Processes, Information, and Accounting Gaps in the Regulation of Argentina's Private Railways

Campos-Mendez, Javier ; Estache, Antonio ; Trujillo, Lourdes

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: ACCOUNTABILITY;    ACCOUNTING;    ACCOUNTING PRACTICES;    ACCOUNTING PROCEDURES;    ACTUAL COST;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-2636
RP-ID  :  WPS2636

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Almost a decade after Argentina beganprivatizing its railways, resolution of conflicts betweenregulators, users, and operators continues to take longer,and to be more difficult, than expected. The authors contendthat many of these conflicts arose because there are norules for interactions between the key stakeholders:government, regulators, users, unions, and the media. Oneresult of inexperience in setting up concession agreementhas been that the agreements did not clearly define theinformation needed for oversight and regulation. Argentinerail concession contracts were supposed to be specific aboutthe way tariffs, quality, investment, exclusivity, and soon, would change over time. And the newly created regulatorybodies were given some discretion about adjusting thecontracts in the face of unforeseen developments. However,initial privatization were carried out in such a way thatthere was no time to refine terms, so many loopholesremained. Those unforeseen events have happened, and theregulatory agency, the National Commission for TransportRegulation (CNRT), has had to adapt its procedures anddecisions to available information. In some cases, allegedmodifications of the operating environment have led torenegotiations. Changes have been introduced in the approachto furnishing information to the government for oversightand regulatory accounting. The changes center on clearerdefinitions in connection with four major issues: a) Themeasurement of efficiency; b) access prices; and c) thefinancial model. Circumstances in the Argentine railindustry early in 2001 did not favor dramatic changes, butcurrent renegotiations could be used to adjust informationrequirements to reflect what has been learned through sixyears of experience.