The beginnings of public accounting in Colombia:
Public accounting in Colombia until the twentieth century was based on budgets, what to do business consisted of the budget process with the registration of operations in the books without any analysis. The importance lay in the registry directed to the control of legality and the surrender of how many. Over time, it has been possible to establish the relevance of the budget in organizations as the greatest input to carry out their missionary processes, both in private and public companies.
Today this budget monitoring accounting is not enough to meet the objectives of public entities. It was with the national constituent assembly in its reform to the public charter in 1991, where the need for the state of Colombia to have a general accountant of the nation and a public accounting system is evidenced, thus in 1995 the first national accountant since Back then, progress has been made on issues related to, for example, the coverage of the system and the reporting of information online, since today most of the entities throughout the national territory report online.
In the following text we find some very relevant information in public accounting information:
- Purposes of the national public accounting system
The SNCP must satisfy requirements that are defined as Purposes, which correspond to the basic assumptions that express the aims of the SNCP, subject to the restrictions and conditions imposed by the legal, economic and social environment of the Colombian Public Sector. These purposes are conditioning factors for the conceptual and instrumental development of public accounting regulation and are articulated with the public accounting entity, the users and objectives of public accounting information, which in turn are the basis for identifying the qualitative characteristics that the information must meet., and define the principles and technical standards of public accounting.
The Purposes of the SNCP are: Control, Accountability, Efficient Management and Transparency.
The purpose of Control assumes that the SNCP supports control, internal and external, in areas such as legality and compliance, and enables financial, economy and efficiency control, as well as the safeguarding of public resources and assets, They are under the responsibility of public or private agents, for the development of functions of the state.
The purpose of Accountability means that the SNCP allows public servants and administrators of public resources and / or assets to report periodically to political entities, citizens, investor-creditors and other agents, for the use of such resources and by the impacts of their actions on the individual and general well-being, in terms of efficiency for the achievement of the aims of the State.
The purpose of Efficient Management indicates that the SNCP supports the decisions of the managers responsible for developing the functions of the state, using public resources and / or assets efficiently, observing the principles of the administrative function and contributing to the strengthening of the systems. of organizational information. Likewise, it conditions the SNCP to provide adequate elements for planning and public policy decisions of Public Sector entities considered individually, aggregated and consolidated.
The purpose of Transparency comes from social demands for a democratic structure, in which decisions and use of resources are transparent and public knowledge, as well as from the demands of the economic environment in which the importance of the public sector implies practices, processes and decisions adjusted to the principles of the administrative function, having public accounting information with criteria of reliability, relevance and understandability. Therefore, the SNCP is based on homogeneous, transversal, comparable and objective criteria.
The homogeneous and cross-sectional criteria are identical guidelines that are applied throughout the entire structure and elements of the SNCP, regulate and standardize the processes and guidelines of the SNCP, directing them towards the expressly indicated purposes. The criteria of comparability and objectivity are those used by all the elements of the SNCP that can be compared with each other and being applied by different agents to similar phenomena or processes, allow the same conclusions to be reached.
- Postulates of public accounting
The postulates allow to define the structure and orientation of the SNCP (national public accounting system) to the fulfillment of objectives, in order to minimize the risk of interference when the administrator acts as encoder, issuer and transmitter with which, in the first instance, it seeks to achieve acceptable levels of security in your final product.
The reliability of the information is based on the associated rationality and neutrality. In this way, users trust the information since it reveals the "true image" of the public entity without privileging any particular user.
The social utility postulate claims that the use of public accounting information generates positive impacts on society; With this, the information apart from being reliable, must generate added value to the community. In other words, the information by itself is not productive, but rather a fusion of the utility that society can derive from it.
Reliability postulate:
Considering that users require reasonable accounting information to support their decisions, the reliability postulate is stated as follows:
Public accounting information seeks to reasonably reveal the financial, economic and social facts of public entities, guaranteeing that it does not privilege specific ones.
Social utility postulate:
Considering that accounting information must contribute to generating a positive impact on society, the postulate of social utility is stated as follows:
The accounting information intends that, through its proper use, public resources are used transparently and seeks collective benefit.
Objectives of public accounting information
The objectives related to public accounting information, according to the needs of the users, which must be oriented towards the purposes and ends of the national public accounting system.
The objectives of public accounting information seek to make useful the accounting statements, reports and reports considered individually, aggregated and consolidated provided by SNCP, satisfying the set of specific needs and demands of the different users. In this sense, the conceptual framework of the general public accounting plan identifies as objectives of accounting information: public management, public control, citizen culture and analysis and disclosure.
