Cultural Adaptation and International Business

The international business is more frequent and the process of economic globalization is faster. The chal enges of culture emerge, and cultural adaptation is considered to be important in the interna...     

THE CHINESE NATIONAL WHO SURFS THE SEA OF FINANCE IN ASIA——The Cover Personage incarnates the elegant Chinese national as the first Ranking Vice President of the ADB,famous economist and Financier active in the international financial arena

Lin Zexu,a patriot,thinker and national hero,who served as Governor for Hu Guang and Governor for Liang Guang and in other positions in Qing Dynasty,composed a couplet for self-motivation."Vast is the sea which embraces flows from millions of rivers;and upright is the precipice which rises single-mindedly to the zenith."He encouraged himself by this couplet to be magnanimous,receptive,and upright and to be a man of unbending principle.This is a motto which Jin Liqun has followed the first day he took office in Asian Development Bank (ADB),to guide his work and the way he conducts himself in this community.He practices in accordance with this principle as he carries out the mandate of this multilateral financial institution.Jin Liqun has won the accolade that he is     

China-A Home To Herbalife——Interview with Dr. Luigi Gratton,Vice President of Herbalife International

<正>"This is so incredible! We just had a healthy and natural mushroom lunch at the Great Wall." Dr. Luigi Gratton, Vice President of Medical Affairs and Education of Herbalife International said so in excitement at the conference room of China World Hotel in Beijing in the afternoon of January 11, 2007. As a medical and nutritional doctor, this is Luigi' s first time in China. That' s why he was so excited about the original oriental diet.     

基点价值

Interest-rate risk is one of the most important market risks frequently stated in banks,which is a loss ensuing from an adverse change in the value of interest-rate sensitive assets and liabilities,in consequence of a change in interest rate.The basic components of interest-rate risk may be include:re-pricing,or maturities mismatching risk,yield curve risk,basis value risk,and option risk.Interest-rate risk,which exerts an effect not only on the net interest income but also on the economic val…     

Analysis the Opportunities and Challenges of PearlRiver Delta Economy in China

This paper examines the strategies of Chinese government policies to develop of Pearl River Delta （PRD） in the coming decades. Through analyzing the opportunitiesand challenges of the Macro-environment of the PRD, I will illustrate the competition to be an investment basement from inside and outside of the country as well as the supportivegovernment policies. In the past three decades, the original core competences of PRD such as low labor cost, broad foreign investment policies and the even cheap transportation is losingits attractiveness compared to the Yangtze River Delta （YRD）. This paper also illustrated the polices which support PRD economic transformation and Hong Kong as an international tradehub city that will play a key role in enhancing the speed of the transformation. The expectation of this research is that PRD will present itself as a new economic zone in the world, developvalue-added, high-tech manufacturing, brand innovated, and environment friendly industries. A new outlook of PRD is emerging in front of the world.     

Potential Business Opportunities in Construction of New Towns

A Summarized Introduction to the 6 Key Towns in Beijing:The construction of new towns in Beijing means a cut-in point to the accelerated urbanization of rural areas in the suburbs of the City, and is a stimulus to the modernization of the rural areas and the urbanization of the capital city. In order to speed up the construction of towns in the suburbs,     

Introduction to Daxing District

Located in the south of Beijing, Daxing District is a unique suburban county with two new satellite towns in Beijing, among which Huangcun satellite town with district government is 13 kilometers away from the 3rd-Ring Road South, one of the first satellite towns of key development in Beijing with approval by the State Council in 1984. Beijing New City Yizhuang, or Beijing Economic and Technological Development Area is another new satellite town rapidly growing up in Yizhuang Town of Daxing District.     

