Hard and soft law approaches to addressing psychosocial risks in Europe: lessons learned in the development of the Italian approach

Psychosocial risks in the workplace have been identified as some of the most significant emerging risks, particularly since issues such as work-related stress, which is closely linked to psychosocial risks, are widely recognised as major challenges in modern occupational safety and health. This paper presents the policy framework and key initiatives that have been implemented for the management of psychosocial risks in the workplace in Europe. It discusses several approaches and initiatives, both from a hard and soft law perspective, that have been implemented at European Union and national level. Within this context, it discusses the key issues that pertain to the development of national approaches, focussing as an example on the Management Standards for work-related stress developed in the UK and their recent adaptation in Italy. The Italian approach is discussed in detail as an example that may highlight key process elements in the development of psychosocial risk management policies, and promote good practice in this area through lessons learned. It is concluded that it is more pressing now than ever for a critical evaluation of efforts employed so far to address psychosocial risks to be conducted, and an approach at European level to be developed that will allow both flexibility and a certain level of benchmarking across members states. Such an approach can be supported by European bodies, responsible for surveillance and promotion of good practice, working in collaboration with similar national bodies.     

Towards democratic governance of uncertainty? Contesting notions of participation,control and accountability

Managing risk in international society has posed a new challenge not only to states and international organisations, but also to experts, scientists and citizens. It has generated a demand for new sets of laws, regulations, instruments and governing bodies to tackle various risks such as natural disasters, economic and financial crises, and unintended consequences of policy reforms. Accordingly, new modes of interactions between states, experts and citizens seem to be emerging across countries and in different high-risk sectors. Little research has been done to illuminate interactive and dynamic aspects of emerging governance and regulatory arrangements and their impact on participation, control and accountability in liberal democracies. This special issue has assembled research papers and commentaries from practitioners and academics which critically examine these themes and explore what future research on the ‘world risk society’ could offer to political science and beyond.     

Airport futures: Towards a critique of the aerotropolis model

It is predicted that the twenty-first century will be dominated by air transport, both for domestic and international carriage of passengers and cargo. Thus the airport, as a driver of regional growth, is expected to become more than merely a regional gateway. Rather, it will function as city in itself, with living spaces for workers and their families, factories relying on airborne inputs and service industries located around the airport, with major road and rail infrastructure connected to it. However, the ‘aerotropolis’, as this hub for industry and driver of economic development has been called, has not yet been critiqued adequately, especially from a long-term public policy and planning perspective. This article raises concerns about three different dimensions to the aerotropolis regarding its long-term sustainability, viz., energy provision, the security of critical infrastructure and export pathways. In particular, this article argues that air transport will not replace existing components of international economic development. The authors contend that the three dimensions need to be explored in order to arrive at a more balanced view of the aerotropolis and its place in an increasingly complex global future.     

Measuring the Comparability of Company Accounts Conditionally: A Research Note

Comparability indices summarize the level of comparability between companies at a national and international level, an issue of importance to investors, regulators, and standard setters. Comparability indices can identify areas where comparability is low and where comparability is deteriorating. Furthermore, they can be used to quantify the extent to which initiatives such as International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are successful in raising comparability between company accounts. Despite past literature emphasizing how factors other than country influence accounting methods used by companies, current comparability indices ignore these other factors. This paper introduces new national and international indices within the T index framework to fill this gap in the literature. Formula for the new national and international indices, and their standard errors, are provided. An example using European data is used to demonstrate the calculations and illustrate the importance of controlling for these firm specific factors.     

Culture Matters: How Our Culture Affects the Audit*

If the influence of national cultures on the implementation of global standards is not taken into account, the result will be inconsistent implementation at best and outright failure at worst. The experiences in fields such as medicine, peacekeeping, aviation, and environmental protection offer insight into possible difficulties with the implementation, beginning in 2010, of International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) by members of the International Federation of Accountants. Some countries may have difficulty with implementation because of the differences between their cultural assumptions and those embodied in the standards to be adopted. It is too soon to know if and where that will happen, especially because the data on first experiences will not begin to be available until 2013. However, cultural‐comparison data can be used to foresee which countries may have difficulty with implementation. But if unintended consequences do become evident, it will be important not to assume that the standards and the standard‐setting process are defective; it is more likely that practitioners will need help in interpreting the ISAs in light of their local culture. A useful first step would be for standard‐setting bodies to identify explicitly the cultural assumptions inherent in the standards they produce. The standard setters can then give that information to those responsible for standards implementation at the practitioner level to help promote consistent application of the standards globally.     

