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International audience; In consequence of global financial crisis, central states implemented a range of recovery plans, austerity measures and cutback strategies creating significant challenges to local governments. This article studies the influence of (adverse) national adoptions in the fiscal regulatory framework on local revenues and expenditures. Building on economic theory, we evolve a set of hypothesis on local fiscal policies. To test those ones, we use panel regressions of more than 1.000 Italian municipalities over the 2008 to 2015 period. Italy is a particular suitable case for this research, as financial crisis hit intensively and central government implemented multiple changes in the institutional framework creating essential instability for local governments. Overall, Italian municipalities show specific patterns of financial decisions in reaction to revenue grants, i.e. positive effects on current and capital expenditures and on own revenues. We also found that changes in the legal and financial framework influenced patterns for capital and personnel expenditures, suggesting that certain patterns of reaction are more contingent than other ones. Moreover, this study contributes to the understanding of regulatory instability on local level decision-making, showing that instability cancels the influence of some usual determinants.

International audience; The growing range of risks and crises of the 21st century constitutes a real challenge for territories. The focus today is on the resilience capacities to be developed. These capacities oscillate in the literature between individual, organisational and territorial dimensions, without any real integrated approach linking them. This research studies the conceptual and practical articulation between territorial resilience and public finance. It explores the resilience strategies of 8 European cities and the way they articulate their strategic thinking on territorial and financial resilience. Despite non-homogeneous practices, our results reveal a relatively small articulation.; La gamme croissante de risques et de crises de ce 21ème siècle constitue un véritable défi pour les territoires. L’accent est mis aujourd’hui sur les capacités de résilience à développer. Ces dernières oscillent dans la littérature entre dimensions individuelle, organisationnelle ou territoriale, sans véritable approche intégrée les liant. Cette recherche étudie l’articulation tant conceptuelle que pratique entre résilience territoriale et finances publiques. Elle explore les stratégies de résilience de 8 villes européennes et la manière dont elles articulent leur réflexion stratégique en matière de résilience territoriale et financière. Malgré des pratiques non homogènes, nos résultats révèlent une articulation relativement embryonnaire.

International audience

International audience

International audience; The global financial crisis has challenged local governments (LGs) as they are specific targets for restoring public finances in many countries. The shock has been more or less intense depending on the national context and policies, and on individual situations and strategies. Our research aims at better understanding how perceived national, local and internal factors of vulnerability have influenced the reaction of LGs to the global financial crisis. We found that (a) municipalities react to national economic trends depending on the municipality austerity policies imposed by the central state, (b) local factors seem not always significant, as they might influence long-term instead of short-term financial policies, and (c) there are similar reactions across countries on revenues and expenditures to grants variation, short-term financial distress and budget rigidity.

International audience

International audience; This research locates within the stream of research interested in understanding the effects of the global financial crisis on LGs financial management. Our conceptual framework is used to logically organize relevant literature and builds upon a qualitative research approach on management of austerity in LGs by Cepiku et al. (2016). This is then applied to our quantitative analysis of municipalities in France and Italy. As this is a first stage of research, the conceptual framework is only partially applied.

International audience; The 2008 crisis has damaged or weakened most European Local Governments (LGs)’ financial situation. The shock has been more or less intense depending on the national context and policies, and on individual situations and strategies. After the crisis, different and successive types of recovery plans, austerity measures, and institutional reforms have been implemented by States, with several diverse effects on LGs’ situation. The previous situation of LGs in terms of financial autonomy, State protection or local responsibilities and actions also influenced their post crisis situation, not to mention the provision of bankruptcy in certain nations. At the individual level, depending on their size and capacities, LGs followed different strategies to cope with the crisis and the decrease in public resources. Taking a short or longer term perspective, LGs have had various options, from brutal cost cuts to more elaborated restructuring of their actions and missions even by outsourcing, from basic fiscal leverage to new strategies for enhancing revenues. In order to study the influence of both national and individual characteristics, this paper proposes a quantitative comparative study, based on a unique database of French and Italian LGs financial data, from 2006 to 2014, where financial data have been reclassified according to recent developments in the field (CEFG Group, 2015). It provides some descriptive statistics and mean comparisons of the evolution of key financial indicators from 2006 to 2014: global revenues, operating balance, part of tax resources in global revenues, level and cost of debt, level of operating expenses and personnel costs, level of investment expenses. The study focus on municipalities between 50 000 and 1 million inhabitants (122 municipalities in France, 145 in Italy).

