"Regulatory Accounting: A Primer for Utility Regulators" is a guide to the structure and function of a system of accounts that regulated utilities can use to ensure they are accurately recording and categorizing financial transactions and presenting coherent data to the regulator.

Written by NARUC's project adviser Thomas L Welch, the primer describes the characteristics and value of a sound accounting system, presents in broad outline and detailed examples the Uniform System of Accounts, and offers suggestions for how to implement a sound utility system where, as may be the case, the existing system is incomplete, inaccurate, or otherwise inadequate to serve the regulator’s needs.

This Primer was developed in partnership with the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) and with the generous support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). This Primer is one in the series of various primers on cost-reflective tariffs and will be incorporated into a larger comprehensive guide on tariff settings, the Tariff Toolkit.