CIA 3010 – Instructions for Group Assignment
(this is for internal circulation only, please don’t send
to any external parties)
Academy/Faculty/Centre
Department
Business & Economics
Accounting
Programme/Semester/Session
BACC / Semester 2 / Session 20212022
Course Code
Course Title
CIA 3010
PUBLIC SECTOR ACCOUNTING
Assessment Methods
Group Assignment: Interviews– 20%
- submission in Week 11
TITLE: Public Sector Accounting and Accountability
You and your group members need to work together to answer the interview questions. You
can use the same points, but you need to answer them using your own words (but, if possible,
please find your own unique answers: that’s perhaps can give you extra marks). I would like to
observe the way how you think about certain issues, your maturity to react and respond during
that assessment and to observe the spirit of teamwork among you. Below are the details:
1.
The objectives of the Group Assignment
1.1 To achieve Learning Objective:
(LO1): describe the components of the public sector, the structure of government and
the regulatory framework for public sector accounting;
(LO2): discuss issues related to government management accounting and control,
budgeting and performance;
(LO3): discuss issues related to government financial accounting, reporting, accounting
standard and auditing; and
(LO4): answer questions related to the importance of governance and accountability in
the public sector.
1.2 To enhance students’ soft skills and analytical thinking through:
i. Communication skills
ii. Leadership and Teamwork skills
iii. Professional ethics and moral
iv. Research skills
v. Critical and analytical thinking
1.3 To connect the knowledge of public sector accounting subject towards the survival of
accounting graduates into the Malaysian government workforce.
1.4 To realize the importance of public sector accounting knowledge for the efficient control
and effective management of government operations.
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CIA 3010 – Instructions for Group Assignment
(this is for internal circulation only, please don’t send
to any external parties)
1.5 To demonstrating government accounting transaction and compliance with the law,
established rules, and regulations.
2.
Group Assignment Requirements
2.1 You will be assigned to 4-5 persons in each group. Each group will be assigned and
discussed in advance to have some basic knowledge and information of the topic of the
interview questions.
2.2 Everyone will answer ALL questions as I need to give marks for each individual of you.
I might also extend the interview questions as well, so please get prepared!
2.3 The interview sessions approximately will be 1 hour only.
2.4 The interview sessions will be recorded for me to evaluate your performance during the
interview sessions. The recording is only for teaching and learning purposes.
2.5 For the interview session, there are only 5 questions as follows.
Scenario 1: The simplest definition of the public sector is all organizations that are not
privately owned and operated, but established, run, and financed by the government on
behalf of the public. The definition conveys the idea that the public sector consists of
organizations where control lies in the hands of the public, as opposed to private owners.
The objective of the public sector is to provide services to the public. In essence, profitmaking is not primary to this sector.
Question 1: Can you share with me whether the public sector in your country does NOT
make any profit-making activities?
Scenario 2: Government accounting is the process of recording, analyzing, classifying,
summarizing, communicating and interpreting financial information about government in
aggregate and in detail reflecting transactions and other economic events involving the
receipt, spending, transfer, usability and disposition of assets and liabilities.
The purposes of government accounting are:
- To carry out the financial business of government in a timely, efficient and reliable
manner (e.g. to make payments, settle liabilities, collect sums due, buy and sell assets
etc.) subject to necessary financial controls;
- To keep systematic, easily accessible accounting and documentary records as evidence
of past transactions and current financial status, so that detailed transactions can be
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CIA 3010 – Instructions for Group Assignment
(this is for internal circulation only, please don’t send
to any external parties)
-
identified and traced and all aggregates can be conveniently broken down into their
constituent parts.
To provide periodic financial statements, containing appropriately classified financial
information, as a basis for (a) stewardship and accountability and (b) decision-making;
To maintain financial records suitable for budgetary control, internal control and the
needs of auditors; and
To provide means for effective management of government assets, liabilities,
expenditures and revenues.
Question 2: How transparent is your government to disclose their government accounting
transactions?
Scenario 3: Over the past three decades, the performance of governments has been
criticized around the world and from all points of the political spectrum. Critics have alleged
that governments are inefficient, ineffective, too large, too costly, overly bureaucratic,
overburdened by unnecessary rules, unresponsive to public needs and failing in the
provision of services deserved by their citizens. Fiscal stress has also plugged many
governments in both advanced and emerging economies, and it has increased the cry for
less costly and less expensive governments to achieve greater efficiency and provide
increased responsiveness to citizens’ needs.
There have been recent efforts to ‘reinvent the government’ and improve the performance
of public sector organisations (also known as NPM, which seeks to bring private-sector
management practices and market discipline to the public sector). Consequently, to change
the public’s view, governments have brought in legislation, changed the language that was
used to describe the public sector and introduced concepts such as ‘value for money,
‘performance measurement’, ‘setting performance targets’ and ‘NPM’.
Question 3: Based on the above scenario, to what extent do you think the performance of
public sector organizations needs to be improved. How?
Scenario 4: ‘There has never been more abundant information about the individuals and
institutions whose claims we have to judge. Openness and transparency are now possible
on a scale of which past ages could barely dream. We are flooded with information about
government policies, public opinion and debate, about schools, hospital and university
league tables. We can read facts and figures that supposedly demonstrate financial and
professional accountability, cascades of rebarbative semi-technical detail about products
and services on the market, and lavish quantities of information about the companies that
produce them. At the click of a mouse, those with insatiable appetites for information can
find out who runs major institutions, look at home pages and research records … So, if
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CIA 3010 – Instructions for Group Assignment
(this is for internal circulation only, please don’t send
to any external parties)
making more information about more public policies, institutions and professionals more
widely and freely available is the key to building trust, we must be well on the high road
towards an ever more trusting society.’
O’neill, Onora (2002) “Reith Lectures – A Question of Trust”, available at
www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/reith2002/
Question 4: Based on the above scenario, explain how public governance and
accountability can contribute towards transparency and trust in the public sector.
Scenario 5: Government accounting and financial reporting aim to protect and manage
public moneys and discharge accountability. These purposes, and the nature of public goods
and tax financing, give rise to differences with commercial accounting. The development
of government accounting is related to the constitutional form of government that provides
for separation of powers, and checks and balances among the legislative, executive, and
judicial branches of government.
While all governments engage in some degree of planning and control, only democratic
governments are mandated to open their books—directly to auditors and indirectly to the
public through financial reports. Fiscal transparency is, therefore, an attribute of limited
government, for to give out information is to give up authority. Government officials
rationally do not volunteer more information than is required or in their interest. It is
therefore not surprising that, while some accounting is done voluntarily, financial disclosure
is often made only in response to demand (Chan, 2003).
Question 5: To what extent do you think the public sector accounting (PSA) subject may
give an impact on you as a future accounting graduate?
3.
Allocation of Marks (20%)
Allocations of marks depend on student’s arguments, explanations, and give relevant examples
The rubric is as follows:
NO.
1.
CRITERIA
Content
2.
Communication
ELEMENTS
includes adequate coverage of knowledge
in the issues presented
includes English proficiency, eloquence,
and clarity
MARKS
10
6
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CIA 3010 – Instructions for Group Assignment
(this is for internal circulation only, please don’t send
to any external parties)
3.
Attitude
includes dress, posture, eye contact, time
used and mannerism during the
presentation
4
TOTAL MARKS
20
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