Watts and Zimmerman (1986, p.7) state, Positive Accounting Theory (hereafter referred to as PAT): ... is concerned with explaining accounting practice. It is designed to explain and predict which firms will and which firms will not use a particular method ... but it says nothing as to which method a firm should use.

In a newspaper article dated 23 November 2020 which commented on the recent budget proposed by the local government: Credibility will be attained only if budget involves no resort to creative accounting, no over-optimistic revenue assumptions to push spending commitments off beyond the forward estimates where they cant be seen, and no exploitation of loopholes in the definition of the underlying cash balance, including funding spending to The Special Affairs Department (JTSA) and above all else, no shuffled spending and revenue forward and back between time periods to achieve cosmetic results

You are required to use the insights provided by the Positive Accounting Theory to explain why the above government prefers to manipulate the budget figures. (15 marks)