Financial Management and Effectiveness in Public Service Organizations: The CIPFA FM Model

Improving services in the public sector is not just about front-line delivery—effective governance and financial management are key drivers for public bodies on the improvement path. Regulatory frameworks are putting these elements in the spotlight as they seek to track additional investment and its impact on services. No longer just about accounting for the money and demonstrating stewardship, financial management in the public services is about giving the right decision support and enabling the right choices. Modern public bodies need to make sure they are financially literate throughout their operations to meet their organizational goals effectively. Self-assessment and improvement planning can work for financial management and a framework developed by public finance professionals in the UK's public sector is described in this article. The article draws upon the CIPFA FM Model that is to be launched in Summer 2004.     

Electronic Finance: Reshaping the Financial Landscape Around the World

In recent years, the emergence of electronic finance—especially online banking and brokerage services, and new trading systems—has reshaped the financial landscape around the world. This paper reviews these developments and finds that they are greatly impacting the structure of and competition in financial services industries and will have a large impact on incumbents. Its assessment of how e-finance, and globalization more generally, affects countries highlights the need for changes in four financial sector policy areas—safety and soundness, competition policy, consumer and investor protection, and global public policies—to mitigate risks and reap as much as possible the potential benefits of e-finance.     

The use of the Internet for corporate reporting in the Mercosur (Southern common market): The Argentina case

This study examines disclosure practices on the websites of companies listed on the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange. We perform content analysis to provide evidence on Internet reporting practices by 84 publicly traded firms. We also identify the characteristics of firms that communicate financial and non-financial information on the Internet. We find that companies in the financial and insurance, services and mining industries disclose more financial and non-financial information on their websites than companies in other industries. The average concentration of ownership is 68%, with 27% of the companies being controlled by foreign groups. Those companies with higher concentration disclose more financial and non financial information than companies with less concentration. Companies in the financial and insurance and service industries, utilize their websites for commercial purposes to facilitate access to customers to their accounts and also to sell services. This e-commerce usage of websites is less developed in other industries. About 71% of companies in the financial and insurance industry are included in the Merval25 index and are audited by Big 4. These companies are both larger in size and less profitable than companies in other industries. We find that profitability and leverage do not have significant effect on corporate Internet reporting practices and that growth has negative effect on corporate Internet reporting practices. We also find that companies in the mining sector provide significantly more disclosure about social responsibility indicating a desire to improve the public image of harming the environment. The results documented, herein, extend the literature on voluntary disclosure of financial and non-financial information using the Internet in emerging markets.     

Cognitive catalysts for distrust in financial services markets: An integrative review

The growing recognition for the role of trust in financial services transactions has become more evident since the global financial crisis. A dominant perspective arising from this recognition has been regarding the responsibility of financial services providers for the depletion of consumer trust in the financial services sector. However, the loss of trust that may result in many financial transactions can also be attributed to consumers’ own lack of discipline and poor knowledge of financial matters. In this article four cognitive phenomena that inhibit consumers’ information processing abilities and contribute to the depletion of trust in financial services transactions will be discussed. The responsibilities of marketers, regulators and educators in equipping consumers with the means to overcome these cognitive limitations in order to improve their financial decision quality are discussed.     

The effect of corporate social responsibility on the branding of financial services

In today's global world, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is increasing public demand for greater transparency from multinational companies. CSR is a new and growing financial risk factor. If it is mismanaged, a firm's corporate reputation can be badly damaged and a direct negative impact on its business and bottom-line may result. Instead of simply campaigning directly against industrial groups and lobbying governments and international organisations to issue new legislation, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are increasingly putting pressure on the financial services groups and insurance companies. This new global tactic may affect a bank's relationship with its clients and shareholders.There are market benefits and competitive advantages for those companies whose business policies integrate CSR. The growth in socially responsible investments and in CSR awareness among City people persuades some bankers that the most successful firms of the future will be those who proactively balance short-term financial goals with long-term sustainable franchise building. To respond to this challenge, corporations will have to convince citizens they can trust both their brands and the people behind them. In this context, one must recognise that finance brands have been clumsily managed. Nowadays, several big consumer brands are used as societal role models, but they are also the targets of anti-globalisation and anti-logo activists. In order to avoid such an outcome — not to mention corporate mortification — the key social marketing strategy must be to communicate proactively the business activity's raison d'être to opinion leaders and the general public. In general, industry does not yet care enough and many companies are reacting only when put under pressure by public opinion. It is time, however, to market the social raison d'être of a business and indeed to contest its current exclusion from ‘civil society’. Consumer and service sectors lead the field. In view of the downturn of the global economy, more than ever before, CSR branding is of paramount importance to the financial sector if bankers do not want to become the easy scapegoats. It is necessary to make it clear that financial services companies are global citizens too.     

