Accounting for Accountability and Management in NPOs. A Comparative Study of Four Countries: Canada, the United Kingdom, the USA and Spain

Financial and non–financial information are developing issues in the NPO field. Countries such as Canada, the UK, the USA and Spain have recently updated their accounting systems for NPOs through the implementation of full accrual basis to enhance their accountability and the usefulness of accounting information for decision–making purposes. The information provided by accrual accounting will be incomplete until performance indicators are developed. The performance indicators are essential for making budgets, for planning and forecasting, for evaluating the financial needs, for carrying out benchmarking with other NPOs or governmental entities, and for explaining the welfare activities realised to donors.     

Priorities and targets: supporting target-setting in healthcare

Management by objectives requires selecting the appropriate number of indicators to measure objectives and then defining high-priority indicators. Failing to address these two issues often results in the so-called ‘performance paradox’. This paper describes an algorithm applied in the healthcare sector in the Italian regions. The resulting performance evaluation system is able to detect priority indicators in the target-setting phase, improving management and saving costs.     

税收风险管理关键绩效指标评价体系的构建及应用

税收风险管理绩效评价贯穿于税收风险管理工作的全过程,能确保税收风险管理制度得到有效执行,并能不断完善税收风险管理的工作流程。将关键绩效指标法应用于税收风险管理绩效评价工作,对税收风险管理进行全流程、全方位的评价,构建税收风险管理关键绩效指标评价体系,有助于提高税收风险管理能力和水平,全面实现以风险管理为导向的现代化税收征管体系。     

A tale of fragmentation: Corporate funding in the euro-area bond market

Corporations of different euro-area countries faced noticeably different costs of funding in the bond market during the prolonged period of financial instability which started in 2007. We identify the determinants of corporate bond yield spreads in order to isolate country-specific effects, as indicators of market fragmentation. Our evidence hints at a disorderly process of reassessment of corporate credit risk since 2007 with country-specific spreads vis-à-vis Germany becoming strongly positive for issuers located in other euro-area countries (Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain, in particular). After the introduction of the non-conventional monetary policy tool named OMT, the spreads declined considerably, but fragmentation disappeared only in the latest period characterised by the expectations and the actual deployment of the ECB quantitative easing.     

Redenomination Risk

Euro redenomination risk is the risk that a euro asset is redenominated into a devalued legacy currency. We propose a time‐varying, country‐specific intra‐euro area redenomination risk measure, defined as the quanto credit default swaps (CDS) of a member country relative to the quanto CDS of a benchmark member country. Focusing on Italy, Spain, and France and using Germany as benchmark, we show that the redenomination risk shocks significantly affect sovereign yield spreads, with Italy and Spain being most adversely affected. Finally, foreign redenomination risk shocks spill over and above local redenomination risk shocks, suggesting that this risk is systemic.     

Macro news and bond yield spreads in the euro area

This paper analyses the effects of newspaper coverage of macro news on the spread between the yield on the 10-year German Bund and on sovereign bonds in eight countries belonging to the euro area (Belgium, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain) using daily data for the period 1999–2014. The econometric analysis is based on the estimation of a VAR-GARCH model. The results can be summarized as follows. Negative news have significant positive effects on yield spreads in all GIIPS (Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain) countries but Italy before September 2008; markets respond more to negative news, and their reaction has increased during the recent financial crisis. News volatility has a significant impact on yield spread volatility, the effects being more pronounced in the case of negative news and bigger in the most recent crisis period, especially in the GIIPS countries. Further, the conditional correlations between yield spreads and negative news increase in absolute value during the financial crisis (especially in the GIIPS countries), indicating a higher sensitivity of the former to the latter.     

The Construction and Presentation of Performance Indicators in executive Agency External Reports

For a variety of reasons, factors affecting the understandability and comparability of performance indicators, and perceptions of their status, may differ from those applying in the case of profit-seeking sector financial statements. This study examines the construction and presentation of performance indicators from the perspective of understandability, comparability and perceived importance. It identifies a number of aspects of reporting practice which may undermine these qualities.     

