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ACCOUNTING FOR THE SEVERN BRIDGE
Author(s) -
Heald David
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
financial accountability and management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.661
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1468-0408
pISSN - 0267-4424
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0408.1991.tb00355.x
Subject(s) - bridge (graph theory) , accounting , business , medicine
Although the Severn bridge has been financed as a vote‐funded service, the Severn Bridge Tolls Act 1965 required the publication of commercial‐style ‘White Paper accounts’. The existence of this consistent source makes it possible to review the financial history to date of the Severn bridge, an interesting example of a case of government deciding that a capital‐intensive infrastructural facility should break‐even over its life. Two principal factors explain the everaccumulating deficiencies on the bridge account: the failure of successive governments to maintain the bridge toll in real terms; and the exceptional capital repairs required during the 1980s because of design faults and greater than expected loads. There are implications for the design of reporting systems for civil‐service executive agencies and for the privatized ‘concession’‐style financing packages for transport infrastructure which the present Government has now adopted.