Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of the Law on Budgetary Stability of 2012 over the level of accumulated debt in Spanish municipalities. The paper also analyses the influence of the socioeconomic environment, political factors and budgetary indicators on the level of accumulated debt for the 2008–2014 period, which coincides with the economic crisis. Design/methodology/approach: The paper uses panel data methodology. First, the t-test of difference of means is used to analyse which political variables are significant. Then, the analysis is carried out using the generalised method of moments in order to obtain the explanatory variables of the level of debt. Findings: The results show that in 2013–2014, the Law on Budgetary Stability did not have a significant effect on reducing the accumulated debt. However, the law has led to a change of the trend in debt levels, as the debt decreased from 2013 to 2014. Moreover, population, unemployment, immigration, personnel expenditure, direct fiscal pressure and level of investment have an influence over the level of accumulated debt. Originality/value: This paper contributes to analyse to what extent the Law on Budgetary Stability has affected accumulated debt. The study reveals a slight impact on reducing debt, although it is not significant. An original aspect of this paper is that it uses dynamic models to study the accumulated debt of Spanish municipalities. The study shows the impact of socioeconomic, environmental and political factors as well as of budgetary indicators on the level of debt in the context of economic crisis.

Las medidas implantadas para mejorar la liquidez de los municipios españoles y el principio de sostenibilidad de la deuda comercial ponen de manifiesto la importancia de controlar la morosidad pública. En este contexto, este trabajo comprueba el efecto de la regla fiscal que controla los plazos de pago y si el entorno político, socioeconómico y presupuestario incide en el periodo de pago de los ayuntamientos españoles. Para ello, se realiza un análisis exploratorio y se aplica la metodología de datos de panel (2009-2015). Los resultados contribuyen a demostrar la eficacia del control del periodo de pago y evidenciar los factores de riesgo en la situación financiera a corto plazo. Determinants of the municipal average payment period and effectiveness of the commercial debt sustainability principle. The policies implemented to improve the liquidity of Spanish municipalities and the introduction of the commercial debt sustainability principle reveal the importance of controlling late payment by public sector. In this context, the purpose of this paper is to analyse the effect of the fiscal rule directed to control the average payment periods of public administrations and whether the political environment, socioeconomic characteristics and financial situation influence on the average payment period of municipalities. In order to achieve this goal, an exploratory analysis is carried oud and panel data methodology (2009-2015) is applied. The paper contributes to provide evidence of the effectiveness of the commercial debt sustainability principle and improves the knowledge for the analysis of short-term financial position.

This paper aims to analyze the most relevant audit risks in state-owned public companies as well as whether the characteristics of the company or of the auditor influence them. For this purpose, the audit reports of the Spanish State-owned enterprises are analyzed. The results confirm that these entities present, for the most part, reports without qualifications and that the most relevant aspects may be affected by the size, liquidity and economic profitability of the entity, as well as by the fees paid to the auditors.

Objetivo. Analizar qué factores pueden influir en la decisión de reconocer o no pérdidas por deterioro del fondo de comercio cuando se detecte que su valor neto contable excede de su importe recuperable. Metodología. Se aplicó un modelo de regresión logística multivariable sobre una muestra de sociedades cotizadas, todas ellas dominantes de grupos de empresas que presentaban cuentas consolidadas en España durante el período 2014- 2018. Resultados. Las pérdidas obtenidas por la entidad, deterioros contabilizados en ejercicios anteriores, al igual que el tamaño, son aspectos que influyen de forma positiva en el reconocimiento de deterioro de valor del fondo de comercio. Conclusiones. Este trabajo detecta cierto comportamiento discrecional por parte de los directivos derivado de la complejidad que conlleva la realización de la prueba de deterioro de valor del fondo de comercio, además de su falta de precisión.

El principio de sostenibilidad de deuda comercial establece un nuevo mecanismo de disciplina presupuestaria. Ante este contexto, el objetivo de este trabajo es analizar qué variables caracterizan mejor la liquidez de los municipios españoles. El Plan de Pago a Proveedores y el periodo medio de pago de los ayuntamientos son la referencia principal. Mediante un análisis discriminante y una regresión lineal, se evidencia que la ejecución del ahorro bruto, el periodo de cobro y los gastos corrientes están relacionados con la deuda comercial. Esta investigación contribuye en el estudio de las variables explicativas de la situación financiera a corto plazo.