Individual investors’ attitudes towards listing requirements for foreign entities on U.S. stock exchanges and the promulgation of international accounting standards

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) currently requires foreign issuers of securities listed on U.S. securities exchanges to either employ U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (U.S. GAAP) or include a statement of reconciliation to U.S. GAAP if they use their home country's accounting standards. With some exceptions, they are also required to comply with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOA). John Thain, CEO of the New York Stock Exchange, states that these requirements hamper U.S. investments, economic growth, and employment opportunities. The Chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), Sir David Tweedie, echoed Thain's comments. An important stakeholder who is affected significantly by the U.S. listing requirements is the U.S. individual investor. Accordingly this study examines their attitudes involving the extant rules for foreign listings on U.S. exchanges and other aspects of the issue. The study also examines their perceptions regarding accounting standard promulgation authority and the use of a global set of accounting principles. The results indicate that although U.S. investors are very much in favor of the listing of foreign companies on U.S. exchanges, they also endorse the current rule requiring either employment of U.S. GAAP or reconciliation to it as well as mandatory adherence to the SOA. In the area of accounting standards, although a large majority believed that the U.S. should control the accounting standards for U.S. listings, a smaller majority also believed that there should be a universal set of accounting principles for all stock exchanges.     

The new EC law on bank crisis

I. The long preparatory works. II. Legal basis and subjective scope. III. The objective scope. IV. The unity principle and the information of the competent authorities. V. The universality principle and its exceptions. VI. Set‐off, rights in re and reservation of title. VII. Publication and information duties. Remedies and lawsuits pending. VIII. Other provisions on winding‐up and terms of implementation. IX. Conclusion. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Making Federal Pension Policy Work

Abstract

Millions of Americans retire while they are still productive. Of these, many will have the resources to enjoy all of their golden years. Unfortunately, many others will face economic hardships after they have exhausted their own resources but have become too frail to return to work. Part of the problem is that the current pension system is fraught with financial incentives that push ablebodied elderly workers into retirement just when they should instead be encouraged to remain in the workforce to accumulate additional retirement assets. This paper recommends a number of ways to change federal pension laws in order to encourage elderly workers to remain in the workforce. For example, this paper recommends toughening the penalty on premature distributions, repealing the minimum distribution rules, and repealing the exceptions to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act that permit retirement plans to provide early retirement incentives and subsidies.

This paper also considers whether the government should require that all retirement plans be neutral as to the timing of retirement. In an age-neutral world, workers would always accrue more benefits if they kept working. Consequently, more workers would remain in the workforce, accumulating additional assets for their eventual retirement.

Finally, this paper also considers how federal pension policy could help counteract the tendency of Americans to retire too early because they underestimate their life expectancies, overestimate their financial resources, and fail to understand the deleterious effects of inflation. In particular, this paper recommends that the government require that virtually all retirement plans pay at least a portion of their benefits in the form of an inflation-adjusted annuity.     

Tests of the expectations hypothesis: Resolving the anomalies when the short-term rate is the federal funds rate

The expectations hypothesis (EH) of the term structure plays an important role in the analysis of monetary policy, where shorter-term rates are assumed to be determined by the market’s expectation for the overnight federal funds rate. With two exceptions, tests using the effective federal funds rate as the short-term rate easily reject the EH. These exceptions are when the EH is tested over the nonborrowed reserve targeting period and when the test is performed only using data for settlement Wednesdays – the last day of bank reserve maintenance period. This paper argues that these exceptions are anomalous: in the former case, the failure to reject the EH occurs when economic analysis suggests that the market should be less able to forecast the federal funds rate. In the latter case, it occurs when there are sharp spikes in the funds rate that cannot improve materially the market’s ability to forecast the funds rate. Additional analysis shows that these anomalous results are a consequence of the procedure used to test the EH.     