Implications of the ‘IAS Regulation’ for Research into the International Differences in Accounting Systems

Meek and Thomas (2004) call for research on the continued relevance of ‘rediscovered’ dichotomous accounting classifications. We provide such evidence by examining how developments surrounding the ‘IAS Regulation’ (1606/2002) influenced international differences in accounting systems in the European Union. Since a sufficient time series of actual post-2005 International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) reporting practice is not yet observable, we propose an initial re-classification of accounting systems based on evidence available to date, that is, the degree of implementation of the IAS Regulation in the Member States. Consistent with Nobes (1998), we find that the degree of public accountability to outside investors (the ‘public/private’ criterion) is becoming the primary differentiator for accounting systems in Europe, surpassing country-level variables such as legal system and culture. The distinction between consolidated and individual financial statements is the second emerging differentiator. While consolidated accounting is becoming more uniform across countries, cross-country cultural differences are most likely to persist in individual accounting. Based on our analysis we highlight two important areas of future research beyond the consolidated financial statements of listed firms (e.g. Nobes, 2005; Schipper, 2005). First, at the country level, the interaction of IFRS and individual financial statements will need to be reassessed. In addition, research could help introduce a degree of differentiation into financial reporting regulation for unlisted firms, because these firms are not a homogeneous group. Also, the convergence of national GAAP systems with IFRS will benefit from fresh research insights. Second, at the firm level, future research could analyze the extent to which the determinants and consequences of IFRS adoption, an area well researched for publicly traded firms (e.g. Cuijpers and Buijink, 2005), generalize to unlisted firms. Such research will help detect emerging patterns of accounting systems within an international context. It will generate insights into the disconnect of consolidated accounts from national influences, the degree of uniformity of consolidated accounts among international firms, the continued relevance of traditional classifications of international accounting systems for individual accounts and accounts of unlisted companies, and the convergence of national standards with IFRS.     

试论建设“金融特区”应对中美经贸摩擦 ——基于粤港澳大湾区的案例研究

当前,中美经贸摩擦呈现出“长期化”的迹象。中美经贸摩擦与战略博弈已经进入深水区,并可能向金融领域蔓延。经贸摩擦对中国的金融市场与投资者预期的影响日益明显。在此背景下,作为中国金融开放前沿与国家重大发展战略,推进粤港澳大湾区的金融市场建设与融合发展,加速金融开放的进程与各项金融政策的落实,已非常紧迫。本文在对粤港澳大湾区开展深入调研的基础上,提出应尽快在粤港澳大湾区打造“金融特区”,进一步加大金融业的开放力度,倒逼国内金融机构不断提升国际竞争能力和水平,全面提升我国国际金融话语权,建设金融强国。     

Are Bangladesh,India and Pakistan Ready to Adopt the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross‐Border Insolvency?

The development of business laws in key markets has not kept pace with the exponential growth of foreign investment they have experienced. Countries such as Brazil, Russia and China either do not consider the issue of cross‐border insolvency in their legislation or they explicitly provide for a ‘territorialist’ approach to cross‐border insolvency proceedings, whereby each country grabs local assets for the benefit of local creditors, with little consideration of foreign proceedings. This has led to uncoordinated, expensive attempts at cross‐border reorganisation. The UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross‐Border Insolvency (1997) was adopted with the objective of modernising international insolvency regimes and enhancing cross‐border cooperation. In its 19 years of existence, it has been adopted by 41 countries in a total of 43 jurisdictions but by none of the BRIC states or the ‘Next‐11’ nations of Bangladesh and Pakistan. While it has entered into policy‐level discussion in China, India and Russia, it would seem that there is still scepticism regarding the efficacy and suitability of the Model Law for adoption into their national systems. This paper seeks to establish whether the Model Law can adequately plug, what Steven Kargman calls, ‘the glaring gap in the international insolvency architecture’, looking particularly at the context of the South Asian states of India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. It will question whether its adoption will improve the ability of these jurisdictions to handle the challenges of cross‐border insolvencies, especially in light of their existing legal landscape, their market policy objectives and the existing alternatives available to the Model Law. Copyright © 2016 INSOL International and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

