Description
Copley (2018) stated “neither governmental nor not-for-profit financial statements are particularly effective in measuring organizational effectiveness…The fundamental problem is that government and not-for-profit effectiveness cannot be expressed solely in financial terms” (p. 389). In other words, we should not only look at a school district’s average spend per child compared to its peer districts and draw conclusions regarding organizational effectiveness, but also consider qualitative measures of performance.
GASB Concepts Statement 2, Service Efforts and Accomplishments (SEA) Reporting, which provides a framework for combining financial and non financial information for the users of the governmental financial statements to understand organizational effectiveness as a whole. Although Statement 2 exists, GASB has not issued any standards for the non financial reporting. Thus it is voluntary to include an SEA report.
As a taxpayer who funds government activities, you likely have an opinion on the ability to rely on financial and nonfinancial data to communicate effectively.
Choose a stance—”financial information should stand alone just like for-profit businesses” or “financial and non financial information is critical and should be assimilated together”