Management Accounting In Local Government

Radical changes to public service delivery have swept across many regions of the world. Management accounting methods are vital to support operational and strategic decision making in public services internationally. This book provides a comprehensive and “leading-edge” guide to the topic. Written by an expert scholar with practical experience of public service delivery, the book takes account of key trends such as increased demand for public services, financial austerity, technological change and enhanced performance management. A globally relevant book, informed by cutting edge academic research and benefitting from integrated case studies, this is essential reading for both students and practitioners involved with the financial aspects of public services management.

In recent years there have been a number of significant reforms in local government accounting practices around the world. While the specific reasons for these changes vary, a common factor is the increasing need for governments to measure the efficacy and efficiency of their performance. Nowhere is this trend more apparent than at the local government level. This book aims to give a comparative international perspective on local government accounting innovations, and offers specific cases involving different economic, political and cultural conditions. Countries receiving extended treatment include Belgium, China, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Russia, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. Together, the essays offer a state-of-the-art take on these issues and identify key issues for future research.

Increasingly a corporation's competitive advantage is synonymous with its capacity for organisational learning. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Victorian local government where the State Government replaced councillors with commissioners, introduced compulsory competitive tendering, amalgamated councils and enforced efficient management.

Volume 1: Creating A Financial Framework Financial policies, planning and citizen participation are cross-cutting topics that imingpact all aspects of local government decision-making. This volume provides decision makers with a basic financial foundation and will be especially useful for policy makers and chief executive officers. Sections: Financial Policy Making; Financial Planning; Citizen Participation; Evaluating Financial Condition Volume 2: Managing the Operating Budget The short-term operating budget and long-term capital investment plans are the engines that drive local government. The operating budget is the primary mechanism for providing public services and demonstrating accountability for decisions made during the budget process. More technical in nature than volume 1, many of the more basic ideas will be of use to policy makers, while the advanced concepts are written principally for chief executive officers, finance managers and department heads. Sections: Operating Budget; Financing the Operating Budget Volume 3: Managing the Capital Investment Plan Highlighting citizen participation, transparency and accountability, this volume describes how to design and implement a capital investment planning and budgeting system, with a more advanced section dealing with value management and real estate analysis. It also examines how the financing for the investment plan is developed and implemented, reviews the benefits of instituting a debt management program, looks at types of financing, methods for selecting credit instruments and the mechanics for obtaining financing, as well as reviewing credit analysis, disclosure requirements and administration of the debt. Sections: Capital Investment Plan; Financing the Capital Investment Plan Volume 4: Managing Performance This final volume reviews four of the cornerstones of good governance: accounting, performance measures, asset management and procurement. Basic sections cover fundamental, need-to-know information for policy makers, accompanied by more advanced technical treatment for financial managers and CEOs. Sections: Accounting; Performance Measures; Asset Management; Procurement.

Local Government is an area where management skills are tested to the extreme. With political considerations evident both locally and nationally, managing resources can be complex and subject to change. This book introduces new concepts and new ways of doing business that can greatly enhance the value of the services a local government provides to its citizens, without putting a greater financial burden on taxpayers. Padovani and Young present out-of-the-box thinking based on solid research and experience to discuss topics such as: Incorporating outcome indicators into strategic planning and budgeting Building a LG’s budget with ‘cost drivers’ Expanding the concept of ‘enterprise funds’ Assessing and better managing the risk associated with outsourcing Using the concept of ‘shadow pricing’ to compare public with private sector costs for services This book is a must-read for students of public administration and management, senior and middle managers in local governments around the world, and citizens who are concerned with more effective management of their local government’s programs and services. A list of suggested extra case studies for each chapter, and a description of the process to follow for ordering them, may be obtained by sending an email to [email protected]. You should request the document "Case Study Suggestions for Managing Local Governments".

Provides step-by-step guidance on implementing and using a value-based management system within the government Countless books on proposed management practices have been written and published over the past century. Some of these have focused on specific management practices for government. In more recent decades, the topics of strategic planning, performance management, cost management and risk management have been extensively covered. However, little has been offered as an approach to integrate these and numerous other management methods and practices in a manner that maximizes the delivery of value to the organization’s key stakeholders. A general management framework is presented in this book in a manner particularly applicable to government organizations. Value-Based Management in Government introduces a new, integrating framework for management practices that optimizes the balancing of results sought; resources supplied and allocated; and risks accepted. These considerations are all balanced for the purpose of delivering maximum stakeholder value. The book offers guidance on how strategic planning, performance management, cost/resource management, and risk management must all be integrated as part of a portfolio management framework across the organization. The book also discusses the role of information technology (IT) in providing data for insights and decision-making, and the importance of organizational change management to implement the needed organizational and behavioral changes. Beginning by explaining the concept of Value-Based Management for the public sector and government, the text goes on to explore topics such as the evolutionary stages of maturity of management accounting, the benefit of attributes (e.g., value-add versus nonvalue-add) in cost data, predictive planning with expense projections, risk management, and various performance measurements (e.g., key performance indicators [KPIs] ). This authoritative book: Discusses a framework for balancing and integrating cost, performance, and risk Explains IT systems integration issues related to activity-based cost management (ABC/M) Addresses why some ABC/M implementation projects fail to meet expectations Describes how quality management efforts can be measured in financial terms Explores the wider uses of predictive accounting (e.g., driver-based budgeting, what-if scenario analysis) Provides organizational change management insights and recommendations needed to achieve the required changes in management decision-making. Value-Based Management in Government is an important source of information for leaders, executives, managers, and employee teams working within or with government organizations.