The objectives of public management and public control are established based on the needs of the users and the criteria that define the public accounting entity in the accounting system; while culture and disclosure consider generic demands, even when users, for analytical or compilation purposes, require different information depending on whether it concerns one or another sector, subsector or entity in particular.
Management:
At the institutional level: allow the different managers to make decisions aimed at optimizing the allocation of resources and achieving a positive social impact.
At a consolidated level: allow the adoption of policies for the efficient management of public spending, aimed at fulfilling the aims and objectives of the state.
The objective of Public Management implies that accounting information mainly serves the public accounting entity that produces it, and in an aggregate and consolidated way for the management of the sectors or subsectors to which it belongs. Said objective is associated with the limits, possibility and capacity to make decisions, to execute the plans and adjust their actions based on the results obtained during a determined period; In this sense, public accounting produces the necessary information to carry out, among others, the following actions:
- Determine the public heritage Make decisions aimed at optimizing the efficient management of resources and the maintenance of public heritage, so that through its application and use, a positive social impact is achieved in the community Determine the production and distribution of goods and services of the public accounting entity Contribute to the determination of the debt situation and the payment capacity of public accounting entities Allow the design and adoption of policies for the efficient management of income and public expenditure, aimed at compliance of the purposes of the State Support the determination of the amounts of budgetary allocations Serve as input to feed statistical subsystems that determine the production and distribution of goods and resources exploited by the Public Sector,and its impact on the economy, facilitating the monitoring of aggregate behaviors.
Of control:
At the institutional level: facilitate internal and external control of public management, so that resources are used in a transparent, efficient and effective manner.
At a consolidated level: facilitate the monitoring of aggregate behaviors, as the main input of other statistical systems, in order to evaluate the result of macroeconomic policies.
The objective of Public Control allows its exercise at two levels, internal and external. Within the entity, through the internal control system and, externally, through different bodies such as citizens, public corporations, the Public Ministry and the control, inspection and surveillance bodies. This implies the existence of different monitoring modalities on the management of public resources, such as internal, political, disciplinary, fiscal and citizen control. Therefore, it is considered that public accounting information serves, among other aspects, to:
- Evaluate the efficient application and allocation of resources in the different sectors of the State's social action Allow monitoring of the management and results of Public Sector entities, as well as compliance with the legality of their operations, so that the Public resources and patrimony are used in a transparent, efficient and effective way Evaluate the execution of plans, programs and projects of the national and territorial level or order, based on the objectives, goals and priorities for economic, social and environmental policy, in accordance with the budget execution.
Citizen culture:
Know, on the part of society, the results of public management, in order to generate citizen awareness and a sense of belonging in the management of public resources.
Analysis and dissemination:
Enable the development of studies and research according to user requirements.
The objective of Disclosure and Culture satisfies general information needs to carry out studies and research that are public knowledge and generation of culture on the use of public resources. To meet this objective, public accounting information allows, among other actions: to generate culture on the use of the information provided by the SNCP; disclose the situation and results of the public sector; and provide information for research of an academic nature.
Users of public accounting information
Public Accounting and its accounting statements, reports and reports constitute a way to facilitate and satisfy the informational needs of users. This implies defining, based on the analysis of information needs, the different users and their respective objectives regarding Public Accounting.
The users of Public Accounting in Colombia, according to the needs and uses of the accounting information that arises as a result of the characterization of the environment, are, among others:
The community and citizens, whose well-being and coexistence is the objective of the functions of the state, in their capacity as taxpayers and beneficiaries of public goods and services, have an interest in transparent public accounting information that allows them to know the management, use and condition of public resources and patrimony.
According to the specific management objective:
At the institutional level:
Entities that apply the PGCP, use public accounting information, to provide feedback on organizational management processes.
At a consolidated level:
Organizations that compile or use global statistics of the public sector, among others: comptroller general of the republic, national administrative department of statistics, general accounting office of the nation, comptroller general of the republic, municipality, departments, districts, ministry of finance and public credit, national and regional council of economic, social and fiscal policies, banks of the republic.
According to the specific control objective:
Institutions that exercise external control over public entities, among others: congress of the republic, departmental assemblies, municipal councils, town councils, attorney general of the nation, comptroller general of the republic, ombudsman's office, comptrollers' offices and departmental, municipal and district entities, Attorney General of the Nation, Constitutional Court, Supreme Court of Justice, Council of State, Superior Council of the Judiciary and Superior Courts.
In accordance with the specific objective of civic culture:
Natural or legal persons, who inadvertently seek to obtain information on the results of public management, of the entities of the national and territorial order of the central and decentralized level, and of those other institutions that according to the norms are obliged to adhere to the PGCP.
