Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government


Book Description

Policymakers and program managers are continually seeking ways to improve accountability in achieving an entity's mission. A key factor in improving accountability in achieving an entity's mission is to implement an effective internal control system. An effective internal control system helps an entity adapt to shifting environments, evolving demands, changing risks, and new priorities. As programs change and entities strive to improve operational processes and implement new technology, management continually evaluates its internal control system so that it is effective and updated when necessary. Section 3512 (c) and (d) of Title 31 of the United States Code (commonly known as the Federal Managers' Financial Integrity Act (FMFIA)) requires the Comptroller General to issue standards for internal control in the federal government.




Government Auditing Standards - 2018 Revision


Book Description

Audits provide essential accountability and transparency over government programs. Given the current challenges facing governments and their programs, the oversight provided through auditing is more critical than ever. Government auditing provides the objective analysis and information needed to make the decisions necessary to help create a better future. The professional standards presented in this 2018 revision of Government Auditing Standards (known as the Yellow Book) provide a framework for performing high-quality audit work with competence, integrity, objectivity, and independence to provide accountability and to help improve government operations and services. These standards, commonly referred to as generally accepted government auditing standards (GAGAS), provide the foundation for government auditors to lead by example in the areas of independence, transparency, accountability, and quality through the audit process. This revision contains major changes from, and supersedes, the 2011 revision.




Financial Intelligence, Revised Edition


Book Description

Explains what business numbers mean and why they matter, and addresses issues that have become more important in recent years, including questions about the financial crisis and accounting literacy.




Improving Financial and Operations Performance


Book Description

The increasing pressure on the bottom line of healthcare provider organizations requires leaders who understand and can adeptly apply the basic principles of effective financial and operations management. To be successful in today's environment leaders must simultaneously improve quality and service while reducing expense. Improving Financial and Operations Performance: A Healthcare Leader's Guide is a collection of proven effective tips, tools, and techniques accumulated from real-world challenges and lessons learned logically organized to provide a straightforward approach to planning, assessing, managing, and monitoring a business enterprise to improve profitability. This book provides a clear, step-by-step "how to" approach for both new and experienced leaders seeking a leg up in tackling the myriad of common and complex challenges they are facing including conducting a budget variance analysis, managing labor and non-labor productivity and expense, performing a comprehensive financial condition analysis, growing profitable volume and market share, developing an effective business case for improving quality, and evaluating the financial impact of a future project. Written for clinical and administrative leaders working in the trenches, it provides practical and applicable tools with relevant, real-world, and replicable case study examples. The essential value of Improving Financial and Operations Performance: A Healthcare Leader's Guide is improving decision-making effectiveness, enhancing operations efficiency know-how, and developing strong financial management acumen to overcome the challenges in today's healthcare environment. Key Features: Author experience with extensive expertise as a former investor-owned hospital CEO, integrated health system vice president, managing director for the renowned turnaround experts, the Hunter Group, and graduate business school professor in management, finance, and economics. Realistic case examples to apply the key lessons through detailed practical and relevant case studies using clear step-by-step instructions. Calls-to-action at the end of each chapter with critical leadership imperatives to help prioritize and focus efforts on what matters most. Comprehensive glossary of key terms and concepts using plain easy to understand language. Appendices and Excel templates containing easy-to-use plug-and-play financial worksheets, checklists, best practice pathways, and performance assessments.




Off-Balance Sheet Activities


Book Description

The objective of Off-Balance Sheet Activities is to gain insights into, and propose meaningful solutions to, those issues raised by the current proliferation of off-balance sheet transactions. The book has its origins in a New York University conference that focused on this topic. Jointly undertaken by the Vincent C. Ross Institute of Accounting Research and New York University's Salomon Center for the study of Financial Institutions at the Stern School of Business, the conference brought together academic researchers and practitioners in the field of accounting and finance to address the issues with the broad-mindedness requisite of a group whose approaches to solutions are as different from each other as their respectively theoretical and applied approaches to the disciplines of finance and accounting. The essays are divided into two sections. The first covers issues surrounding OBS activities and banking and begins with a brief introduction that places the essays into context. OBS activities and the underinvestment problem, whether loan sales are really OBS, and money demand and OBS liquidity are examined in detail. Section two, which also begins with a brief introduction, focuses on issues of securitized assets and financing. A report on recognition and measurement issues in accounting for securitized assets is followed by three separate discussion essays. Other subjects covered include contract theoretic analysis of OBS financing, the use of OBS financing to circumvent financial covenant restrictions, and debt contracting and financial contracting. The latter two contributions are also followed by discussion essays. This unique collection of papers will prove to be an interesting and valuable tool for accounting and finance professionals as well as for academics involved in these fields. It will also be an important addition to public, college, and university libraries.




