Jan van Helden is Professor Emeritus of Management Accounting at the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Groningen, the Netherlands. In recent years his research has focused on management and accounting changes in public sector organizations, with a special attention to performance measurement, benchmarking, performance budgeting, and the role of consultants and researchers in public sector innovations. He has been member of the Executive for financial and personnel affairs of the province of Groningen, the Netherlands, in the 1980s. Ron Hodges is Professor of Accounting at the University of Birmingham, UK, having previously held posts at Sheffield and Nottingham. He is a member of both the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants. His research interests include the regulation of public sector accounting, public private partnerships and local government accounting and audit. He has held numerous related positions including membership of the Financial Reporting Advisory Board (FRAB) and acting as an advisor to the UK National Audit Office and the Communities and Local Government Committee of the House of Commons.
'This is the first textbook on public sector accounting for non-specialists. The authors offer a well written text and an easy-to-digest introduction into the difficult terminology of accounting and into its basic concepts. All major issues of public accounting are presented and illustrated with a broad selection of practical cases from various countries. This book can certainly serve as basic textbook for public financial management courses at undergraduate and graduate level.' Christoph Reichard, University of Potsdam, Germany