Analysis of a long-term Forest Accountancy Network to Support Management and Controlling

Abstract

Abstract Multifunctional forestry in Germany is characterized by long production periods and complex biological-technical processes. Private forest enterprises are complex systems which are closely interwoven with the economic environment. To ensure their economic success, forest landowners need to take the economic development into consideration and adapt their management strategies. Management accounting is an important source for information needed to fulfil main tasks of accounting that help to manage forest enterprises: ‘description’, ‘explanation’ and ‘decision making’. To get general data, long time series data, taken from Forest Accountancy Networks (FAN), can be analysed. For more than 45 years, data from the FAN Westfalen-Lippe in Germany has been collected and analysed by the department of Forest Economics and Forest Management at the University of Göttingen. The long-term development and adaptation strategies of defined groups of private forest enterprises can be illustrated using this data. These valuable time series can support decision-making processes for private forest landowners and provide tools for forest policy. The data shows that private forest enterprises, with spruce as the dominating tree species, have performed above average in terms of operating revenues and profit margins, but are also more susceptible to calamities resulting in higher involuntary timber harvests.