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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the implementation of performance measurement systems (PMSs) in Indonesian local government (ILG) using Smart PLS. Couched within an institutional theory framework, it explores a conceptual model developed to explain the hypothesised relationships between technical and organisational factors and the development and use of performance indicators and accountability practices.

Surveys were sent to senior finance officers in all local governments (457) across Indonesia with a response rate of 21.4 percent being achieved. Smart PLS was used to assess the quality of the data and analyse the research model proposed.

Findings revealed that ILGs developed performance indicators more to fulfil regulatory requirements than to make their organisation more effective and efficient. As a way of increasing the success of PMS implementation management commitment through good leadership was found to be a major contributor. Coercive pressure from central government impacted on the result as did normative isomorphism by way of widespread training by universities (and others) and the subsequent sharing of this knowledge.

The findings will assist Indonesian central government formulate future government policy as well as design appropriate strategies for implementing the second wave of (bureaucratic) reform.

Set in a local government environment in a developing country, this research is original and makes three major contributions. First, it provides an understanding of factors influencing the development and use of performance measures in the ILG context. Second, the use of Smart PLS is original in this context and fills a gap in the literature examining local government PMS. Last, the existence of institutional isomorphism reaffirms that this theory is still applicable in the twenty‐first century and relevant as an explanator of the results in the context examined here.

This paper aims to explore the perceived drivers behind the implementation of performance measurement systems (PMSs) in Indonesian local government (ILG). It analytically assesses Indonesia’s attempt to introduce PMSs by addressing three research questions: Do organisations in developing countries actually use PMSs to aid decision-making and help plan for future performance improvement? (RQ1) Do the three isomorphic pressures exist in the development and use of PMSs? (RQ2) and If institutional isomorphism is evident, can accountability exist within the development and use of PMSs given these pressures? (RQ3).

This research explores the perceived drivers behind the implementation of performance measurement systems (PMSs) in Indonesian local government (ILG). It analytically assesses Indonesia’s attempt to introduce a PMS by addressing three research questions: RQ1 Do organisations in developing countries actually use PMSs to aid decision-making and help plan for future performance improvement? RQ2 Do the three isomorphic pressures exist in the development and use of PMSs? and RQ3 If institutional isomorphism is evident, can accountability exist within the development and use of PMSs given these pressures.

Results determined that although employees perceived coercive isomorphism as being a driver of ILG compliance with President B.J. Habibie’s presidential instruction (Inpres No. 7/1999), the Laporan Akuntabilitas Kinerja Institusi Pemerintah/Performance Accountability Report of State Apparatus (known as LAKIP), many councils were still not reporting and those who were, were not doing it well. Many councils lacked management motivation, with some choosing to merely mimic (mimetic isomorphism) what others were doing. Better-resourced councils made use of external consultants or local universities where knowledge was shared (normative isomorphism).

An understanding of factors influencing the development and use of performance measures, in turn, can be used not only to improve PMSs in the future but to improve the quantity and quality of LAKIP reporting.

The theoretical development and interpretation of this research is drawn from institutional theory with a major contribution being that it provides an in-depth conceptual overview and understanding of factors influencing the development and use of performance measures. Further, it fills a gap in the literature exploring PMSs and accountability in a developing country – in this case, Indonesia.

The Institute for Local Government is a research and knowledge exchange partnership which was established to facilitate collaboration between some of the North East’s major public sector institutions and its academic community drawn from the region’s Universities.

This chapter presents a summary and reflection on its roles, activities, funding, outputs and outcomes, operational experience, the problems of long-term sustainability and the lessons that can be drawn from this pioneering initiative in the North East throughout the last decade and the implications for the next decade.

The purpose of this paper is to present a study of how quality improvement tools and techniques are framed within healthcare settings.

The paper employs an interpretive approach to understand how quality improvement tools and techniques are mobilised and legitimated. It does so using a case study of the NHS Modernisation Agency Improvement Leaders' Guides in England.

Improvement Leaders' Guides were framed within a service improvement approach encouraging the use of quality improvement tools and techniques within healthcare settings. Their use formed part of enacting tools and techniques across different contexts. Whilst this enactment was believed to support the mobilisation of tools and techniques, the experience also illustrated the challenges in distributing such approaches.

The paper provides an important contribution in furthering our understanding of framing the “social act” of quality improvement. Given the ongoing emphasis on quality improvement in health systems and the persistent challenges involved, it also provides important information for healthcare leaders globally in seeking to develop, implement or modify similar tools and distribute leadership within health and social care settings.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the implementation of performance measurement tools by medium-to-large size Italian Local Governments (ILGs) with the aim of establishing their position in comparison with the content of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board’s (IPSASB’s) Consultation Paper (CP) on Reporting Service Performance Information and the points of views of other countries.

A survey of all ILGs with more than 50,000 inhabitants has been carried out with the objective of evaluating which kind of performance management tools are implemented; moreover, these results are compared with the content of the IPSASB’s CP to evaluate the role of this guide as well as the main differences between the IPSASB’s approach and the current situation in Italy.

Data collected highlight that several performance measurement tools required by law are generally prepared in ILGs even if a limited use of them for decision-making or accountability purposes occurs. Moreover, in accordance with the opinions of the countries that submitted letters of comment to IPSASB’s CP, Italian results reveal that information on the scope of the service performance information, on the entity’s objectives and their achievement, including a narrative discussion of this achievement, are perceived as relevant.

The research investigates the future development of the CP by analyzing the points of view of the countries that submitted letters of comments to IPSASB. It also examines whether the current Italian situation is in line with the IPSASB’s position.

