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Online Application
If you wish to apply to join any of the CeFiMS programmes by distance learning, please first complete this online form and submit. [New window]

Centre for Financial & Management Studies (CeFiMS) - University of London

Individual Professional Courses – IPC    

Public Financial Management: Financial Reporting and Audit [C210]

Studying this course will enable you to read public accounts, contribute to their production and understand the audit process. It covers the main accounting standards for public services in use around the world. We have developed this course in association with the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants (ACCA).
Aims & Objectives

By the end of the course, students should be:

* able to appreciate current practice;
* aware of the main debates over public sector reporting and audit reform;
* able to undertake a high-level interpretation of a set of public sector financial statements produced on either the cash or the accrual basis.

Resources

Students receive a looseleaf binder containing eight ‘course units’; two assignments (to be marked by your CeFiMS tutors), and a specimen examination paper are also included within the student pack, along with the following:
Textbooks:
Richard Allen and Daniel Tommasi (eds.): Managing Public Expenditure: A Reference Book for Transition Countries OECD, 2001

IFAC: Handbook of International Public Sector Accounting Pronouncements IFAC, New York, 2005

Accounting Standards Board: Statement of Principles for Financial Reporting: Proposed Interpretation for Public Benefit Entities (Exposed Draft) ASB, London, 2005

Readings:
The Readings consist of selected articles and extracts which supplement the information provided in the textbooks. The Online Study Centre also has supplementary readings and useful links to academic and other resources for this course.
Course Timetable:
This shows the linkage between the various components of the course and indicates the schedule for reading the texts, submitting assignments, etc.

Course Content

Unit 1
The traditional approach to general purpose public sector financial reporting:

* Components of financial statements for governments, their role and purpose
* General government sector compared with government business enterprises
* Consolidated Fund; development fund; consolidated loans fund
* The basic statements:
- Budget out-turn
- Details of government debt
- Fund accounting
* Private sector style accounts:
- Income and expenditure statement
- Balance sheet
- Cash flow statement

Unit 2

* The origins of accrual accounting in the public sector.
* The debate between the cash and the accrual bases of accounting.
* Should the accrual basis be used for budgeting?
* The links with New Public Management reforms and traditional bureaucratic approach.
* The development of conceptual framework for the public sector.
* Mention of other approaches, for example, GASB (US) separate conceptual framework for the public sector and the combined private/public approach in Australia.

Unit 3
International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSAS) and cash standards:

* The standards setters for public sector financial reporting, nationally and internationally
* The origins and role of the IPSASB and IFAC membership criterion 5
* The devlopment and promotion of a suite of accrual based standards
* The general cash basis IPSAS and the relevance of consolidated accounts for the public sector; whole of government accounts or reporting at ministerial level
* Accounting for international assistance and budget reporting standards

Unit 4
International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board, part 2:

* Application of IFRS to the public sector
* IPSAS 1-21, definitions and broad principles
* Interpretation of financial statements based on the IPSAS

Unit 5
International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board, part 3:

* Debates over specific public sector type transactions, taxation and accounting for state pensions
* Emphasis on regularity and probity or the sustainability of government services
* Maastricht criteria and reducing government deficits, off-balance sheet financing and accounting for the public-private partnerships

Unit 6

* Wider benchmarks for public sector financial management
* Government Financial Statistics Manual, IMF Fiscal Transparency Code and PEFA
* The roles and scope of review agencies, the Auditor-general, the parliamentary public accounts committee, and the international financial institutions

Unit 7
The public secor approach to external audit:

* Regularity and probity
* Opinion on the financial statements
* Value for money audit


INTOSAI Auditing Standards and Ethical Code Auditing Standards:

* Basic principles
* General standards
* Field standards
* Reporting standards
* Ethical Code
* Integrity
* Independence, Objectivity and Impartiality
* Professional Secrecy
* Competence

Unit 8

* Organisation of a supreme audit institution
* Financial Audit Standards
* Value for money Audit (performance audit)
* Audit of IT and information systems

Tuition & Assessment

This course will be assessed by one three-hour examination and two assessed pieces of written coursework. The examination will count for 70% and the coursework for 30%.