What Does a Government Accountant Do?

Government financial report refers to a comprehensive report prepared for information demanders with financial information as the main content and financial statements as the main form to comprehensively and systematically reflect government financial fiduciary responsibility.

Government financial report

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Chinese name: Government financial report
Function: Decides what to disclose in government financial reports
Definition: Comprehensive report reflecting financial fiduciary responsibilities.

Approval unit: Government of china
Provided by: Government of china
authority: Government of china
main target: Provide information to meet user needs

The objectives of government financial reporting are directly related to the positioning of users of government financial reporting and government management needs. The choice of government financial report objectives directly determines the content and form of government financial report disclosure, and determines the government accounting standards.

The main body of government financial reporting is a key factor in defining the scope of government financial reporting. From an international perspective, there are many types of government financial reporting entities. Government departments, other entities forming part of the government, the entire government, and funds can all become the main body of financial reporting. The selection of government reporting entities directly determines which entities and which transactions should be included in government financial reports. ^[1]

There are four main types of accounting basis for the preparation of financial reports of governments in various countries: the cash-based system, the revised cash-based system, the revised accrual system and the accrual system. The accrual and accrual systems are mainly different in how and when transactions are recognized. The cash payment system focuses on cash receipts and payments activities. When cash is actually received or disbursed, transactions are recognized. Accrual basis pays more attention to changes in the value of economic resources. In addition to identifying transactions that involve actual changes in cash, it also recognizes transactions that do not involve actual changes in cash but affect future inflows and outflows of economic resources, such as asset depreciation, Make provision for bad debts, confirm asset revaluation value, etc. ^[1]

Government financial reports in each country usually consist of two parts: text description and financial statements. Among them, financial statements are an important part of government financial reports, including financial statements and statement notes. Statement notes provide additional information for financial statements, mainly for further explanation and explanation of statement information. The text description is mainly a written statement made around the financial statements, which is intended to help the users of the statements better understand and understand the financial statements. On this basis, some countries have also added macroeconomic aspects such as fiscal and overall economic development to better illustrate the socio-economic environment in which the government's financial reporting period is located. In addition to the differences in text descriptions, the major financial statements prepared by governments in different countries also differ. ^[1]

(I) Characteristics of Western Government Financial Reporting Models ^[1]

China has not yet had a government financial report that can reflect government financial fiduciary responsibilities in a centralized, comprehensive, complete and systematic way. Government financial reports cannot provide more public accounting information to the public and supervisory departments. It is difficult to centrally, comprehensively, completely, and systematically evaluate and evaluate the performance of government financial fiduciary responsibilities, and comprehensively lift financial fiduciary responsibilities. Especially as budget reports and final account reports that reflect the overall state of the country's financial situation, the content is often only enough to occupy one or two newspaper pages. There are many problems in China's current government financial reporting information disclosure system, mainly as follows: ^[2]

1. Improving government financial reporting is the need for the transformation of government functions ^[2]

I. Main problems in the disclosure of the current government financial report in China ^[3]

The current government financial report in China is mainly composed of three major reporting systems: the total budget accounting statement, the administrative unit accounting statement, and the public institution accounting statement. The fiscal total budget accounting statements are mainly composed of statements such as the balance sheet, budget execution statement, budget execution statement and its attached schedules; administrative units and institutions' accounting statements mainly include balance sheets, income and expenditure statements, expenditure details tables, and basic It consists of reports such as digital tables and report manuals. This government financial reporting system was implemented after the reform of the budget accounting system in 1998. It is in line with the situation at that time, but with the establishment and continuous improvement of China's public financial system and China's entry into the World Trade Organization, such Disadvantages in the disclosure of a set of government financial reports are increasingly exposed. I think the current government financial reports in China mainly have the following problems in terms of disclosure:

(1) Failure to comprehensively and completely reflect the debt situation assumed by the government

Financial reports that reflect the government's debt situation are primarily balance sheets.

At present, there are three main items in the balance sheet of China's fiscal budget accounting that reflect the debts undertaken by the first-level government: The "borrowed money" item reflects the borrowing by the central government in accordance with legal procedures according to the amount approved by the National People's Congress. Domestic and foreign debts, as well as debts borrowed by local governments in accordance with national laws and special regulations of the State Council; "Communications with the superiors" project reflects the debts formed by the finances at the same level to the finances of the superiors during the budget implementation period; It is the debt formed by the finance to the budget unit during the execution of the budget. In this way, the scope of government debt disclosed in the government financial report is too narrow, and the government's hidden debt is not disclosed. For a long time, China has emphasized that government financial reports serve the government's budget management. Therefore, some important debt information that is not directly related to the government's budget revenue and expenditure has been ignored or omitted, such as government wages owed, social security expenditure gap, government The various borrowings undertaken, the burden of information on the future repayment of government bonds, and the bad debts of state-owned commercial banks, because they do not involve current budget expenditures. For these situations, not only the public is difficult to supervise, the financial department also lacks accurate information. To understanding.

