GUID - 9010 - The importance of an independent standard-setting process

Summary

Governments must be held accountable for the collection of taxes and other revenues and the level, quality, and cost of services they provide. To do this, governments must prepare financial statements that are transparent and that meet the needs of a wide range of users. While legislatures want to assess the government’s performance and stewardship of resources, resource providers and recipients of services also want to know how the government’s resources are being used.

For financial statements to be credible they must be prepared following a set of understandable, enforceable, and objective principles that are not subject to the individual preference of the individual who is preparing them. While governments may adopt various mechanisms to ensure the development of such standards, such as advisory panels, the reference to standards established by an independent standard-setting process is preferable.