Staff turnover costs: In search of accountability

The nature of staff turnover accounting procedures in a labour intensive context has been examined by conducting interviews with twenty eight managers in large three to five star hotels and two theme parks. It was found that the main staff turnover accountability procedures adopted involve monthly departmental reporting of staff turnover percentage levels and also the conduct of exit interviews. A degree of staff turnover costing was noted, although this practice was not extensively applied. Most interviewees supported the notion of allocating staff turnover costs to those operating departments experiencing the turnover. A muted form of this practice was observed in one hotel, however most interviewees had never contemplated or heard of the practice. Agency theory has been utilized as a framework for structuring a range of observed and potential staff turnover accountability relationships.     

Impact of quality on estimations of hotel efficiency

This paper provides empirical evidence on the impact of output quality on hotel efficiency. It demonstrates how ignoring quality can lead to erroneous efficiency estimates. The study uses stochastic frontier methodology and the model proposed by Battese and Coelli (1995) to estimate the efficiency of 838 hotels in Spain in the period 2009–2013. The key advantage of this methodology is its ability to estimate efficiency and identify factors that explain differences in efficiency in a single-stage sampling procedure. Estimates of cost efficiency, which only include the costs of higher quality, are compared to those of profit efficiency, which not only consider costs but also the revenues generated by higher quality. Results show that quality has a negative impact on cost efficiency and a positive one on profit efficiency. Thus, hotel management should implement strategies that increase the value of their services as a way to achieve sustainable competitive advantages.     

Modelling airline flight cancellation decisions

In order to predict airline responses to Traffic Management Initiatives (TMIs), and reveal the underlying preference structures that shape these responses, we study US domestic airlines’ cancellation decisions in response to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)’s TMIs, in particular, to Ground Delay Programs (GDPs). By observing the actual flight-cancellation choices made by airline dispatchers, the airlines’ cancellation utility functions can be inferred through the use of binary choice models. The model captures how delays to a given flight and potential delay savings to other flights affect flight cancellation decisions. We also find larger, fuller, less frequent, shorter-distance, and spoke-bound flights are less likely to be cancelled, and that there is inter-airline variation in flight cancellation behaviour.     

Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) in Construction Schedule Risk Assessment

Construction project scheduling is one of the most critical factors for project success measurement.Not only for the project planning but for construction process management,the scheduling is the basic tool for communication between the owner and the project manager.By developing the schedule before the project starts,the owner knows in advance that the expected timeline of the project.By preparing construction process scheduling,the owner and general contractor can better manage the subcontractors,sub-trades progress,materials storage and deliveries,labors schedule and equipment set up which will eventually save time,money and hassle.Basically,Critical Path Method(CPM) is commonly used in the construction industry.CPM is a deterministic method that assumes that through the network,there is at least one path that determines the project duration and that the path is the critical path.CPM does not consider the uncertainty in the activities;rather it assumes that each activity can be finished in the given situation.Program Evaluation and Review Technique(PERT) is a stochastic technique which is based on the assumption that the duration of a single activity can be described by a probability density function.PERT takes into account the uncertainty during the construction process and has been created out of the need to plan,schedule and control complex projects with many uncertainties.The PERT approach is stated in some books and papers,but there is no deep investigation on the application in the schedule risk assessment.This paper investigates the PERT work process and takes a valuable try on the construction schedule risk assessment by using case studies.The utilization in the estimate the construction liquidated damage with the uncertainties is performed,which also can be used in the insurance company to calculate the insurance premium.     

中国的增加值率为什么会出现下降？——基于非竞争型投入产出框架的视角

中国经济在快速增长同时，新增价值在产出中比例不断下降。本文在非竞争型投入产出框架下，分别运用结构分解方法和迪氏指数分解方法，从不同的角度对中国的增加值率1987—2007年下降的现象进行研究。结果表明，在研究期间中国增加值率从1987年的0．480下降到2007年的0．323，下降幅度达到32．63％。从行业结构角度来看，中国增加值率的下降与我国产业结构的两次变迁有关，是工业化进程中不可避免的结果；从最终需求角度分析，初次投入结构变动以及生产过程中进口中间品比例增加是导致增加值率下降的主要原因。最后，本文还结合分析结果对提高中国经济增长质量提供了相关建议。     

产品生命周期成本的演进及其对成本管理的启示

本文重点分析了产品生命周期成本概念的演进过程，提出了产品的企业生命周期成本、用户生命周期成本和社会生命周期成本，并在此基础上分析了这三者之间的关系及其对企业成本管理的启示。     

Disclosure and the cost of equity in international cross-listing

In this paper, we examine the relationship between disclosure level and the cost of equity capital for a sample of international firms cross-listing on the New York Stock Exchange. Increased disclosure has the potential to reduce information asymmetry, reduce the cost of financing and increase analyst following. Using an international asset pricing model, we find that listing firms experience a decrease in both disclosure risk and systematic risk while matching firms do not. Further, we find that the magnitude of the decrease is related to three types of disclosure: accounting standards; analyst following; and exchange/regulatory investor protection. Our results suggest that increased disclosure through accounting standards is beneficial to investors and that disclosure can be accomplished through information intermediaries, e.g., analyst following. For firms with the lowest levels of disclosure prior to cross-listing, all three types of disclosure appear to be valuable.

政府负债会计的会计政策选择原则论析——以美国联邦政府为例

政府负债是政府部门以各种信用形式筹集资金,缓解财政支出压力,顺利履行各类政府职能的重要手段,也是引发财政危机,威胁一国财政安全的主要因素.加强对政府负债的管理,控制财政风险,高质量的政府负债会计与财务报告信息是重要的前提保证.因此,完善政府负债的会计核算始终是推动各国政府会计变革的重要动因,其中,对负债计量、确认等会计政策的选择则成为当前政府会计实践关注的焦点,本文以美国联邦政府为例,对政府负债会计的会计政策选择及其原则进行了分析,以提供借鉴.     

Opening the black box: Finding the source of cost inefficiency

Parametric and nonparametric procedures are used to identify the apparent source of cost inefficiency in banking. Inefficiencies of 20–25% from earlier studies are reduced to 1–5% when, in addition to commonly specified cost function influences, variables reflecting banks’ external business environment and industry indicators of “productivity” are added. These productivity indicators explain most of the reduction in bank operating cost over 1992–2001 and was 5 times the reduction in the dispersion of inefficiency. Inefficiency appears stable over time because it is small relative to industry-wide cost changes occurring concurrently and because technology dispersion is imperfect.

再融资监管促进企业理性投资了吗？——来自中国上市公司的证据

本文以2007-2016年的A股上市公司为样本,实证检验中国再融资监管制度是否促进了企业的理性投资行为。研究发现:上市企业投资决策符合资本成本约束的理性准则,表明中国权益市场中存在普遍的市场约束力量;但企业再融资后投资理性程度明显降低;对监管失效的原因分析表明,企业投资理性程度下降受到事前融资动机和事后募资投向变更的影响:监管规则对事前再融资动机缺乏有效把控,导致再融资资格出现错配;而对事后募资用途的监管不严,则导致部分企业对募集资金的用途进行随意变更,使得企业投资理性程度降低。研究结论为完善企业投资决策自治机制、优化权益再融资监管、促进资本市场改革提供了实证依据和一定的现实启示。