The effect of general counsel prominence on the pricing of audit services

We investigate the effect of corporate general counsel (GC) ascension to the senior management team on the pricing of audit services. Prior research suggests that the GC position may have a significant influence in setting the tone at the top by promoting corporate integrity, ethics, and serving as a governance and monitoring mechanism, but also recognizes that prominent GCs may face ethical dilemmas, causing them to disregard professional responsibilities to curry the favor of the CEO and other executives. Using audit fees to proxy for audit engagement risk, we find a negative association between GC ascension to top management and audit fees. We investigate the mechanisms behind this relation and find GC ascension is associated with a reduction in both default risk and financial misstatement risk, which supports auditors’ perceived reduction in client business risk and audit risk, respectively.     

The role of clustering,cooperation and complementarities in the visitor attraction sector

Cooperation and complementarity are important but understudied components of tourism clusters, in general, and of the tourist attraction sector, in particular. This paper addresses product similarities, in general, and thematic similarity, in particular, in the context of spatial proximity and clustering among tourist attractions. These relationships are examined by exploring cooperation between tourist attractions in two tourism clusters in Cornwall, UK. Interviews with attraction managers and other key informants, and case studies, reveal that tourist attractions have established cooperative–complementary relationships of production based on external economies at both the local and the regional scales. Differences between the two clusters in terms of interviewees' perceptions of the relationships between factors indicate the importance of understanding the specific features of individual clusters.     

Categorization of tourist attractions and the modeling of tourist cities: based on the co-plot method of multivariate analysis

This paper examines the relation between the trip characteristics of tourists and the attractions that they visit. This analysis was made possible by means of a new method of multivariate analysis—co-plot—that enables the simultaneous analysis of observations and variables and the graphic presentation of the interrelations among them. Jerusalem was seen as an “ideal” city for the demonstration of the co-plot method of data analysis due to the heterogeneity of its tourism. The research was conducted between September 1998 and March 1999. The results of the statistical analysis show that Jerusalem's tourist attractions can be categorized into four distinct groups and that there is a tendency of spatial concentration among sights belonging to the same group. Based on these results, a spatial model of tourism consumption in large cities was developed.     

The Deterrent Effect of Whistleblowing on Tax Collections

Abstract

Many countries use tax-related whistleblowing programs, but the evidence on these programs suggests information provided by whistleblowers yields modest tax collections. However, when every citizen could become a whistleblower, deterrence from tax evasion can by itself increase tax collections. We find that tax collections significantly increased after the introduction of the whistleblowing mechanism in Israel in February 2013, although this mechanism directly yielded little or no tax collections. In support of the hypothesis that deterrence led to the increase in tax collections, we find that collections increased in industries with high tax-evasion risk, but not in industries with low tax-evasion risk. Furthermore, the increase in tax collections occurred in corporations, where the timing and magnitude of tax payments are more discretionary, but not from employees, for whom employers directly deduct taxes. Eventually, following reports that the whistleblowing mechanism is ineffective, deterrence diminished and tax collections decreased, suggesting the deterrence effect was temporary.     

Do Mutual Fund Investors Care About Auditor Quality?

We study the influence of perceived auditor quality on investment decisions by bond mutual fund investors. Audits of bond mutual funds require significant auditor expertise. Fund managers estimate daily the fair market values of holdings that are often opaque and illiquid. Managers can use their discretion to manipulate their fund's performance results. While it is known that investment flows into funds that report good past performance, little evidence exists about whether investors' confidence in the reliability of fund financial reports is influenced by auditor quality. Using hand‐collected data from SEC filings, we find that the positive association between reported performance and investment flows is stronger for funds with auditors who are industry specialists and are longer‐tenured, as well as for funds that pay higher audit fees. We do not find that auditor office size strengthens the association. We also find that the presence of industry‐specialist auditors, long‐tenured auditors, and higher audit fees lead to additional disclosure in the form of emphasis‐of‐matter. This study contributes to the streams of research investigating perceived audit quality, fund investment decisions, and auditing for financial services.     

A polymorphism associated with entrepreneurship: evidence from dopamine receptor candidate genes

The tendency to be an entrepreneur may be influenced by genetic variation. Sensation seeking is more common among entrepreneurs than among the general population. Twin studies show that the tendency to be an entrepreneur is heritable and that common genes influence both sensation seeking and entrepreneurial tendency (Nicolaou et al. Manag Sci 54:167–179, 2008a; Strateg Entrep J 2:7–21, 2008b). Since dopamine receptor genes have been associated with novelty seeking/sensation seeking (Benjamin et al. Nat Genet 12:81–84, 1996; Ebstein et al. Nat Genet 12:78–80, 1996; Noblett and Coccaro Curr Psychiatry Rep 7:73–80, 2005), and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been reported to occur at greater rates among entrepreneurs, we examined the association between five dopamine receptor genes and four ADHD-associated genes, with the tendency to be an entrepreneur in a sample of 1,335 individuals from the UK. We found a single nucleotide polymorphism (rs1486011) of the DRD3 gene on chromosome 3 to be significantly associated with the tendency to be an entrepreneur. This result is the first evidence of the association of a specific gene with entrepreneurship. Further studies are needed to replicate this association.     

地缘政治新风险对油价的影响及其应对

当前,石油公司管理者需要应对＂地缘政治风险影响油价的新范式＂。这种新范式由一系列新的动态因素组合而成,与供需关系相比,这些动态因素对于油价更具有支配意义。当前影响油价的几大新的地缘政治要素有：对改善政治经济环境的诉求,全球＂咽喉要塞＂的风险溢价,海盗行动策略的转变,新地理实体的建立,非常规天然气大发展等变革性事件,以及地缘战略区的争端。面对复杂多变的地缘政治风险,通过采用战略灵活性工具进行风险管理,能源公司在任何情景下都能够制定成功的战略,并在面对国际社会发生某些特定变化时,拥有多种有效的行动选择。