Thank you, Madam Chair.
Good morning, guests. Thank you for helping us navigate the rocky shoals of accrual accounting.
Those of us who are not accounting specialists don't come with predetermined positions one way or the other, except that we want to make the best decisions possible on behalf of the country. So we really value your expertise and guidance.
There were some background documents prepared for us on this. In looking at the big picture of the pros and cons, it seems there are many advantages. For example, the portfolio of property seems to be a very strong, favourable clarity in terms of budget versus the actual outcomes. So there is better information.
There is one argument by critics of this system, and I would like to get your view on this. I quote from our briefing documents. It says opponents of the adoption of accrual budgeting also note that accruals introduce
a great deal of technical complexity into budgeting, thus making it less transparent and less understandable. Accruals also offers new opportunities for manipulation that are of a different nature than in cash budgeting....
Finally, critics note that the benefits of accrual budgeting do not outweigh the implementation costs of training staff and upgrading systems.
Could we get your views on that?