International audience; The 2008 crisis has damaged or weakened most European Local Governments (LGs)’ financial situation. The shock has been more or less intense depending on the national context and policies, and on individual situations and strategies. After the crisis, different and successive types of recovery plans, austerity measures, and institutional reforms have been implemented by States, with several diverse effects on LGs’ situation. The previous situation of LGs in terms of financial autonomy, State protection or local responsibilities and actions also influenced their post crisis situation, not to mention the provision of bankruptcy in certain nations. At the individual level, depending on their size and capacities, LGs followed different strategies to cope with the crisis and the decrease in public resources. Taking a short or longer term perspective, LGs have had various options, from brutal cost cuts to more elaborated restructuring of their actions and missions even by outsourcing, from basic fiscal leverage to new strategies for enhancing revenues. In order to study the influence of both national and individual characteristics, this paper proposes a quantitative comparative study, based on a unique database of French and Italian LGs financial data, from 2006 to 2014, where financial data have been reclassified according to recent developments in the field (CEFG Group, 2015). It provides some descriptive statistics and mean comparisons of the evolution of key financial indicators from 2006 to 2014: global revenues, operating balance, part of tax resources in global revenues, level and cost of debt, level of operating expenses and personnel costs, level of investment expenses. The study focus on municipalities between 50 000 and 1 million inhabitants (122 municipalities in France, 145 in Italy).

International audience; Cet article propose une analyse des décisions d’arbitrage budgétaire, dans les communes françaises, entre les recettes fiscales et tarifaires, et de leur évolution en période d’austérité. Cette notion d’arbitrage est précisée juridiquement, et analysée sous l’angle de la décision politique et des outils au service du manager public. Une étude qualitative portant sur quatre communes françaises faisant face à la baisse des dotations de l’Etat apporte un éclairage terrain à cette recherche. L’article met en avant les facteurs influençant le processus d’arbitrage : potentiel du levier, pression fiscale ou tarifaire existante, éléments historiques et géographiques, perception des souhaits de la population. Il montre la vision ambiguë qu’ont les managers du levier tarifaire et souligne une hétérogénéité des pratiques et des perceptions. Il montre la forte inertie dont souffre la détermination du niveau des ressources et comment la crise est venue bousculer cette situation et a permis d’affiner les méthodes d’arbitrage budgétaire.

International audience; Context. The issue of fiscal sustainability has affected not only central governments but also – and in some instances with more severe impacts – local governments (LGs) especially in contexts with high autonomy. This has exacerbated, at both the operational and scientific level, the issue of having effective measurement systems and assessment methodologies to detect, and therefore to prevent, financial defaults. Accounting plays an important role to understand the financial health of local governments. Yet, not only the debate about which system of accounts is more suitable for this purpose is still open, but also the growing development of overlaps and linkages within governments and private-sector organizations to provide local services in the era of the so-called " network governance " (e.g., outsourcing, public-private partnership, and, in some countries, the increasing phenomenon of public owned enterprises) and the intertwining of fiscal rules provided by central governments as well as the differentiated effects of local economies have tangled further. Problem. A greater need for cross countries comparative financial health analysis has emerged for several years, not only to compare central governments, but also LGs, especially in those supra-national settings like the EU. The work on international accounting standards is a great move toward more accurate cross country comparisons. However, the cultural background, the risks and protections offered by each country to LGs may lead to different financial health analysis's objectives and to various methodologies and focuses, that cannot be taken into account by accounting standards only. Objective. The paper offers to identify and discuss practitioners' visions of LGs' financial health and their objectives when assessing LGs' financial health. What do they consider to be a " bad financial situation " ? It aims at understanding the perceived influence of national environment (legislation, accounting reliability, LG perimeter…) on financial analysis objectives and methods, and operates a comparison of Italian and French situation on these issues. Method. To do so, we use a qualitative methodology. Several practitioners in France and in Italy will be interviewed: financial managers in local governments, public auditors and bankers that work in the context of LGs' economies (factoring services to LGs' providers, dealer of LGs' bonds, borrowing to LGs). The content of interviews will be analyzed through a thematic analysis. The main themes that will emerge in France and Italy will be compared and discussed. The qualitative methodology aims at identifying the practitioners' views, without measuring their representativeness. How LGs' " financial health " and " financial risk " is shaped, the methodology used to assess financial health, and issues such as LG perimeter, accounting reliability and country specificities will be discussed. Originality and value. The study aims at giving an overview of elements that should be taken into account for cross cultural financial health analysis, beyond issues of accounting harmonization. Usual cross cultural financial analysis methods neglects differences in risk vision, and in LG's perimeter. The paper aims at giving insights to decision makers of how to interpret and understand the financial situation of foreign LG.

