Public Sector

Public sector accounting is concern with matters that is related to government financial management, which includes the federal Government and its ministries and departments, the State Government, the Local Government, the Statutory Bodies and the Government-linked Companies. Coverage of Public Sector accounting in the Malaysian environment context will include activities relating to budgeting, accounting, reporting and auditing, as stated in Malaysian Federal Constitution.

Accounting and financial reporting is an effort to assess financial performance, that is, how well or how poorly the government performed with public money entrusted to it. Financial reporting is considered as part of governmental accountability for financial decision. Many programs and activities by governments are normally limited by the laws and statues under which they must function and some programs will be literally spelled out by legislation. Meanwhile, public sector budgeting plays a pivotal role in allocating scarce resources and controlling public money. Further, to ensure that public accountability is well safeguarded, the role of parliament through the Auditor General, the Public Accountant Committee and each entity’s internal control are further enhanced and monitored regularly.

Public sector accounting basically is not much different from private sector accounting. I both sectors, accounting will provide services related to activities such as recording, summarizing, reporting and interpreting financial transactions. However, for the public sector, the emphasis is more on proper maintenance of books and all records, compliance with related laws, rules and regulations, and comprehensive and accurate reports to help the related parties to make a decision. Thus, the accounting service in the public sector does not merely look at the money that need to accounted for, but also into the public property as required by Section 3, Financial Procedure Act 1957.

The differences between...