Affluent mature consumers: Preference and patronisation for financial services

Mature consumers have long been recognised as an important segment of market that no marketers of financial-service providers could ignore. The segment itself, however, is not homogeneous. Our study further segments the market basing on income and contrasts the differences between upscale mature consumers and lower scale ones in terms of their preference and patronisation for financial services. The study based on two large-scale studies designed to generate information that would fill gaps in our existing knowledge about upscale older consumers. Implications are discussed for marketers of financial services to fine-tune their differentiation strategies.     

Return Dependence and the Limits of Product Diversification in Financial Firms

Copula‐GARCH models indicate dependence between bank returns and those to insurance underwriting, securities brokerage, and mortgage finance increased during the recent crisis. In contrast, dependence between banks and the broader market was little changed. The crisis‐related jump in return dependence within the financial services sector was greatest for banks that had previously appeared the most independent. Larger banks were also especially prone to increased dependence. These findings raise doubts about the ability of financial conglomerates to diversify effectively and highlight the need for policy progress in methods for resolving such institutions should they become illiquid or insolvent.     

PROFILING: A STRATEGY FOR SUCCESSFUL VOLUNTEER RECRUITMENT IN CREDIT UNIONS

Credit unions are non‐profit financial organisations that provide financial services to their members. They are located in 97 countries across the world. All credit unions are governed by a volunteer board and many are reliant on volunteers for all their labour requirements. However, recruiting volunteers is a problem. The literature on recruitment issues in volunteering in general, suggests that the not‐for‐profit sector looks to the private sector for guidance on recruitment policies and approaches. One such approach which is considered in this paper is ‘market segmentation’ wherein the potential volunteer body is profiled to determine if an individual is likely to volunteer and if they are, to identify the type of role they are most likely to be attracted to. Prior literature on volunteering in non‐profit organisations suggests that certain types of individual (dominant individuals) are more likely to volunteer. This paper investigates whether this dominant status profile is evident amongst volunteers in credit unions in Northern Ireland (NI). The study finds that people with dominant characteristics are more likely to be attracted to volunteering to the board of directors and individuals who have less dominant traits overall should be offered more social/participative type roles. This information can be used by credit union governing boards for volunteer recruitment, retention and management purposes.     

Social services: More care for less money

Local authority social service departments are not the only providers of care. In most communities, private and voluntary organisations provide alternatives, which usually remain firmly outside the public sector. Wiltshire, with some backing from central government, has sought to make the most effective use of those alternatives, both in terms of care and cost.     

A Trusteeship Theory of Accounting for Natural Capital Assets

One of the problems encountered in implementing accrual accounting in the government sector is that of accounting for natural capital assets provided freely to government and which are used as public goods. Professional accounting standards require that these assets be valued and included in the government's statement of assets and liabilities. The problem is not encountered in business accrual accounting because business neither acquires assets freely nor provides services to the public on a non-commercial basis.
Various issues surrounding accrual accounting for natural capital assets used as public goods are examined in this article. The nature and characteristics of such assets, and the distinctions between private goods and public goods markets, are first explained to set the context for examination of the issues. Then the issues as to whether natural capital assets should be treated as assets for accounting purposes and included in the government's statement of financial position are analysed according to FASB standards; it is concluded that they are not assets. Rather, it is proposed that these assets used for the provision of non-commercial services to the public should be treated in a separate category as public goods assets which are held in trust by the government on behalf of the nation, for the benefit of current and future generations and for the preservation of the natural ecology of the nation. Commercial valuations are not relevant for these assets and they need not be valued in financial terms for their good management.     

All customers are not treated equally: Financial exclusion in isolated Greek islands

Most of the previous research on banking examined only the banking needs of core customers. The views of people experiencing financial exclusion are unknown, but some of the excluded customer segments may have been habitually overlooked by financial service providers. This study investigated the financial needs and the views on ATM usage of a sample of 359 people living in remote Greek islands, who have never experienced financial inclusion. Furthermore, the views of inhabitants who have always lived in the area and are used to this situation are contrasted with the views of those who have lived for a part of their lives in other regions. The results show that they all express some dissatisfaction about the financial services provided. Moreover, those who have lived elsewhere express more dissatisfation with the provided services.     

Tracking Resource Use in a Welfare Organization: Needs, Costs and Co-production

Public sector welfare organizations are situated at the sharp end of resource allocations in society and must cope in an environment where demand frequently far exceeds supply. In consequence, the resource problem of meeting the need for social welfare is never fully resolvable and evaluations of the ways in which scarce resources are used within the public sector are of critical importance for public policy. This paper draws on an empirical study of a welfare service for homeless young people in order to illustrate, first, the cost implications of two different approaches to service delivery (one more superficial – termed 'people-processing'; one more in depth – termed, 'people-changing') and, second, how the characteristics of the clients served (in particular, their ability to fully engage with the service termed –'co-production') can have a marked impact on the cost of the services delivered to them.     

