The New Business of Government Budgeting: Reporting Non-Financial Performance Information in Victoria

Since the early 1990s the general and financial management of the Victorian public sector has been significantly transformed. This research examines and explains the content, nature and quality of non-financial disclosures, including those related to performance indicators, through a disclosure indicator analysis of reporting practices in recent government budget papers. It reports the results of its application to the last three years' budget papers. The findings highlight the problems in the reporting of non-financial performance indicators in the Victorian budget papers. These results indicate a significant gap between "official" expectations of the type of items required to be reported and actual budgetary reporting practices – some many years after regulation and major financial accountability reforms have taken place.     

The venture capital entry model on game options with jump-diffusion process

This paper aims to apply game options to construct the optimal decision-making and management tool for venture capital (VC) firms. This model emphasizes the inferences with game options on the market structures formed by different competition and investment strategies of the two VC firms to reflect the investment returns. These market structures are classified into an entry-deterred game (specific monopoly), a leader's dominated strategies (duopoly), and simultaneous investment. It is considered how to select investment timing to avoid any potential competitive threats in order to provide the optimal expected threshold values for the investment decisions of VC firms.     

The cost of elections: the effects of public sector austerity on electoral integrity and voter engagement

Concerns have been raised that insufficient funding has been affecting the delivery of elections in many countries. This paper presents a case study of England and Wales from 2010–2016. It demonstrates that many local authorities saw major real terms cuts and were increasingly over-budget. Those subject to cuts were less likely to undertake public engagement activities. State efforts to encourage voter participation may therefore be a casualty of austerity.     

Commentary: Some Further Evidence on Discount Rate Selection in the Context of Goodwill Impairment Testing

In an earlier edition of this journal, we published evidence relating to the nature of discount rates chosen by a sample of large Australian‐listed firms in the context of their goodwill impairment testing ( Carlin and Finch 2009 ). We argued that our evidence suggested that the rigour of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) goodwill impairment testing process was being undermined by inappropriate choice of discount rates on the part of many firms. In a commentary published alongside our article, questions were raised as to the validity of our conclusions and the methodology we applied in our study ( Gallery 2009 ). Subsequently, Bradbury has also contributed to the debate, raising similar concerns to those voiced by Gallery ( Bradbury 2010 ). In this brief paper, we provide further and better particulars in relation to our original dataset in a bid to assist those who have taken an interest in this debate to further inform their view of the merits (or otherwise) of the case we made in our original article.     

Discount Rates in Disarray: Evidence on Flawed Goodwill Impairment Testing

Discount rate selection represents a centrally material factor impacting valuation models. Given the strong reliance on discounted cash flow modelling as a basis for determining an asset's recoverable amount, the judgement exercised by reporting entities regarding rate selection is of paramount importance in influencing the outcomes of the impairment testing process conducted under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The discretion surrounding rate selection could be used opportunistically to avoid or manage the timing of impairment losses to the detriment of transparency, comparability and decision usefulness. This study provides evidence consistent with the opportunism on the part of financial statement preparers, by demonstrating the existence of variances between independently generated risk‐adjusted discount rates and those disclosed as having been used by a sample of large listed Australian companies.     

Applying jump-diffusion processes to liquidate and convert venture capital

This study attempts to apply real options and expand the model designed by Lin and Huang [Lin, T.T., Huang, Y.T.: J. Technol. Manage. 8(3), 59–78 (2003)], which helps venture capital (VC) companies to optimize project exit decisions. The expected discounted factor and a jump-diffusion process combine to assess the value of a start-up company, and determine the threshold of the exit timing of liquidation or convertibility for establishing the optimal disinvestment evaluation model for VC companies. When the project value is below V_L^*V_L^\ast, the VC company carries out liquidation, but when the project value exceeds V_C^*V_C^\ast, the VC company performs convertibility. The project value is ranging between (V_L ^*,V_C^*)\left({V_L ^\ast,V_C^\ast}\right), and the best choice is holding the decision and waiting to carry out the rights of liquidation and convertibility next time. Besides, this work attempts to identify the expected discounted time in terms of the investment time for VC companies.     

Analysis of customer profit contribution for banks with the concept of marketing mix strategy between 4Cs and 5Ps

This paper takes the high-net-worth customers in the private wealth management division of a case study bank as the research objects, and introduces the concept of marketing mix strategy by combining the 4C (customer, cost to the customer, convenience, and communication) model and 5P (product, price, place, promotion, and people) model in the examination of the attributes of customers and financial advisors in relation to the customer profit contribution and proposes management implications for practitioners. It attempts to establish a win–win business mechanism or marketing strategy that is beneficial to both banks and consumers.