我国车险业务经营绩效评价研究——以某财险公司湖南分公司为例

财产保险公司绝大部分业务来自于车险业务,因而车险业务的绩效关系到财险公司的经营业绩,甚至整个保险业的稳定和健康发展。从承保、理赔、续保及财务四个方面选取17个具体指标构建车险业务绩效评价指标体系进行有效性检验,计算某财险公司湖南分公司车险业务绩效水平指数,评价其车险业务经营状况。结果显示：该公司财务指标对车险业务影响的权重最大,综合车险指数呈上升趋势,表现出较好的经营状况。     

Implementation Mode and Local Government Performance Measurement: A Norwegian Experience

This study explores how implementation approaches affect implementation success of performance measurement. A theory is developed using case studies of four projects from Norwegian local government in the period 1983–98. `Implementation mode' is defined as to what extent a system is coupled to organisational objectives during the implementation process. An implementation mode which decouples performance indicators (PIs) from organisational objectives seems to further implementation success. This paradoxical theory of implementation mode gives new insights both relative to classical implementation theory as in MBO, and to theories of loose coupling in implementation and reforms common in the New Institutionalist Theory.     

Firms’ performance under different bankruptcy systems: a Europe–USA empirical analysis

This study empirically analyses the effect that the bankruptcy law has on firms’ performance based on its financial situation. To do this, we considered the different types of efficiency and their influence on firms’ value. The study was carried out for Germany, Spain, the United States, France and the United Kingdom. We applied System‐GMM estimation to dynamic panel data. The main results show that under creditor‐oriented systems, there is a decrease in the value of both financially distressed firms and those filing for bankruptcy.     

Euro area government bonds – Fragmentation and contagion during the sovereign debt crisis

The paper analyzes the integration of euro area sovereign bond markets during the European sovereign debt crisis. It tests for contagion (i.e., an intensification in the transmission of shocks across countries), fragmentation (a reduction in spillovers) and flight-to-quality patterns, exploiting the heteroskedasticity of intraday changes in bond yields for identification. The paper finds that euro area government bond markets were well integrated prior to the crisis, but saw a substantial fragmentation from 2010 onward. Flight to quality was present at the height of the crisis, but has largely dissipated after the European Central Bank's (ECB's) announcement of its Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT) program in 2012. At the same time, Italy and Spain became more interdependent after the OMT announcement, providing our only evidence of contagion. This suggests that countries have been effectively ring-fenced, and Italy and Spain benefited from the joint reduction in yields following the OMT announcement.     

商业银行分客户绩效的灰色评价研究

从商业银行的角度评价客户的绩效有利于银行实施差异化的经营战略,优化资源配置。本文结合中国商业银行的经营现状,在已有研究成果的基础上,设计了商业银行分客户的绩效评价指标。鉴于在商业银行分客户的绩效评价过程中,许多指标互相交叉,人们对客户绩效的成因不完全明确,各因素之间的关系不完全清楚,评价过程中存在贫信息的问题,本文提出将灰色理论与模糊层次分析法相结合,运用于商业银行分客户的绩效评价,以便能够较为准确和全面地评价客户的经营绩效。此外,本文还就商业银行中小客户的绩效评价进行了探讨。     

LOCAL AUTHORITY E-GOVERNMENT PARTNERSHIPS IN ENGLAND: A CASE STUDY

This paper uses a case study of an e-government partnership of ten local authorities to consider how governance structures, financial arrangements and performance management systems may promote or inhibit successful collaborative working. The case is considered within the contexts of continuing new public management reforms including the balance between formal performance measurement indicators imposed by higher authorities and the scope for dialogue in the development of performance management systems. The case supports a view that collaborative working can benefit from a governance structure supporting a consistency of objectives of the partners operating within similar political and regulatory environments. Externally imposed performance indicators are significant to the partner authorities but their influence does not exclude the possibility of more dialogue-driven performance management systems being developed within the partnership. Sustainability of the partnership is never assured and tensions develop as a result of developing priorities of individual authorities, the possibility of local government reorganisation and changing national policy initiatives.     

Performance indicators and democracy: citizens’ views on the purposes of government websites

Despite the ongoing interest in performance measurement amongst public managers, little is known about citizens’ views on the purposes of performance indicators (PIs). A cross-sectional survey of the Australian adult population was used to examine citizens’ views on government websites which provide PIs. Citizens identified three distinct purposes for these: evaluation and improvement; transparency and accountability; and reward and punishment. These different purposes were found to be related to political attributes, indicating how PIs might support democratic empowerment.     