Introduction to Shunyi District

Located in the northeast of Beijing, Shunyi District is 30 kilometers away from the urban area, with total area of 1021 square kilometers and plain areas of 95.7%. Shunyi District boasts of an elegant natural environment, and the location advantages are richly endowed by nature with transport facilities. The largest airport of the country -     

Relish the Moment

Tucked away in our subconscious is an idyllic vision. We see ourselves on a long trip that spans the continent. We are traveling by train. Out the windows, we drink in the passing scene of cars on nearby highways, of children waving at a crossing, of cattle grazing on a distant hillside, of smoke pouring from a power plant, of row upon row of corn and wheat, of mountains and roiling hillsides, of city skylines and village halls.     

Innovative Practice——Shipping Magnate CY Tung's Road to Success

CY Tung was the pioneer of innovation and the practioner of innovative theories in modern shipping, regardless of his huge oil tanker building, container transport, institutional management or resource integration. Tung, the shipping industry have called the pioneer of innovation, Tung's road to success is a story and history of continuous innovation. In his shipping career, adhering to the innovative concept, multi-use new shipping technology, and management practice, Tung had built a team with the ability to innovate. Tung's group, by integrating its human resources, contacts and production resources ultimately established himself in the highly competitive international shipping market and achieved his legendary of the world shipping tycoon.     

Mary Douglas,risk and accounting failures

Sociology and anthropology are especially valuable in providing a critical understanding of the risk-related implications of modernity. There has, however, been relatively little discussion of the work of Mary Douglas within accounting although her pioneering writings in the area of risk have been highly influential. This paper uses Douglas’ cultural theory of risk to provide an alternative perspective on the demise of Enron and Andersen. The failure at Enron is interpreted through the grid-group model and analysed as a series of events that threaten to destabilize established cultures. Accounting is thus construed as an activity that exists on the margins of boundaries. There are two important conclusions drawn from the analysis. First, as the worldviews of both the individualist and hierarchical cultures became threatened by the ensuing crisis they collaborated to ensure their perpetuation. This also averted individuals from becoming susceptible to recruitment by subversive egalitarian groups. Second, the individualistic culture of Andersen shaped practices within the firm weakening its ability to act as a gatekeeper and therefore public accounting firms need to modify their cultures if they are to police the margins effectively.     

The relation between aggressive financial reporting and aggressive tax reporting: Evidence from ex-Arthur Andersen clients

We investigate the economic trade-offs managers face due to conflicting incentives to report high financial statement book income and, at the same time, report low taxable income. Our setting involves Houston clients of Arthur Andersen (AA), who have been shown to exhibit a culture of aggressive financial reporting. Using our sample of AA Houston clients, we test two competing theories: (1) firms which have a culture of aggressive financial reporting are also aggressive in their tax reporting, versus (2) firms which are willing to pay real dollars (taxes) to report higher financial statement earnings. We do not find support for either theory. Instead, our findings suggest a middle-ground: firms may exhibit a culture of aggressive financial reporting without impacting their relative tax reporting. Our findings not only shed light on the intersection of financial and tax reporting, but they also add to the extant literature involving the culture of AA. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper to investigate the tax ramifications of AA’s culture of aggressive financial reporting.     

Stationarity aspects of the sparre andersen risk process and the corresponding ruin probabilitles

Abstract

The Sparre Andersen risk model assumes that the interclaim times (also the time between the origin and the first claim epoch is considered as an interclaim time) and the amounts of claim are independent random variables such that the interclaim times have the common distribution function K(t), t|>/ 0, K(O)= 0 and the amounts of claim have the common distribution function P(y), - ∞ < y < ∞. Although the Sparre Andersen risk process is not a process with strictly stationary increments in continuous time it is asymptotically so if K(t) is not a lattice distribution. That is an immediate consequence of known properties of renewal processes. Another also immediate consequence of such properties is the fact that if we assume that the time between the origin and the first claim epoch has not K(t) but as its distribution function (k^b1 denotes the mean of K(t)) then the so modified Sparre Andersen process has stationary increments (this works even if K(t) is a lattice distribution).

In the present paper some consequences of the above-mentioned stationarity properties are given for the corresponding ruin probabilities in the case when the gross risk premium is positive.     

