The influence of international taxation structures on corporate financial disclosure patterns

This paper investigates the extent of financial instrument disclosures (FIDs) within the annual reports of Australian listed extractive resource companies over a 4-year longitudinal period (2003–2006) and its association with international tax characteristics. Statistical analysis shows that thin capitalisation structures and withholding taxes are positively and significantly associated with disclosure patterns. In contrast, the occurrence of foreign sourced income and tax haven links are significantly negatively associated with FID patterns. These findings demonstrate that international tax structures can influence corporate disclosure patterns. This paper contributes to an understanding of the extent, trends and rationale behind resource firms’ financial instrument disclosure practices in Australia.     

The Relationship between the Environmental and Financial Performance of Public Utilities

A growing body of research has centered on theissue of the relationship between financial andenvironmental performance. The lack ofconsensus in this literature can be attributedto several factors. The cost of complying withenvironmental regulation can be significant anddetrimental to shareholder wealth maximization.Conversely, a firm that can effectively controlpollution might also be able to effectivelycontrol other costs of production and henceearn a higher rate of return. We utilize datafrom the Investor Responsibility ResearchCenter as well as a proprietary database toinvestigate the relationship betweenenvironmental performance and financialperformance in electric utilities. Utilities,as producers and distributors of energy,produce substantial amounts of pollution.However, since public utilities are regulated,studying the financial and environmentalperformance of utilities affords us theopportunity to see what role regulation playsin enhancing or diminishing the relationshipbetween financial and environmentalperformance.Our results differ from earlier studies in thatwe find do not find a positive relationshipbetween holding period returns and anindustry-adjusted measure of environmentalperformance nor do we find that regulatoryclimate appears to explain returns. While theredoes not appear to be a clearly definedrelationship between regulatory climate and acompliance based measure of environmentalperformance, there is evidence of a negativerelationship between financial return and amore pro-active measure of environmentalperformance. We offer several possibleinterpretations of these results and extensionsfor future research.     

Industry structure and the choice of product reliability

Epple and Raviv (1979) and Saving (1982) argued that product reliability may be independent of market structure. Using a two period oligopoly model we show that this conclusion is correct only if the firms are risk-neutral and output is rented. If either of these conditions is violated, the firm's reliability will not be socially optimal. Our results provide further rationale for Avinger's (1981) empirical findings on product obsolescence in the vacuum tube and electric lamp industries. We do find, however, that the independence result can be reestablished in sales markets if firms are required to provide warranties.     

建立适合本国实践与国际接轨的评估准则

国际评估准则委员会（IVSC）由世界评估行业的若干主要组织为全球经济利益和全球经济的发展而提议设立,并最终于20世纪80年代初正式创立。国际评估准则委员会的建立有利于促进一项评估协议的实施,该协议包括： 一为那些已经建立评估规范和评估准则的国家提供能被全球接受且一致采用的实务操作准则：     

Adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards: Impact on the Value Relevance of Intangible Assets

We examine whether the value relevance of reported intangibles differs between financial reporting regimes pre- and post-adoption of Australian Equivalents to International Financial Reporting Standards (AIFRS) and Australian Accounting Standards (AGAAP) respectively. Using AIFRS and AGAAP measures of goodwill and identifiable intangible assets for the same financial year and testing their association with share prices, we find evidence that AIFRS generally convey incremental useful information for investors about goodwill. For aggregated identifiable intangible assets there is no evidence that AIFRS conveys information beyond that in AGAAP. In contrast, we find evidence that AGAAP provides incremental information for investors in relation to identifiable intangibles, but not goodwill .     

Rendering Alternative Offerings Less Profitable with Resale Price Maintenance

When it was legal, resale price maintenance (RPM) was commonly observed on items such as aspirin, pens, pencils, toothpaste, soap, shaving cream, and milk. In providing a theory that is based on compensating retailers for their opportunity cost of shelf space, and that does not hinge on the existence of externalities in nonprice competition, this article explains why a manufacturer might impose RPM on these and many other products. By contrast, the use of RPM on food, grocery, and drug store items is not easily explained by standard theories such as free riding on presale services and quality certification by high-priced retailers.

The typical supermarket has room for fewer than 25,000 products. Yet there are some 100,000 available, and between 10,000 and 25,000 items aye introduced each year. ¹

     

Applying public participation GIS (PPGIS) to inform and manage visitor conflict along multi-use trails

Managing visitor conflict is an important task in protected areas. This study used public participation GIS (PPGIS) mapping and a visitor survey to research conflicts between mountain bikers and horse riders, and other groups frequenting trails for tourism and recreation in national parks in northern Sydney (Australia). The goal was to evaluate the effectiveness of the PPGIS for determining conflict locations, and to integrate stated reasons and conflict resolution measures in a model. The survey showed that 42% of mountain bikers and 69% of horse riders had experienced conflicts, with each other, motorbike riders, walkers/hikers and dog walkers. PPGIS effectively mapped concurrent usage intensity to predict potential conflict locations over a reasonably large study area thereby identifying trails of the greatest concern. PPGIS also offered high-quality GIS visualisation options, and the novelty of the PPGIS increased participant engagement. We evaluated PPGIS compared to questionnaire-based surveying, direct visitor observations, GPS tracking, traffic counters and cameras. Because visitor conflict occurs within a spatial context, conflict management will require greater spatial knowledge of visitor activity, which can be obtained through the innovative PPGIS mapping. A conflict model is presented that integrates this study's empirical findings on conflict reasons and resolutions with existing conflict theory.     

Current Accounts and Exchange Rates: A New Look at the Evidence

A small literature has developed exploring nonlinearities in exchange rate data. This paper studies bivariate statistical relationships between current accounts, exchange rates, and cross–country ratios of GDP. The analysis differs from previous empirical work on these issues in using nonparametric methods to allow for nonlinearities, in employing a minimum of statistical assumptions, and in focusing on a fundamental characterization of the data. The authors present new evidence on the connections between exchange rates, the current account, and GDP. While the evidence loosely supports some common beliefs about the data, it conflicts with some common theoretical models. Thus the results pose new challenges for theory.