Abstract

The Stratified Balance Sheet as an Instrument of Efficiency Analysis for Credit Banks

For bank cost accounting, the allocation problem is something of a brain twister. As such, in fact, it has attained a certain degree of notoriety; and not only because on getting down to the essentials - i.e. the question of whether any perceptible connection can be established between credit 'assets and liabilities we encounter the most widely diverging views on the character of a credit-granting institution. Indeed, the solution of this problem is sometimes regarded as the decisive prerequisite for price calculations in the credit business. It seems as if probability theory - perhaps in conjunction with the methods of behaviour research - might actually permit a better insight. In the eveent of an investigation producing favourable results, there would be no further need for resignation in the future. The consequences would be of considerable import, not only for credit policy. Above all, the stratified balance sheet would attain importance for internal costing and simultaneously for dispositions. It would no longer be solely an instrument for interest cost accounting. It would become a decision-making aid for the management of the institute, because ıt would show the scissor movement of maturity transformation and willingness to pay, and the reciprocity of profitableness and liquidity. To this end it will be necessary to stratify not retrospectively, but from day to day on the basis of the daily statement. Daily stratification will be necessary because substantial changes in outstanding credits may also alter the decision-making situation considerably.