Financial Health in Australian Local Government: The Application of a Funding Assessment Model to Brisbane and Sydney City Councils |
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Authors: | Nigel Graves Brian Dollery |
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Affiliation: | 1. UNE Business School, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia;2. School of Business and Tourism, Southern Cross University, Coolangatta, Queensland, Australia |
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Abstract: | Local government financial viability measurement in an accrual budgeting environment poses complex challenges. Financial measures frequently generate conflicting results. A rating scale to assess financial management, constructed originally for South African municipalities (Dollery & Graves, 2009), represents a useful tool to analyze financial health trends. Applying a “Likert-like” scale to financial performance measures to assess “funding compliance”, the model in this article assists municipalities to avoid financial difficulties. To demonstrate the applicability of this model, we apply the model to the Brisbane City Council and the Sydney City Councils. Results show that the model represents a valuable aid to financial management decision-making. |
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Keywords: | Financial health financial sustainability local government municipal compliance model |
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