Asset Management of the Public Sector in Poland

Public sector bodies own diverse, valuable but capital-intensive assets, which require the following of all the changes taking place in their environment and their trends (conducting market analyses), as well as the anticipation of future effects of present-day actions (decisions). It seems, however, that many public bodies/entities make decisions according to current needs, hardly ever conducting market analyses or market valuation of their assets.Today, both theory and practice offer a variety of methods - instruments supporting the process of decision-making concerning the creation of a rational structure of real property, sources of its financing, evaluation of the effectiveness of using individual fixed assets and their impact on the economic situation of each body/entity.The purpose of this paper is to present the nature and scale of the problem of asset management, as well as the main elements of the process of the management of real property owned by public entities, based on a case study of the biggest Polish cities.At first, we will outline the scale of the problem, including the gross value of buildings and structures and capital expenditures of the public sector. Then, we will present the definition of asset management and classification of real property as tools and conditions for effective asset management, as well as the results of empirical research conducted with officials responsible for property management in Poland's six largest cities.