What lies beneath

In September 2013, UK public sector net debt stood at L1.2 trillion. Even with austerity, the government will continue to borrow large sums for many years and this indebtedness figure will rise substantially. Interest will have to be paid for many decades to come and, ultimately, the debt will have to be repaid. In all of this, an important factor to be borne in mind is that of inter-generational equity (IGE) or fairness between generations. It is important to explore the concept of inter-generational equity (or inequity) and to try to assess its financial significance. Given that the likely magnitude is very large, statutory financial reporting in the public sector should incorporate information for stakeholders on the impact on IGE of various public policies. Going beyond traditional accruals-based accounting to report on inter-generational equity would demonstrate the importance of distributional aspects of wealth creation in understanding the impact of politically determined finding decisions on financial sustainability