Eero Laesterä from FCG Oy produced a review of the City of Joensuu’s finances in autumn 2023. The review found that as part of economic adaptation, the focus should be on the entire concern structure, rather than the parent company (the City) alone. The City of Joensuu owns several companies, either in full or in part.

According to Laesterä's analysis, the City finances the concern as a parent company rather than the other way around, which is not a desirable situation. The concern's operating margin is larger than that of the parent company, which is not optimal as the concern should be more efficient and streamlined than the parent company. The concern's efficiency and ability to fund the parent company are emphasised in the current situation, in which the City's own activities have been cut back as a result of the wellbeing services county reform.

The City commissioned FCG Oy to produce a separate report on the concern, which was to be completed by the end of March. The aim of the report is to identify measures for improving the efficiency of the corporate structure and to find a more economical model for organising the concern.

Concern reorganisation measures

The report calculates the cost impacts of different arrangements, such as mergers, sales or changes to the ownership of functions. It also examines strategic measures, including setting targets for recognition of income, and such operational measures as adjusting the interest on concern loans.

Summary: concern reorganisation

A preliminary finding of the report is that additional revenue of approx. EUR 1–2 million may be achieved by the listed measures.

Detail will be added to the examined options and their savings potential as the concern report is completed.