ACCOUNTABILITY AND GOVERNMENTAL FINANCIAL REPORTING

Accountability has been posited as the paramount objective of governmental financial reporting by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB). There are a number of potential problems associated with using the concept of accountability to establish generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), including: 1. The term "accountability" is used significantly but suffers from imprecise meaning. 2. An accountability perspective in financial reporting complicates the cost-benefit analysis of information. 3. Because users of state and local governmental financial reports are diverse, it may be impossible to provide information in any one report sufficient to meet the needs of all users. 4. The fact that users combine the information provided by financial reporting with other pertinent information suggests the existence of non-accounting-based means of achieving accountability. In light of these problems, a governmental accounting research agenda based on accountability is proposed for the future.