting standards, particularly those from the IFRS, are required to help maintain confidence in the reliability of reported financial performance. These standards, such as IFRS , are often amended to reflect the economic realities of business transactions. These changes, although well intended, may often have unintended consequence. This is particularly true for IFRS…...

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8) Jeffers, Agatha; Mengyu Wei; Sidney Askew (2010). "The Switch from U.S. GAAP to IFRS." Proceedings of the Northeast Business & Economics Association: 48 -- 54

9) Oler, Derek K., Mitchell J. Oler, and Christopher J. Skousen. 2010. "Characterizing Accounting Research." Accounting Horizons 24 (4): 635 -- 670

10) Perks, R.W. (1993). Accounting and Society. London: Chapman & Hall. p. 16. ISBN 0-412-47330-5.

Sarbanes-Oxley stipulates criminal and civil penalties for securities violations. Also, it mandates auditor independence from the interests of the firm, meaning that accountants cannot have a financial interest in the success or failure of the firm. Additionally, it mandates the certification of internal audit work by external auditors and mandates increased disclosure regarding executive compensation, insider trading and financial statements, in the interest of making more information public to investors. ("Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance," Technet 2005) Although the act is not a panacea, increased objectivity on the part of auditors and greater insistence on free and fair disclosure on the part of firms will hopefully ameliorate the some of the hiding of vital information that created the climate of secrecy within the firms of Enron and orldCom that helped give rise to the 2002 scandals.
orks Cited

Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance." (2005) Technet. Retrieved on 23 Oct 2005 at http://www.techlistings.net/xlist/tech/bizsoft/compliance/sox?id=1

Sarbanes-Oxley. (2002) Law retrieved by findlaw…...

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Works Cited

Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance." (2005) Technet. Retrieved on 23 Oct 2005 at http://www.techlistings.net/xlist/tech/bizsoft/compliance/sox?id=1

Sarbanes-Oxley. (2002) Law retrieved by findlaw on 23 Oct 2005 at  http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/gwbush/sarbanesoxley072302.pdf

This model could then be customized for the needs of the different companies.
Sankaran and AlHashim (2006) make a compelling case regarding the need for harmonized accounting standards and practices. In addition to the globalized economy, they also rightly point to the benefits of such harmonization for corporations - including a greater ability to keep track of expenses and a better way of reconciling different accounting practices in its branches worldwide. Furthermore, Sankaran and AlHashim (2006) also allay fears that harmonization is equivalent to imposing only one accounting system around the world. Instead, they highlight the need for commonality, for a web-based accounting system that lends itself to different accounting practices.

The paper makes a strong argument, and the data regarding the need for a harmonized accounting system is compelling. hile this article may present a challenge for readers unfamiliar with basic programming language, the inclusion of a generic algorithm for…...

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Works Cited

Sankaran, Siva and Dhia D. AlHashim. 2006. "An Accounting Information System for Harmonization."

Journal of American Academy of Business, Cambridge. 9(2): September.

The Statement of Owners' Equity

The statement of owner's or shareholders' equity is designed to show the components of the change in equity from the end of one fiscal year to the next. Beginning with the amount of equity shown at the end of the previous fiscal year, net income is added and cash dividends paid to the owners are subtracted. If owners contributed any additional capitol this amount (such as the sale of new shares) it is added to the equity. On the other hand, if the owners withdrew capitol, equity declines. All the additions and subtractions, taken together, equal the changes in owner equity from one fiscal year to the next (Kurtz, 2010).

The Statement of Cash Flows

Public companies are required to prepare and publish a statement of cash flows. This statement provides investors and creditors with relevant information about a firm's cash receipts and cash payments for its operation,…...

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References

Kurtz, D.L. (2010). Contemporary Business, 13th ed. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Inc.

"The Four Financial Statements" (NDI). The four financial statements. QuickMBA. Retrieved July 24, 2011, from  http://www.quickmba.com/accounting/fin/statements/

Accounting
America was not founded as a Democracy or as a Monarchy, for the educated and landed founding fathers felt assured that neither would provide the nation with rights for all and privilege for the few. America was founded as a Republic, and one might add as an ogliarchic republic at that. Those with the right gender, race, and wealth were represented through their while others were represented through the votes of their betters. Today, nearly-universal sufferage (age and past misbehavior are both barriers) assures that these factors do not determine whether a person can vote -- but an argument can still be made that the majority of the political process is determined by wealth. "The creators of America's constitution and government were among the wealthy aristocrats of their day. When they created their new government, the founders excluded democracy to the extent politically possible at the time. ..The great failure…...

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Bibliography

Bernstein, A. (1998) "Republican and Democratic -- The Identical Party? The Two Major Parties Are Becoming Dangerously Alike -- in Their Opposition to Individual Rights." Capitalism Magazine, Nov. 6. http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=2020

Gitlin, T. (2000) "The Renaissance of anti-intellectualism." The Chronicle of Higher Education, Dec. 8. Archived at:  http://chronicle.com/free/v47/i15/15b00701.htm 

Grinning Planet. (2004) "INJECTING A SHOT OF REBEL YELL INTO OLD GLORY"  http://www.grinningplanet.com/2004/11-11/direct-democracy-plutocracy-article.htm 

Morgan, D. (2000) "Mercenaries For Big Business: Corporate Funding of Think Tanks Raises Question of Credibility" San Francisco Chronicle, Feb 16. Archived at:  http://www.commondreams.org/views/021600-102.htm

1. The role of transparency and accountability in local government financial reporting
2. The impact of fiscal decentralization on local government accounting practices
3. Balancing fiscal responsibility and service delivery in local government budgets
4. The challenges of measuring efficiency and effectiveness in local government expenditures
5. The ethical considerations of financial decision-making in local government
6. The role of technology in improving local government financial management
7. The implications of political influence on local government accounting practices
8. The challenges of integrating sustainability goals into local government budgets
9. The importance of citizen engagement in local government financial decision-making
10.....

Essay Topic:

The Evolving Landscape of Local Government Accounting and Accountability: Challenges and Choices in an Era of Fiscal Transparency and Public Scrutiny

Introduction:

Local governments play a vital role in providing essential services and infrastructure to their communities. Effective and transparent financial management is paramount for ensuring the efficient use of taxpayer funds and maintaining public trust. However, local government accounting and accountability practices face significant challenges in the wake of evolving technological advancements, increasing public scrutiny, and heightened regulatory expectations. This essay will delve into the complexities of these challenges and explore the choices that local governments can make to enhance....