(2) Failure to truly reflect the government's operating costs and operating performance

For a long time, China's budget accounting has been mainly based on the realization of production and payment. The total budget accounting, administrative unit accounting, education, and other accounting units do not perform cost accounting, do not calculate costs internally, and do not report costs externally. Therefore, the information disclosed in the government financial report prepared on the basis of the realization of payment cannot help users to judge the government's operating costs, especially the related service costs, such as the cost of higher education in the current society, which is widely divergent. It is difficult for the public to obtain authoritative judgment information from government financial reports. In addition to not accurately reflecting the government's operating costs, the information disclosed in the current government financial report does not accurately reflect the government's input-output situation, and cannot accurately reflect the government's operating performance and fiduciary responsibilities, such as the government's ownership of state-owned assets and The important information of the management of the right to gain has not been fully disclosed, which is far from the public performance management concept currently emphasized in China, which is not conducive to the development of public performance management and the strengthening of the government's fiduciary responsibility.

(3) Failure to provide truthful information on treasury cash management

Since 2001, China has begun the reform of the centralized treasury payment system. At present, this reform has been basically completed throughout the country. After the implementation of the reform of the central treasury centralized payment system and the establishment of the single treasury account system, all revenue and expenditure activities of fiscal funds were brought under the management of the single treasury account system, which resulted in a large increase in the treasury cash, but the current government financial report did not provide a cash flow statement. The "Treasury Cash Daily Report" and "Treasury Cash Monthly Report" have not been released to the public. This did not disclose the government treasury cash management information, such as the inflow, outflow, and balance of treasury cash. The government adopted the treasury cash balance. What kind of operation method, what kind of operation performance has been achieved, what kind of risk control mechanism has been formulated, etc., the public knows very little.

(IV) Unscientific project setting on the balance sheet

There are a lot of unscientific items in the report setting of the government financial report in our country. Here the author focuses on the project setting of the balance sheet. The current budget accounting system stipulates that the total budget accounting, administrative unit accounting, and institution accounting design a balance sheet based on the accounting equation of assets + expenditures = liabilities + net assets + income. Its structure is the asset category on the left, including assets. There are two major categories of projects: expenditures and expenditures. On the right are the categories of liabilities, including the three major categories of liabilities, net assets and income. Therefore, in the project setting of the balance sheet, not only the three categories of assets, liabilities, and net assets have been set up. Given the two types of income and expenditure projects, such project setup is obviously unscientific. From the balance sheet of foreign government accounting and the balance sheet of Chinese enterprise accounting, the project setup does not involve two types of income and expenditure projects. Therefore, the balance sheet in the government financial report of our country does not meet the project setup. International practice has not been in line with Chinese corporate accounting, and it has also caused meaningless duplication with items in the income and expenditure table.

(5) Failure to include audit reports, reducing the credibility of government financial reports

For a long time, our government's fiscal expenditure information is not very transparent, how the budget is prepared, how it is implemented, how the financial funds are used, and what benefits have been generated. The public is not very aware of these. The report of the draft national budget and final accounts made by the congress is published to the society, but the report is too general and lacks the necessary auditing supervision. It is not only incomprehensible to the public, but also not necessarily understood by professionals. In addition, some government departments have used large amounts of illegal funds for a long time, and the National Audit Office has audited billions or even tens of billions of illegal funds every year in recent years. For example, in 2005, the Auditor General of the National Audit Office reported to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress in 2004. In the audit report, it was disclosed that the central government's illegal funds amounted to 9 billion yuan. For the public, excluding audit reports, the credibility of government financial reports is greatly reduced.

Improvements in the disclosure of government financial reports

A series of problems in the disclosure of the Chinese government financial report has led to the incompatibility of the Chinese government financial report with the financial reports of other governments, and it cannot comprehensively and completely reflect the government's financial status, operating performance and performance of fiduciary duties. Drawing on the mature experience of western countries and combining with China's national conditions, the disclosure content of China's government financial reports can be improved from the following aspects.

