The paper considers the state of public sector accounts in Italy, in view of the reform in process. It argues in favour of changing the State budget from a cash to an accruals basis and limiting off balance Treasury operations. It discusses the merits of a greater aggregation of expenditures for parliamentary approval and suggests ways to improve the process of budget approval.

Giorgio Ragazzi, in "ECONOMIA PUBBLICA " 3/2002, pp. , DOI: