Fixing Public Sector Finances:The Accounting and Reporting Lever
UCLA Law Review
Fixing Public Sector Finances:
The Accounting and Reporting Lever
James Naughton & Holger Spamann
ABSTRACT
The finances of many states, cities, and other localities are in dire straits. In this Article, we argue that partial responsibility for this situation lies with the outdated and ineffective financial reporting regime for public entities. Ineffective reporting has obscured and continues to obscure the extent of municipal financial problems, thus delaying or even preventing corrective actions. Worse, ineffective reporting has created incentives for accounting gimmicks that have directly contributed to the dramatic decline of public sector finances. Fixing the reporting regime is thus a necessary first step toward fiscal recovery. We provide concrete examples of advisable changes in accounting rules and advocate for institutional changes, particularly Securities and Exchange Commission involvement, that we hope will lead to better public accounting rules generally.
READ MOREData Analytics Lesson Plan
Data Analytics Lesson PlanDirector of the Truth in Accounting Project at the University of Denver, Christine Kuglin, presented in 2023 in Orlando at the American Accounting Association Intensive Data Analytics conference, where she introduced the Data-Z.org website to university educators from around the United States. She and her co-presenter, Amy Cardillo from Metropolitan State University of Denver, designed interactive lesson plans which can be implemented in classrooms with little or no training.
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