International audience; Context. The issue of fiscal sustainability has affected not only central governments but also – and in some instances with more severe impacts – local governments (LGs) especially in contexts with high autonomy. This has exacerbated, at both the operational and scientific level, the issue of having effective measurement systems and assessment methodologies to detect, and therefore to prevent, financial defaults. Accounting plays an important role to understand the financial health of local governments. Yet, not only the debate about which system of accounts is more suitable for this purpose is still open, but also the growing development of overlaps and linkages within governments and private-sector organizations to provide local services in the era of the so-called " network governance " (e.g., outsourcing, public-private partnership, and, in some countries, the increasing phenomenon of public owned enterprises) and the intertwining of fiscal rules provided by central governments as well as the differentiated effects of local economies have tangled further. Problem. A greater need for cross countries comparative financial health analysis has emerged for several years, not only to compare central governments, but also LGs, especially in those supra-national settings like the EU. The work on international accounting standards is a great move toward more accurate cross country comparisons. However, the cultural background, the risks and protections offered by each country to LGs may lead to different financial health analysis's objectives and to various methodologies and focuses, that cannot be taken into account by accounting standards only. Objective. The paper offers to identify and discuss practitioners' visions of LGs' financial health and their objectives when assessing LGs' financial health. What do they consider to be a " bad financial situation " ? It aims at understanding the perceived influence of national environment (legislation, accounting reliability, LG perimeter…) on financial analysis objectives and methods, and operates a comparison of Italian and French situation on these issues. Method. To do so, we use a qualitative methodology. Several practitioners in France and in Italy will be interviewed: financial managers in local governments, public auditors and bankers that work in the context of LGs' economies (factoring services to LGs' providers, dealer of LGs' bonds, borrowing to LGs). The content of interviews will be analyzed through a thematic analysis. The main themes that will emerge in France and Italy will be compared and discussed. The qualitative methodology aims at identifying the practitioners' views, without measuring their representativeness. How LGs' " financial health " and " financial risk " is shaped, the methodology used to assess financial health, and issues such as LG perimeter, accounting reliability and country specificities will be discussed. Originality and value. The study aims at giving an overview of elements that should be taken into account for cross cultural financial health analysis, beyond issues of accounting harmonization. Usual cross cultural financial analysis methods neglects differences in risk vision, and in LG's perimeter. The paper aims at giving insights to decision makers of how to interpret and understand the financial situation of foreign LG.

International audience; This paper proposes a reflection on the financial analysis of French local governments, by focusing on the reality of financial risks, the objectives to be set, the information available and the methods used.The originality of the approach is to compare the theoretical literature with the vision and methods of practitioners through the use of qualitative interviews.It shows the weakness of solvency risks, and identifies the citizen as the ultimate risk bearer. It points to the importance of studying self financing capacity and the rooms for manoeuvre. Finally, it discusses the limitations of accounting information and the impact on the methods used: few analysis of the balance sheet, difficulties in understanding the financial situation of the local government on its entire scope.The use of ratios seems to be the most appropriate method to meet the objectives. This paper proposes a discussion on the most relevant ones to characterize the financial situation of local governments.; Cette communication propose une réflexion autour de l’analyse financière des collectivités locales françaises, en s’intéressant à la réalité des risques financiers encourus, aux objectifs qui doivent être fixés, à l’information disponible et aux méthodes utilisées. L’originalité de l’approche est de confronter la littérature théorique à la vision et aux méthodes des praticiens grâce à une série d’entretiens qualitatifs.Ce papier éclaire ainsi la faiblesse des risques de solvabilité, et identifie le citoyen comme porteur final, si ce n’est unique, des risques. Il pointe l’importance de l’étude de l’autofinancement et des marges de manœuvre des collectivités. Enfin, il examine les limites de l’information comptable et ses conséquences sur les méthodes utilisées : peu d’analyse du bilan et de la situation patrimoniale malgré les évolutions comptables, difficultés à appréhender la situation financière sur l’ensemble du périmètre d’une collectivité. L’utilisation de ratios semble être la méthode la plus pertinente pour répondre aux objectifs fixés. Le papier propose une discussion sur les ratios les plus pertinents pour éclairer la situation financière des collectivités.

National audience; Afin de réduire l’impact environnemental de ses bâtiments publics, la Région « Verte » pionnière en matière d’initiatives durables a signé un contrat de performance énergétique avec le groupement de projet Verdya. L’étude de cas décrit la procédure qui a amené la Région à choisir le cadre du CPE pour la rénovation de 10 lycées. Il présente également la structure juridique et financière retenue pour porter le projet, ainsi que l’allocation contractuelle des risques entre partenaires.

