ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a historical review of governmental accounting evolution in China. It illustrates ancient governmental accounting in China, i.e. the development of governmental accounting during various feudal dynasties from the West Zhou dynasty (1046–256 BC) to the Qing dynasty (AD 1644–1911). The chapter describes the major changes of governmental accounting in the period of the Republic of China (1911–1949). It examines the development of new governmental accounting, that is, the budgetary accounting system installed after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, as well as the most recent reforms of accounting for governments and public institutions in the course of China's transition towards a market-oriented economy and the internationalization of Chinese accounting. The government's fiscal administrative system had again been significantly revamped, so the original budgetary accounting system for governments and public institutions became outdated. The root cause of governmental accounting reforms and development is the urgent need derived from environmental or institutional changes in China.
