Accrual Budgeting by Canadian Federal, Provincial and Territorial Governments

Project objective

This research project addresses current issues faced by Canadian federal, provincial and territorial governments in preparing appropriations documents (appropriations / Estimates) and accrual-based budget documents, including how budgets are reconciled to financial statements to provide the budget to actual comparisons required by the CICA Public Sector Accounting Handbook.

The project includes the publication of a series of accrual budgeting discussion papers culminating in a CICA research report. Four discussion papers have been published: Accounting for Tangible Capital Assets, Links between the Budget and the Estimates, Legislative Accountability Framework for Preparing Government Budgets and Estimates and Defining and Accounting for the Government Budgeting Entity. A final research report called Accrual Budgeting by Canadian Federal, Provincial and Territorial Governments was published in 2009.

(Advisory Group Chair - W.D. Hogg, CA, retired, formerly Deputy Minister of Finance, Province of Nova Scotia)

Publications and Articles

• Accrual Budgeting by Canadian Federal, Provincial and Territorial Governments (2009)
• Defining and Accounting for the Government Budgeting Entity - Discussion Paper (2007)
• Legislative Accountability Framework for Preparing Government Budgets and Estimates - Discussion Paper (2007)
• Accounting for Tangible Capital Assets - Discussion Paper (2006)
• Links between the Budget and the Estimates - Discussion Paper (2006)
• Accounting Bases Used in Canadian Government Budgeting (2004)
  
  
• CAmagazine, January-February 2005, "Accounting bases used in Canadian government budgeting" by J. Paul-Émile Roy, CA