International audience; This paper studies payout policies of listed family firms. The recent evolutions of family firms models bring to study two types of agency conflicts, the one between shareholders and manager (type I), and the one between majority and minority shareholders (type II). Our results show that payout policies are related to the intensity of the two types of agency conflicts which are overall less strong than in non family firms.; L'objectif de cette étude est d'analyser la relation entre les politiques de distribution des entreprises familiales cotées et deux grands types de conflits d'agence dans les entreprises familiales, entre actionnaires et dirigeant (type I), et entre actionnaires majoritaires et minoritaires (type II). Les résultats sur les entreprises du SBF 250 montrent que les montants distribués sont liés à ces deux composantes du conflit d'agence, qui est globalement moins fort dans les entreprises familiales.

International audience; This paper studies the consequences of having a government in the shareholding of a company, in term of performance, governance structure and firms objectives. In an empirical part, it compares listed firms owned by the French government to comparable private companies. It focuses on four dimensions: financial performance, financial policies, corporate governance and the repartition of power between three main stakeholders of the firm: shareholders, top managers and employees. Results show that performance and financial policies of public firms are close to private companies ones. However, the government induces a different governance structure and repartition of power and wealth between managers and employees. Thus, employees appear to capture a larger part of profit and power to the detriment of top managers. They are better paid and participate more to the decision process than in equivalent private firms. However, shareholders do not seem to suffer from this different sharing out. The French government treats himself as any private shareholder who seeks profit: dividend policy and stock price performance do not differ from a private company.; Cet article étudie les conséquences de l’actionnariat de l’Etat sur la performance, la structure de gouvernance et les objectifs des entreprises cotées. A travers une étude empirique, cette recherche compare les entreprises détenues partiellement par l’Etat français à des entreprises privées de même taille et secteur. L’article se concentre sur quatre dimensions : la performance financière, les politiques financières, la structure de gouvernance et la répartition du pouvoir entre trois des principales parties prenantes de l’entreprise : les actionnaires, les dirigeants et les salariés. Les résultats ne montrent aucune différence entre entreprises publiques et privées dans la performance et les politiques financières menées. En revanche, les structures de gouvernance et la répartition du pouvoir entre parties prenantes diffèrent. Dans les entreprises cotées publiques, les employées détiennent plus de pouvoir et récupèrent une plus large part du profit. Pour autant, cette répartition spécifique ne vient pas au détriment de la valeur actionnariale puisque les politiques de dividende et la performance de l’action ne différent pas de celles des entreprises privées.

International audience; L'objectif de cet article est de mieux appréhender les décisions de distribution de liquidités aux actionnaires, et en particulier, les critères du choix entre dividende et rachat d'actions. A travers une étude théorique, puis empirique sur les sociétés françaises du SBF250, nous montrons que le rachat est préféré lorsque les dirigeants détiennent des stock-options ou lorsque les revenus de la firme ont un aspect temporaire. En revanche, la fiscalité des dirigeants et des principaux actionnaires n'influence pas le choix de l'instrument. Ces variables semblent moins explicatives des décisions des entreprises françaises que des entreprises anglo-saxonnes. L'existence d'effets individuels montre que les entreprises françaises ont encore des critères spécifiques et peu financiers pour choisir l'instrument de distribution. Notre recherche souligne également que le rachat est un outil de distribution peu utilisé en France et que le dividende en reste le moyen privilégié.

International audience; This paper tries to complement the purely quantitative approach of pay out policies by providing a qualitative description of dividend and share repurchase policies in France. Through a field study with 12 French decision-makers, it helps to understand explanatory elements of pay out policies. Our study provides evidence that pay out decision is the result of a consensus between various elements: financial capacity of the firm, external influences, and shareholding pressure. The paper supports elements from the literature: influence of financial variables, signal function of pay out and smoothing of dividend policy. It introduces new elements that may lead to interesting questioning: existence of pay out culture in firms, influence of managers' characteristics or competitors' behavior. And at last, it questions the share repurchase role of pay out, the role of taxes in pay out decisions and underlines majority shareholders' great influence.; Cet article s'attache avant tout à bousculer l'approche purement quantitative des politiques de dividende ou de rachat d'actions en présentant une description qualitative de ces politiques. Notre étude terrain auprès de 12 décideurs français apporte certes un éclairage hexagonal mais il permet surtout une meilleure compréhension des éléments explicatifs ou d'influence des politiques de distribution. Notre étude présente la distribution de liquidités aux actionnaires comme le résultat d'un consensus entre plusieurs variables : capacité financière de l'entreprise, influences externes et pression de l'actionnariat. Nos résultats confortent la fonction de signal de la distribution et la politique de lissage des dividendes. De nouveaux éléments venant renforcer la réflexion apparaissent : existence d'une culture de la distribution, influence des caractéristiques des managers et des concurrents. Enfin cet article remet en question le rôle de distribution des rachats d'actions et souligne la forte influence des actionnaires majoritaires.