An Assessment of Theory, Purposes & Standards
1. Government Accounting has its distinct purpose amongst the “Accounting Elites” namely, ACCA and
CPA. The standards and purpose(s) of Government Accounting are equal with those set by Accounting
Bodies that lean more to Commercial Account. James L. Chan in his paper “Government Accounting: An
Assessment of Theory, Purposes and Standards” look at the importance of Government Accounting and
compare this to Commercial Accounting. Please access the link below and review the paper.
Chan, J., L. (2003). Government Accounting: An Assessment of Theory, Purposes and Standards.
Available at
http://jameslchan.com/papers/Chan2003Assess.pdf
I. Financial Statements from Commercial Accounts provide more information to the general public
than those from Government Accounts?
Use information from the paper by Chan, J., L. & Rubin above, write a paper of no less than 2 pages to
address the above question. To completely address the question, you should ensure that you cover:
A comprehensive review of the similarities and differences between commercial accounting and
government accounting.
The types of financial statements prepared from both type of accounting methods
The kinds of information provided by both type of accounting methods.