The Whole Elephant: A Proposal for Integrating Cash, Accrual, and Sustainability-Gap Accounts

Timothy Irwin ()

No 2015/261, IMF Working Papers from International Monetary Fund

Abstract: Although the budget deficit is much discussed in political debate and economic research, there is no agreement on how it should be measured. There are at least four options, which can be called the cash deficit, the financial deficit, the full-accrual deficit, and the comprehensive deficit. Each is informative, but each has problems of relevance or reliability. Some are more vulnerable to manipulation involving assets and liabilities that are unrecognized in the underlying accounting, others to manipulation involving the mismeasurement of recognized assets and liabilities. Governments should publish all four in a form that reveals their interrelationships.

Keywords: WP; deficit; cash; real asset; accounting; budget deficit; Accrual accounts; comprehensive accounts; factor income distribution; liabilities; cash surplus; deficit target; accrual deficit; full-accrual accounting; operating statement; full-accrual deficit; accounts payable; accrual-accounting camp; deficit measure; accounting rule; deficit rule; accounts receivables; Currencies; Fiscal accounting and reporting; Financial statements; Government debt management; Accounting standards (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 24
Date: 2015-12-10
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Journal Article: The whole elephant: A proposal for integrating cash, accrual, and sustainability-gap accounts (2015)
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