THE Department of Transport Energy and Communications is to continue its move to a more transparent accounting system. The move is part of an initiative to introduce a more performance related climate within the public service.

The Department has already moved to an accrual accounting system, instead of the traditional cash based format. Accrual based financial statements give the user a greater insight into how the Department performed.

Yesterday, the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications, Mr Dukes, said the Department will now move to the next stage, which entails introducing output measurement. This will quantify the cost of delivering the Department's plans and associate them with financial and non financial performance indicators for these plans.

He said a sub group was currently examining financial reporting in the civil service and the extension of accrual accounting will be looked at in this context.