In: Accounting
The focus of government accounting is the custody and administration of;
Government accounting:-
government accounting maintain tight control over resources.
This approach to accounting is used by all types of government entities, including federal, state, county, municipal, and special-purpose entities.
A fund is an accounting entity with a self-balancing set of accounts that is used to record financial resources and liabilities, as well as operating activities, and which is segregated in order to carry on certain activities or attain targeted objectives. A fund is not a separate legal entity. Funds are used by governments because governments need to maintain very tight control over their resources, and funds are designed to monitor resource inflows and outflows, with particular attention to the remaining amount of funds available.
The main purpose of public sector accounting is to act as the trustee to protect and manage public moneys and discharge accountability. Fund Accounting is used as the rational response to serve as a reliable control technique for such purposes. With the emphasis of accrual accounting which is more reliable than cash accounting in measuring financial performance of government activities
The focus of governmental funds is on current financial resources, which means assets that can be converted into cash and liabilities that will be paid for with that cash.
By segregating resources into multiple funds, a government can more closely monitor resource usage, thereby minimizing the risk of overspending or of spending in areas not authorized by a government budget.