Financial Reporting and Corporate Governance


Book Description

The aim of the book is to give non-accounting students a basic ability and confidence to read and use financial accounting reports and statements within their business or financial specialties. Many employees in business today are expected to be conversant with reported accounting information as part of their regular job responsibilities. However, they often have little formal training in using such information. For example, in most Western countries, corporate directors and senior executives are legally responsible for the content and quality of publicly reported accounting statements, yet typically have no accounting background or experience to help in the discharge of these responsibilities. The theme of the book is financial reporting as an essential and significant part of corporate governance. There is continuous pressure on companies from government and stakeholder groups to improve their governance and accountability structures and procedures. This book reveals how financial statements and related disclosures assist in good governance and accountability by providing relevant and reliable accounting signals of managerial performance.




The Global Findex Database 2017


Book Description

In 2011 the World Bank—with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation—launched the Global Findex database, the world's most comprehensive data set on how adults save, borrow, make payments, and manage risk. Drawing on survey data collected in collaboration with Gallup, Inc., the Global Findex database covers more than 140 economies around the world. The initial survey round was followed by a second one in 2014 and by a third in 2017. Compiled using nationally representative surveys of more than 150,000 adults age 15 and above in over 140 economies, The Global Findex Database 2017: Measuring Financial Inclusion and the Fintech Revolution includes updated indicators on access to and use of formal and informal financial services. It has additional data on the use of financial technology (or fintech), including the use of mobile phones and the Internet to conduct financial transactions. The data reveal opportunities to expand access to financial services among people who do not have an account—the unbanked—as well as to promote greater use of digital financial services among those who do have an account. The Global Findex database has become a mainstay of global efforts to promote financial inclusion. In addition to being widely cited by scholars and development practitioners, Global Findex data are used to track progress toward the World Bank goal of Universal Financial Access by 2020 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The database, the full text of the report, and the underlying country-level data for all figures—along with the questionnaire, the survey methodology, and other relevant materials—are available at www.worldbank.org/globalfindex.




The Financial Review


Book Description




Financial Report of the United States


Book Description

"Think of the federal government as a gigantic insurance company (with a side line business in national defense and homeland security) which only does its accounting on a cash basis-only counting premiums and payouts as they go in and out the door. An insurance company with cash accounting is not an insurance company at all. It is an accident waiting to happen." Peter R. Fisher, former Bush Administration Undersecretary of the Treasury "Our objective in preparing the fiscal year 2005 Financial Report of the U.S. Government is to give Congress and the American people a timely and useful report on the cost of the Federal Government's operations." John W. Snow, former Bush Administration Secretary of the Treasury "Scoring the budget on an accrual basis-the private sector norm and, I believe, a sensible direction for federal budget accounting-would better underscore the tradeoffs we face. Under accrual accounting, benefits would be counted as they are earned by workers rather than when they are paid out by the government." Alan Greenspan, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board "The significance of these accrual-based reports is that they show the implications of current budgetary decisions over a longer time horizon…. This information is therefore an important element of the debate about the real effects of governmental commitments." Paul H. O'Neill, former Bush Administration Secretary of the Treasury "[A] practical management tool for policy-makers and a source of useful information for the public about the assets, liabilities, and operations of the government." Lawrence H. Summers, former Clinton Administration Secretary of the Treasury "We believe that the publication of this financial report is an important step in providing the American public with useful information about their government's assets, liabilities and operations." Robert E. Rubin, former Clinton Administration Secretary of the Treasury In December 2005, the White House published its Financial Report of the United States Government-only 2000 copies were printed despite the purpose of the report being to explain the country's financial wellbeing to Congress and the American people. Now, for the first time, that report is widely published so the American people can see what's really going on with the nation's finances.