Intellectual capital (IC) is attracting increasing attention from scholars and practitioners in the private sector, while research in the public sector is still in its embryonic stage, especially in regards to local governments. The purpose of this paper is to fill this gap by channelling conceptual and empirical findings from the large body of IC literature.

The research investigates IC in action in the local government domain. A survey has been carried out involving both managers and politicians of all Italian local governments (ILGs) with more than 40,000 inhabitants. In order to define the constituents of each IC dimension perceived by ILGs, principal component analysis was used in investigating the results.

Results highlights how IC components are perceived in ILGs: human capital is a combination of aptitudes in pursuing target performances, sense of ownership and motivations; relational capital is a combination of values, relationships and acts; structural capital includes procedures and routines supporting the decision-making process, the ability of achieving objectives and handling changes.

While the research findings are limited due to being based on a survey in a single country, they present opportunities for future research regarding further testing of how IC is perceived in LGs in different context. The conclusion could be beneficial also for standard setters, providing a path to support the IC disclosure by LGs.

The paper contributes to a narrow strand of research – IC in LGs – adding new knowledge in “IC in action” research stream.

This paper seeks to analyse social report guidelines and practices within Italian local governments (ILGs). First, it compares the contents of the two Italian governmental guidelines for developing social reports in public sector organisations with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guideline, to determine similarities and differences in disclosures. Second, it examines a group of social reports issued by ILGs, to explore the incidence, frequency, and quality of disclosure, as against the GRI guideline.

The study uses content analysis to test the nature/content of the governmental guidelines, and to determine what was disclosed in a group of ILGs' social reports. The paper analyses the social reports by applying the Guthrie and Farneti coding instrument, extended by including the Italian governmental guidelines.

Several observations emerge from the present study. First, from the comparison of the GRI and the Italian governmental guidelines, it emerges that only a few categories of the latter are similar to the GRI and these concern mainly general aspects. Second, the disclosure of categories and elements in the social reports, as against the coding instrument, was found to be fragmentary. The paper concludes that the Italian governmental guidelines are of a managerial nature, and they have little to do with sustainability, except for aspects related to labour.

Little research has been published on social reporting practices within the public sector, unlike the private sector. In Italy social reports are an emerging practice, with a growing interest paid by the government and academia. Nevertheless, published research is mainly of a normative nature, and there is a gap on what actually is in social reports.

This study aims to analyze whether and how a set of financial ratios calculated on the basis of financial statement information would allow auditors of Italian local governments (LGs) to get an indication of LGs’ financial distress risk and, hence, to support politicians and managers in promptly detecting financial distress.

A model comprising a set of financial indicators that would distinguish distressed from not distressed LGs through a logistic regression approach has been estimated and applied to Italian LGs. The model is built on the basis of information pertaining to 44 distressed and 53 not distressed LGs for up to five years prior to bankruptcy and covers the period 2003-2012.

The model reveals that the percentage of personnel expenses over revenues, the turnover ratio of short-term liabilities over current revenues and the reliance on subsidies (calculated as subsidies per capita) are factors discriminating non-distressed LGs from the distressed ones.

The model could have political and practical implications. The possible use of this model as a complementary tool in auditing activities might be helpful for auditors in detecting financial distress promptly, thus potentially enabling politicians and managers to search for different ways to manage public resources to avoid the detrimental consequences related to the declaration of distress.

This model, contrary to existing models that use accrual accounting data, is applicable to LGs that adopt a modified cash accounting basis.

Property returns are normally measured against the target rate for similar investments with comparable risks and liquidity. However, this analysis is normally undertaken in nominal terms and thus the risk of inflation, as it affects different investments, is not fully quantified. This paper seeks to analyse the effect of inflation on property investments.

This article examines the impact of inflation on gilt returns and relates this to property risk.

Investors may take a more pessimistic view of future inflation as an investment risk than the current official indices would indicate. In this context it may be that retail price index (RPI) and index adjusted for mortgage payments (RPIX) are not reliable indicators of inflation risk. It has been suggested that the difference between the two species of gilts as “a calculation of inflation expectations should be regarded with suspicion because of the volume of index linked bonds is so small that individual trades can move the market”.

Economists and financial advisers and commentators have long recognised that inflation, in the sense of the tendency of the value of a currency to decline in purchasing power, distorts the picture of the worth, not only of individual assets but also of the whole economy. In this respect investment advisers often, in presenting their arguments, use yields that are net of the rate of experienced inflation taken from the performance of the RPI or the RPIX. Unless there is an understanding of the risk of inflation on property investments, such net rates may be misleading.

This study adds to the literature exploring the effect of inflation on property returns.

In the common law of the United ¹Kingdom the objective of any award of damages in personal injuries litigation is to achieve as nearly as possible full compensation for the claimant in respect of the injury sustained.² To achieve that objective the court seeks to award such sum as is notionally required to be laid out in the purchase of an annuity which will provide an annual amount equivalent to the loss for the whole period of the loss.³ The basis of the calculation is an assumed annuity. The court makes an assumption about how the award will be invested.⁴ Lord Fraser of Tullybelton in Cookson v. Knowles ⁵ put it thus:The assumed annuity will be made up partly of income on the principal sum awarded, and partly of capital obtained by gradual encroachment of the principal. The income element will be at its largest at the beginning of the period and will tend to decline, while the capital element will tend to increase until the principal is exhausted.The court is not, in fact, concerned with how the award will be spent:How the Plaintiffs will in fact invest their damages is, of course, irrelevant. That is a question for them. It cannot affect the calculation.⁶