New technology and banking employment in the EEC

Retail banking is traditionally highly labour-intensive and employment in the industry has been rising steadily for many years. However, new technology is now being introduced which is beginning to have an impact on levels of employment. In the European Economic Community it is likely that productivity will increase only slightly faster than demand up to 1990 and that employment will not fall substantially. After that date, it will almost certainly fall faster. Negotiations between management and unions, at a national and international level, should ensure that the introduction of new labour-saving technology be complemented by reductions in working time and the creation of more stimulating, labour-intensive positions.     

Faculty perspectives on international taxation topics

This paper presents perspectives of accounting faculty members on the relative importance of topics that should be presented in a one-semester graduate level international taxation course. Understanding of international taxation has become an increasingly critical part of the tax and accounting practices of the big four and other major public accounting firms as well as to U.S. multinational business firms. Therefore, college and universities may find it useful to provide at least some coverage of international taxation topics in a separate course or as part of other courses in their tax and accounting programs. If a separate course is offered, an important consideration of which topics should be covered in the course, since there are more topics than can be reasonably covered in one course. This paper analyzes the responses of members of the American Accounting Association's International Accounting Section to a survey of which topics should be included in a one-semester international tax course. Results are compared with those of prior studies to determine whether and the extent to which perspectives have changed over time and based on the type of survey respondent. Findings of this paper will offer guidance regarding topic selection to the accounting faculty members who are charged with developing an international taxation course. The findings may also be of interest to anyone concerned with international business in general and taxation in particular.     

Priorities for future innovation: Russian S&T Foresight 2030

Under the transition to a market economy Russian science, technology and innovation (STI) has changed dramatically. After the crisis of late 1990s, the government declared science and technology (S&T) as one of national priorities and started increasingly investing in this sector but it has not led to the tangible output like a bigger volume of high-tech exports or a higher share of international publications. A number of policy instruments have been introduced to increase the efficiency of STI policies. One of them is S&T Foresight.The activities aimed at identification of national S&T priorities and series of Foresight studies have helped to understand which areas are most promising for sustaining existing competitive advantages and building new ones via gradual shift from the resource-based economy towards the technology-oriented one.The paper presents the design and organisation of a large-scale Russian S&T Foresight exercise as a fully-fledged instrument of the national STI policy and discusses the achieved results and their use for policies at different levels.     

Future generations: Economic, legal and institutional aspects

In economics, the issue of ‘future generations’ is mainly related to the environmental problems of resource consumption and pollution and their distribution over long time horizons. This paper critically discusses fundamental concepts in economics, such as efficiency and optimality, in relation to the incorporation of future generations in present day decision-making. Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and discounting are used as a starting point and criticized for its inherent flaws such as incommensurability of values and its tendency to hide rather than reveal underlying values which are assumed to be fixed. We then investigate alternative approaches, in which, unlike in CBA, the preferences are not assumed to be a priori but must be constructed. Thus, interest groups or individuals must sit down together and figure out what things seem to be worth. The aim is to involve all interested parties in planning for the future.Similarly, on a national and regional level, increasingly stakeholder processes, deliberative and interest group procedures are used to develop strategies and visions for resource management and conservation. A similar case can be made for institutions at the international level. The legal examples provided in this paper show that rather than only installing an institution such as the guardian for the future on the global level, more ‘democratized’ bottom up approaches might be more appropriate.     

Why do transnational approaches to international innovation fail?

