Countries vary widely with respect to the share of government spending on health, a metric that can serve as a proxy for the extent to which health is prioritized by governments. World Health Organization (WHO) data estimate that, in 2011, health's share of aggregate government expenditure in...

It is traditionally claimed that the State has three main categories of policies to implement: allocation, distribution and stabilization policies. In the present chapter we will be concerned only with stabilization policies or, more generally, with the role public policies may have in...

This paper explores the procurement of public buildings in local authorities in the UK under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) and its consequences for small and medium sized enterprises. Following an outline of the development of PFI in the UK, the paper explains the peculiarities of local...

Most of the bankruptcy prediction models developed so far have in common that they are based on quantitative data or more precisely financial ratios. However, useful information can be lost when disregarding soft information. In this work, we develop an automated content analysis technique to...

This study investigates the relationship between intellectual capital (IC) and organisational performance within the context of local governments (LGs). We examine this relationship in the light of both directions of the IC research stream recognised by Mouritsen (2006) as the IC1-ostensive view...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the coexistence of cash accounting and accrual accounting systems through an investigation of the roles they fulfill in Greek municipalities. Design/methodology/approach – The survey results are based on the answers of the financial...

In this paper, we examine the level of information quality obtained by the end-of-the-year accrual financial statements of Greek municipalities in terms of accounting principles compliance. The level of compliance is measured by two alternative compliance indices developed on the basis of data...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of the mandatory adoption of corporate governance mechanisms on serious firm issues (earnings manipulation, management effectiveness and firm's financing). Design/methodology/approach – Cross-sectional analysis is employed to...