government law
Government Accounting under the Fiscal Act (1951 to 1961)
The Fiscal Act, comprised of 10 chapters and 85 articles in total, was passed and promulgated in September 1951 according to provisions in the Constitution of 1948 mandating fiscal policy and administration. The Fiscal Act, effective as of October 1951, was the first-ever legislation that defined the system and rules of government accounting, and emulated much of the Japanese Accounting Act (particularly in Chapters 1 and 3) and the Japanese Fiscal Act (particularly in Chapters 4 and the rest) that were enacted in 1947.
The amendment of the Fiscal Act in January 1954 changed the starting and end dates of the fiscal year from April 1 and March 31, respectively, to July 1 and June 30. Another amendment in June 1956 again changed the dates to January 1 and December 31. The Fiscal Act also began to stress the National Assembly’s role in monitoring administration and in drafting and settling budget accounts. The Minister of Finance came to wield authority over executing and settling the budget, while the budget reports submitted to the National Assembly were reviewed by the independent General Accounting Office (GAO). These features of the law indicate the growing importance of budgeting in government accounting, and the concomitant increase in efforts to enhance control over budgeting. Yet the general awareness and standards of accounting remained unaltered for the most part.
Source: Korea Institute of Public Administration. 2008. Korean Public Administration, 1948-2008, Edited by Korea Institute of Public Administration. Pajubookcity: Bobmunsa.
