The Research On Government Accounting Reform Based On Accrual Basis

Accrual basis has been applied in enterprise accounting field for a long time, while in government accounting field, and cash basis is popular practice. But since the 1980s, motivated by "the New Public Management", the western developed countries began to introduce accrual basis in government accounting to get rid of domestic financial predicament, raise government efficiency and its economic competitiveness. New Zealand, Australia and other countries took the lead and had achieved remarkable results. Then, these successful effect quickly spread to other OECD member states. So far, in 34 OECD member states, most countries have more or less implemented the relevant reform in accrual basis, or are actively promoting the transition work. Also, many developing countries are actively carrying out the exploration of accrual basis in government accounting.In accordance with the changes of economic situation and fiscal policy, our budget accounting system was revised several times based on the budget accounting system of the former Soviet union in the early 1950s. The current budget accounting system was conducted in 1998 and this reform basically satisfied the demand of the government accounting information in contemporary environment. However, after 1998, especially in the 21st century, the political and economic environment in our country had changed greatly in the government functions, the public financial system, the performance evaluation system of the government and the social supervision, which put forward new requirements for complete and transparent accounting information based on cash basis form the government. Thereby, accrual basis is necessary to be gradually introduced into the existing government accounting system in order to comply with new requirements and international common practice.As the core content of our government accounting reform, the introduction of accrual basis is not only the technical transformation but also the fundamental transformation of the government accounting functions, and at the same time, it will also be a gradual process. So, how will the government accounting based on accrual basis be constructed? How will accrual basis be introduced gradually? Which accounting matters should be first applied? Which accounting events should be following used? For that reason, this paper analyses the problems existing in the government accounting basis and discusses the specific application problems of accrual basis in our government accounting at the present stage based on the practice of the accrual basis in foreign government accounting, which has certain practical significance for the accrual basis reform in our country.The article is divided into five parts:PartⅠis the introduction part, it mainly introduced the topic selected background and the literature summarize at home and abroad, as well as the meaning of this paper.PartⅡanalyzes some conceptions and basic theories. At first, it introduces the status quo of our government accounting. Secondly, it explains the definition of government accounting, its meaning in this paper and the styles and traits of the governmental accounting basis. At last, it introduces the theoretical basis of this paper which can support the accrual basis reform in our government accounting.PartⅢis about the necessity of accrual basis reform. This part analyzes the cause of the existence of cash basis and its limitations, then puts forward the necessity of introducing accrual basis. Finally, combined with the pilot results of institutions, it analyzes the superiorities of the accrual government accounting.PartⅣis about the ideas of the accrual government accounting in our country. In this section, the government accounting goal is reorientated based on the information needs of the government accounting information users. Then, we build boldly the accrual basis of accounting system and government financial reporting system. Finally, we analyze the measures which are needed from cash basis to accrual basis.PartⅤis about the specific implementation of accrual basis in our government accounting at the present. In this part, we introduce mainly the application mode of the government accounting basis, some factors which influence the introducing degree of accrual basis, the preferred choice of the accounting matters and the implementation steps of accrual basis.