ABSTRACT
In 1988 the Audit Commission for Local Authorities in England and Wales published their results of a study of local authority property management. From a private sector viewpoint, the advantage of separating the property function from the core business is twofold. Firstly, it allows the performance of each operational outlet to be measured on the same basis; a rental would be deducted as an operational cost on both freehold and leasehold properties. Secondly, the investment performance of the properties themselves can now be measured. Both of these are laudable objectives, but the measurement of performance is not as straight forward as the theory might suggest. The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy publication on 'Asset Registers' suggests certain data sets which will be required for each site, each establishment, each building and any ancillary equipment, plant or vehicles.