金融集团的公司治理:典型模式的案例分析

本文对花旗集团、德意志银行集团以及三菱东京金融集团的公司治理实践进行了详细的比较分析。研究表明,三种金融集团治理模式之间存在着显著差异,但又不乏一些共性。比较分析后得到如下启示:国有商业银行应该进行股份制改造并成为上市公司;商业银行的公司治理应该以“长期股东价值最大化”为目标;要进一步明确以风险管理原则为基础构建商业银行治理结构的重要性;应该进一步强化监事会的功能,保证监事会的独立性,并使监事具备任职的积极资格;实现责任人的绩效与薪酬额度的有机结合是我们构建高效的激励机制的努力方向;要实现我国银行业的国际化、集团化与多元化。     

The use of International Accounting Standards terminology, a survey of IAS compliance disclosure

This study examined where and how companies that purport to be using International Accounting Standards (IAS) are referring to IAS in their financial statements. Virtually all firms surveyed referred to IAS in the footnotes but referred to IAS in the audit report just under 50 percent of the time. The largest group of companies uses a combination of home-country and IAS standards. A significant number of firms report the use of IAS standards with exceptions. The majority of these firms do not discuss the dollar impact of those exceptions. Referencing IAS with home country standards or exceptions reduces comparability and transparency of financial statements. The International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) is referenced as the source of IAS in about half of the cases. Failure to reference the IASC as the source of IAS may result in ambiguity concerning what IAS means     

论产品缺陷与无过错责任原则

产品缺陷是产品责任构成要件之一,就产品责任归责原则所生分歧实与产品缺陷有利害关系。产品责任应当贯彻无过错责任原则:第一,无过错责任原则的出现是历史的进步,具有重要价值;第二,无论是何种类型的缺陷产品致害,均应适用无过错责任原则;第三,存在产品缺陷时的责任减免事由,并不违背无过错责任原则。     

The precautionary principle: an 'unprincipled' approach to biotechnology regulation

A tenet of administrative law, particularly in the United States, is that regulators must base their decisions on 'intelligible principles' to provide consistency, predictability, transparency and accountability. The precautionary principle, which purports to provide a new decision rule for making environmental decisions under conditions of uncertainty, fails to provide such an intelligible principle for making decisions. The precautionary principle is ambiguous on the use of the two major criteria currently used to make environmental decisions - significant risk and cost-benefit balancing - yet offers no new specific decision criteria in their place. The second fundamental problem with the precautionary principle is that it is based on the unsubstantiated premise that the current regulatory system is insufficiently protective. The current system already tends to err on the side of the safety, as it should, but the relevant question is just how precautious should we be? As illustrated by the example of genetically modified organisms, the prudent level of precaution depends on factors such as the magnitude, distribution and uncertainty of risks, the extent of exposure, and the trade-offs and lost benefits in foregoing the risk. These are precisely the factors that are considered under the current risk-based approach, which the precautionary principle seeks to replace.     

Europe's precautionary principle: promise and pitfalls

The European Union, through a recent 'Communication' from the Commission, has sought to legitimize the precautionary principle while establishing criteria for adoption of appropriate precautionary measures. Although the precautionary principle is not new and indeed reflects a basic human instinct, this article argues that the EC makes a constructive contribution towards formalizing it by describing the principle in the context of established processes of risk analysis: objective scientific evaluation, risk assessment, risk management and risk communication. The EC's reference to a broad spectrum of precautionary measures, subject to specific managerial criteria, also offers some assurance that the principle shall be implemented through thoughtful processes of decision making. There are pitfalls in the EC approach that should be rectified in future refinements of the principle. Critical terms need to be defined, the evidentiary hurdles for precaution need to be clarified, and checks and balances against ill-considered application of the principle need to be strengthened. A systematic process of ranking hazards and targeting cost-effective protection opportunities should be implemented by the EC as a counterweight to enactment of precautionary measures on a crisis-by-crisis basis.     

不法原因给付的困境与规则构建

不法原因给付不得返还的传统规则面临诸多困境：“不法即合法”、同为违法一方却额外获利、悖于规范目的。动态系统论回避问题真正解决方案，区分不当得利返还是否等同于承认合同有效，无法解释诸多例外情形，比例分担路径的实质仍是全部返还或否定返还。博弈论视角考察表明，不法原因给付的一般预防功能，主要在不法原因给付受领人尚未提出违法悖俗给付时发挥作用。罗马法中不法原因给付不得返还之规则适用于目的不达型返还之诉中，旨在阻止当事人于未来提出不法原因给付。由此所带来的启示在于，不法原因给付制度的一般预防功能应着眼于当事人尚未实施违法悖俗行为之时，在此基础上形成合理规则，在双方均已经提出给付时，应肯定各自返还请求权，在目的不达型不当得利案型中，若受领人尚未提出给付，应否定给付人的返还请求权。     