以平衡计分卡为基础构建商业银行业绩评价的非财务指标

随着国内商业银行之间以及与外资银行的竞争日益加剧,我国商业银行原有的业绩评价体系已经不适应新的形势.平衡计分卡认为,业绩评价应以顾客、内部经营及学习与创新等非财务指标来补充财务指标,并针对各个方面的业绩目标,设计出相应的计量指标,以便系统、全面、迅速地反映企业的整体运营情况,为企业管理服务.本文以平衡计分卡为基础,分析了我国商业银行业绩评价体系的发展沿革及现状,指出了我国商业银行业绩评价注重财务评价而忽视非财务评价的问题,借鉴西方商业银行使用平衡计分卡的先进经验,从顾客、员工、组织、内部经营、创新等方面构建了商业银行业绩评价的非财务指标体系.     

El desempeño económico financiero y responsabilidad social corporativa Petrobrás versus Repsol

Alterations in the institutional environment, as a result of the markets integration process and the consequent alterations in stakeholders’ conduct are one of the important vectors of changes in companies’ behavior. In that context, in addition to their yields those companies happen to worry about their attitudes in relation to social and environmental factors. Thus, the corporate social responsibility (CSR) is seen as one more strategy to maintain or increase their income and to harness the enterprise development. The main purpose of this study is the verification of the existing relation between Social Responsibility and the economic and financial performance of two companies in the business of Petroleum, Gas and Bio-combustibles. The investigation was based on a comparison of social-environmental practices developed by Petrobras S/A (Brazil) and Repsol S/A (Spain). For the purpose of verification of the relation between social-environmental performance and the economic-financial one, a linear regression analysis was carried out.     

我国商业银行经营绩效的比较与驱动因素分析

随着我国银行业改革的不断深入,科学合理地进行绩效评价尤为重要。本文运用EVA指标对我国11家商业银行2001～2007年的经营绩效进行了比较分析,并在此基础上进一步考察了绩效的驱动因素。研究发现,近几年我国商业银行的总体经营绩效在不断改善,但整体银行业的绩效水平与国外相比有很大差距。我国商业银行创造的EVA主要来自于资产规模的扩大和贷款规模的增长,而不是经营效率的提高和业务创新;近年来银行业的股份制改革对银行的价值创造有一定的正向作用。最后,根据研究结果为我国商业银行建立EVA绩效评价体系提出了相关建议。     

The effect of investor sophistication on the influence of nonfinancial performance indicators on investors’ judgments

This paper presents an experiment that examines how enhanced disclosure of nonfinancial performance indicators affects the stock‐price estimates of nonprofessional and professional investors. Participants were provided with a case study containing excerpts from a hypothetical company’s annual report. The experiment was a 2 (nonprofessional and professional) × 3 (positive nonfinancial performance indicators, negative nonfinancial performance indicators, and financial information only) between‐subjects design. Consistent with conservatism, the nonprofessional investors underreacted in their stock‐price estimates to the positive nonfinancial disclosures, compared with professional investors with task‐specific knowledge. The results from this study suggest that the value of enhanced disclosure of this type may not flow equally to all users of financial reports, if conservatism, and lack of task‐specific knowledge, adversely affect their decision‐making.     

Market crises and Basel capital requirements: Could Basel III have been different? Evidence from Portugal,Ireland, Greece and Spain (PIGS)

Basel III represents a crucial step in strengthening the capital rules underlying banking operations, aimed at reducing the probability and severity of a systemic crisis. Alongside two supplementary capital buffers, the Basel Committee of Banking Supervision imposed severe pressure on the Value-at-Risk based Internal Models Approach in order to increase. This is to increase the capital base by adding the stressed Value-at-Risk component in an effort to reduce reliance on internal models while keeping the Standardized Approach avenue open. However, even though those measures might appear theoretically correct, evidence gathered for long and short exposures in Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain highlights several defects in Basel III. We emphasize that leptokurtic models, primarily those derived from Extreme Value Theory, should be enforced in the regulations given their superior performance in market crises, and that Basel II could have shielded against 2008 mayhem provided that heavy-tailed techniques had been employed.