National Culture and Profit Reinvestment: Evidence from Small and Medium‐Sized Enterprises

We examine the role of national culture—an important informal institution—in the profit reinvestment decisions of small firms in emerging markets. Prior economic development literature focuses on formal institutions as determinants of growth. However, in emerging markets where formal institutions are less developed, informal institutions should have more of a direct versus indirect impact through formal institutions. We find that Schwartz's cultural dimensions of Embeddedness and Hierarchy negatively affect profit reinvestment, and that access to external financing (strength of property rights) is more important for reinvestment decisions in countries with low (high) Embeddedness and Hierarchy.     

Budget Development and Use in Small‐ and Medium‐Sized Enterprises: A Field Investigation

We examine the process by which operating budgets are developed and how they are used for control, evaluation, and reward purposes in small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). SMEs (i.e., fewer than 500 employees) represent the dominant organizational form in North America but surprisingly little research has examined how these companies develop and use management controls. Our study focuses on a key element of the management control system, operating budgets, because prior research on SMEs indicates this as an important and commonly used control tool in such companies. Prior research on budgeting practices, while extensive, has almost exclusively examined larger companies. We conduct in‐depth field interviews at 12 participating SMEs to address four theory‐based research questions intended to provide insights regarding the development and use of budgets by SMEs. Our first question examines how budgets are developed, top‐down versus collaborative. Our second, third, and fourth research questions examine, respectively, whether budgets are used tightly or loosely for results control, performance evaluation, and reward purposes. As a first step in providing a deeper understanding of budget development and use in SMEs, our results have implications for practice, theory development, and management accounting education.     

Adopting International Financial Reporting Standards for Small and Medium‐sized Enterprises

Diverse complications and controversial issues in the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for Small and Medium‐sized Enterprises (SMEs) have been reported by many jurisdictions, prompting them not to adopt this set of standards. Conversely many jurisdictions have adopted or are in the process of adopting IFRS for SMEs. This study considers the impetus for successfully achieving accounting convergence with IFRS for SMEs in those jurisdictions. The possible transition issues that may arise when countries adopt IFRS for SMEs are also highlighted. Furthermore, to provide pioneering evidence on the problems accountants encounter when applying IFRS for SMEs, we conduct a survey on accounting practitioners in Fiji – an early adopter of this set of standards. Both the insights provided on the process of embracing IFRS for SMEs in Fiji and the opinions elicited from accountants highlight new dimensions to the inherent problems in IFRS for SMEs. Scant attention has been given to this issue so far; hence the empirical evidence provided by our study informs not only the global convergence of SME accounting but also the quality of the current suite of IFRS for SMEs.     

The Use of Management Accounting Techniques by Small and Medium‐Sized Enterprises: A Field Study of Canadian and Australian Practice

Small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) represent a large and important part of developed economies. However, little is known about the extent to which SMEs use contemporary management accounting (MA) techniques such as costing systems, budgets, responsibility center reporting, and analysis for decision making. To address this gap in the literature, we conducted in‐depth field interviews at 22 SMEs to: (1) determine the extent to which common MA techniques and tools are being used by SMEs; and (2) explore the underlying reasons why specific MA techniques are not being used. We find that of the 19 common MA techniques covered in our interviews, a very small number are moderately or highly used by our respondent companies. Moreover, we find that manufacturing companies in our study are more likely to use a broader set of techniques such as costing systems, operating budgets, and variance analysis and that smaller, early‐stage SMEs are the lightest users of MA tools overall. We identify three main factors affecting the adoption and use of MA techniques: (1) the perceived decision‐usefulness of the technique; (2) the complexity of the SMEs’ operating environment; and (3) the age of the SME. We discuss the contributions of our study and its potential implications for MA educators, developers of professional education programs, designers of SME control systems, and textbook authors.     

Diversification of External Accountants Serving Small and Medium‐sized Enterprises: Evidence from Belgium

The purpose of this study is: (1) to discover which services are offered by external accountants serving small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs); (2) to study the factors that are associated with the degree of diversification of the services offered by these accountants; and (3) to investigate if there are differences between self‐employed accountants and accounting firms on the previous two points. This study has some interesting conclusions: (1) the heterogeneity of internal staff is not significantly associated with the degree of diversification; (2) a homogeneous internal staff with an accounting background is particularly important for accounting firms that diversify their services in the accounting and tax area; (3) collaboration with other service providers is an important factor associated with more diversification of the services; (4) marketing is only important for self‐employed accountants; (5) accounting firms offer fewer non‐accounting‐related services if they serve more micro clients (fewer than 10 employees), whereas self‐employed accountants offer more accounting and tax services if they serve more micro clients (fewer than 10 employees); and (6) accounting firms that diversify in accounting and tax services mainly serve more micro clients (fewer than 10 employees), whereas accounting firms that diversify in non‐accounting areas serve more larger clients (more than 10 employees).     

