Abstract
One major motivation for writing this thesis is the curiosity around how our public finances are administered. Ahus, as all other hospitals, is administering public resources derived from taxes. The resources should be utilised in the best possible way for the general public, thus inefficiencies should be avoided. How well are our common resources being managed? To attempt an answer to the questions I have looked at how the management treated the task of coming up with saving measures. I took part in the budgetary process at Ahus and was able to make first hand observations. I also carried through six qualitative interviews and collected data from the hospitals accounts and budgets. To illustrate the different factors which influence the management s effort to find savings measures I selected 3 cases which were all frequently discussed during the process. One of the most interesting findings is that Ahus has a huge potential for making savings without being able to utilize this potential fully. This finding indicates that although Ahus is managing their economy better than many other Norwegian hospitals and avoids deficits; this is not necessarily because the hospital s activities are cost-efficiently run. This fact has been explained by organisational theory here represented by the rational, cultural and mythical theories.