Improving Ethical Attitudes or Simply Teaching Ethical Codes? The Reality of Accounting Ethics Education

ABSTRACT

Ethical instruction is critical in accounting education. However, does accounting ethics teaching actually instil core ethical values or simply catalogue how students should act when confronted with typical accounting ethical dilemmas? This study extends current literature by distinguishing between moral/ethical and legal/ethical matters and then re-evaluating the effectiveness of ethics training. A cohort of final-year accounting students with significant ethical training evaluated ethical scenarios. Half were moral (non-legal) and half contained legal as well as moral components. After further ethical instruction they re-evaluated the scenarios. Ethical attitudes towards legal/moral issues improved, but attitudes towards moral-only issues did not. This questions previous studies which purport to demonstrate the effectiveness of ethical instruction and queries the benefits of accounting ethics education. Are fundamental ethical principles being ignored in an effort to prevent more obvious accounting wrongdoings? Accounting ethics training needs to be reassessed if true ethical improvement is to be achieved.     

Modernisation or Failure? IT Development Projects in the UK Public Sector

The notable lack of success in UK public sector IT development projects has been recently recognised in policy making circles and considerable efforts are now being made to improve the situation. However, the lessons officially being drawn from the UK public sector's IT development failures, while eminently sensible, do appear simplistic and even superficial. This paper applies permanent failure theory to the stream of IT development failures in an attempt to offer some alternatives to the official lessons.     

审计信息化与审计组织方式

审计信息化对审计组织方式产生的触动,包括对审计机构调整的需求和对审计项目组织方式改革的需求。变革的阻力既来自政府执政能力考核标准、操作过程的缺失,也来自改革与本部门利益的冲突,还受到外部对审计职业的期待和内部考核导向的制约。囿于阻力,满足审计组织方式变革需求的方法似乎应当遵循改良、渐进的思路,在需要和可能之间寻求适度妥协,以足够的耐心,等待酝酿中的突破和外部环境的演变。     

中国商业银行信息技术资本的边际生产率及最优规模

基于12家商业银行1997～2005年间的数据，对商业银行信息技术资本的边际生产率和最优投入规模的实证研究结果表明，我国商业银行信息技术资本的边际生产率是正的，且其大小受银行规模和时间的影响；四大商业银行信息技术资本的边际生产率小于中小规模商业银行；银行整体的信息技术资本边际生产率随时间呈现不断增长的趋势；四大商业银行信息技术投资已经超过了最优规模，而中小商业银行尚未达到最优规模。四大商业银行应该着重提高信息技术资本的利用率，完善互补机制，而中小商业银行应进一步加大信息技术的投资量。研究结果证明，当前“信息技术生产率悖论”在我国商业银行中并不成立。     

创建大学生失业保险制度刍议

当前,大学生失业现象已成为社会关注的热点问题。它不仅对个人、家庭和社会产生了巨大的负面影响,也造成各种资源的极大浪费。本文在对大学生失业的现状、原因及其后果分析的基础上,认为创建大学生失业保险势在必行,并对大学生失业保险制度提出了一些建议。     

论语言差异与民族学生学业质量

本文运用文化人类学的研究方法,对影响民族学生学业质量的文化因素进行了深入的研究分析,在此基础上,以文化冲突等相关理论为依据,着重从文化的角度分析影响民族学生学业质量的语言差异因素,并进行理论解释和探讨,提出相关的对策建议。     

增值税转型对信息技术业机器设备投资的激励效应研究

信息技术代表先进生产力的发展方向。根据资本结构的不同将信息技术类企业细分为信息技术业制造类企业和服务类企业,利用转型前后相关数据,通过多元线性回归法分析表明：我国增值税转型有利于促进信息技术类企业增加机器设备类固定资产投资,且对资本构成相对高的信息技术业制造类企业的激励效应高于服务类企业。     

German managers'' attitudes towards Anglo-American accounting: Results from an empirical study on global accounting harmonization

