Whole of Government Accounts

What seems to have attracted very little attention these days is the plan by the UK government to open up its accounts to the public. The project is named Whole of Government Accounts (WGA) and the first year of accounts will be published for the year 2009-10. It is a welcome move for those who yearn for a more open government, and those that accuse the bureaucracies of massive waste.

What is astonishing is that the project will have taken 12 years from inception to the publishing of the first accounts. In the scoping study of July 1998, it was intended that the first fully published set of accounts would be available for the year 2005-6. Perhaps the delay came because of the project team’s stated aim of improving “Accountabilty to Parliament … with, for the first time, audited WGA financial statements available for scrutiny.” No doubt that this rattled a few department heads who have never been expected to open up the guts of their bureaucracies to such an extent.

The truth is, we shall never know why the delay has happened, and we can only hope there will be no more. The scoping report called for ‘dry-runs’ during 2001-2, and I have not been able to find any information on what happened to those, or whether a dry run is even planned anymore. I am, however encouraged to see that the standard forms for submitting accounting information are now available, called ’s-packs’. You can have a look on the WGA guidance page - download the Excel file of the S-pack. You will be heartened by the level of detail that these accounts require. The guidance to departments on consolidating accounts are strong, which suggests that a full set of accounts is now imminent.

Despite the project’s delays and difficulties, the benefits to our democracy is huge. The most exciting prospect is in the creation of new opportunities for democratic participation. To most, it will be a most dull exercise to trawl through endless accounts, but to a dedicated few, the numbers will tell a story of how government departments run. I don’t suggest for a second that they will tell us everything, but an expensive scheme or department is likely to attract further enquiries. No longer will the public be confined to grumbling about government spending, but will be able to see it in all its glory (or gloom). Not only will we be asking ministers “Why…?” but “Why don’t you…?”.

Many of us want open government, but are not sure why. To me, it is about involving the public in its decision making process and improving accountability. There’s nothing quite as effective as a few million people scrutinising government actions, not just during elections, but all the time.

Have a look at the WGA page on the HM Treasury website:
Whole of Government Accounts index

Edit:
A very good article explains the difficulties that the civil service have been having in accounting for our money: