WIFE'S EMPLOYMENT—ITS INFLUENCE ON MAJOR FAMILY EXPENDITURES

This study was undertaken to examine the influence of wife's employment on major family expenditures. Tobit analysis of data from the 1972–73 Consumer Expenditure Surveys found no relationship between wife's employment and outlays on twelve categories of expenditures. Family income had the greatest overall influence on the expenditure categories examined. Therefore, it appears that the absolute amount of income was more important than its sources in determining expenditures.     

An Empirical Investigation of Accounting Methods for Goodwill and Identifiable Intangible Assets: 1985 to 1989

Accounting for intangible assets represents one of the more controversial accounting standards issues. This study examines the accounting policies adopted for goodwill and for identifiable intangible assets by a sample of 150 Australian Stock Exchange listed companies over the five-year period 1985 to 1989 inclusive. Findings reveal a general decrease in the diversity of goodwill accounting policies over the study period but the converse for identifiable intangible policies. In particular, an increase in the percentage of companies electing not to amortize identifiable intangibles was found. The study provides evidence to support claims that companies have been recognizing identifiable intangibles to reduce the impact on reported operating profits of the requirement of accounting standards for the amortization of goodwill.     

An Application of the Hedonic Price Model to the Perth Residential Land Market*

This paper presents the results of an application of the Rosen-Freeman hedonic price model to the Perth (Western Australia) residential land market. A sample of over two thousand market transactions is used to estimate the value of residential land attributes. Major emphasis is given to those particular land attributes that are subject to public regulation and to the policy implications that follow.     

Valuation and Clean Surplus Accounting: Some Implications of the Feltham and Ohlson Model for the Relative Information Content of Earnings and Cash Flows*

Abstract. This paper provides an analysis of the implications of the Feltham and Ohlson (1995) model for the relationship between unexpected security returns and unexpected earnings and cash flows. A simplified version of the Feltham and Ohlson linear information model is utilized to provide an intuitive explanation of the coefficients in the unexpected returns equation and to show that incremental information content for unexpected free cash flow beyond accounting earnings in the model depends on the existence of positive net present value (NPV) investment opportunities. The paper concludes by arguing that the model provides useful insights into factors that may influence the empirical relationship between security returns and accounting data. Résumé. L'auteur expose les résultats d'une analyse des répercussions du modèle de Feltham et Ohlson (1995) sur la relation entre les rendements imprévus des titres, d'une part, et les bénéfices et les flux monétaires imprévus, d'autre part. Il a recours à une version simplifiée du modèle d'information linéaire de Feltham et Ohlson pour expliquer intuitivement les coefficients de l'équation des rendements imprévus et pour montrer que, dans le modèle, le contenu marginal en information supérieur des flux monétaires disponibles imprévus par rapport aux bénéfices comptables dépend des possibilités d'investissement existantes offrant une valeur actualisée nette (VAN) positive. L'auteur conclut en affirmant que le modèle livre des renseignements utiles quant aux facteurs susceptibles d'influencer la relation empirique entre les rendements des titres et les données comptables.