From boom to bust? The financial performance of city and county councils
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Date
2014Author
Turley, Gerard
Robbins, Geraldine
McNena, Stephen
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Gerard Turley, Geraldine Robbins and Stephen McNena (2014) 'Froom boom to bust? The financial performance of city and county councils'. Administration, 62 (1):119-151.
Abstract
A framework to assess the financial performance of
city and county councils in Ireland is applied to the recent boom and bust
period. Based on previous work,
our financial performance measurement framework assesses
performance in the areas of liquidity, autonomy, operating performance,
collection efficiency and solvency using the audited published financial
statements of Irish local authorities. Financial indicators for the years 2007
and 2011 are developed and reported to capture the boom and bust years,
respectively. Overall, the results indicate that the majority of Irish city and
county councils performed satisfactorily in a financial sense relative to
central government performance despite the downturn in economic activity and
the resulting fall in council income. The paper suggests a small but increasing
number of county councils are exhibiting signs of financial difficulty, with poor
levels of revenue collection, increasing provisions for bad debts and rising
debt levels. In light of the recent boom and bust in the Irish economy and the growing
importance of performance measurement in a reforming public sector, we recommend
adoption of the financial performance measurement framework as part of the
annual financial statements of Irish local authorities.
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Journal article