<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>It was over a quarter of a century ago that information from the financial statements was used to benchmark the efficiency and effectiveness of local government in the US. With the global adoption of New Public Management ideas, benchmarking practice spread to the public sector and has been employed to drive reforms aimed at improving performance and, ultimately, service delivery and local outcomes. The manner in which local authorities in OECD countries compare and benchmark their performance varies widely. The methodology developed in this paper to rate the relative financial performance of Irish city and county councils is adapted from an earlier assessment tool used to measure the financial condition of small cities in the US. Using our financial performance framework and the financial data in the audited annual financial statements of Irish local councils, we calculate composite scores for each of the thirty-four local authorities for the years 2007–13. This paper contributes composite scores that measure the relative financial performance of local councils in Ireland, as well as a full set of yearly results for a seven-year period in which local governments witnessed significant changes in their financial health. The benchmarking exercise is useful in highlighting those councils that, in relative financial performance terms, are the best/worst performers.</p></abstract>

It was over a quarter of a century ago that information from the financial statements was used to benchmark the efficiency and effectiveness of local government in the US. With the global adoption of New Public Management ideas, benchmarking practice spread to the public sector and has been employed to drive reforms aimed at improving performance and, ultimately, service delivery and local outcomes. The manner in which local authorities in OECD countries compare and benchmark their performance varies widely. The methodology developed in this paper to rate the relative financial performance of Irish city and county councils is adapted from an earlier assessment tool used to measure the financial condition of small cities in the US. Using our financial performance framework and the financial data in the audited annual financial statements of Irish local councils, we calculate composite scores for each of the thirty-four local authorities for the years 2007–13. This paper contributes composite scores that measure the relative financial performance of local councils in Ireland, as well as a full set of yearly results for a seven-year period in which local governments witnessed significant changes in their financial health. The benchmarking exercise is useful in highlighting those councils that, in relative financial performance terms, are the best/worst performers.

Benchmarking the financial performance of local councils in Ireland

J. E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics, and Whitaker Institute for Innovation and Societal Change, NUI Galway

Administration

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Benchmarking the financial performance of local councils in Ireland"}

It was over a quarter of a century ago that information from the financial statements was used to benchmark the efficiency and effectiveness of local...

Benchmarking the financial performance of local councils in Ireland

Published Online: Apr 30, 2016

Page range: 1 - 27

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/admin-2016-0009

Keywords
Performance measurement, financial indicators, benchmarking, local councils

© 2016 Geraldine Robbins et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Benchmarking the financial performance of local councils in Ireland

Published Online: Apr 30, 2016

Page range: 1 - 27

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/admin-2016-0009

KeywordsPerformance measurement, financial indicators, benchmarking, local councils

© 2016 Geraldine Robbins et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Performance measurement, financial indicators, benchmarking, local councils