Fair value accounting and the present value fallacy: The need for an alternative conceptual framework

The major functions of company accounting identified by the IASB and the FASB are (1) reporting on ‘the custody and safekeeping’ of the company's resources and (2) reporting on ‘their efficient and profitable use’. The joint IASB/FASB project for improving the conceptual framework for financial reporting is directed towards better performance of both functions within the conventional ‘accrual’ system of accounting through the use of ‘fair value’. Although the disclosure of fair values is a development to be welcomed, the requirement that changes in fair value should be reported as ‘gains’ or ‘losses’ appears to rely on the ‘Hicksian’ concept of income as a theoretical ideal.The object of the present paper is to establish that this concept is fundamentally flawed by what may be called the ‘present value fallacy’. Even in an economic utopia of perfectly competitive markets (with no discrepancies between objective market values and subjective present values), the concept of income or profit as value growth can be seriously misleading.If the prevailing Hicksian conceptual framework is discarded in favour of an alternative based on Fisher's theory of income, the two major, but incompatible, functions of financial reporting can be carried out independently and without compromise. The conventional ‘hybrid’ system of accrual accounting, in which backward-looking measures of volume and forward-looking measures of value are mixed together, would be replaced by a ‘segregated’ system in which they are kept strictly apart. A logical extension of Fisher's theory suggests the disclosure by agent/managers of the return on investment that they are planning to deliver to their principal/owners. This type of ‘decision-useful information’ is vital for the efficient operation of capital markets and for removing the accounting incentive to short-termism.     

向空中要地,助百姓安居

保障房因为与百姓安居息息相关而成为＂两会＂期间代表、委员热议的话题之一。全国政协委员、中国城建集团董事长、中国城市发展研究院院长于炼说：＂保障房不属于房地产产业,应该属于社会福利的延续和补充。＂全国政协委员、清华大学经济管理学院金融系主任李稻葵表示,保障房制度将是解决目前房地产问题的＂解毒剂＂,如果建得好、管理得好,可以成为各级政府长期持有的、基础坚实的财政收入来源。一家中国企业通过＂向空间要地＂建筑技术的实际应用,使保障房的社会福利特质、可持续的财政收入和房地产开发之间实现了完美结合,是于炼委员建议的那种＂以社区为单元实现民生保障,提升市民生活品质＂的城市民生建设中最行之有效的建筑技术创新案例     

香港和美国的银行服务定价及启示

银行的服务收费，利率市场化是大势所趋，但其既带来银行经营绩效的改善、服务水平的提高，也会对低收入群体带来一些不利影响。中国应借鉴其他国家经验采取措施防止比类问题。     

Dissolving the stranglehold of the fix : A role for social construction in dealing with environmental dislocation

The current approach to environmental dislocation and innovation is characterized as ‘dualistic’. Dualism is described, implications worked through and the existence of another, ‘dialectical’ approach is proposed. A dialectical worldview, it is suggested, complements the strengths of dualism and extends our intellectual reach. Such a view encourages recognition of social and epistemological contexts of dualistic constructs and of the dislocations that arise when they are operationalized. It enables an extension of our involvement with the world from accountability to responsibility. Mundane examples are offered in which dialectical implications and social constructions are revealed, and shown to be an effective basis for resolving, or avoiding, dislocation.     

农村居民消费的微观特征变化及对策研究——晋中个案

近年来,扩大内需成为拉动国内经济稳定增长的一项重要宏观调控政策,农村市场以其巨大增长潜力更是备受关注。启动农村市场、促进农村消费、满足广大农村居民日益增长的物质文化需要变得愈加重要和紧迫。本文在进行专题调查的基础上进行了针对性分析。     

经济社会中高效、和谐、平安的音符——工行江西省江铜支行企业文化建设纪实

企业文化是企业的灵魂，是企业赖以生存和发展的原动力。早在上世纪90年代中期，工行江西省江铜支行便以“团结一心的群体意识，奋勇夺魁的竞争意识，逆水行舟的搏击意识，同舟共济的风险意识，龙的传人的民族意识”的“赛龙舟精神”享誉省内外金融界，先后荣获“全国金融先进单位”、“全国模范职工之家”、“全国金融系统先进基层党组织”、江西省第五、六届文明单位等20多项省部级以上的荣誉称号。     

注重“五个结合” 切实将党建工作落到实处

工商银行票据营业部党委下设总部六个党支部和八个分部党支部，党员人数为103人，团员人数为31人，党团员占全部员工总数的52％。面对机构新、人员新、体制新的情况，以及党员分布区域广、一线党员占比高、党员集中管理的特点，票据营业部党委始终坚持严格管理与探索创新并举，不断强化基层党的建设工作，紧紧围绕党建工作与业务工作、队伍建设、精神文明、企业文化和廉政建设相结合，全面提高党员队伍和员工队伍的整体素质，切实将党建工作落到实处，有力保障了票据业务改革发展的顺利进行。去年，在上海金融系统纪念中国共产党成立85周年大会上，票据营业部党委荣获上海市金融系统先进基层党组织称号。     

如何应对外资银行竞争问题初探

按照我国跨入WTO大门时为金融市场对外开放制订的时间表，中国银行业从2006年12月11日起对外资全面开放，对所有外资银行实现“国民待遇”。我们叫喊多年“狼来了”之后，外国的“银狼”真的来了。中外资银行之间面对面的较量已经拉开帷幕。面对外资银行的激烈竞争，中国银行业需要做些什么？     

The taming of the skew

Andrew Smith explores the thrills and dangers that lie outside the world of normal distributions.     

