New development: The role of accounting in assessing local government sustainability

Abstract

In order to evaluate financial sustainability, public sector managers are being pressured to provide better financial information and information transparency. This article examines the role of accounting in assessing the sustainability of local governments and analyses of the usefulness of annual income statements in the measurement of ‘inter-period equity’.

Keywords:

• Cutback management
• financial sustainability
• income statement
• inter-period equity
• local government

Acknowledgments

This research was carried out with financial support from the Regional Government of Andalusia (Spain), Department of Innovation, Science and Enterprise (research projects numbers P09-SEJ-5395 and P11-SEJ-7700) and from the Spanish National R&D Plan through research projects numbers ECO2010-17463ECON and ECO2010-20522-ECON (Ministry of Science and Innovation).