Identification stakeholders of public sector financial reporting and their information needs

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Assistant, Department of Accounting, Payamee Noor University, Iran.

2 Assistant, Department of Accounting, Sanati Shahrood University, Semnan, Iran.

Abstract

Accountability is the cornerstone of Public sector financial reporting. Responsibility requires          governments to be accountable to their stakeholders because stakeholders have the right to know and to receive facts as public statements and through public discussions with them and representatives. In this regard, the promotion of accountability requires identifying stakeholders and providing their information needs. The main objective of this research is to identify stakeholders of public sector financial reporting and their information needs. In this research, first two questionnaires containing questions on identifying the stakeholders and their information needs were prepared and selected by a sample of research including professors and Ph.D. students in accounting. Then, the responses were analyzed by appropriate statistical tests (including Cronbach's reliability test, binomial test, one-sample t-test, and Friedman test). Research findings show that taxpayers, the House of Representatives and the Presidential Office are among the most important stakeholders of public sector financial reporting and their information needs, which are commonly accepted by the public sector accounting literature, both in empirical research and in normative approaches. Also, the most important information needs of stakeholders is information about the comparison of realized incomes with predicted revenues,  information about the government's stewardship in the maintenance and proper use of assets, and information on the comparison of costs against approved costs.
 

Keywords


باباجانی، جعفر و همکاران. (1388). پژوهشی در مبانی نظری حسابداری و گزارشگری مالی شهرداری­ها (جلد اول: مفاهیم بنیادی حسابداری و گزارشگری مالی در شهرداری‌های ایران). انتشارات مرکز مطالعات و برنامه‌ریزی شهر تهران. چاپ اول.
باباجانی، جعفر. (1391). شناسایی استفاده‌کنندگان گزارش­های مالی شهرداری، نیازهای اطلاعاتی آنها و اهداف آنها از استفاده از گزارش­های مالی، مجله پژوهش­های حسابداری مالی، سال چهارم، شماره 14.
باباجانی، جعفر.(1378). ویژگی‌های نظام حسابداری و گزارشگری مالی دولتی، مجله بیمه آسیا، شماره 13
شعیب رضایی، (1397). شفافیت، پاسخگویی در بخش عمومی و چارچوب گزارشگری یکپارچه، مطالعات کاربردی در علوم مدیریت و توسعه، شماره 6 (پیاپی 14).
کردستانی، غلامرضا؛ نصیری، محمود.  (1388). کارایی گزارشگری مالی و ارتقای سطح مسئولیت پاسخگویی در بخش عمومی، مجله: حسابدار، شماره 208 و 209
مفاهیم نظری گزارشگری مالی بخش عمومی (اهداف گزارشگری مالی)، سایت سازمان حسابرسی http://www.audit.org.ir.
Alijarde, M.I. (1997), “The usefulness of financial reporting in Spanish local governments”, inancial Accountability and Management”, Vol. 13 No. 1, February, pp. 17-34.
Anthony, R.M. (1978), “FASB Research Report, Financial Accounting in Non-BusinessOrganisations”, FASB, Stamford, CT.
Atamian, R. and Ganguli, G. (1991), “The recipients of municipal annual financial reports:a nationwide survey”, The Government Accountants JournaL, Fall, pp. 3-21.
Clark, C. (2017), “The users of annual reports of government departments”, paper presented at the Accountability Symposium, Accounting Association of Australia and New ZealandConference 6 July.
Collins, W. Keenan, D. and Lapsley, I. (1991), “Local Authority Financial Accounting –Communication Sophistry or Obfuscation”, The Chartered Institute of Public Finance andAccountancy, London.
Coy, D. Dixon, K. Buchanan, J. and Tower, G. (2013), “Recipients of public sector annual reports: theory and an empirical study compared”, British Accounting Review, Vol. 29, pp. 103-27.
Crain, G.W. and Bean, D.R. (2008), “What users think of the new reporting model for government: the results of the GASB’s focus group sessions”, Government Finance Review, Vol. 14 No. 1, pp. 9-13.
Daniels, J.D. and Daniels, C.E. (1991), “Municipal financial reports: what users want”, Journal ofAccounting and Public Policy, Vol. 10 No. 1, spring, pp. 15-38.
Dimu Ehalaiye  Fawzi Laswad  Nives Botica Redmayne  Warwick Stent  Lei Cai,(2018), Are Financial Reports Useful? The Views of New Zealand Public Versus Private Users, Australian Accounting Review.
Drebin, A. Chan, J. and Ferguson, L. (1981), “Objectives of Accounting and Financial Reporting for Government Units”. A Research Study, NCGA, Chicago, IL.
Hay, L.E. and Antonio, J.F. (1990), “What users want in government financial reports”, Journal of Accountancy, August, pp. 91-8.
Holder, W.W. (1980), “A Study of Selected Concepts for Government Financial”, Accounting and Reporting, Research Paper, NCGA, Chicago.
Jones, D.B. Scott, R.B. Kimbro, L. and Ingram, R. (1985), “The Needs of Users of Governmental Financial Reports, Government Accounting Standards Board”, Stamford, CT.
Jones, S. and Puglisi, N. (2009), “The relevance of AAS29 to the Australian public sector: a causefor doubt? Abacus, Vol. 33 No. 1, March, pp. 115-33.
 Mack. J and Ryan.C. (2016), “Reflections on the theoretical underpinnings of the general-purpose financial reports of Australian government departments”. www.emeraldinsight.com/0951-3574.htm
Mignot, H. and Dolley, C. (2000), “Are AAS 29 financial statements useful?, Accounting ResearchJournal, Vol. 13 No. 1, pp. 51-61.
Priest, A.N. Ng, J. and Dolley, C. (2000), “Users of local government annual reports: informationpreferences”, Accounting, Accountability and Performance, Vol. 5 No. 3, pp. 49-62.
Robbins, W.A. (1984), “Consensus between preparers and users of municipal annual reports: anempirical analysis”, Accounting and Business Research, Spring, pp. 157-62.
Van Daniker, R.P. and Kwiatowski, V. (1986), “Infrastructure Assets: An Assessment of user Needs and Recommendations for Financial Reporting”, Governmental Accounting Standards Board, Norwalk, CT.
Vela Bargues, J. M. A, (2006), “Cross Country Study of Local Government Accounting Systems”, Recent Developments in Comparative International Governmental Accounting Research, Klaus Lüder (Ed.), Speyerer Forschungsberichte, No. 159.