The Impact of Deregulation on Efficiency: An Analysis of Life Insurance Industry in Taiwan From 1981 to 2004

We examine the impact of deregulation and liberalization (D&L) on the efficiency of the Taiwanese life insurance industry from 1981 to 2004. We utilize the data envelopment analysis (DEA) to measure the efficiency performances and the Malmquist index approach to measure changes in efficiency and productivity over time. Both the DEA and Malmquist results show that the old domestic firms have been slightly impacted by the new competitors around 1992–1994 (the end of foreign and new local entry period and the beginning of post-D&L period). More important, our results show that the D&L does not have major adverse impact on the technical, cost, and revenue efficiency performances of existing domestic firms in the long run. The dominance of existing domestic firms has declined but persists throughout the sample period. In addition, our results show that it is relatively easy for new firms to become technically efficient in just few years after entering the market, but it is more difficult for them to become efficient in cost and revenue efficiency. We, thus, suggest that a new market entrant should take advantage of the existing mechanisms by acquiring an old (existing) firm, rather than establish a new one, if a new entrant wants to become efficient in cost and revenue efficiency in a short time.     

Mapping information technology

The information technology (IT) industries are dynamic in nature. Technological change is rapid and product life-cycles short. Convergence is profoundly changing the structure and dynamics of the IT industries. To successfully track these trends and understand the IT industries it is essential to have a framework for ordering thoughts and data, and for analysing what is going on. This article outlines the development of a new framework for the IT industries, which can encompass a range of industry and market statistics and provide a model capable of generating insights into the relationships between IT products, services, markets and industry subsectors.     

新收入准则对建筑业财务核算及外部审计的影响分析

建造合同收入确认几乎是所有建筑业上市公司披露的关键审计事项之一,而新收入准则将现行的收入和建造合同两项准则纳入统一的收入确认模型,这无疑给建筑企业财务核算带来巨大的影响,对事务所承接的建筑类企业审计提出了新的要求和挑战。本文首先阐述新收入准则下建筑企业的会计核算变化,再结合《企业会计准则第14号—收入》和建筑业特点提出注册会计师对建筑企业收入确认审计的重点,以期给相关人员提供一定的参考,为审计风险控制提供新思路。     

The real new economy

During the soar-and-swoon days of the late 1990s, many people believed that information technology, and the Internet in particular, were "changing everything" in business. A fundamental change did happen in the 1990s, but it was less about technology than about competition. Under director Diana Farrell, the McKinsey Global Institute has conducted an extensive study of productivity and its connection to corporate IT spending and use during that period. The study revealed that information technology is important--but not central--to the fate of industries and individual companies. So if information technology was not the primary factor in the productivity surge, what was? The study points to competition and innovation. In those industries that saw increases in competitive intensity, managers were forced to innovate aggressively to protect their revenues and profits. Those innovations--in products, business practices, and technology--led to the gains in productivity. In fact, a critical dynamic of the new economy--the real new economy--is the virtuous cycle of competition, innovation, and productivity growth. Managers can innovate in many ways, but during the 1990s, information technology was a particularly powerful tool, for three reasons: First, IT enabled the development of attractive new products and efficient new business processes. Second, it facilitated the rapid industrywide diffusion of innovations. And third, it exhibited strong scale economies--its benefits multiplied rapidly as its use expanded. This article reveals surprising data on how various industries in the United States and Europe were affected by competition, innovation, and information technology in the 1990s and offers insights about how managers can get more from their IT investments.     

Information technology and the board of directors

Ever since the Y2K scare, boards have grown increasingly nervous about corporate dependence on information technology. Since then, computer crashes, denial of service attacks, competitive pressures, and the need to automate compliance with government regulations have heightened board sensitivity to IT risk. Unfortunately, most boards remain largely in the dark when it comes to IT spending and strategy, despite the fact that corporate information assets can account for more than 50% of capital spending. A lack of board oversight for IT activities is dangerous, the authors say. It puts firms at risk in the same way that failing to audit their books would. Companies that have established board-level IT governance committees are better able to control IT project costs and carve out competitive advantage. But there is no one-size-fits-all model for board supervision of a company's IT operations. The correct approach depends on what strategic "mode" a company is in whether its operations are extremely dependent on IT or not, and whether or not it relies heavily on keeping up with the latest technologies. This article spells out the conditions under which boards need to change their level of involvement in IT decisions, explaining how members can recognize their firms' IT risks and decide whether they should pursue more aggressive IT governance. The authors delineate what an IT governance committee should look like in terms of charter, membership, duties, and overall agenda. They also offer recommendations for developing IT policies that take into account an organization's operational and strategic needs and suggest what to do when those needs change. Given the dizzying pace of change in the world of IT, boards can't afford to ignore the state of their IT systems and capabilities. Appropriate board governance can go a long way toward helping a company avoid unnecessary risk and improve its competitive position.     

