Swedish municipalities are currently undergoing a revolution by being converted into independent subsidiary companies. The advocates speak about increasing efficiency and shorter paths to decision making, while the opponents are of the opinion that the possibility tohave clear insight is made worse as and that political control will be lost. The opinions differ and this study poses the question;Has the choice of this kind of operation influenced the efficiency in a business run by a municipality?To shed some light on the debate a municipal administration is compared to a municipal limited company in a qualitative comparative study. The Växjö Tekniska Waterboard is compared to Kalmar’s municipally owned limited company Kalmar Vatten AB. The purposeof the study is to examine the motives of the conversion into an independent subsidiary company and see if the setup, allocation of responsibility, staff issues, decision processes as well as the control of this kind of operation signify any difference in effective governance,measuring and evaluation. The purpose of the recommendations of the study is that they be used as tools for controlling municipal businesses.By studying previous research, and carrying out qualitative interviews with relevant respondents, an insight into the how the municipal kind of operation has been built up and controlled both from the perspective of a politician as well as a civil servant.Using the study, we have come to the conclusion; that municipal limited company possession conditions to be conducted in a more efficiently way compared to municipal administrations.