Accounting, auditing, and financial reporting. (From the Library).

"Local Government Accountants as Public Managers: An Evolving Role"

McCue, Clifford P.

State and Local Government Review, Spring 2001, pp. 144-157

Local government accountants traditionally have assumed the role of "information providers," synthesizing historical financial information for both internal and external stakeholders. However, the rise of public management initiatives like strategic management accounting, performance-based budgeting, and service efforts and accomplishment reporting are placing increased pressure on accountants as "information facilitators." In this role, accountants support organizational decision making by providing specialized accounting information and ad hoc analyses for staff and line managers on demand--complete with interpretive discussion. The author conducted a random sample of local government accountants to determine the extent to which they are facilitating this type of organizational decision making. The results of the survey indicate that accountants still consider their primary role to be that of information provider, with an emphasis on control and compliance. Although the author does not downplay the continue d importance of this traditional role, he suggests that local government accountants need to acquire the knowledge and skills of contemporary public management in order to add the most value to their organizations. Those who fail to evolve as such will likely see their roles marginalized by top management, which increasingly expects accountants to facilitate the decision-making process. State and Local Government Review is available from the University of Georgia's Carl Vinson Institute of Government, 201 N. Milledge Avenue, Athens, GA 3 0602-5482. PJC