An analysis of attributes that impact information technology audit quality: A study of IT and financial audit practitioners

The importance of information technology (IT) auditing has grown with increased reliance on IT for business operations and new regulations regarding the assurance of IT for these operations. Prior work on IT and financial auditing has suggested several general frameworks that may affect IT audit quality; however, the prior work has not provided measurable constructs nor has it considered whether these proposed constructs are the same or different. Building on prior work that has proposed frameworks of IT audit quality, we identify and evaluate potential constructs suggested by these frameworks as well as financial auditing literature. We develop a survey tool and ask IT and financial accounting practitioners to assess the impact of these items on IT audit quality. A factor analysis is used to refine the set of IT audit quality factors identified, and we are able to provide insight into the prioritized impact of each factor on IT audit quality. In comparison to prior research, we find that additional factors are significant for IT audit quality and that the relative importance of the factors for IT audit quality differs for IT versus financial auditors.     

The growth crisis--and how to escape it

At a time when companies are poised to seize the growth opportunities of a rebounding economy, many of them, whether they know it or not, face a growth crisis. Even during the boom years of the past decade, only a small fraction of companies enjoyed consistent double-digit revenue growth. And those that did often achieved it through short-term measures--such as mergers and inflated price increases--that don't provide the foundation for growth over the long term. But there is a way out of this predicament. The authors claim that companies can achieve sustained growth by leveraging their "hidden assets," a wide array of underused, intangible capabilities and advantages that most established companies already hold. To date, much of the research on intangible assets has centered on intellectual property and brand recognition. But in this article, the authors uncover a host of other assets that can help spark growth. They identify four major categories of hidden assets: customer relationships, strategic real estate, networks, and information. And they illustrate each with an example of a company that has creatively used its hidden assets to produce new sources of revenue. Executives have spent years learning to create growth using products, facilities, and working capital. But they should really focus on mobilizing their hidden assets to serve their customers' higher-order needs--in other words, create offerings that make customers' lives easier, better, or less expensive. Making that shift in mind-set isn't easy, admit the authors, but companies that do it may not only create meaningful new value for their customers but also produce double-digit revenue and earnings growth for investors.     

R&D productivity following first-time CIO appointments

Prior studies find that firms announcing the appointment of a new chief information officer (CIO) are rewarded by stock price increases, suggesting that the market expects new CIOs to add longterm value to the firm. In this paper, we examine whether first-time CIO appointments result in improved R&D productivity. We focus on R&D investments because one role of IT management is to aid in discovery and management of growth opportunities. Successful R&D activities are designed to create the type of knowledge-based, growth-critical assets (new or improved products, better distribution methods, etc.) that effective IT management would be expected to assist. After controlling for industry performance, we find that the productivity of R&D improves significantly after the appointment of a new CIO for appointments before 1999 (1997–1998) but not for appointments in later years (1999–2007), and that productivity improvements over the entire sample period occur for CIO appointments by firms with superior IT capabilities. Our results for R&D investments suggest that new CIOs improve the way IT is managed and improve their firms' approach to knowledge management.     

