Transparency in local government: antipodean initiatives

Abstract

Over the last decade, significant accounting reforms have been considered by a wide range of state and local governments throughout the world. Few countries have undertaken such extensive reform of their public sector, or of their public sector accounting practices as an integral part of those reforms, as New Zealand. While the central government accounting reforms are more well known, the reforms at local government have been equally dramatic, the most recent being the introduction in 1998 of a long-term financial planning regime under the Local Government Amendment (No. 3) Act 1996. This paper examines the factors leading up to the legislation, describes the requirements of the new regime, identifies the accounting and related issues which have arisen and concludes with some lessons which other countries may wish to consider in their own quest for transparency and accountability.