논문

Considering the changes in the surrounding environment of the public sector in
general, this is the time to push a major structural change in the governmental
budgeting and accounting system in Korea. In this context, the budgeting and
accounting systems of the local governments need to be changed to reflect the
fair presentation of the fiscal capacity, position, and performance of a local
government in the macro-level as well as in the micro-level.

This article mainly deals with several topics such as the general direction or
principle, strategy, and the constraints related to the possible introduction of the
double-entry bookkeeping system based on the accrual basis to the local
government's accounting system in Korea.

Among other things, this article suggests that the reform of the budgeting and
accounting systems has to be focused on the general enhancement of the
efficiency, effectiveness, and public accountability of the activities of the local
governments. To find out the specific strategies, many topics such as (1)
accounting methods and recognition criteria, and measurement focus, (2)an
introduction of the new accounting principle, (3)an establishment of the
comprehensive fiscal information system, (4)the linkage between the budgeting
and the accounting system, (5)performance measurement, and others are dealt
with.

Finally, a couple of constraints to the proposed reform of the budgeting and
accounting systems of the local governments are mentioned. They are (1)the
structural and technical problems related to the employment and the accounting
skill level of a local government, (2)the fundamental difference between the public
sector and the private sector, (3)social costs related to the reform, and (4)
obstacles to the changes in many laws and rules.