Application of the controllability principle and managerial performance: The role of role perceptions

The controllability principle stipulates that the evaluation of a manager should be based only on elements that are under the manager's control. Arguments for and against its application are theoretically well understood, but empirical evidence based on the evaluation of the perceptions of managers and their implications for managerial performance is scarce. By empirically analyzing the effects on managerial performance, this paper explores managers’ responses to the application of the controllability principle. We draw on role theory and analyze how role ambiguity and role conflict mediate this basic relationship. Moreover, we test whether application of the controllability principle equally affects role perceptions of top-level managers and those of lower and middle-level managers. Empirical analysis of survey responses from 440 managers reveals that role perceptions completely mediate the effect of application of the controllability principle on managerial performance. This effect is insignificant in the group of top-level managers, who appear to cope with uncontrollable factors more effectively.     

Time-varying pattern causality inference in global stock markets

Causality analysis can reveal the intrinsic interactions in financial markets. Though Granger causality test and transfer entropy method have successfully determined positive and negative causal interactions, they fail to reveal a more complex causal interaction, dark causality. Moreover, the causal relationship between variables may be time-varying. Thus, in this work, we are dedicated to determining the nature of causal interaction and explore the time-varying causality in global stock markets. To achieve this goal, pattern causality (PC) theory, cross-convergent mapping (CCM) theory, the sliding window method and complex networks are applied. By them, three causal interactions with different strength are revealed in global stock markets, and the causal strength is time-varying in different periods both in simulated systems and financial markets. While the dominant causal interaction is stable except for some stock pairs in frontier and emerging markets. In total, we determine the positive dominant causality in global stock markets; that is, the overall consistent trend among stocks can be explored. Additionally, we discover some exceptions that show negative dominant causality, where the reverse trend can be revealed among them; moreover, their dominant causality is time-varying. These uncertainties should receive great attention from investors and government managers.     

Physician practice acquisitions: preparing for the transaction

Hospitals embarking on acquisitions of physician practices should lay the groundwork for these transactions by: Building a framework for consistency. Preparing for possible exceptions to the framework. Broadly assessing the practice before advancing to the thorough valuation of the practice. Being alert for red flags and potential deal breakers and ready to address them.     

Der Verh?ltnism??igkeitsgrundsatz im Anwendungsbereich des Solvency II-Regimes unter besonderer Berücksichtigung firmeneigener (Rück-)Versicherungsunternehmen

The principle of proportionality is the cornerstone of the new principle-based and risk-oriented approach to regulation pursued by the Solvency?II directive. The article discusses the contents and scope of the principle of proportionality and analyzes the requirements that the principle sets for the new regulatory framework as it applies to captive insurance undertakings. Due to the special characteristics of their business model and their risk exposure, which differ substantially from those of commercial insurance undertakings, the new rules are expected to be particularly onerous for captives at the level of all three pillars of Solvency?II. This threatens the viability of captives solutions as an instrument for an effective and efficient risk management. The article concludes that a stringent application of the principle of proportionality offers solutions for the difficulties that captive insurers are facing as a result of the new regulatory framework. The conclusions drawn in this article should also apply to other insurance undertakings, in particular smaller and medium-sized insurers, for which the new rules are expected to be similarly onerous.     

论赤道原则建立利益相关者互动机制的基本原则

赤道原则强调贷款银行应通过建立与项目利益相关者的互动机制,以及时识别融资项目的环境风险,有效提高信贷资产的安全性。其建立应该遵守以下原则:与项目分类及性质相一致;与项目的环境影响评估相结合;贯穿于项目整个生命周期;坚持信息披露、磋商和投诉管理环节;尊重东道国的法律法规和文化习俗等。中国的银行要按照上述原则,构建高效的利益相关者互动机制,提高项目的环境风险管理水平。     

The Risk Map: A new tool for validating risk models

This paper presents a new method to validate risk models: the Risk Map. This method jointly accounts for the number and the magnitude of extreme losses and graphically summarizes all information about the performance of a risk model. It relies on the concept of a super exception, which is defined as a situation in which the loss exceeds both the standard Value-at-Risk (VaR) and a VaR defined at an extremely low probability. We then formally test whether the sequences of exceptions and super exceptions are rejected by standard model validation tests. We show that the Risk Map can be used to validate market, credit, operational, or systemic risk estimates (VaR, stressed VaR, expected shortfall, and CoVaR) or to assess the performance of the margin system of a clearing house.     

