Questions and Answers of Public Accounting

Why is there a need for performance audits in the public sector?
What types of traditional and extended performance audits exist, and what are the differences between the two main types of performance audits?
Why and to what extent can compliance be included in performance audits?
What roles can a performance auditor adopt and what conflicts can arise between these roles?
What are the main consolidation approaches?
What pressures led to the implementation of CFSs in the public sector?
What are the benefits of CFSs in the public sector?
Who are the main internal and external users of CFSs?
What are the standards (international or national) used in the consolidation process?
What are the characteristics and the limits of the IPSASB’s approach to consolidation?
What are the alternative approaches to the IPSAS?
To what extent are general frameworks for management control (such as those of Merchant and Simons) applicable to public sector organizations?
Do public sector organizations still have inadequate management controls(as was observed by Anthony and Young)?
Is management control fundamentally different in public sector organizations compared with their private sector counterparts?
Is performance measurement possible in public sector entities?
Should public sector organizations work more on the principle of trust?
In what circumstances might using direct costing (i.e. assigning only direct variable costs to cost objects) have advantages compared with using absorption costing (i.e. assigning both direct and
In what circumstances might using a rather simple cost accounting system have advantages compared with using a more complex cost accounting system, and vice versa? Is there a potential level of
What reasons might explain the (apparently) low usage rate of activitybased costing (ABC) systems in governmental organizations?
Do you agree with the statement that, in general, the price of a product provided by non-profit and governmental organizations should be its full costs plus a surplus?
What role do capital investment appraisal techniques have in investment appraisal in public sector organizations?
Which capital investment appraisal techniques are most suitable for use in public sector organizations?
To what extent do budgets (in your country, situation, etc.) include both financial and non-financial (goals and activities to be performed) elements?What is your opinion of this?
What is the role of budgeting in stimulating the efficiency of public sector entities?
What label best fits the characteristics of governmental entities (in your country, situation, etc.), in terms of responsibility accounting (standard cost centre, discretionary cost centre, revenue
Are the recommendations of Hope and Fraser (2003) to ‘break free’ from traditional budgeting applicable to public sector entities?
Whatare themaindifferences between traditional budgets and performancebased budgets?
What are the possible categories of performance-based budgets?
What are the most important advantages of PBB that have emerged from recent experience?
What are the benefits of accrual budgeting?
Do you observe that citizens are (more) involved in budgeting? If so, in what way?
How does the historical development of budgeting match the development of management doctrines, as discussed in section 5.3 of Chapter 5?Data from section 5.3Performance management In the private
Why is there a need for audit in the public sector?
What are the differences between public sector and private sector auditing?
How should one approach ethical dilemmas as a public sector auditor?
The IPSASB identifies citizens as primary users of GPFRs. Is it reasonable to assume that citizens actually read GPFRs produced by public sector entities? If not, does it still make sense to design
It is not always easy to make a clear-cut distinction between private goods and public goods. Give examples of goods and services that are not pure public goods, but which are produced by the public
In addition to financial information, what other information do you think is important in order to evaluate the achievement of a public sector entity?
Why might there be resistance to establishing common international accounting standards?
Why does the principals’ rationale for monitoring the agent differ between the private and the public sector?
According to IT, organizations will apply structures and practices that are considered legitimate by other organizations within their organizational field. Why is it important for an organization to
Argue for and against theoretical and methodological pluralism in accounting research.
Do you think that the implementation of a global accounting system is possible?
Do you think that the development of a worldwide accounting system should be organized by an intergovernmental organization like the EU or UN, instead of a group of independent members who are not
Is it a good idea to implement a uniform accounting system in the EU, knowing the cost and effort it takes, in these times of economic instability?
Would you, as a government, use the IPSAS as a reference/basis for the implementation of an accrual-based accounting system in your country/jurisdiction, or would you start from scratch? Why (not)?
What do you think of the due process that the IPSASB is using for its standard development? What is good/bad about it?
What could be the possible reasons for the difference in growth rate towards the IPSAS at local and central levels of government?
Compare the transformational and transactional approaches and formulate their (dis)advantages.