In the modern world, the availability of transparent and reliable information about the performance of public sector entities is becoming increasingly important. Besides the accounting systems that ...provide this information, the role of Supreme Audit Institutions is growing. As previous research in Europe has focused on EU or Nordic countries, the intention of our paper was to analyze the development of performance audits in selected south-east European countries. The results show that performance audits are still less of a priority for auditors and parliaments, and the impacts of performance audits are realized through follow-up processes.
The usefulness of accounting information for the design, planning and execution of the national budgeting process depends on a number of factors, such as the horizontal and vertical organization of ...government bodies, the structure of the state administration, adequate and timely reporting of relevant data, data interpretation and analytics. This paper focuses on the analysis of the role and application of accounting and budgeting information in Slovenia, as well as reporting in the national budgeting process. Structured interviews with prominent experts in the field were used as the main data collection technique. The results reveal the limited usefulness of the information offered by the accounting system for budgeting purposes and several collateral findings. These findings could be used as a starting point in the reform of Slovenian public financial management, as well as in similar countries.
The findings of this Slovenian study will be of importance to regulators, reformers and officials in other, similar, countries that are transitioning from cash-based accounting to accrual accounting and consequently redesigning their public sector accounting and budgeting systems. The paper reveals factors that should be reconsidered before reforming the public sector accounting and budgeting systems, such as having sound political support and the commitment of all stakeholders, as well as public and professional supervision at the later stages.
This paper analyses local government practitioners' perceptions of the usefulness of accounting information for decision-making in jurisdictions with dual reporting (cash and accruals). The authors ...show that, in general, neither educational background (in economics or in other disciplines) nor the experience (length of time in the job) of public sector managers in Croatia and in the Republic of Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina) affected their perceptions of the usefulness of accounting information. The research provides new insights into the usefulness of mandatory reports and the availability of information for decision-making in dual reporting systems.
Purpose:
The requirements for information in the public sector are continuously changing and there is a need for accountants who are capable to respond to these challenges. Universities, i.e. higher ...education institutions (HEIs), are recognized as institutions that provide fundamental knowledge, and a discussion of education in the field of public sector accounting is required. The purpose of this paper is to present the opinions of public sector accountants and expectations of students regarding education in the field of public sector accounting at HEIs in Croatia.
Methodology:
A survey was conducted among accountants employed in public sector entities and among students of faculties of economics at public universities in Croatia. The results of the aforementioned survey are analysed in the SPSS software package using descriptive and inferential statistics.
Results:
Results showed that students as well as public accountants agree that formal education is not enough for the position of public accountant. Furthermore, students are not interested in the position of public accountant. Therefore, public universities should rethink modifying the structure and programs of courses related to public sector accounting.
Conclusion:
The results are an invitation to public policy creators to work on the attractiveness of the position of public sector accountant by offering better conditions. The authors of the paper therefore highlight the necessity for better cooperation between accountants and the academic community in order to improve education in the field of public sector accounting and meet the needs for professional and trained account-ants who are the future of the profession.
Purpose
This study analyses to what extent politicians use public sector entities' financial statements along with the politicians' perceptions of the usefulness of such statements in the ...politicians' decision-making. The authors analyze financial statements' use and usefulness when the statements are prepared on a modified accrual basis and in the setting where there is the intention of full accrual accounting adoption. In addition, this study provides information about the use of the individual components of financial statements and investigates the reasons why the statements may not be used.
Design/methodology/approach
This study was conducted using a questionnaire. The authors surveyed politicians that are members of Croatian public sector bodies. To conduct this research, the politicians were contacted by telephone over the period from February to April 2022.
Findings
The findings of this study are of potential interest to researchers, regulators and policy makers. The findings show that most politicians use financial statements, but the politicians' perception of the statements' usefulness when the statements are prepared on a modified accrual accounting basis is greater than the politicians' actual use of the statements. The findings also show that in the process of making decisions, politicians use the selected financial statements that contain information of interest to the politicians; that the politicians tend to gravitate to the use of reports on revenue, expenses, receipts and expenditure prepared on modified accrual bases which are closer to budgetary reporting; that the politicians use the information that supports the politicians' sphere of responsibility as enforced by legislation.
Originality/value
This study provides insights into the use and usefulness of financial statements in public sector setting where modified accrual accounting is used to prepare the statements and reports. This study provides additional evidence on the significance of legal setting to the financial reporting in public sector.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the application of budgeting and accounting bases and their relation to financial accounting reporting systems through a comparative survey of three ...South-Eastern European countries (Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina – the Entity of the Republic of Srpska).
Design/methodology/approach
The in-depth analysis based on the study of related literature and comprehensive review of existing indicators of accounting systems leads to the identification and characterization of the most important components of the government accounting systems’ focusing also on the information usefulness in the decision-making processes.
Findings
Dual reporting based on different bases is the main feature of the accounting information system of selected countries. Budgetary reports based on a cash basis represent the primary source of information for decision making. Selected jurisdictions started with the preparation and presentation of financial reports based on the accrual/modified accrual basis which was not the result of the informational needs of decision-makers, so the information themselves have become their own purpose.
Practical implications
By exploring the opportunities and obstacles in the implementation of the accrual basis in the selected countries, the paper contributes to the development of the EPSAS project.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the literature on the application of various budgeting and accounting bases, with an emphasis on research of the similarities and differences of the reporting methods, for the purpose of distinguishing more easily two basic types of reports and, consequently, identifying their appropriate use.
An estimated 20% of allogeneic blood transfusions in the United States are associated with cardiac surgery. It is estimated that 11% of red cell resources were used for transfusion support of ...patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) with a documented wide variability in transfusion rate (7.8 to 92.8%). To address the issue of unnecessary transfusions within the CABG population, we developed a model to predict which patients are at low risk of bleeding for whom transfusion treatment might be considered unnecessary. Herein we present our "SHOULD-NOT-BLEED-SCORE" application developed for the Windows® software platform which is based on our previous research.
This study is aimed to develop a user-friendly application that stratifies patients with respect to bleeding risk. The statistical model we used in our previous research was focused on detection of CABG patients at low risk of bleeding. The rationale behind such an approach was to identify a CABG patient subgroup at low risk of bleeding. By identifying patients at low risk of bleeding we can define a subgroup of patients for whom transfusion treatment might be considered unnecessary. We developed a Windows platform application based on risk modelling which we previously calculated for 1426 patients undergoing elective CABG from January 2010 to January 2018.
The SHOULD-NOT-BLEED-SCORE risk score is developed for the Windows software platform. A mathematical model that is based on multivariate analysis was used for app development. The variables that entered the scoring system were: Age; Body Mass Index; Chronic Renal Failure; Preoperative Clopidogrel Exposure; Preoperative Red Blood Cells Count; Preoperative Fibrinogen Level; Preoperative Multiplate ASPI test area under the curve (AUC) units. The SHOULD-NOT-BLEED-SCORE identifies/predicts patients without a risk for excessive bleeding with strong discriminatory performance (Receiver Operating Curve (ROC) analysis AUC 72.3%, p < 0.001).
The SHOULD-NOT-BLEED risk scoring application may be useful in the preoperative risk screening process. The clinical and economic burden associated with unnecessary transfusions may be adequately addressed by a preoperative scoring system detecting patients at low risk of bleeding for whom transfusion treatment might be considered unnecessary.
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