State and local governments are exempt from the auditing regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Nevertheless, state governments expend considerable resources on financial, legal compliance, and operational audits. The objective of this paper is to identify the relationships...

In this paper, we respond to the critique of our article (Boone and Raman, 2001) by Ronen (2001). Our position is that Ronen s (2001) criticisms are not well-founded and that our study extends prior research by providing additional evidence about the ex post effects of Statement of Financial...

In this paper, we examine the value-relevance of local government accounting measures of financial condition from the perspective of the citizenry. The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) has identified citizens as a primary user group for governmental accounting information, albeit...

Although the goal of government is to maintain or improve citizens' well-being, govern­mental commitments are subject to fiscal constraints. Given constraints on resources, governments need to "live within their means" (GASB 1987, para. 59). Concepts Statement No. 1 (GASB 1987, para. 61)...

At the present time, considerable attention is being devoted to the merits of accounting information obtained from valuation bases other than historical cost. Alternative valuation bases could provide relevant information in the context of firms with impaired or appreciated assets. In this...

Audits conducted under the 1984 Single Audit Act go beyond the traditional financial statement audit by placing substantial additional emphasis on the review and evaluation of internal controls and testing of compliance with laws and regulations. The General Accounting Office (GAO),...

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB, 1987, p. 12) has identified bond investors as a primary user group of government financial reports and is currently active in setting standards for pension accounting and reporting (GASB, 1986, 1988; lves, 1988). However, relatively little is known...

State and local governments are not subject to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations requiring compliance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). It was only in 1980 that Standard & Poor's issued a policy statement indicating a failure to conform with GAAP would be...

Currently, there is no integrating theory which specifies why governmental pension plans are so significantly underfunded. In this study, we test several hypotheses concerning such underfunding in a cross-sectional regression model for state-administered pension plans. The conceptual model...