The starting-point of the present paper are systematic differences between the answers of German corporate managers and professors in an empirical study by C&L Deutsche Revision AG (1995) on accounting harmonization. In this study, managers expressed themselves in all questions more positively towards current German accounting and more negatively towards US accounting than professors. The fundamental assumption put forward in this paper is that these differences are due to differences in the economic interests of the two groups. To test this empirically, hypotheses are deduced with regard to the accounting-related interests of the executive managers. The idea behind the hypotheses is that managers' answers to questions in the C&L Industry Study can be explained by structural features of their respective companies. The hypotheses are tested using multiple regression analysis. The results of the tests show that managers' answers can, to some extent, be explained by the suggested multiple regression approach. However, the answers to the rather general and abstract question (the preferred balance between the true-and-fair-view and prudence accounting principles) are much better explained than the answers with regard to detailed US-GAAP regulations. We must assume that the managers' attitudes towards concrete US-GAAP, which are directly related to corporate accounting practice, are influenced by a multitude of firm-specific and personal factors.     

中学第二外语听力课中MCS方法的探讨(英文)

本文通过前人对元认知、元认知策略和MCS方法在第二外语听课以及作者的调查探讨MCS方法在第二外语听力课的重要性以及基本原则。本研究发现MCS方法可以帮助学生对MCS方法引起注意并从某些方面提高学生的听力理解的能力,其中包括学习环境、学习计划、选择适合的学习策略、合作学习、检测、评估以及在听力课堂进行策略的调整。     

Financial Integration in Asset and Liability Holdings in East Asia

In this article, we examine the evolution of intra-East Asian financial integration from 2001 to 2013. Most existing studies on this topic look primarily at asset holdings; we examine liability holdings as well. Using the International Monetary Fund’s Coordinated Portfolio Investment Survey data for equities, long-term debt, and short-term debt, our analysis generally supports the conventional wisdom that East Asian countries are more financially integrated with global financial centers than they are with each other. This is true for both asset holdings and liabilities and is confirmed by an econometric analysis based on financial gravity equations. However, the gap between global integration and regional integration has narrowed for asset holdings over time but not for liability holdings. The results of additional econometric analysis indicate that diversification of liability holdings can mitigate financial instability due to global financial shocks. More precisely, diversification was associated with smaller exchange rate depreciation during the quantitative easing taper tantrum of 2013. These results point to a possible benefit from strengthening regional financial integration. Deeper regional integration would reduce dependence on global financial markets for funding and hence vulnerability to global shocks.     

高校体育运动环境与氛围建设的构思理念

高校体育运动环境的好坏直接影响到在校学生对体育运动参加的热情和积极性,良好的体育运动环境能够为广大学生营造良好的学校体育氛围,对培养学生对体育的认识以及对终身体育意识的形成非常有利。根据高校体育运动环境与氛围的建设,有助于高校学生更多地参与到体育运动中去。     

再论当今学生外语交际能力之培养

尽管学生外语交际能力的培养在外语教学界早有提出,但遗憾的是,实际教学中或是受应试教育的影响,或是遇到了各种实际困难,远远未达到应有的效果。本文针对现状,力图抓住要害,从教学和学生的实际出发,论述了“加强学生听说能力的培养、语境意识的培养以及文化知识功底的培养”这三个方面,以期解决培养之问题,适应外语学习的新需要。     

The influence of judges' attitudes on liability assessments related to failed audits exhibiting significant audit team over-time or significant use of off-shore auditors

This study provides evidence on how audit firms' decisions to use offshore (outsourced) auditors or to assign on-site (local) auditors extensive overtime affect judges' evaluation of auditor legal liability I conduct a behavioral experiment in which actual judges responded to a hypothetical audit lawsuit. The results suggest auditors may be penalized during the litigation process depending on the extent of overtime or off-shoring and judges' attitude toward the public accounting profession. Judges with a positive attitude toward public accounting assessed more liability for an audit firm that used offshore (outsourced) auditors than for the use of extensive overtime for on-site auditors or a control condition. However, judges with a negative attitude toward the auditing profession assessed higher liability for auditors except when on-site auditors bore significant overtime in the final weeks of the audit.