International Public sector Accounting and Finance

  For a country of your choice you are to provide a briefing paper for a new junior Minister in the Department of Finance who is appearing at a televised public meeting to answer questions on the National Budget (This could be a programme such as Question time in the UK – see examples on BBC i-player). You are to choose two controversial policies that impact on either Public Expenditure or Revenue. 1) A government policy to meet the needs of Inter-temporal budget constraints 2) Government policies to meet short term deficit reduction requirements GUIDELINES: The assignment requires an understanding of a number of issues including accrual and cash accounting, accountability and policy based Public Financial Management. It is the understanding of these concepts and their relationships and the technical application of them that will achieve the highest marks. You need to carry out a number of broad tasks: 1) Explain the theories of: a. sustainable deficits b. the inter-temporal budget constraint 2) Explain how the policies chosen address those issues 3) Advise on the key arguments the minister should get across in very short key phrases 4) Advise on the counter arguments that can be expected from other panel members and the audience 5) Advise of any particularly risky/controversial issues and questions. The UK budget will take place on 29th October and the Question time programme following the budget. One topic will be chosen from the programme/budget will be used to show how the government minister would have been briefed on that topic prior to the programme. It is therefore important to attend all sessions so that you can address the issues. You can choose to examine a UK policy but you must choose a different policy to that used as an example.                                                                                                                                

Sample Solution