Financial situation? Funny figures about operating after franchise’s closure (9)
I believe the answer is:
economics
'financial situation?' is the definition.
(economic status)
'funny figures about operating after franchise's closure' is the wordplay.
'funny figures' becomes 'comics' (funny people).
'about' indicates putting letters inside.
'operating' becomes 'on' (I've seen this in other clues).
'after' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'closure' suggests the final letters (the letter which closes the word).
The final letter of 'franchise' is 'e'.
'comics' going around 'on' is 'conomics'.
'conomics' after 'e' is 'ECONOMICS'.
(Other definitions for economics that I've seen before include "Study of the goods and services of a country" , "Study of financial management" , "Study of wealth and money" , "The study of the finances of a nation" , "Monetary management" .)