展望2009

刚刚过去的2008年.对我国的银行业意味着什么?在雪灾、地震、奥运这些重大事件发生时,银行业的IT信息系统经历了严峻的考验。温故而知新,金融风暴之后的2009年银行信息化将会面临哪些挑战?如何推进信息化建设又好又     

IT doesn't matter

As information technology has grown in power and ubiquity, companies have come to view it as ever more critical to their success; their heavy spending on hardware and software clearly reflects that assumption. Chief executives routinely talk about information technology's strategic value, about how they can use IT to gain a competitive edge. But scarcity, not ubiquity, makes a business resource truly strategic--and allows companies to use it for a sustained competitive advantage. You only gain an edge over rivals by doing something that they can't. IT is the latest in a series of broadly adopted technologies--think of the railroad or the electric generator--that have reshaped industry over the past two centuries. For a brief time, as they were being built into the infrastructure of commerce, these technologies created powerful opportunities for forward-looking companies. But as their availability increased and their costs decreased, they became commodity inputs. From a strategic standpoint, they became invisible; they no longer mattered. that's exactly what's happening to IT, and the implications are profound. In this article, HBR's editor-at-large Nicholas Carr suggests that IT management should, frankly, become boring. It should focus on reducing risks, not increasing opportunities. For example, companies need to pay more attention to ensuring network and data security. Even more important, they need to manage IT costs more aggressively. IT may not help you gain a strategic advantage, but it could easily put you at a cost disadvantage. If, like many executives, you've begun to take a more defensive posture toward IT, spending more frugally and thinking more pragmatically, you're already on the right course. The challenge will be to maintain that discipline when the business cycle strengthens.     

CV Technologies/Cold-fX

The CV Technologies/Cold-fX case is based on real events at a Canadian company that attempted to enter the US market with a cold remedy called Cold-fX. CV shipped product to US retailers shortly before its fiscal year end of September 30. The product did not sell well in the US, and the company experienced a larger number of returns from US retailers than the company had historically experienced from their Canadian retailers. Many of these product returns occurred after the fiscal year end, but before the financial statements were issued. The case deals with auditing estimates related to the timing of revenue recognition and the auditor’s responsibilities to consider subsequent events. Another distinctive aspect of the case involves the effects of selling in foreign markets and how entering new markets can affect the appropriate timing of revenue recognition.     

利率市场化对我国商业银行收入结构的影响研究 —基于16家上市银行数据的实证

利率市场化对我国商业银行转型发展产生了深刻的影响,本文以2008~2015年间16 家上市银行的数据作为研究样本,实证分析了利率市场化对商业银行业务收入结构的影响效 应。结果表明：利率市场化显著改善了我国商业银行业务收入结构;资产规模、监管压力、风 险水平、宏观经济也对业务收入结构具有正向促进作用,而货币供应量快速增长则对业务收入 结构起到抑制作用。鉴于此,我国商业银行要保持持续稳健增长,必须加快业务创新步伐,创 造新的盈利增长点,以适应利率市场化后的外部竞争环境。     

深化财政改革应保持收支同步推进

财政的分配职能主要是通过财政的收入与支出来实现的。对任何国家的政府而言，财政收支平衡应该是其财政的最高目标。尽管凯恩斯以后，有些国家政府实行以赤字财政政策来刺激经济增长、扩大需求、实现就业。但是，如果一国政府的财政赤字过大、收支难以平衡的话，那么国民对政府调控经济，发挥其职能作用的信任程度就将大打折扣。在我国，财政收支管理的“越位”与“缺位”问题已经是不争的事实，收入地出两条线的管理也显得极不协调，需要及时地进行改革。     

Too far ahead of the IT curve?

Peachtree Healthcare has major IT infrastructure problems, and CEO Max Berndt is struggling to find the right fix. He can go with a single set of systems and applications that will provide consistency across Peachtree's facilities but may not give doctors enough flexibility. Or he can choose service-oriented architecture (SOA), a modular design that will allow Peachtree to standardize incrementally and selectively but poses certain risks as a newer technology. What should he do? Four experts comment on this fictional case study, authored by John P. Glaser, CIO for Partners HealthCare System. George C. Halvorson, the chairman and CEO of Kaiser Permanente, warns against using untested methodologies such as SOA in a health care environment, where lives are at stake. He says Peachtree's management must clarify its overall IT vision before devising a plan to achieve each of its objectives. Monte Ford, the chief information officer at American Airlines, says Peachtree can gradually replace its old systems with SOA. An incremental approach, he points out, would not only minimize risk but also enhance flexibility and control, and would allow IT to shift priorities along the way. Randy Heffner, a vice president at Forrester Research who focuses on technology architectures for computer-based business systems, thinks SOA's modular approach to business design would best meet Peachtree's need for flexibility. He says that Peachtree's CIO sees SOA as a new product category but should instead view it as a methodology. John A. Kastor, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, questions the goal of standardized care. He argues that it would be difficult to persuade doctors, many of whom are fiercely independent, to follow rigid patterns in their work.     

