The birth of a modern public sector accounting system in France and Britain and the influence of Count Mollien

2001 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Nikitin
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Accounting System ◽  
Financial Systems ◽  
Accounting Systems ◽  
Public Sector Accounting ◽  
Revenue Streams ◽  
Double Entry

Under theAncien Régime France, the collection of taxes was a matter entrusted by the King to businessmen. After several unfruitful attempts to exercise greater control over his revenue streams, the King finally introduced reforms in 1788 to both centralise the Treasury and to use double-entry bookkeeping. TheRévolution confirmed this orientation and, after 1815, a modern public sector accounting system was progressively established in order to service the nascent nation. Soon later, Britain also started to rebuild its public sector accounting system and, as will be shown, a mutual French-British influence existed in the building of the national financial systems. Behind these modern public sector accounting systems lies the influential role played by Count Mollien, both in France and Britain.

scholarly journals Running the Obstacle Race towards Public Accounting Harmonization in EU-28: A Temporal Study

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincenzo Sforza ◽  
Riccardo Cimini
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Governance Structure ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Accounting System ◽  
Public Accounting ◽  
Accounting Systems ◽  
Temporal Study ◽  
European Public ◽  
Public Sector Accounting ◽  
Over Time

The European Commission has recently started a project aimed at harmonizing EU public accounting systems through the development of European Public Sector Accounting Standards (EPSAS). The project is a response to the lack of coherence between primary public-sector accounts and government financial statistics, in order to strengthen the economic governance structure in the euro area. This paper aims to show that the divergences (adjustments) between the measures of surplus/deficit in governmental (working balance, WB) and national accounting (net borrowing lending, NBL) vary over time to provide future research opportunities around the factors that, affecting temporal divergences between these measures, enhance fiscal fragility within the EU public sector accounting system. By analysing the Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP) tables issued by 28 EU countries over the period 2010-2015, the paper uses novel approaches in measuring adjustments based on network analysis and regression models, showing that they are significantly different over time.

Comparison of the perception of overt and covert options in IPSAS financial statements by intergovernmental organizations

Tékhne ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-39
Author(s):  
Berit Adam
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
European Commission ◽  
Accounting Standards ◽  
Financial Statements ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Intergovernmental Organizations ◽  
Accounting System ◽  
Accrual Accounting ◽  
Public Sector Accounting ◽  
Primary Reference

AbstractSince 2012, the European Commission has embarked on the ambitious project to harmonize public sector accounting rules on all levels of government within Europe, mainly to improve the quality as well as the comparability of financial data. Although International Public Sector Accounting Standards were deemed not to be suitable for a simple take-over because of various reasons, they nevertheless shall function as a primary reference point for developing European Public Sector Accounting Standards. A total of 21 out of 28 central governments have already reformed their accounting standards to accrual accounting, and some of them have also relied on IPSAS in this exercise. Apart from governments, various international and supranational governmental organizations have also since the end of the 2000’s been reforming their accounting system to accrual accounting, and have in the same way relied on existing IPSAS. This paper explores accounting practices found in ten intergovernmental organizations (Commonwealth Secretariat, Council of Europe, European Commission, IAEA, INTERPOL, ITER, NAPMA, OECD, International Criminal Court, WFP) whose statements are prepared in compliance with IPSAS. It analyzes how overt and covert options contained in IPSAS with relevance to the activities of intergovernmental organizations are exercised and evaluates in which areas of accounting material differences in accounting practices can be found, which may hinder the comparability of financial statements prepared on the basis of IPSAS.

Khipu

Paid ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary Urton
Keyword(s):  
Data Storage ◽  
Accounting System ◽  
Accounting Systems ◽  
Numbering System ◽  
Record Keeping ◽  
Similar Information ◽  
History Of ◽  
Double Entry

Khipu are sets of knotted strings used by the pre-Colombian Inkan Empire for record keeping. The chapter situates khipu in the history of accounting systems globally, and makes a case that some khipu may have conveyed similar information as double-entry bookkeeping, developed around the same time in Europe. Khipu cords were made from spun or plied cotton or llama or alpaca fibers and display three types of knots organized in complex arrangements of tiered clusters. Cords were spun with separate strings in specific patterns, too, allowing for a great deal of data storage. The Inka did not possess writing but used this accounting system and a decimal numbering system conveyed through knots to administer the empire. Double-entry bookkeeping in Europe contributed to the rise of capitalism; that double-entry khipu did not may be attributable to the Inka’s conquest by Spain in 1532.

