Accounting for government guarantees: perspectives on fiscal transparency from four modes of accounting

Government guarantees are increasingly important as a policy instrument in public infrastructure investment and to assist the banking and financial sectors following the global financial crisis. This paper analyses how different modes of accounting characterize such guarantees in the contexts of public sector financial reporting, statistical accounting, budgeting and long-term fiscal projections. Guarantees are difficult to specify for accounting treatment and consistent conceptualization of liabilities. These difficulties make it attractive for governments to treat obligations as off-budget and off-balance sheet contingent liabilities, rather than recognize them in financial statements and statistical accounts. Miller and Power’s territorializing, mediating, adjudicating and subjectivizing roles of accounting are utilized to analyse the reporting of UK government guarantees. Provisioning for guarantees is complex in financial reporting statements and often absent in national accounts, a deficiency which Eurostat has attempted to address by devising the concept of standardized guarantees and by securing more disclosure of contingent liabilities. There is potential for future research especially where there is greater mediation between the four modes of government accounting

The accounting, budgeting and fiscal impact of COVID-19 on the United Kingdom

Purpose: This paper analyses the nature and impact of budgetary responses to the pandemic in the context of the strengths and weaknesses of UK public sector financial management. Design/methodology/approach: The analysis is developed through consideration of four modes of government accounting. Data are drawn from multiple official sources, which report actual and forecast government receipts and expenditures as the crisis unfolds. Findings: There have been dramatic effects on UK government finances. Government receipts have fallen by 12% and expenditures have increased by 36% in the first three months of the crisis (April–June 2020), compared to the previous year. Government debt increased to £1,984bn (99.6% of GDP), the highest percentage since March 1961 (ONS, 2020c). The pandemic will have the greatest impact on UK public finances in 2020–21, with a record budget deficit which, under the OBR (2020c) central scenario, may approach £322bn and increase public sector net debt to £2,205bn (104.1% of GDP). Research limitations/implications: The research is necessarily limited by the impact of the pandemic and the government's responses in a rapidly changing social, economic and fiscal environment. Practical implications: Statistical accounting and budgeting dominate attention because of reporting speed and issues of international comparability. The pandemic has emphasised the importance of timeliness. Government financial reporting is marginalised, though this should not be permanent if the pandemic retreats. Fiscal sustainability analysis will warn that UK public finances are even more unsustainable than before the pandemic. Social implications: The interaction of higher levels of debt and future increases in interest rates might result in a new era of austerity and further centralisation of public power and economic decision-making in one of the world's most centralised democracies. Originality/value: The paper provides an early, structured analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 emergency on UK government finances

The role of scientific expertise in COVID-19 policymaking:evidence from four European countries

Immense uncertainty and the need for drastic interventions cause politicians to rely heavily on scientific advice for underpinning or legitimating their COVID-19 decision-making. This paper explores the role of scientific advice in this policy field in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and the UK. It shows that scientific advice is based on the disciplinary, mainly medical, back-grounds of advisors but is also influenced by social and economic values, which are core to what politicians find important. During the pandemic, a growing gap between scientific advice and political decisions is observed

Causes, consequences and possible resolution of the local authority audit crisis in England

The article analyses the impact of audit reform in the local public sector in England by relating the concept of collibration to the territorializing, mediating, adjudicating and subjectivizing roles of accounting. It uses public domain documentation and interviews with senior actors to examine evidence of the existence of audit crisis in the local government sector in England, its causes and consequences. There is then consideration of possible resolutions, drawing on the Redmond Report of 2020, and navigating political constraints on their feasibility

Accounting regulation in the UK: one nation, two sectors

This paper draws on the work of Streeck and Schmitter (1985) and its subsequent use by Puxty, et al (1987) to analyse the development of accounting regulation in the U.K. public sector. It provides an extension to prior literature through the application of a framework, based on modes of social order, to investigate divergence in the approaches to accounting regulation between the public and private sectors within a single nation state. Despite the advent of ‘New Public Management’, a different balance of the principles of regulation was established and continues to exist in the public sector when compared with that applied in the private sector, reflected by their respective approaches to due process. The conclusion is that the UK public sector accounting regulatory structure remains rooted in the state mode of social order and hence is different from that found in the private sector, despite the rhetoric of modernisation through the adoption of private sector management practices

