Would it be possible to standardise on, (at least a minimal number if not one), a 'template,' given that all such bodies have at least:
- one grant/capital source, - possibly a revenue stream - a time frame for fund utilisation, sourcing and collection - a structure or powers to distribute funds - likewise, to collect funds - capital or 'against grant' expenses - revenue or operating expenses, - ceilings/budgets against each head - targets for various activities in money-translatable terms - balances and variances from sanctioned figures - surpluses and deficits If so, it should not be difficult to develop a web-based accounting system, wherein an account is opened by each body on a server which can be accessed by various authorised persons, who feed information and receive reports according to the nature of their financial responsibilities. Accordingly, it would be possible to record, reckon and report, and hence to analyse, plan, control and staff each resource transaction. Such a system can further standardise a set of off-line data entry documents like vouchers or journals for efficient accounting. Regards, Udit Chaudhuri On Mon, May 23, 2005, Peter Burgess wrote: > Following up on postings by Janice Brodman and Ed Cherlin ... the > interesting thing about a company is that the stakeholders who are > interested in its "value" look at both balance sheet and the profit or > cash flow past and future. This is very helpful in thinking about what > works and what does not. Governments (including local governments) do > their accounting on a cash basis that cannot reflect the financial > performance of the government entity in a meaningful way because > expenditures that have life beyond the current period are essentially > "off the books". It is a weak system, and I am sure has stayed in vogue > for that very reason. ..snip... ------------ This DOT-COM Discussion is funded by the dot-ORG USAID Cooperative Agreement, and hosted by GKD. http://www.dot-com-alliance.org provides more information. To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd For past messages, see: http://www.dot-com-alliance.org/archive.html
