|
> MSU News
Crain attends conference in India
November 13, 2002 -- Carol Schmidt
Gilbert Crain, associate professor of accounting at the Montana State University-Bozeman College of Business, attended a governmental accounting conference held in Delhi, India.
Crain's talk at the conference was "Incentives for Municipal Accounting Reforms: The US Experience,"
Crain attended the conference at the invitation of the U.S.-based Governmental Accounting Standard Board (GASB) and accompanied David Bean, director of research for GASB. The GASB establishes generally accepted accounting standards for state and local governments in the United States.
Bean and Crain also participated in a meeting with governmental accounting officials from India including the Deputy Controller and Auditor General of India and representatives from the Indian Ministry of Urban Development and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.
"The governments in India are working hard on modernizing their financial management practices, including accounting and financial reporting standards," Crain said. "One of their objectives is to improve local governments' access to the capital debt markets in order to finance much needed improvements in the delivery of water and sewer services to the nearly one billion citizens of India. David and I tried to provide insights that could expedite their modernization efforts based on what worked and didn't work in the evolution of governmental accounting practices in the U.S. I was impressed both by the immensity of their needs for improved water and sewer services as well as their dedication to making the required changes in financial management practices. It also felt good as a U.S. taxpayer to see first hand some positive impact of U.S. foreign aid to India on the lives of its citizens."
Crain has done pro bono consulting and research for the board since 1994, including moderating many of the GASB-sponsored focus groups of government financial statement users.
The Indian conference was organized by Indo-USAID Financial Institutions Reform and Expansion (FIRE) Project in-collaboration with the India National Institute of Urban Affairs. The presentations highlighted information on recent innovations and reforms in state and local government accounting in India.
Contact: Jackie Sather (406) 994-6766
|
|
Email this article