An investigation into the land tax staff's commitment, work system and appraisal: The case of Malaysian state governments

The present study compared the levels of commitment to the organizations, work system and staff appraisal among 700 land tax staff working in Malaysia, using a questionnaire survey.The results indicate there are significant differences of staff organizational commitment and work system between state governments.It shows higher levels of commitment and work system result in higher levels of collection.Findings also reveal that staff commitment and work system are highly correlated with the organizational billing procedure,collection methods, managing land taxpayer accounts, enforcement and staff appraisal

Bullying and Victimization Among Adolescents: The Role of Ethnicity and Ethnic Composition of School Class

The present study examined the relationships between ethnicity, peer-reported bullying and victimization, and whether these relationships were moderated by the ethnic composition of the school classes. Participants were 2386 adolescents (mean age: 13 years and 10 months; 51.9% boys) from 117 school classes in the Netherlands. Multilevel analyses showed that, after controlling for the ethnic composition of school class, ethnic minority adolescents were less victimized, but did not differ from the ethnic majority group members on bullying. Victimization was more prevalent in ethnically heterogeneous classes. Furthermore, the results revealed that ethnic minority adolescents bully more in ethnically heterogeneous classes. Our findings suggest that, in order to understand bullying and victimization in schools in ethnically diverse cultures, the ethnic background of adolescents and the ethnic composition of school classes should be taken into account

Oocyte–Targeted Deletion Reveals That Hsp90b1 Is Needed for the Completion of First Mitosis in Mouse Zygotes

Hsp90b1 is an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) chaperone (also named Grp94, ERp99, gp96,Targ2, Tra-1, Tra1, Hspc4) (MGI:98817) contributing with Hspa5 (also named Grp78, BIP) (MGI:95835) to protein folding in ER compartment. Besides its high protein expression in mouse oocytes, little is known about Hsp90b1 during the transition from oocyte-to-embryo. Because the constitutive knockout of Hsp90b1 is responsible for peri-implantation embryonic lethality, it was not yet known whether Hsp90b1 is a functionally important maternal factor.To circumvent embryonic lethality, we established an oocyte-specific conditional knockout line taking advantage of the more recently created floxed Hsp90b1 line (Hsp90b1(flox), MGI:3700023) in combination with the transgenic mouse line expressing the cre recombinase under the control of zona pellucida 3 (ZP3) promoter (Zp3-cre, MGI:2176187). Altered expression of Hsp90b1 in growing oocytes provoked a limited, albeit significant reduction of the zona pellucida thickness but no obvious anomalies in follicular growth, meiotic maturation or fertilization. Interestingly, mutant zygotes obtained from oocytes lacking Hsp90b1 were unable to reach the 2-cell stage. They exhibited either a G2/M block or, more frequently an abnormal mitotic spindle leading to developmental arrest. Despite the fact that Hspa5 displayed a similar profile of expression as Hsp90b1, we found that HSPA5 and HSP90B1 did not fully colocalize in zygotes suggesting distinct function for the two chaperones. Consequently, even if HSPA5 was overexpressed in Hsp90b1 mutant embryos, it did not compensate for HSP90B1 deficiency. Finally, further characterization of ER compartment and cytoskeleton revealed a defective organization of the cytoplasmic region surrounding the mutant zygotic spindle.Our findings demonstrate that the maternal contribution of Hsp90b1 is critical for the development of murine zygotes. All together our data indicate that Hsp90b1 is involved in unique and specific aspects of the first mitosis, which brings together the maternal and paternal genomes on a single spindle

Task force IRSPM A&A SIG, CIGAR Network, EGPA PSG XII

The IPSAS CP asks the following questions in its REQUEST FOR COMMENTS. The responses prepared by the Task Force IRSPM A&A SIG, CIGAR Network and EGPA PSG XII are presented hereafter. The IRSPM A&A SIG, CIGAR Network and EGPA PSG XII are three research networks that focus on Public Sector Accounting. The Task Force is made up of 16 researchers from these networks. The responses being presented are based on an analysis of the Consultation Paper, the IPSASB Conceptual Framework, relevant IPSAS, and various published research papers on the subject. Following various meetings and discussions, the members of the Task Force have reached the following common conclusions and suggestions. The views expressed in this document represent those of the members of the Task Force and not of the whole research community represented by the networks, and neither of the Institutions/Universities with which they are affiliated