New development: Great expectations—whole of government accounting: An Australian perspective of its adoption, development and future use in the current environment

Abstract

IMPACT While this article focuses on the Australian experience (federal and state levels), the issues/suggestions are relevant to countries that have adopted Whole of Government Accounting (WGA) or are considering doing so. A major issue is to encourage greater attention by, and involvement of, the parliament and its committees in reviewing and examining the outcomes as an important element of accountability to the general public for the use of the resources and to show trends over time. While there has been a greater focus on individual programme performance over recent years, the WGA have rated little discussion, let alone examination and questioning. For example, the finance commentary on the latest consolidated financial statements is largely a statistical examination, not an identification /analysis, of issues of concern nor of necessary action to improve financial performance. A recent initiative taken by the Australian government and the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) is the conduct of audits of agencies’ annual performance statements. No doubt a catalyst has been the unprecedented financial difficulties being experienced by governments.