Your Library and Its Finances

Local Government Accounting

What is the purpose of government accounting?

There is a reason behind the structure and formatting of governmental accounting. Local governments, including libraries, receive funds from the public and are accountable to the public for how the money is managed and spent.

Governmental accounting is structured the way it is to show

1. how much money governments received and how they spent the money
2. that governments had the authority to request the money and to spend money the way they spent it

This is very different from our personal checkbook or a private business.