Committee on Accounting in the Public Sector, 1974-76.

This article presents the text of a report by the Committee on Accounting in the Public Sector of the American Accounting Association on their accounting objectives in the public sector in the U.S. as of October 2, 1977. Objectives of accounting in the public sector are examined in three of the following five sections of this exposition. The first section concerns assumptions about the environment and human behavior in this environment. A basic objective is derived from the assumptions in the second section. Practical and conceptual aspects of auditing in the public sector are studied in the third section. The fourth section deals with operational objectives. Lastly, a summary and conclusion is presented. The relationship of a basic accounting objective with the assumptions from which it is derived can be shown by starting from the most basic assumption and developing the interrelationships as additional assumptions are presented. In the process, logical gaps are bridged with assertive assumptions and definitions. The starting point could be anywhere along a continuum of basic assumptions.