Public and private sector auditors and accruals quality in English NHS hospital Trusts

To promote auditor independence and audit quality in English NHS Trusts the Audit Commission regulates auditor rotation, fees and the appointment of its own and private sector auditors. NHS sanctioned departures from GAAP, some of which allow the financial breakeven target to be achieved, have been criticised by the Audit Commission as detrimental to financial discipline. In this paper, we investigate the association between abnormal accruals and the achievement of financial breakeven in NHS hospital Trusts over the period 1998–2005. We also investigate the association between abnormal accruals, audit fees and the Trusts audited by public and private sector auditors. We find evidence that abnormal accruals are used to achieve financial breakeven and they differ across different types of auditor. We also identify a negative relationship between abnormal accruals and NHS Trust star ratings. These findings raise questions about the ‘quality’ of NHS audit where compliance with NHS-specific regulations overrides the wider GAAP-based requirement for financial statements to show a true and fair view and they warrant reconsideration of the nature of audit in NHS Trusts.     

Farmer Decision‐Making with Conflicting Goals: A Recursive Strategic Programming Analysis

This paper concerns the analysis of farmers' goal trade‐offs using a series of representative dairying and beef/sheep farm models. The models employ an adaptive feedback structure and expectations model to track adjustment processes over a seven‐year planning horizon, 1991/92 to 1997/98. Model solutions, under a conventional profit maximising objective function, and using a weighted goal programming formulation, under a series of empirically specified alternative goal orientations, are examined and compared. The paper identifies significant variation among farm families in terms of ability to attain key goals concerning farm profitability, family consumption, farm investment, growth and cash flow. The results quantify the trade‐off between family consumption and farm investment/growth goals.     

Psychometric Properties of the Reidenbach–Robin Multidimensional Ethics Scale

The factor structure of the Multidimensional Ethics Scale (MES; Reidenbach and Robin: 1988, Journal of Business Ethics 7, 871–879; 1990, Journal of Business Ethics 9, 639–653) was examined for the 8-item short form (N = 328) and the original 30-item pool (N = 260). The objectives of the study were: to verify the dimensionality of the MES; to increase the amount of true cross-scenario variance through the use of 18 scenarios varying in moral intensity (Jones: 1991, Academy of Management Review 16, 366–395); and, to examine the items for measurement precision using item-response theory (IRT) methods. Results of confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis failed to conclusively support the hypothesized 3- (short form) or 5-factor (long form) structure; both instruments were instead dominated by a general factor. Item response theory analyses using Samejima’s (1969, Psychometrika Monograph Supplement 34, (4, Pt. 2)) graded response model revealed that many items in the 30-item pool performed very well, and suggested that a different collection of items be used to form a short-form version of the MES. Our proposed 10-item instrument includes more discriminating items than the 8-item version, and has the added advantage of including two items from each of the five ethical philosophies represented in the original 30-item pool. Joan M. McMahon is an Assistant Professor of Management in the School of Business at Christopher Newport University, teaching courses in Organizational Behavior, Leadership, and Human Resources. She has a B.A. in Speech from the State University of New York, College at Oneonta; an M.Ed. In Early Childhood Education from James Madison University; and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Robert J. Harvey is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He has a B.A. in Psychology and an M.A. in Experimental Psychology from the University of Missouri at Kansas City, and a Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Ohio State University. Dr. Harvey has authored a number of articles in the Journal of Applied Psychology, the Journal of Personality Assessment, Personnel Psychology, and others. He is the author of the chapter on job analysis in the Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology.     

The potential impact of markets for irrigation water in Italy and Spain: a comparison of two study areas*

The viability of irrigated systems in Southern Europe is closely linked to efficient institutional settings and water‐allocation mechanisms. A significant, although not widely used, mechanism for water allocation is an intra‐sectorial water market. The objective of this paper is to evaluate to what extent water markets may contribute to the improvement of the efficiency of water allocation and to the profitability of irrigated agriculture. The related issues of water allocation among farm types and farm specialisation are also addressed. The analysis is based on a basin‐level linear programming model, comparing the situation with and without a market. It includes both fixed and variable transaction costs and estimates their combined effects on market performances. The model is applied in two areas in Southern Italy and Spain, and simulates the behaviour of different farm types, derived from cluster analysis on a sample of farms in each area. The paper confirms that water markets could potentially improve the economic efficiency of water use, in terms of higher profit per hectare, given limited water availability. The potential improvements are associated with a more intense specialisation of farms and are strongly differentiated among farmers, particularly where significant restrictions to water availability occur. This corroborates the expectations of institutional difficulties in implementing water markets. However, the exchanges, and consequently the potential effects of water markets, are heavily affected by the actual level of water availability, as well as the size and the structure (fixed vs. proportional) of transaction costs. The paper calls for a more in‐depth analysis of the connections between market performances and institutional settings, as related to the issue of water‐agriculture policy design and coordination.     

Rural tourism and gendered nuances

Research findings on rural residents’ attitudes towards tourism are often contradictory, in part due to a lack of data examining the often divergent perspectives of particular subgroups. Regional survey data from the Intermountain Western United States is used to provide an improved understanding of rural tourism attitudes as they are linked to community involvement and changes, while also exploring both intragender and intergender differences. Group differences in levels of community involvement, perceptions of tourism and various other issues are observed. While differences emerge, there is also widespread agreement on the importance of preserving local culture and the opposition to sale of agricultural land for development.     

Understanding and optimizing multisource feedback

This article integrates the most recent research results on the topic of multisource feedback with what researchers have learned over the years about performance feedback in general. We believe that this review and set of recommendations represent the state of the art at this time. We provide practitioners with new ideas about how to continue to improve the multisource feedback process in their organizations. We also suggest ideas for feedback providers and facilitators about how to maximize the success of the feedback process. Additionally, we provide “food for thought” for researchers concerning ideas for future research. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Sterilization and interest rates

In this note, the effect of a rise in the foreign interest rate on the home rate is considered in a small economy model with a fixed exchange rate. The cases of sterilization annd non-sterilization are considered. The effect of the degree of substitutability beteen domestic and foreign bonds is outlined.     

A new measurement procedure for attitudinal research. Analysis of its psychometric and informational properties

Since measurement errors have strong effects in all relationships (statistical or otherwise) studied, there is an increasing interest in the data quality, which is the major justification for this research. This paper aims to present a new measurement procedure, the letter scale, which avoids many of the problems connected with the response modalities traditionally used in attitudinal research, especially the ordinal categorical scales. This paper analyzes the error composition of the scores obtained with this new measurement procedure. The validity of the procedure is also analyzed and the observed variance is assessed to determine which part of the observed variance is “valid”, which part is random error (attenuating relationships) and which is correlated error (magnifying relationships). Structural equation models will be used to provide estimates of the measurement quality: (i) Reliability, (ii) Construct validity, method effect and residual variance. In addition, this letter scale is evaluated under another different perspective, Information Theory measures are also used to assess the amount of information transmitted. The relative merits of this new measurement procedure as opposed to other common response modalities will be discussed in both cases.