要重视企业文化在员工职业生涯规划中的作用

企业文化是凝聚人心、增强企业竞争力的无形资产和力量,是企业生存和发展的原动力。推进企业文化建设其实质也是企业对员工素质的培养和提高,因为人才是企业的核心战略资源,注重企业文化建设和人本管理是企业走向成功的一条重要途径。但遍观中国的企业无论是合资、合作企业集团还是国有企业集团,都面临着一个无法回避的挑战,那就是员工职业生涯规划的推行与企业的原有的工作文化是否相容、相融,决定着企业员工职业生涯规划管理实施的效果。企业文化要想发挥它应有的作用,必须将企业文化中的价值观（包括企业精神等）、     

浅谈商业银行操作风险的成因及防范措施

风险贯穿于银行经营的全过程，及时发现风险隐患并消除风险是商业银行管理的重中之重。我国商业银行改革虽然取得了一定成绩，但还存在着很多风险，如信用风险、操作风险等还需要进一步研究，找出科学的管理防范方法。从风险管理的趋势看，操作风险导致的损失已经明显大于市场风险和信用风险，操作风险控制已成为商业银行关注的重点之一，有效防范操作风险自然成为经营管理中的重要课题。     

The futures of the colonised

A reading of Rabindranath Tagore’s last testament—Sabhyatar Sankat [11] (published in English as Crisis in Civilization [12])—reveals that it is an instance of how the colonised have shown at times astonishing capacity to make a transition from realistic criticisms to utopia, which serves as the most volatile critique of the colonial situation. Utopian thinking in the colonial world counters the reality of power, inspires and becomes the basis of hope and resistance. Dissolution and farewell—the two recurrent strains in Tagore’s essay—express the meaning of the rite of dreaming by the colonised. They also spiritualise the dangerous act of dreaming the future by those who feel their fate to be sealed. While politics of the present goes on, all along that, and all through that time, parallel attempts go on to re-make the nation into a new political society based on the incipient ideas of those times of justice and freedom. An overlapping historical sense prevails in a critical time, as it prevailed at the time Tagore wrote his last testament, and the clue to the overlap can be found only in an awareness of the contentious politics of the present, which a later-day chronicler will read as an act of seeing the future. History’s excess is future—the excess that defies rationality, like Tagore’s expectation of the advent of the Man from the East that defied logical explanations about the politics of his time.     

感悟企业文化

文化内涵博大精深，对于企业文化我同样不敢妄言，只能谈点在基层单位工作时对企业文化的点滴感悟。     

构建三维文化体系打造高效企业团队——对基层银行企业文化建设的思考

企业文化是企业在长期的经营过程中形成并被企业员工普遍认同和遵从的思想观念、价值标准、思维方式和工作作风的总和,是物质文化、制度文化和精神文化的复合体。企业文化是企业生存和发展的灵魂和原动力,是企业凝聚人心、增强企业竞争力的无形资产和力量。对外,它是企业的面旗帜;对内,它是一种向心力。     

加强基层党建 促进改革发展

湛江地处广东省西部，是我国第一批沿海开放城市。改革开放之初，这里是全国经济发展的排头兵。但由于前几年受“9898”特大走私案件的影响，湛江的发展步伐明显滞后，成为广东省经济发展的“洼地”。2006年人均国内生产总值1．1万元，人均储蓄存款0．7万元，均低于全国全省平均水平，属于广东省欠发达地区和金融资源匮乏地区。     

The value of the floor

Existing theoretical literature suggests that floor trading has discernable benefits over electronic trading. In particular floor relationships lead to a reduction in asymmetric information and hence lower spreads. The ability of floor brokers to participate in incoming order flow without revealing their supply and demand curves increases total liquidity and dampens liquidity shocks leading to lower volatility. We develop hypotheses and test them on a sample of stocks that switch from floor trading to an electronic system with fairly identical rules and pre-trade transparency. We find strong support for existing theory and our hypotheses. In particular asymmetric information and volatility are significantly higher on the electronic system. This leads to an increase in investor transaction costs which dwarfs the operational cost advantages of the electronic systems. Our results are robust to tests involving samples that control for company specific factors and market wide trends.     

从心理学角度探析企业文化的构建

人是企业的第一要素，企业文化的重要特点是重视人的价值。坚持以人为本，推崇人性管理，达到人企合一，实现企业与员工共成长、共发展是企业人本文化的核心，也是企业文化能否实行的关键。从心理学的角度，科学运用相关理论知识来激发员工的主体意识，从根本上调动员工的积极性和创造性，将企业价值观、企业理念内化于心，并外化为价值实践，推动企业进步和发展，是本文的目的所在。     

企业文化建设：陕持与裁剪的艺术

企业文化建设,很像园丁培育苗木。苗木是在园地里生长出来的,它必须与当地水土相服,否则,园丁本事再高也是无济于事;当苗木长势良好时,园丁要做的只是顺势而为,让它自由生长;当苗木长势不正,枝叶旁逸斜飞时,园丁就得费大力气将它扶正,痛下决心剪除它的歪枝赘叶。自然界暗含天机,从事企业文化建设也是如此,应当领悟其内在规律。