The Corporatization and Commercialization of Local Body Entities: A Study of Reported Financial Performance

Jill Hooks and Chris Van Staden

Abacus, 2007, vol. 43, issue 2, 217-240

Abstract: This research examines the financial performance of three entities over a fifteen‐year period. The aim is to determine the influence of corporatization, commercialization and ownership form on the reported financial performance of the three entities. Underpinning this is the premise, derived from the literature, that financial performance and funding can be expected to change following corporatization and commercialization and will reflect the effects of the form of corporate ownership. A comparison of four performance measures shows that the reported financial performance of the entities improved following corporatization and that their gearing changed. Although the entities were initially similar and faced the same regulatory changes, there were definite differences in the resulting financial performance and gearing between the three entities. In general, by the end of the study period the privatized company was the largest and the one with the highest gearing, the highest ROA and the highest profit margin, whereas the public (council‐owned) company was the smallest and had the lowest profitability. The trust‐owned company performed in between these two, but on average its performance was closer to that of the public company. The study concludes that corporatization, commercialization and ownership form influenced financial performance and the level of debt funding.

Date: 2007
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6281.2007.00226.x

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:abacus:v:43:y:2007:i:2:p:217-240

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=0001-3072

Access Statistics for this article

Abacus is currently edited by G.W. Dean and S. Jones

More articles in Abacus from Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().