Managing resources
Analysing resource accounts: an introduction
This guide provides a brief introduction to interpreting government departments’ annual resource accounts. It sets out a selection of ratios and measures, which can be used to analyse and interpret the raw figures in the accounts and to suggest areas for further investigation.
This guide is for anyone interested in reviewing how government departments have used the resources allocated to them by Parliament to deliver public services. It will help readers of the accounts to understand and interpret the information set out in resource accounts.
The guide is intended for general users, without detailed knowledge of either accruals accounts in general or government resource accounts in particular. More detailed guidance can be found in the companion booklet “Analysing resource accounts: user’s guide” published by the Treasury in June 2001.
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