Financial management at the Ministry of Justice has improved considerably since the National Audit Office last examined this subject in 2010 (HC 187, ISBN 9780102965339). The Ministry now has effective governance structures in place and, in 2010-11, managed its money far more effectively, allowing it to redeploy funds to where they were most needed. Financial management is now much more central to the operation of the organisation and the quality and consistency of financial planning and forecasting have improved. Financial information for decision making is more relevant and useful, with the Ministry's planning work allowing it to bring together a wide range of business information to estimate the financial implications of its workload. It has also improved oversight of its arm's-length bodies. The Ministry still has gaps in financial reporting skills and some of its underlying systems need further improvement. It was one of only two government departments that failed to produce their financial accounts by the 2011 summer Parliamentary recess, mainly due to the accounts for the National Offender Management Service being produced late. The Legal Services Commission, an arm's-length body of the MOJ, had the audit opinion on its 2010-11 accounts qualified owing to the potential level of error, put at an estimated £50 million. There has also been little change in how the Ministry monitors and collects assets due under confiscation orders, with the amount of outstanding debt having increased by almost £400 million in 2010-11.

The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report, published by the U.S. Government and the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in early 2011, is the official government report on the United States financial collapse and the review of major financial institutions that bankrupted and failed, or would have without help from the government. The commission and the report were implemented after Congress passed an act in 2009 to review and prevent fraudulent activity. The report details, among other things, the periods before, during, and after the crisis, what led up to it, and analyses of subprime mortgage lending, credit expansion and banking policies, the collapse of companies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the federal bailouts of Lehman and AIG. It also discusses the aftermath of the fallout and our current state. This report should be of interest to anyone concerned about the financial situation in the U.S. and around the world.THE FINANCIAL CRISIS INQUIRY COMMISSION is an independent, bi-partisan, government-appointed panel of 10 people that was created to "examine the causes, domestic and global, of the current financial and economic crisis in the United States." It was established as part of the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009. The commission consisted of private citizens with expertise in economics and finance, banking, housing, market regulation, and consumer protection. They examined and reported on "the collapse of major financial institutions that failed or would have failed if not for exceptional assistance from the government."News Dissector DANNY SCHECHTER is a journalist, blogger and filmmaker. He has been reporting on economic crises since the 1980's when he was with ABC News. His film In Debt We Trust warned of the economic meltdown in 2006. He has since written three books on the subject including Plunder: Investigating Our Economic Calamity (Cosimo Books, 2008), and The Crime Of Our Time: Why Wall Street Is Not Too Big to Jail (Disinfo Books, 2011), a companion to his latest film Plunder The Crime Of Our Time. He can be reached online at www.newsdissector.com.

Newly revised in 2011. Contains the auditing standards promulgated by the Comptroller General of the United States. Known as the Yellow Book. Includes the professional standards and guidance, commonly referred to as generally accepted government auditing standards (GAGAS), which provide a framework for conducting high quality government audits and attestation engagements with competence, integrity, objectivity, and independence. These standards are for use by auditors of government entities and entities that receive government awards and audit organizations performing GAGAS audits and attestation engagements.

The Second Edition of the book encompasses two new chapters—Strategic Cost Management and Business Ethics—A Strategic Financial Management Instrument. The book, being an augmented version of the previous edition, equips the young managers with the fundamentals and basics of strategic management and financial management in a cogent manner. The text now provides a better orientation to the students on the topics like corporate restructuring, divestitures, acquisitions, and mergers in the global context with the help of examples and caselets. The book has been revised keeping in view the requirements of postgraduate students of management and the students pursuing professional courses such as CA, MFC and CS. In addition, professionals working in the corporate sector may also find the book beneficial to integrate the financial management functions into business strategy and financial operations. Distinctive features • Model question papers have been appended at the end of the book. • Better justification of topics by merging the contents wherever required. • Theory supported with caselets inspired from global as well as Indian context.

This technical note and manual (TNM) addresses the following main issues: • Discusses the purpose of a chart of accounts and its importance in public financial management • Discusses stakeholder needs in a typical public financial management framework that need to be reflected in a chart of accounts • Discusses the role of chart of accounts in budgetary and financial accounting • Discusses the relation between the chart of accounts and IFMIS • Explains key steps for identifying data requirements and structures for developing a chart of accounts