TRANSITION TO ACCRUAL ACCOUNTING: - MODELS AND LEARNINGS FOR URBAN LOCAL BODIES - Transition to accrual accounting: Models and learnings for urban local bodies

I compliment the efforts of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) in the sector and their support in the development of this document. [...] NITI Aayog, as the apex public policy think-tank of the Government of India, aims to capture the details of the reforms undertaken in different states and address the knowledge gap and guide the states that are attempting the transition now. [...] These include the role played by successive Central Finance Commissions and State Finance Commissions, the National Urban Digital Mission, www.cityfinance.in – the municipal finance portal of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs-Government of India, initiatives by the National Institute of Urban Affairs, and the work done by the Committee on Public & Government Financial Management of the ICA. [...] The advantages of accrual accounting are: ! The financial statements present the correct financial performance in a period (surplus or deficit) and a true picture of the financial position (asset- liability) of the organization at the end of the period. [...] 1.7 STUDY OBJECTIVES The objectives of the study are: ! To compare the implementation models adopted by the select Indian States for their municipal finance reforms – more specifically the transition to accrual accounting, ! To objectively bring out the common elements amongst the models as well as the unique features of each model, ! To summarize the lessons learned, ! Based on the learnings, to.