Acta Oeconomica 11. (1973)
1973 / 4. szám - Megyeri Endre: Optimal Utilization of Enterprise Funds and Some Problems of Measuring Effectiveness
5* Acta Oeconomica Vol. 11 (4), pp. 347 — 366 (1973) E. Megyeri OPTIMAL UTILIZATION OF ENTERPRISE FUNDS AND SOME PROBLEMS OF MEASURING EFFECTIVENESS* The author introduces a static model and in this a new indicator of nationa economic efficiency whose numerator is the contribution to the national income and the denominator of which includes wage costs and that of the so-called normative inverse expenditure. Starting from this he works out equivalent efficiency indicators both on national and on enterprise level. He proves that respecting certain conditions different indicators of enterprise profitability can be the equivalent indices of national economic efficiency. He comes to the conclusion that in the Hungarian industry the consistency of measuring efficiency at national and enterprise levels gets across as a tendecy. Consistency of measuring effectiveness on national and enterprise levels The Hungarian society building socialism has achieved considerable success in increasing the national wealth engaged in material production. The combined value of working assets and the gross value of fixed assets of socialist industry have already exceeded 400 thousand million forints at the end of 1970, and the value of the assets of the whole enterprise sphere amounts to about double this sum. It is in our common national interest that this social wealth, significant also in per capita terms, should function and develop with the best possible efficiency. The utilization and development of funds engaged in material production are realized within enterprise framework under the effect of planned, central control, while related decisions — depending on the historically developed different levels of centralization and decentralization by countries — are divided between the enterprises and the different control agencies of the socialist state. A part of the decisions belongs to the action sphere of enterprises also in the direct type of economic management system and enterprise endeavours to influence the central decisions taken at different levels even under such conditions. Besides, parallel to and in interaction with the development of the means and methods of central planned control a development tendency of enterprise autonomy could be observed almost in all European socialist countries in the last decade. Therefore the problem of co-ordinating national economic and enterprise interests came to the limelight internationally, too, and as one of its key questions the consistency of measuring national economic and enterprise * Main lecture of Section V at a Scientific Session organized on the occasion of the 25th foundation anniversary of the Karl Marx University of Economics. Acta Oeconomica 11, 1973