FROM CASH TO ACCRUALS IN 25 YEARS

In a personal account, the author looks back over nearly 25 years of p ublic sector accounting in the UK. He reviews the period when accruals accounting began to replace cash accounting in the operational branch es of the public sector, and concludes that, for the public sector cap ital asset and depreciation accounting is the most important innovatio n. Accrual accounting's impact on 'ex ante' budgeting; funding, pricin g and investment may be much more important than on 'ex post' financia l reporting and accountability.