Financial Management and Accounting in the Public Sector ( 3rd edition)

The importance of public financial management for the health and wellbeing of citizens became dramatically apparent as governments sought to respond to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Now, governments and other public sector organizations face the challenge of recovering from the pandemic whilst also seeking to achieve Sustainable Development Goals, with squeezed budgets and ever-increasing demands for public services.

Public sector managers are confronted daily with targets and demands that are often set in confusing accounting and financial language. In Financial Management and Accounting in the Public Sector, Gary Bandy employs a clear and concise narrative to introduce the core concepts of public financial management to help those managers to deliver programmes, projects and services that are value for money. As the author puts it, managing public money is an art, not a science.

This third edition has been revised and updated throughout, offering:

• a structure that is more clearly linked to the stages of the public financial management cycle
• greater coverage of transparency and accountability issues
• a broader view of public procurement to include goods, works and services and effective contract management; and
• an increased focus on public spending in the context of a post-COVID environment.

With a glossary of terms to help managers understand and be understood by accountants, as well as learning objectives, discussion questions and exercises, this practical textbook will help students of public management and administration to understand the financial and accounting aspects of managing public services.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS

List of illustrations

Foreword

Preface to the third edition

About the author

Acknowledgements

Abbreviations

1 The context of public financial management

2 Public sector budgeting

3 Taxation and other sources of income

4 Budget execution

5 Using financial information to make decisions

6 Public procurement

7 Measuring performance and value for money

8 Accountability and financial reporting

9 Audit

Appendix A Budgeting in public enterprise: the State Social Security Fund of Sri Lanka

Suggested answers for exercises

Glossary of terms

Index