(1) Comprehensive and systematic disclosure of government debt

The debts of our government currently include the debts borrowed by our government from foreign governments and international financial institutions, the future debt and interest burden of state bonds, the bad debts of state-owned commercial banks, the social security expenditure gap, and various government-guaranteed loans. Some of these debts have been confirmed in accounting according to the recognition conditions of cash-on-cash basis, and have been disclosed in government financial reports, such as debts borrowed by our government from foreign governments and international financial institutions, and more hidden debts It has not been confirmed in accounting, nor has it been disclosed in government financial reports, such as the future debt and interest burden of government bonds, and various government-guaranteed loans. From international experience, some market economy countries can fully and systematically disclose government-owned debt information in government financial reports. China's government financial reports should also improve the disclosure of government debt information. For government debt that meets the recognition conditions and measurement standards for liabilities under the accrual basis, the total fiscal budget accounting should be confirmed and measured in accordance with the accrual requirements. And disclose relevant items in the balance sheet; for government hidden debts that do not meet specific liability recognition conditions and measurement standards and cannot be quantified, relevant information should be disclosed in the notes to the government financial report to fully and systematically disclose the government All debt information.

(2) Add statements such as the government operation statement, capital expenditure statement, output and performance analysis statement

Since 2000, China has gradually carried out the performance evaluation of financial funds. However, the current performance evaluation is mainly to improve the level of budget management and serves budget management. For example, the idea of performance budget is introduced in budget management. The project expenditure of public institutions has established a relatively complete performance evaluation system. However, the current government financial report in China clearly shows that it lags behind fiscal performance management reform and cannot truly provide information on the government's operating costs and operating performance. In view of this situation, the author proposes to learn from foreign experiences and increase government in government financial reports. Operational tables, capital expenditure tables, output and performance analysis tables, etc., transform the current government financial reports into public performance management trends, focus on the disclosure of national budget execution information, and fully reflect the overall financial status of the government Comprehensive financial reports on operating costs and operating performance.

(3) Increase cash flow statement

At present, China's academic circles are discussing issues related to budget accounting reform, and opinions on whether to increase the cash flow statement in government financial reports differ. However, the author believes that the government's financial report should increase the cash flow statement for two main reasons: First, after the reform of the centralized treasury collection and payment system, the inflow, outflow and balance of treasury cash have greatly increased. In order to strengthen the treasury cash Supervision and management, the government financial report must fully and truthfully disclose the information on the treasury cash inflows and outflows and the government's operating information on the treasury cash balance.

Second, with the increasing fiduciary responsibilities performed by the Chinese government, the internal and external information users' demand for government financial reporting information is growing, and the government's financial year cash flow situation is that they analyze and evaluate and make various This kind of information is indispensable for decision-making, especially after the accounting basis of China's budget accounting is changed from the realization system of payment to the accrual system, this information is even more important.

(IV) List of assets and liabilities

The balance sheet should be a statement that reflects the static financial position of the government at a certain point in time, and the current balance sheet of China's total fiscal budget accounting, administrative unit accounting, and institution accounting all shows income and expenditure items, which indicates the current The balance sheet is a statement that reflects the dynamic financial status of a certain accounting period. Therefore, it is necessary to delete the income and expenditure items in the balance sheet and to design a new balance sheet based on the accounting equation of assets = liabilities + net assets. Only three types of assets, liabilities and net assets are listed. It is recommended to add government investment assets, internal loans, external loans and other items to the asset balance sheet of the total fiscal budget accounting to fully reflect the assets owned by the first-level government; Increase the listing of domestic debt, foreign debt, borrowed sub-loan funds and other items to fully reflect the debt undertaken by the first-level government; under the net assets category, add government investment funds, government loan funds and other items to fully reflect the first-level government Owned assets.

(5) Add audit reports to government financial reports

Government financial reports must be subject to objective and fair auditing. Only on this basis, analysis of government financial reports is of practical significance. In theory, the government administration prepares government financial reports, the public, the legislature, etc. use government financial reports. Because the position of using government financial reports is inconsistent with the position of providing government financial reports, the content of government financial reports provided by government administration Authenticity and reliability will be worried by users. This requires government auditing agencies or other social auditing institutions to audit government financial reports in an impartial and neutral capacity to provide objective and impartial assurance reports to enable governments Financial reports are trusted by users to relieve them of fiduciary duties. Therefore, China can learn from foreign experience and add audit reports to government financial reports to ensure the authenticity and reliability of government financial report disclosures.

What Does a Government Accountant Do?

Government financial report

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