The transnational corporation paradigm is increasingly at odds with empirical findings regarding international innovation strategies. Analysing a longitudinal case study, we show that a firm's international R&D subsidiaries can be a powerful force that can shape strategy even more than headquarters. On the basis of a literature review that identifies factors and mechanisms by which the firm's subsidiaries are likely to exert this influence, we explore these factors and mechanisms by applying them to our case. Our findings show that international innovation strategies are unlikely to succeed if international R&D subsidiaries use their capabilities and market power to oppose their implementation.     

Employment and new technology in Tameside

The authors argue that most current prognostications of the employment implications of new microelectronic technologies exaggerate the rate at which they will be introduced and, by taking the national or international perspective, pay too little attention to smaller regions. A survey of Tameside, a part of Manchester, UK, shows that, although many jobs are at risk in some industries, the overall changes during the 1980s are unlikely to be as great as might have been supposed; this is because of the industrial structure of that particular locality.     

The Influence of U.S. GAAP on the Harmony of Accounting Measurement Policies of Large Companies in the U.K. and Australia

U.S. GAAP has increasingly become an influence on accounting practices in other countries, even aside from those traditionally considered under direct U.S. influence. The change arises from the large number of U.S. accounting standards, non-U.S. companies listing on U.S. stock exchanges, and the amount of U.S. direct investment abroad. As the impact of U.S. GAAP varies across countries, it may affect international accounting harmony. This idea is tested by examining the level of international harmony for eleven accounting measurement policies in matched pairs of large companies from Australia and the U.K., two countries with historically strong cultural and economic links. It is argued that, in recent decades, accounting practice in Australia, more so than in the U.K., has become increasingly U.S.-oriented. The concepts of harmony of Tay and Parker (1990) and Archer et al . (1996) are employed. International harmony is measured by the between-country C index and chi-square test; national harmony by van der Tas's (1988) H index. While considerable national harmony is found in the U.K. for seven and in Australia for five accounting policies, there is considerable or complete international harmony for only three policies. Evidence is presented of the influence of U.S. GAAP as one factor explaining the poor degree of U.K./Australia international harmony. Australian companies appear to follow U.S. GAAP to a greater extent than do U.K. companies. The state of partial harmony thus existing restricts international comparability of accounting reports and may cause problems for regulators.     

The interaction between national and organizational cultures in accounting firms

This paper reports the results of an empirical study of the interaction between national and organizational cultures at the firm level. Using Hofstede's Value Survey Module, the concept of culture was operationalized in six accounting firms in The Netherlands. Three of these firms were local offices of international “Big Eight” accounting firms with a strong U.S.-orientation in their organizational philosophies and policies, whereas the other three firms were Dutch in origin and organization. All six firms work virtually entirely with Dutch employees. We were specifically interested in any influences of the U.S. culture upon the Big Eight firms. For two Hofstede's four cultural dimensions, i.e. Uncertainty Avoidance and Masculinity, significant effects of the U.S. culture upon the organizational cultures of the Big Eight firms were found. Further analysis showed that these results may rather be due to (self-)selection than to socialization mechanisms.     

The changing relationship between audit firm size and going concern reporting

As a result of gradual shifts in the market for audit services, we expect financially stressed public companies to be increasingly audited by regional firms, who, in turn, will be increasingly likely to issue going concern reports to their financially stressed public companies. Our expectations challenge the view that larger audit firms, in order to avoid exposure to litigation, report more conservatively. To address these issues, we examine the 22 years between 1989 and 2010, which we classify into four ERAs (e.g., 1989–1994, 1995–2001, 2002–2005, and 2006–2010). We initially document that over time, financially stressed public companies are shifting to regional audit firms, partly due to the actions of larger audit firms shedding these clients, which represent ex-ante conservatism. In contrast, audit firm reporting represents ex-post conservatism. We next show that over time, for their financially stressed public clients, regional audit firms are increasingly more likely to issue going concern reports, and BigN audit firms are increasingly less likely to issue going concern reports. We also show that in more recent ERAs, regional audit firms have been more likely than BigN and national audit firms to issue a going concern report to their financially stressed pubic clients. Overall, our evidence suggests that more recently, larger audit firms, relative to regional audit firms, acted more proactively to lessen their litigation risks through increasing centralization of client selection and acceptance processes. However, our evidence suggests that more recently, to lessen their litigation risks, regional audit firms, relative to BigN and national audit firms, acted more conservatively by issuing more going concern reports to their financially stressed public clients.     

