Cecilia Keaveney
Ceist:45 Cecilia Keaveney asked the Minister for Finance the progress, if any, he has made in relation to the plans to recast the public accounts as accrual based. [16743/96]
Written Answers. - Public Accounts.
A great deal of work has already been done to enhance the information provided in the appropriation accounts, which are the annual accounts of Government Departments. As the Deputy is aware, the statutory appropriation accounts are cash-based and the additions made to date have been concerned with introducing elements of an accruals nature and non-cash charges such as depreciation.
These changes, which arose from a joint working group involving my Department and the Comptroller and Auditor General, are being implemented over a three year period; the final phase will cover the accounts for the current year. The changes were discussed with and approved by the Committee of Public Accounts before the process commenced.
The Co-ordinating Group of Secretaries, in the context of the strategic management initiative, also made recommendations in relation to financial management systems, including accrual accounting, and a working group under the chairmanship of the Secretary of my Department has been set up to develop and implement their proposals. The working group will draw on the experience gained in preparing a set of accruals accounts which were produced for the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications on a pilot basis.
So far as the wider public accounts are concerned, that is the receipts and payments of the public sector as a whole, the Deputy will also be aware that the General Government Deficit, which is one of the criteria applied to assess fiscal performance under the Maastricht Treaty, has become of increasing importance in the Irish budgetary context. It also incorporates elements of an accrual system of accounting, which will be accentuated when we move to a revised set of European statistical conventions scheduled to come into effect in 1999.