Allocations and Common Costs in Long-Run Investing and Pricing Decisions: An Historical Analysis

The extent to which allocated common costs should influence business decisions remains controversial in management accounting. In the finance and investment literature this issue is generally ignored or dismissed by appeals to the'incremental' principle. This article presents an historical analysis of allocations in long-run investing and pricing decisions. It is demonstrated that seminal figures in the development of both investment and price theory were conscious of the need for firms to cover common costs and generally favoured some form of allocation. The anti-allocationist position is shown to be of relatively recent origin and to have caused an inconsistency in the management accounting literature in the treatment of common costs. European costing theory is shown to have been consistently allocationist. Evidence of a return in the recent U.S. literature to the older Anglo-American, and continuing European, allocations tradition is presented.     

The use of the postal questionnaire in accounting history research

This methodological article discusses the first project in accounting history to use the postal questionnaire as a research tool. The historical context was the changing nature of the company audit in Britain, and this article outlines the process by which the questionnaire was devised, the stages through which the project developed, the data that were collected, and how these were analysed and interpreted. A significant innovation was to sample, in equal proportions, accountants who qualified in each decade from the 1920s and 1930s down to the 1980s, and direct the questioning toward their early training and careers, thereby generating historical trends in the responses. Some of the results of the survey are given here by way of illustrating the weaknesses and strengths/costs and benefits of the technique in comparison with oral history and traditional documentary sources.     

警惕我国企业集群发展中潜在问题

企业集群是当今区域经济发展规划的新趋势 ,引起了多学科领域学者关注。我国已经出现了一些企业集群的雏形 ,但是这些企业集群都存在不同的问题。以东莞、温州及部分的高新区为例 ,从各自的形成过程、发展轨迹等角度 ,讨论了各具特色的区域集群存在的不同性质的问题     

Application of logistic analysis to the history of physics

Recently, two analyses have tried to put technological progress in a larger context. One interpretation hypothesizes that technological progress is likely to continue at increasingly higher rates of change. Another interpretation, which includes data from the beginning of the universe to the present, suggests that the universe is approaching a transition point in a logistic development of complexity. This logistic development is similar to the way ideas or products diffuse in a population, i.e., the rate of discovery in a field of knowledge is proportional to the amount discovered and the amount to be discovered. To test a part of this hypothesis, a leading indicator field (fundamental physics) was identified and the events in the history of this field were analyzed. Twelve subfields were identified and grouped into six stages. Each stage seemed to demonstrate a logistic-like development. By analyzing both the median time of development and the characteristic time of development of these stages, the overall development of this one field was found to suggest logistic development. These data seem to indicate that development in fundamental physics is slowing down, with at least one subfield beyond string physics yet to be developed. The data tend to support the hypothesis that a knowledge field can develop logistically.     

The relationship between technology and science: Some historical and philosophical reflections. Part I

This essay offers a detailed review of the literature on the relationship between technology and science. It is in two parts. Part I begins by describing science and technology, and the differences between them. It then discusses the commonly-held technology-as-applied-science (TAS) view; the origins of this view, the support for it, and the strong historical and philosophical challenges to it, beginning more than half a century ago, are explored. The development of the steam engine is then offered as a brief case study to illustrate that science-technology relations are more complex than implied by the TAS view. Part I concludes with a consideration of ontological arguments supporting the reverse view, namely that technology is often a necessary precursor to science.Part II, to be published in a following issue, explores some of the consequences of the TAS view. One consequence is that it has generated a story-line in which scientific ideas are emphasised and other factors necessary for technological innovation have been down-played. Another consequence is that, even in cases where technology does apply scientific knowledge, the process of application is often considered obvious; the difficulties of translating ideas into artefacts may not be appreciated. The essay argues for the telling of a more complex story of science-technology relations, one which recognises their historical independence in the past, and their mutual, two-way interaction in many modern fields of endeavour. It concludes with a consideration of some economic and educational implications.     

Foreign-currency transactions and the recovery of German industry in the aftermath of the First World War: the case of Schering AG

While historians have for a long time recognized the importance of the First World War to the general flow of history, business economists do not fully appreciate the impact of the war on commercial relationships. The First World War transformed the political, economic, and social context, in which business was done, forcing companies to develop new strategies and activities, some of which were almost unimaginable before August 1914. This article focuses on one aspect of doing business: foreign exchange management. It argues that Schering AG and its parent, like many German companies after the First World War, were obliged to refocus their activities around their foreign exchange exposures and that the management of foreign exchange issues contributed to a much tighter relationship between businesses, government, and business associations than had existed before the war and for which some aspects of Germany's system of corporate control were not well adapted to handle.     

'An awkward fence to cross': railway capitalization in Britain in the inter-war years

This paper examines the related problems of the capitalization and financial performance of the railway companies in the inter-war period. It examines the critics' view that the railways were over-capitalized, and places the debate in context by analysing the dividend and accounting policies of the companies and the consequences for investment. It also examines the conflicting views of railway management and shareholders over capital expenditure. The paper concludes that the railways were both financially over-capitalized and physically under-capitalized, and so faced very serious financial problems that were incapable of resolution within the existing ownership structure.     

我国城市公共艺术设计现状及对策研究

随着经济的不断发展,公共艺术已成为一个国家、地区城市发展程度的重要体现,作为一种服务于大众的艺术正逐渐融入我们的生活当中,变成生活中不可或缺的一部分。公共艺术促进着城市的发展,城市是公共艺术赖以生存的地方,二者紧密相关不可分割。本文将对我国当今的公共艺术现状和未来发展进行分析和论述,将目前城市和公共艺术两者之间的关系、公共艺术作品目前存在的问题等进行分析,并提出相关建议。     

从词汇史看?木兰诗?的语言年代

从语言上看，?木兰诗?非北朝时所产生，很可能成诗于唐代前期。?木兰诗?中的很多词语都可见于唐代文献，如“鞍鞯”“点兵”“惊忙”“儿”“地”“爷娘”等。这些唐代新词在诗中出现比例较高，是该诗成诗于唐代的较好脚注。     

沈德符史学思想探析——基于《万历野获编》的史料记载

《万历野获编》堪称明代历史琐闻类笔记中的翘楚,因内容丰富广博、考证切实,为历代史家所重。以往的研究集中于该笔记的史料、艺术、文学价值,却未有学者对作者沈德符蕴藏于书中的史学思想予以足够重视。扎根于《万历野获编》的史料记载,结合晚明私史勃兴与实学思潮盛行的背景,从多方面综合考察作者的治史理念与准则,不仅有助于剖析沈德符史学思想的核心内容,对后世学者正确理解、运用《万历野获编》也不无裨益。