The Financial Accounting Foundation said Wednesday that, as part of its oversight of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, it has commissioned an independent academic study of the purposes of financial accounting and reporting of state and local governments.
The study will examine the role of financial reporting standards and guidelines issued by the GASB in enabling users of governmental financial reports to assess the accountability of governments.
The GASB is the independent board of the FAF responsible for establishing standards of financial accounting and reporting for state and local governmental entities in the United States. The research study will explore the purposes of financial reporting by state and local government entities, the needs and requirements of users of financial reports for these government entities, and insights regarding the value of information about the accountability of governments.
The study will be led by a research team that is greatly experienced in governmental accounting matters, including Kenneth A. Smith, a senior lecturer at the Daniel J. Evans School at the University of Washington, who will lead the research effort. He will be joined by Donald R. Deis, an accounting professor at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, and Marc A. Rubin, chair of the Department of Accountancy at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
When completed, the data collected in the study will serve as a tool to aid the FAF’s board of trustees in its ongoing oversight of the GASB and how the GASB can best serve constituents within the context of its mission. The FAF expects the study to be completed before the end of the year..