In accordance with the specific objective of analysis and dissemination: academic institutions, research groups, economic associations, researchers, financial and economic analysts, the media, and multilateral organizations such as the international monetary fund, the world bank and the inter-American development bank.
Characteristics of public accounting information
The qualitative characteristics of public accounting information constitute the essential attributes and restrictions that identify the information provided by the SNCP and that allow it to be differentiated from other types of information.
The qualitative characteristics of the accounting information are intended to meet and validate the purposes of the SNCP and guarantee balanced satisfaction of the objectives of the different users. They interrelate together and ensure the quality of the information.
Public accounting information is aimed at satisfying the information needs of its actual and potential users, who require that it be developed observing the qualitative characteristics of Reliability, Relevance and Comprehensibility. The qualitative characteristics that guarantee Reliability are Reasonableness, Objectivity and Verifiability; Opportunity, Materiality and Universality are associated with Relevance; and with Understandability are related Rationality and Consistency.
Reasonableness:
Public accounting information is reasonable when it reflects the situation and activity of the public accounting entity, in a manner adjusted to reality.
Objectivity:
Public accounting information is objective when its preparation and presentation is based on the identification and homogeneous application of principles, technical standards and procedures, adjusted to the reality of public accounting entities, without bias, allowing the obtaining of results and similar interpretations. The degree of subjectivity implicit in the recognition and disclosure of the facts is minimized by informing the circumstances and criteria used as indicated by the technical standards of the PGCP.
Verifiability:
Public accounting information is verifiable when it allows its reasonableness and objectivity to be verified through different verification mechanisms. The SNCP must guarantee the availability of the basic input to achieve the control objectives, by applying the necessary procedures to confirm or accredit the origin of the registered data, the transactions, events and operations revealed by the public accounting information, subject to the principles, technical standards and procedures of the Public Accounting Regime.
Relevance:
Public accounting information is relevant if it provides the necessary and sufficient basis and with the required quality, so that users have it available in a timely manner, in accordance with their objectives and needs. This means including the explicit and additional declaration of the information necessary to lead the different users to judgments and reasoned decisions about the activities and situation of public accounting entities, disclosed through the accounting statements, reports and reports. In public accounting information, due to its status as a public good, relevance seeks a balance between levels of opportunity, materiality and universality.
Opportunity:
Public accounting information is timely if it has the ability to influence the action, objectives and decisions of users with the capacity to do so in time. Availability to meet user demands is essential, insofar as it allows evaluating the efficiency and effectiveness of public accounting information and the system that produces it.
Universality:
Public accounting information is universal, if it includes all the financial, economic, social and environmental facts of the public accounting entity, duly recognized and measured in quantitative and / or qualitative terms, regardless of whether the cost-benefit relationship implies adding items for recognition. Contingencies must also be recognized and disclosed to ensure the universality of public accounting information.
Understandability:
Public accounting information is understandable if it allows interested users to form an objective judgment about its content. For this purpose, it is presumed that users have reasonable knowledge of the activities and results of the public accounting entity that is the object of their interest, as well as the accounting regulations that apply to it. In this sense, public accounting information is understandable if it is rational and consistent.
Rationality:
Public accounting information is the product of the application of a rational and systematic process, which recognizes and reveals the transactions, events and operations of public accounting entities, based on a homogeneous, comparable and transversal set of principles, technical standards and procedures..
Consistency:
Public accounting information is consistent when the criteria that guide its preparation are applied consistently and uniformly.
Measurable:
It reveals the financial, economic and social results, used quantitative or qualitative measurement units.
Comparable:
They apply homogeneously principles, norms and procedures that allow to satisfy the needs of confrontation in time.
Introduction
In this work we see some important aspects of public accounting information in which, through the study and development of public accounting reports, the database is provided to users of the public sector, in order to take actions to control, protect and to safeguard state resources, actions, all of them based on the guidelines established by the nation's general accounting office.
goals
Highlight the importance of studying the knowledge and practices of the accounting public in accordance with the parameters established for these purposes by the nation's general accounting office, under the understanding that the public entities that make up the state require this information for the correct decision-making within the framework of efficiency and effectiveness and the management of resources (physical or financial).
Conclusions
We find in our country regulations that help us to carry out a correct management of public entities that lead to the absence of mismanagement or incidents that may affect the nation's budget, which we highlight some important methods at the time of obtaining each report of public accounting operations; postulates, objectives, users, characteristics.
Bibliography
- Public Accounting Information.