Wealth from creativity: Insights and strategies for the future of international cultural relations

Regardless of frontier, the creative community has begun to benefit financially from the democratisation of creative production and distribution opened up via the Internet, a place where planetary plurality and diversity is implicit. Artists are major ambassadors for their cultures operating in a collaborative environment that recognises the distinctive differences between cultures without threat to indigenous expression.

The cultural ecology may have changed but the response of government has been obstructive. Until the second Iraq war cultural diplomacy seemed to have replaced gunboat diplomacy and there was a growing movement to foster cultural relations in an environment being characterised as mutual. In parallel, at national level, governments were seeking to recognise the strong economic value of the cultural industries sector in the new globalised technology. This has now all been thrown into reverse gear by the practice of public diplomacy, a policy of unreformed imperialist hubris that seeks to influence policy in other nations by using domestic producers of intellectual, scientific, creative or economic content to promote selected values and so dominate the international relations agenda.

What if one were to integrate into the activities of international cultural relations the dynamic ways of working and thinking of the creative industries? A more beneficial model emerges if creators are given centre-stage and the values of the creative community applied to the management of international cultural relations. A series of insights borne of many years work in the creative industries could lead to a new set of strategies that would call the bluff of those currently seeking to promote the advantages of liberal democracy. For these strategies demonstrably uphold the rights of individuals to creative expression and to enrich their local economies. This does require the managers of international cultural relations to live more dangerously than at present and it is to them that this paper is addressed.     

Intercultural communication, interreligious dialogue, and peace

In an increasingly interdependent world that includes great cultural, ethnic, racial, national, and religious diversity, it is imperative that we find ways to come together as a human family while still honoring and respecting our many diversities. In the nuclear age, and now the bioterrorism age, and in the wake of September 11, 2001, it is also imperative that we find ways to resolve our conflicts short of violence. The fields of intercultural communication and interreligious dialogue provide important tools to help people deal with all these diversities in more positive ways that increase understanding between people and can enrich people’s lives. People must still resolve their conflict issues, but understanding other people’s cultures, negotiating styles, and religions will prevent unnecessary misinterpretations of other people’s behavior, which can exacerbate conflicts that already exist. This article is concerned with many positive approaches and tools for dealing with diversity from the fields of intercultural communication and interreligious dialogue as these pertain to creating more peaceful futures. It is a basic hypothesis of this article that a more peaceful future requires adoption, by people worldwide, of a dynamic, interdependent, complex (not homogenized) whole systems’ worldview, which honors both our unity and interdependence, as well as our diversity—of races, ethnicities, cultures, nationalities, and religions.

Our generation has arrived at the threshold of a new era in human history: the birth of a global community. Modern communications, trade, and international relations as well as the security and environmental dilemmas we all face make us increasingly interdependent. No one can live in isolation. Thus, whether we like it or not, our vast and diverse human family must finally learn to live together. Individually and collectively we must assume a greater sense of Universal Responsibility.

The XIVth Dalai Lama

No peace among the nations without peace among the religions. No peace among the religions without dialogue among the religions.

Hans Kuhn     

基于国家安全视角的我国反洗钱工作研究

反洗钱与国家安全特别是非传统安全有着密切的联系。从国际上看,2001年美国"9·11"恐怖事件后,西方发达国家不断调整国家反洗钱战略,将反洗钱提高到维护国家经济安全和国际政治稳定的战略高度。从国内看,我国国家安全和社会安定面临的威胁和挑战增多,特别是各种威胁和挑战联动效应明显,面对新形势、新任务,我们要强化底线思维,以维护国家安全为核心,准确定位反洗钱工作,借助国际反恐融资体系,打击恐怖势力,加强对反洗钱国际规则和实务的研究,防范洗钱和恐怖融资风险,维护我国国家安全。