scholarly journals RUSSIAN PUBLIC SECTOR REFORM: THE IMPACT ON UNIVERSITY ACCOUNTING

2008 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Konstantin Timoshenko
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Financial Management ◽  
Central Government ◽  
The State ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Accounting System ◽  
Russian State ◽  
Public Sector Accounting ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact

The last few decades have witnessed substantial efforts to reinvent the state worldwide. The Russian state is no exception to this global trend. At the outset of a new millennium, the need for renewal of the post‐Soviet model of the state has been acknowledged, and an up‐to‐date reform package has been promoted by the central government. This has encompassed the reconstruction of public sector accounting. Given the paucity of consistent research efforts on the topic, this article seeks to describe and analyze, and by so doing, contribute to knowledge about Russian public sector accounting in times of change. To tackle the general purpose, two levels are incorporated in this study to link reform initiatives for the government as a whole with those endeavours to implement them in one state‐sponsored university of Russian tertiary education. The major questions to be addressed are of whether, why, and how changes at the central government level have penetrated down to the university and extended to its accounting system. The evidence gathered in this paper reveals that a new Russian public sector ideology has markedly been affected by overseas developments in the shape of large international organizations. However, no compelling evidence has been documented in this research as unveiling that changes at the macro‐level have penetrated down to the university to any significant extent. This study concludes that launching a new version of accounting by the Russian state can be regarded as more of a symbol of legitimacy for the university rather than of an actual financial management tool.

scholarly journals Double entry bookkeeping vs single entry bookkeeping

2016 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. 282
Author(s):  
Ileana Andreica
Keyword(s):  
Financial Management ◽  
Comparison Method ◽  
Accounting System ◽  
Accounting Systems ◽  
Legal Personality ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Family Enterprises ◽  
Hypothetical Data ◽  
Single Entry ◽  
Double Entry

Abstract: A financial management eficiently begin, primarily, with an accounting record kept in the best possible conditions, this being conditioned on the adoption of a uniform forms, rational, clear and simple accounting. Throughout history, there have been known two forms of accounting: the simple and double entry. Romanian society after 1990 underwent a substantial change in social structure, the sector on which put a great emphasis being private, that of small manufacturers, peddler, freelance, who work independently and authorized or as associative form (family enterprises, various associations (owners, tenants, etc.), liberal professions, etc.). They are obliged to keep a simple bookkeeping, because they have no juridical personality. Companies with legal personality are required to keep double entry bookkeeping; therefore, knowledge and border demarcation between the two forms of organisation of accounting is an essential. The material used for this work is mainly represented by the financial and accounting documents, by the analysis of the economic, by legislative updated sources, and as the method was used the comparison method, using hypothetical data, in case of an authorized individual and a legal entity. Based on the chosen material, an authorized individual (who perform single entry accounting system) and a juridical entity (who perform double entry accounting system) were selected comparative case studies, using hypothetical data, were analysed advantages and disadvantages in term of fiscal, if using two accounting systems, then were highlighted some conclusion that result.

The harmonization of government financial information systems: the role of the IPSASs

2007 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. 293-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernardino Benito ◽  
Isabel Brusca ◽  
Vicente Montesinos
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Accounting Standards ◽  
Financial Information ◽  
Accounting Systems ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Public Sector Accounting ◽  
Near Future

The publication of International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSASs) in the field of governmental financial reporting has raised the necessity for a wide-ranging discussion about the harmonization of public sector accounting systems. The article has a double aim: to show the adoption or not of IPSASs in local and central government and to analyse the level of convergence between the different countries studied. In order to achieve these objectives, we carried out an empirical study, whose results allow us to show that while some accounting systems are very close to the IPSASs model, others are completely different. Nevertheless, we think that this could be a starting point and that in the near future countries could tend towards IPSASs more and more, which may be the most probable way to reach convergence accounting systems between them.

