The study examines the balance sheet structures of both French and west German incorporated firms in manufacturing and their evolution during the last business cycle in the late eighties and early nineties. The point of departure is to focus on the relative importance of the different financing...

Throughout the Member States of the European Union, economic policy debate has centred on the terms of corporate financing, and in particular on whether the companies of each country have sufficient equity to compete in a single market. Moreover, faced with the risk of corporate insolvency,...

After publishing its first report in September 1997, the Own Funds Working Group, in agreement with the European Committee of Central Balance Sheet Offices, decided to continue its work in order to gain a better understanding of the differences in financing structures between countries. To this...