Eliminating entry barriers for the provision of banking services: Evidence from ‘banking correspondents’ in Brazil

This paper shows that the contractual arrangement of ‘banking correspondents’ has eliminated entry barriers for the provision of banking services in Brazil. With the bank correspondents, banks are allowed to reach the almost 2200 municipalities without bank branches in 2000, connecting 45 million people to the financial sector. The evidence is based on the estimation of an entry model of financial providers in Brazilian municipalities. I estimate a zero population entry threshold for banking correspondents for the period from 2002 to 2007. The estimated population entry thresholds for bank branches in the same period are relatively stable at approximately 8000–9000 people. The population entry thresholds for the second to fifth players for banking correspondents are also consistently lower than those for bank branches.     

改进商业银行居民理财服务的几点建议

随着社会经济的发展,我国居民可支配收入不断增加,同时对通胀预期的敏感性也在增加,银行原有的储蓄、汇兑等产品已不能满足居民的理财需求,居民个人理财业务具有较好的市场前景。针对商业银行理财业务现状,该文提出,商业银行应树立以客户为中心的理财服务核心观念,加强个人理财产品的设计与开发,并帮助客户把好投资风险关,以不断改进其理财业务的服务水平。     

Independent financial adviser (IFA)-based brand equity pyramid

This paper aims to evaluate the applicability of the existing brand equity pyramid models in the context of independent financial advisers (IFAs) in the UK financial services sector. Nine in-depth interviews with IFAs and nine in-depth corroboration interviews with senior marketing managers and employees in one of the UK’s largest financial services providers were undertaken for the purpose of the study. The findings indicate that when applied in the context of IFAs, the existing brand equity pyramid models require modification. These findings lead to the development of an IFA-based brand equity pyramid. The new model can provide insight for financial services marketing academics and practitioners on how IFAs perceive and evaluate financial services brands to be recommended to their customers. Our findings will help financial services providers to develop strong brands in the mind of IFAs.

     

IDENTIFYING THE MODERATOR FACTORS OF FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE IN GREEK MUNICIPALITIES

The use of financial ratios is a widespread method for assessing the financial performance of private sector companies. However, the application of an analogous exercise in the public sector is a less straightforward one. In the later case it is a multifaceted task that involves judgments about the interplay of complex social, organizational and financial factors. In this paper we use accrual end of the year financial statements data of Greek Municipalities for the period 2002–2004 to compute nine commonly used performance assessment financial ratios. We find corroborative evidence that factors, which are exogenous to the municipalities’ control, such as their wealth and size, have statistically significant impact on ratio values. Thus, as financial ratios are significantly influenced by socio‐economic factors like municipal wealth and size, cross sectional comparisons on the basis of these ratios should be made with caution and performed for municipalities that exhibit similarities in terms of size and wealth.     

Speaking my language?

The competitive nature of the financial services sector means that financial organisations have to work harder than many other sectors to communicate with customers, to retain their business and to cross-sell additional products or services. This paper addresses the current state of Customer Relationship Management in the sector and the public perception of how well it targets its customer communications. It suggests that an improvement in targeted marketing standards could lift the sector out of its worsening record on customer retention.     

我国区际民生类公共服务投入力度比较及均等化对策研究

公共服务均等化是公共财政的重要目标,是实现社会公平的基本尺度之一。实证研究证实近年来我国区际公共服务差异程度有所减小,表明财政投入对实现基本公共服务均等化发挥了重要作用,但仍需在制度建设等方面做出更大的努力。     

科技金融二元融资模式的国际比较及启示

科技型中小企业为提高社会创新水平和推动经济发展贡献重要力量,囿于其高投入、高风险的特点而需要更有力的金融支持,国外科技金融的相关经验与做法值得借鉴。文章采用比较研究方法,从科技金融体系的公共性和商业性两大金融属性,比较分析国外金融服务科技型中小企业的公共科技金融和市场科技金融二元融资模式,阐述其理论机制并总结其经验特征。针对我国科技金融存在的问题,提出金融支持科技型中小企业发展的基本建议。     

金融消费者保护（AEA2011年会哈佛论文,上）

近期的金融危机使得很多人开始质疑企业在提供服务方面的表现,而对于消费者金融市场中存在的问题,监管机构的处理能力也同样受到质疑。本文论述了消费者金融监管问题,重点对市场失灵的监管、金融决策中有限消费理性的监管进行全方位深入地探讨。本文引用了三个案例：按揭市场、发薪日贷款以及退休消费融资,通过案例分析来说明监管的必要性及有限性。我们认为,只有当监管是针对具体问题所设定,并以监管干预的有效性评估研究为辅助,那么此项监管才会是有益的。