Spacek's Contributions to Accounting Thought Revisited

While he was managing partner and chair of Arthur Andersen in the l950s and 1960s, Leonard Spacek was an outspoken critic of public accounting, complaining about its failure to establish a coherent set of objectives for financial statements, its illogical principles and methods, and its principle-setting process. He was the conscience of the public accounting community during this time period, a critic from within. As far as Spacek was concerned, 'fairness' was the central objective of financial reporting, though he never specifically defined the term. In light of the recent high-profile corporate and accounting scandals, including Enron and World.com, both of which were audited by Arthur Andersen, it is useful to analyse Spacek's ideas on the public role of accounting from his speeches and writings with emphasis on the theme of fairness. Given the firm's long-term commitment to quality audits, it was ironic that Andersen fell victim to these scandals.     

Audit market structure,fees and choice in a period of structural change: Evidence from the UK – 1998–2003

This paper presents evidence on audit market concentration and auditor fee levels in the UK market in the crucial period of structural change following the PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC) merger and encompassing Andersen’s demise (1998–2003). Given the current interest in auditor choice, analysis is also undertaken at the individual audit firm level and by industry sector. There is evidence of significant upward pressure on audit fees since 2001 but only for smaller auditees. Audit fee income for top tier auditors (Big 5/4) did not change significantly while the number of auditees fell significantly, consistent with a move towards larger, less risky, clients. A decomposition analysis of the aggregate Big 5/4 concentration ratio changes over the period identifies the impact of four distinct consumer-based reasons for change: leavers; net joiners; non-par auditor switches; and (only for the audit fees measure) audit fee changes. Andersen’s demise markedly reduced the level of inequality among the top tier firms but PwC retained its position as a ‘dominant firm’. On switching to the new auditor, former Andersen clients experienced an initial audit fee rise broadly in line with inflation, with no evidence of fee premia or discounting. They also reported significantly lower NAS fees, consistent with audit firms and auditees responding to public concerns about perceptions of auditor independence. There is no general evidence of knowledge spillover effects or cross-subsidisation of the audit fee by NAS. The combined findings provide no evidence to indicate that recent structural changes have resulted in anticompetitive pricing; the key concerns remain the lack of audit firm choice and issues concerning the governance and accountability of audit firms.     

The Time of Recovery and the Maximum Severity of Ruin in a Sparre Andersen Model

Abstract

Phase-type distributions are one of the most general classes of distributions permitting a Markovian interpretation. Sparre Andersen risk models with phase-type claim interarrival times or phase-type claims can be analyzed using Markovian techniques, and results can be expressed in compact matrix forms. Computations involved are readily programmable in practice.

This paper studies some quantities associated with the first passage time and the time of ruin in a Sparre Andersen risk model with phase-type interclaim times. In an earlier discussion the present author obtained a matrix expression for the Laplace transform of the first time that the surplus process reaches a given target from the initial surplus. Using this result, we analyze (1) the Laplace transform of the recovery time after ruin, (2) the probability that the surplus attains a certain level before ruin, and (3) the distribution of the maximum severity of ruin. We also give a matrix expression for the expected discounted dividend payments prior to ruin for the Sparre Andersen model in the presence of a constant dividend barrier.     

The purpose of capital for institutions with government-insured deposits

An earlier version of this article was presented at a conference sponsored by Arthur Andersen, Freddie Mac, and Salomon Brothers, Capitalizing for the 90s, held in Washington DC on March 21, 1991.     

Professional Research,Lobbying and Intangibles: A Review Essay

The publication in January 1992 of The Valuation of Intangible Assets, a report by Arthur Andersen & Co., has again stimulated the ‘brands’ debate. The Report claims to present a range of valuation methods for intangibles that command a ‘consensus’ among preparers, and that overcome the problems of subjectivity, consistency, separability and relevance identified in earlier research into brand accounting. This paper argues that the concept of separability, upon which these claims depend, is far from clear. The Andersen Report also raises questions as to the nature of its appeal to consensus, the role of codification in determining accounting policy, and the status of professional ‘research’.