public sector accounting – Malaysia

ANSWER FOUR (4) QUESTIONS OUT OF FIVE (5)

QUESTION 1

Public sector organizations are making the shift from program-based budgeting to outcome-based budgeting (OBB) in an effort to align allocation with strategic national priorities. Doing so, however, is no easy task. Moving to an outward-facing, results-based budgeting process usually requires significant changes to management frameworks, accounting policies, reporting processes, and performance management.

Required:

Appraise outcome-based budgeting as a complete form of programme and performance budgeting. You may want to examine the history of programme and performance budgeting.

[25 Marks]

QUESTION 2

Between 2012 and 2019, government debt had increased by 7.5% annually, from RM501.6 billion or 51.6% of GDP at the end of 2012 to RM793.0 billion or 52.5% of GDP at the end of 2019. Contingent liabilities, the amount of debt guaranteed by federal government increased by 6.8% annually to RM275.

Required:

Evaluate whether, why and how governments are allowed to borrow.

[25 Marks]

QUESTION 3

Some of the current issues in public sector auditing that are becoming a concern to the Auditor General includes a lack of cooperation from auditees and poor enforcement of the rule of law.

Required:

Assess the role of public to make public sector auditing better in terms of enhancing integrity and accountability.

                                                                                                                        [25 Marks]

QUESTION 4

The National Audit Department (NAD) is tasked with checking whether the 3Es (Economy, Efficiency and Effectiveness) have been practised in public spending, essentially through the various performance audits. NAD look at how well governmental programmes and activities have been planned, implemented and monitored, and make recommendations for improvements to the agencies concerned.

Required:

Evaluate the implementation of performance measurement and the application of 3Es in any ministry, department or government agency. Justify your answer by providing relevant examples.

                                                                                                                                [25 Marks]

Question 5

The work of Argyris (1952) on the influence of people’s behaviours on budgets and participative budgeting has been a topic of previous research. Behavioural accounting was originally developed only in the context of business entities despite its relevance to the non-profit sector, especially the government.                                                                                                                                                                                                                     [25 Marks]

Required:

Analyse the possible behavioural implications that could arise from the budgeting process.