| dc.description.abstract | After several years of increasing pension expenses in the municipalities of Norway, a regulatory change was introduced in 2002 to equalize these expenses. With this change a new concept of pension accounting arose that caused a deviation, which can be explained briefly as the difference between the net pension expense and the contributed pension premium. Municipalities were given the option to amortize this deviation over either 1 year or 15 years. The municipality of Haugesund, like most, chose the second option.
This study examines Haugesund's annual accounts and balance sheets for the years 2002-2016, to evaluate the consequences of this regulatory change on the municipality's financial performance.
We used both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection, analysis and interpretation. The data that form the basis for our conclusion are derived from interviews, annual accounts, and pension notes associated with Haugesund municipality.
Our results show that the introduction of this deviation, and the option to amortize this deviation over several years, positively affected the municipality's net operating profit. The results also show that amortization of this deviation over one year would have given the municipality a weaker result. | nb_NO |
