59

This study examines experimentation with public sector consolidation which in most instances transposes methods and definitions used in the private sector. In the first section, the relevance of this association is tested by examining the definition of the scope of consolidation. For this, user needs for financial statements in the public and private sectors are compared and considered in relation to the impact of the definition of an accounting entity on the informational content of financial statements. The second section presents a proposed definition of a public accounting entity, taking into account specific aspects of the French public sector, and was tested in 1995 by recourse to towns of at least 10 000 inhabitants.