Accrual accounting and Australian fiscal policy

<p>Australian governments have recently moved from cash accounting to accrual accounting. Accrual accounting has been accompanied at the national government level by the introduction of a new key fiscal policy measure: the Ѧiscal balanceҮ This paper explains and evaluates this new fiscal measure. It concludes that, given the present fiscal policy of the Australian government, fiscal balance is a superior fiscal policy measure to the ѣash' budget balance measure which it replaced. However, from the alternative ѧolden rule' policy standpoint, fiscal balance is not a meaningful fiscal policy measure נalthough its stock counterpart, net financial liabilities, certainly is.</p>