Harmonising European Public Sector Accounting Standards (EPSAS): Issues and Perspectives for Europe’s Economy and Society

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuri Biondi
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Accounting Standards ◽  
International Accounting Standards ◽  
Accounting Systems ◽  
The Public ◽  
Financial Reporting Standards ◽  
Adoption And Implementation ◽  
European Public ◽  
Public Sector Accounting

AbstractAccounting systems play a hidden but fundamental role as mode and instrument of representation, coordination and organisation for the public sector and its specific public action. Therefore, financial and accounting reforms transform, implement and reshape public policies as well as the working and very existence of public administration. Last March 2013, the European Commission started a relevant project with the intention to create harmonised “European Public Sector Accounting Standards” (EPSAS) and implement them in the Member States. Between 1995 and 2002, a similar project was already achieved for private sector accounting standards-setting, leading to adoption and implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) issued by International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). The EPSAS project should decide if public sector accounting standards-setting shall follow a similar pattern to converge towards the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) that transplant the IFRS in the public sector. This choice may have fundamental implications for the European (Monetary) Union, since public sector accounting and public finances are fundamental elements of its institutional framework. This thematic issue aims to provide analyses and perspectives on this ongoing public sector accounting harmonisation process in Europe, addressing its governance and contents, as well as its consequences and implications for Europe’s economy and society.

of the information given to the shareholders, precautions to take for upward appraisal of capital assets, choice of an investment, and dividend policy. In order to raise enough capital for its business, the Company had to inform a growing number of shareholders, which soon became inconsistent with the managers’ freedom to deal with ac­ counting information according to their own needs. The resoultion of this problem led to the distinction between standard­ ized financial accounting for external and management account­ ing for internal use. As it became more and more efficient and advanced, the accounting system led to its own splitting. CONCLUSION Compared to most of the firms, Saint-Gobain had to face very early (in the first half of the 19th century) the problems raised by the setting up of a management accounting system. However, it was not until 1820, 155 years after its creation, that it adopted double entry bookkeeping which included the calculation of costs. This evolution is mainly due to the spreading of the Industrial Revolution in France, which was responsible for the abolition of privileges and the growth of competition in the field of glass pro­ duction. During the period 1820-1880, the cost accounting system had been gradually improved, without any regular outside coercion, according to the needs of the management alone. This leads to two conclusions and two research questions. In 1880, the accounting system facilitated the reckoning of full costs with methods and procedures that are still in use (alloca­ tion of the overhead with the use of activity center accounts, up-to-date transfer pricing methods, analysis of the relationship be­ tween depreciation, dividends and investments, etc ). This full cost method is now over one hundred years old. The development and the mastering of that cost accounting system were absolutely necessary to start the next stage, that is to say the use of those costs to prepare estimates of costs and investments. That stage took place over four decades (1890 to 1930) and led to real budget control towards the end of the Second World War. It should be recognized that the accounting systems of a given period can be very different from one another, which is particu­ larly true in the 19th century, therefore research should look at the variables on which the accounting system of each firm depends. Among the internal ones, the size of the firm, the culture of its

2014 ◽  
pp. 267-267
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Transfer Pricing ◽  
Cost Accounting ◽  
Accounting System ◽  
Accounting Systems ◽  
Cost Accounting System ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Double Entry ◽  
The 19Th Century

scholarly journals From Accountability to Readability in the Public Sector: Evidence from Italian Universities

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Alessandra Allini ◽  
Luca Ferri ◽  
Marco Maffei ◽  
Annamaria Zampella
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Financial Statements ◽  
Accounting System ◽  
Accrual Accounting ◽  
Accounting Systems ◽  
Balance Sheets ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
Italian Government ◽  
Final Sample

This paper aims to explore the readability of the disclosure provided by Italian universities that changed their accounting systems to accrual accounting over the past three years. The transition from cash to accrual accounting not only concerns financial statements, but also the related notes. Indeed, the Italian government has paid great attention to the narrative sections of reports due to their capacity to provide more transparency. To provide better accountability, financial statements must be readable for all stakeholders. We used two different indexes, namely the Gunning fog and GULPEase indexes. The analysis was conducted on a sample of universities to analyze the narrative sections of the first financial statements prepared according to the new accounting system in 2012–2014. The final sample comprised 32 Italian universities. The research results demonstrated low readability in the balance sheets of Italian universities after switching to accrual accounting, illustrating an unsatisfactory level of accountability.

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