The Public Sector Accountant - past, present and future.

Speaker: Duncan Campbell Smith, Journalist

Lecture Summary

1. The role of the auditor in the public sector

2. The “creative accounting” crisis in the public sector of the 1980s and how it was dealt with

3. The overhaul of public-sector accounting over the past 20 years – eg the accounting for capital assets

4. The audit “mission-creep” – from regularity work to regulation work, across the past 25 years

5. The impact of Good Financial Management in the public sector over recent years

6. Value-for-money in the new era of Comprehensive Area Assessments starting in 2009

The aim is to give a good sense of what distinguishes the work of accountants and auditors in the public sector from that of their counterparts in the private sector. It would also embrace both historical and forward-looking perspectives.