Do banks overstate their Value-at-Risk?

This paper is the first empirical study of banks’ risk management systems based on non-anonymous daily Value-at-Risk (VaR) and profit-and-loss data. Using actual data from the six largest Canadian commercial banks, we uncover evidence that banks exhibit a systematic excess of conservatism in their VaR estimates. The data used in this paper have been extracted from the banks’ annual reports using an innovative Matlab-based data extraction method. Out of the 7354 trading days analyzed in this study, there are only two exceptions, i.e. days when the actual loss exceeds the disclosed VaR, whereas the expected number of exceptions with a 99% VaR is 74. For each sample bank, we extract from historical VaRs a risk-overstatement coefficient, ranging between 19 and 79%. We attribute VaR overstatement to several factors, including extreme cautiousness and underestimation of diversification effects when aggregating VaRs across business lines and/or risk categories. We also discuss the economic and social cost of reporting inflated VaRs.     

Transforming a conservative company--one laugh at a time.

You wouldn't think of Brady Corporation as an obvious place in which to find a fun culture. This traditional Midwestern company, a manufacturer of industrial signs and other identification products, didn't even allow employees to have coffee at their desks until 1989. But when Katherine Hudson became CEO in 1994, she and her executive team determined that injecting some fun into the company's serious culture could create positive effects within the organization and contribute to increased performance and sales. In this article, Hudson distills her approach to overhauling Brady's culture into six principles of serious fun: More people than you might think are comfortable having fun at work; used with an awareness of cultural sensitivities, fun and laughter really are well-understood international languages; humor can help companies get through tough times; fun can be embodied in formal programs; spontaneous efforts at humor can also be effective; and encouraging fun should begin at the top. She richly illustrates each principle with examples. At Brady, getting people to loosen up and enjoy themselves has fostered a company esprit de corps and greater team camaraderie. It has started conversations that have sparked innovation, helped to memorably convey corporate messages to employees, and increased productivity by reducing stress, among other benefits. And the company has doubled its sales and almost tripled its net income and market capitalization over the past seven years. Brady's experience suggests that promoting fun within the workplace can lead not only to a robust corporate culture but also to improved business performance.     

Procedure for the Implementation of the Precautionary Principle in Biosafety Commissions

In order to fulfil their responsibilities under the precautionary principle, biosafety commissions should lay down guidelines concerning the understanding and application of this principle and work towards an operational procedure. With this contribution, we propose a step‐wise procedure that aims to establish the understanding of the precautionary principle within biosafety commissions and to provide a methodological approach for the application of this principle to specific cases in the course of risk assessment. This approach is based on systematically investigating the consensus view within a group of 15 biosafety experts with the help of sets of checklists. For step 1, we propose a checklist of 13 criteria aimed at defining the understanding of the precautionary principle. For step 2, we propose 4 criteria for the decision on whether or not to use the precautionary principle. For step 3, 11 criteria for the use of the precautionary principle are presented. In step 4, additional criteria for specific applications could be included. In step 5, possible recommendations to decision‐making authorities are proposed.     

宪政税收——一个从宪法视角分析税收的框架

宪政税收是宪法上对税收核心规则或最高原则的创设与运用之政法过程的制度性规范,这一过程要求税收的每一个核心要素都受制于宪政税收。理论上,一个符合中国现实的宪政税收模型是人民代表的一致同意。因为国家和人民的基本关系其实是税收关系,所以必须在宪法上界定国家与人民的权力与权利、责任与义务并使其基本关系宪法化。实践上,应以宪政税收为基本出发点,修改宪法的涉税条款,不必出台税收基本法,并以宪法理念或精神指导税收法律体系或制度的构建。