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Special District Governments: The Accountability Frontier
Larita J Killian,
Indiana University at Columbus
ABSTRACT: Recent decades have brought dramatic growth in special district governments. They have multiplied 3-fold since 1952. During this same period, officials, professionals, and citizens have made real strides in performance reporting for general-purpose government. But somehow, these two trends have not connected. When it comes to government accountability, special districts are the current frontier. This paper documents the proliferation of special districts and summarizes efforts to improve accountability and performance reporting in government. Work sponsored by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board and the Association of Government Accountants is highlighted. Using a recent illustration from Indiana, efforts to improve accountability of general-purpose entities is contrasted to the relative inattention to accountability of special districts. The paper closes with questions to serve as bases for analysis of accountability of special district governments.
Full-Text is no longer available online. Please contact the author(s) for more information about this manuscript.
Supplemental Materials:
Special Districts - The Accountability Frontier
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