Role of the Accounting and Accounting Information in Management the Asset Specific for the Public Sector

A very important feature of the current reform process in public sector management, known as New Public Management, is to encourage effective, efficient and accountable management of all public resources. In doing so, there is an emphasised need for effective asset management in the public sector, particularly management the asset specific for the public sector. The necessary precondition for effective management the asset specific for the public sector include definition, accounting recognition, measurement and reporting on asset specific for the public sector, the establishment of the state asset register and effectively management the cost and performance. The results of the research conducted during 2012, on a selected sample of the budgetary users in Croatia, show that a small number of budgetary users have the register of assets they dispose. In order to create a base of information, experiences show that the accounting and accounting information are a very important precondition for efficient asset management. This leads to the main goal of this paper which relates to the identification and systematization of existing and possible models for recognition and measurement of asset specific for the public sector and their presentation in the financial statements. Current public sector accounting in Croatia is based on a modified accrual basis. That means that in the balance sheet are presented information about financial assets and non-financial assets, while the information on asset specific for the public sector are not presented in the balance sheet. The basic assumption of the efficient management the asset specific for the public sector represents the introduction of an accrual basis of accounting in public sector accounting in Croatia. Only by fulfilling this condition, it can be expected the improvement of the effectiveness and efficiency in management the asset specific for the public sector. In the paper primarily are used the secondary data which are processed by application the methods of analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, the methods of comparison, compilation and classification.