The board's functional emphasis: a contingency approach

Cross-sectional comparisons of costs for municipal services have become more and more common. This article aims to show that these comparisons do not give a true and fair view due to lack of harmonisation in the accounting standards within the local government sector. The article is based on a survey of Swedish water and sewage enterprises. Emphasises has been put on transactions that affects the cost of depreciation and cost of capital tied up in assets.