The Context for Cross‐Border Insolvency Law Reform in Sub‐Saharan Africa

Cross‐border insolvency literature has developed significantly in recent years. However, the scholarship that has evolved lacks an insight from the perspective of Sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA). Existing theories on cross‐border insolvencies, and the global insolvency benchmarks that emerged in the recent years, have almost exclusively been developed from the best practices obtained in advanced economies. Accordingly, the context within which SSA cross‐border insolvency reform may be undertaken must be determined and explored given the pressure towards globalisation and the potential for the pressure to result in unsuitable legislative reform. This article sets out the context for cross‐border insolvency law reform in SSA. It raises issues that are likely to arise during the reform process and challenges that may be faced. Copyright © 2014 INSOL International and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd     

解决中小企业债务融资中信息不对称的路径设置

中小企业在经济发展中具有重要作用，而与对国民经济的贡献率相比，其获得的资金支持率却明显偏低，存在着巨大的融资缺口；中小银行的经营取向，决定了它成为中小企业融资的主要金融机构；资本市场的发育不成熟及融资特点，也决定了间接债务融资会成为中小企业现阶段的主要融资方式。由于债务融资过程中存在信息不对称问题，中小银行与 中小企业应采取一系列制度与措施，以满足企业的融资需要。     

进一步加强中小企业金融服务 私募股权投资需审慎推进

中小企业作为我国经济中最具生机和活力的群体，已经成为我国经济增长的重要动力之一。一直以来，银监会对中小企业融资非常重视，不断引导银行加强和改善对中小企业的金融服务。银监会最早从2005年开始提出有关中企业金融服务的六项制度建设问题，2007年至今，为加大对中小企业融资的支持力度，银监会密集出台了“进一步改进小企业金融服务的通知”、     

New legislative measures in South Africa aimed at combating over‐indebtedness—are the new proposals sufficient under the constitution and law in general?

The National Credit Bill codifies a number of fundamental rights of consumers in the credit market. It provides inter alia for a right to information to enable consumers to make informed choices and thereby contributes to one of the purposes of the proposed legislation, namely to provide mechanisms to combat over‐indebtedness. The main purpose of this research is to evaluate the proposed measures in the Bill aimed at combating over‐indebtedness and also to determine to which extent these measures comply with the general constitutional consumer protection demands. In order to achieve this, the relevant guidelines of the INSOL Consumer Debt Report and measures in other jurisdictions will also be considered. Since the South African Constitution does not directly obligate the state to enact specific credit laws and as the Bill seeks, in the spirit of the supreme law, to codify certain basic consumer rights, the new legislative initiatives are to be welcomed. It is, however, submitted that the Bill does not go far enough in achieving its particular aims and objectives and that more could be done to bring South African legislation in line with measures in other jurisdictions. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Comparing in‐work benefits and the reward to work for families with children in the US and the UK

The income transfer systems for low‐income families in the US and the UK try both to reduce poverty and to encourage work. In‐work benefits are a key part of both countries' strategies through the earned income tax credit and the working families' tax credit (and predecessors) respectively. But tax credits are only one part of the whole tax and welfare system. In‐work benefits, taxes and welfare benefits combine in both countries to provide good financial incentives for lone parents to do minimum‐wage work, but poorer incentives to increase earnings further. But direct comparisons of budget constraints hide important points of detail. First, not enough is known about what determines take‐up of in‐work benefits. Second, the considerable differences in assessment and payment mechanisms and frequency between EITC and WFTC mean that low‐income families in the US and the UK may respond very differently to apparently similar financial incentives.     

构建“一库两网一平台” 探索黑龙江省中小微企业信用体系建设新模式

为解决中小微企业融资难、融资责问题,中国人民银行哈尔滨中心支行以大庆中小微企业信用体系建设试验区为突破口,构建了“一库两网一平台”中小微企业信用体系建设框架和运行模式,有效缓解了银企双方信息不对称问题,弥补了传统银企对接活动的时间和空间限制,提高了中小微企业融资效率.同时,针对中小微企业信用体系建设中存在的问题,要求各市(地)借鉴大庆经验,找准切入点,利用地方政务信息平台建设的成果,建立信用信息征集与评价体系,强化评价结果应用,将中小微企业信用体系建设与各地方稳增长、促改革、惠民生与精准扶贫相结合.     

Performance responses to competition across skill levels in rank‐order tournaments: field evidence and implications for tournament design

Tournaments are widely used in the economy to organize production and innovation. We study individual data on 2775 contestants in 755 software algorithm development contests with random assignment. The performance response to added contestants varies nonmonotonically across contestants of different abilities, precisely conforming to theoretical predictions. Most participants respond negatively, whereas the highest‐skilled contestants respond positively. In counterfactual simulations, we interpret a number of tournament design policies (number of competitors, prize allocation and structure, number of divisions, open entry) and assess their effectiveness in shaping optimal tournament outcomes for a designer.     

Returns to Scale,Market Power,and the Nature of Price Rigidity in New Keynesian Models with Self‐Fulfilling Expectations

Increasing returns to scale and firms' market power are two potential sources of sunspot expectations in neoclassical models. We show that in New Keynesian models, returns to scale and market power can have fundamentally different implications for broad macroeconomic issues, including self‐fulfilling expectations, depending on the nature of price rigidity. Our findings suggest that the design of stabilization monetary policy can depend on precise knowledge about the economy's real and nominal features. Therefore, a clear understanding of the specific economic environment and its relevance to monetary policymaking for ensuring macroeconomic stability can be an integrated part of monetary policy practice.     

The Response of Equity Prices to Movements in Long‐Term Interest Rates Associated with Monetary Policy Statements: Before and After the Zero Lower Bound

Monetary policy actions since 2008 have influenced long‐term interest rates through forward guidance and quantitative easing. I propose a strategy to identify the comovement between interest rate and equity price movements induced by monetary policy when an observable representing policy changes is not available. A decline in long‐term interest rates induced by monetary policy statements has a larger positive effect on equity prices prior to 2009 than in the subsequent period. This change appears to reflect the impact of the zero lower bound on short‐term interest rates.