Quest For Users Needs In Public Sector Reporting [PDF ebook] 

Public Financial Management (PFM) encompasses a comprehensive set of diverse activities regarding budget preparation and execution, control, accounting, reporting, monitoring and evaluation. These activities produce plenty of data for a relatively broad range of users with diverse needs. Despite an upsurge of interest in PFM research, a common critique refers to the absence of a theoretical background that serves in framing accounting and reporting principles and financial management activities in the public sector accounting has been based on "hypothesised users and hypothesised needs". Doubts have been raised, whether a ’substantial number of users’ even exists. This brings the idea of General Purpose Financial Statements ad absurdum.