Six IT decisions your IT people shouldn't make

Senior managers often feel frustration--even exasperation--toward information technology and their IT departments. The managers complain that they don't see much business value from the high-priced systems they install, but they don't understand the technology well enough to manage it in detail. So they often leave IT people to make, by default, choices that affect the company's business strategy. The frequent result? Too many projects, a demoralized IT unit, and disappointing returns on IT investments. What distinguishes companies that generate substantial value from their IT investments from those that don't? The leadership of senior managers in making six key IT decisions. The first three relate to strategy: How much should we spend on IT? Which business processes should receive our IT dollars? Which IT capabilities need to be companywide? The second three relate to execution: How good do our IT services really need to be? Which security and privacy risks will we accept? Whom do we blame if an IT initiative fails? When senior managers aren't involved in these decisions, the results can be profound. For example, if they don't take the lead in deciding which IT initiatives to fund, they end up overloading the IT department with projects that may not further the company's strategy. And if they aren't assessing security and privacy risks, they are ignoring crucial business trade-offs. Smart companies are establishing IT governance structures that identify who should be responsible for critical IT decisions and ensure that such decisions further IT's strategic role in the organization.     

The bidder exclusion effect

We introduce a new, simple‐to‐compute test of independence of valuations and the number of bidders for ascending button auctions with symmetric, conditionally independent private values. The test involves estimating the expected revenue drop from excluding a bidder at random, which can be computed as a scaled sample average of a difference of order statistics. This object also provides a bound on counterfactual revenue changes from optimal reserve pricing or bidder mergers. We illustrate the approach using data from timber auctions, where we find some evidence that bidder valuations and the number of participants are not independent.     

信息技术与会计价值超越

会计信息是经济领域最重要的信息之一,然而在信息时代,会计系统所提供的信息已经难以在相关性、可靠性、及时性等方面满足组织内外信息用户的要求,从而引发会计价值危机。信息技术在会计领域的运用将有利于会计价值的回归和超越。信息技术与会计的结合呈现出三个有较大飞跃的阶段,即电算化会计阶段、与管理信息系统的集成阶段和网络会计系统阶段。但尚不能断言信息技术将使会计价值无限提高。     

中部地区地方政府支农实证分析

本文从中部地区基层地方政府财政收入来源、财政支出结构、财政支出影响因素角度,分析了当前中部地区财政支持新农村建设的问题。结果表明,中部地区基层政府财政收入较多的依赖中央政府的转移支付,其支出受制度安排影响,缺乏财政决策权;财政支出类别繁多,资金利用效率不高;基层政府教育负担过重;回归分析表明,增加基层政府本级财政收入,能显著增加基层财政的农业投入和教育投入。本文提出,合理界定各级政府的事权,合理划分税权,加强基层财政资金的监督和管理,将有助于中部地区地方政府充分发挥在新农村建设中的重要作用。     

县级政府债务:规模、风险与化解——基于某省三县市的调查分析

为了解当前县级财政收支基本情况、运行特点和发展趋势,分析县级财政运行存在的问题及影响因素,防范因县级财力不足可能引发的金融风险隐患,本文选取了某省三个县市作为样本地区进行调查。调查显示:目前县级政府债务风险基本处于一个整体可控的范围内,但是长期潜在风险不可忽视,这主要体现在融资平台新增债务较多、财政收支缺口较大、财政收入未来增长存在不确定性等方面。一旦依靠土地和税收的地方政府财政收入出现大幅度下滑,将直接减弱地方政府的偿付能力,从而对金融体系的稳健经营产生负面影响。     

Getting IT right

Modern information technology started four decades ago, yet in most major corporations, IT remains an expensive mess. This is partly because the relatively young and rapidly evolving practice of IT continues to be either grossly misunderstood or blindly ignored by top management. Senior managers know how to talk about finances because they all speak or understand the language of profit and loss and balance sheets. But when they allow themselves to be befuddled by IT discussions or bedazzled by three-letter acronyms, they shirk a critical responsibility. In this article, the authors say a systematic approach to understanding and executing IT can and should be implemented, and it should be organized along three interconnected principles: A Long-Term IT Renewal Plan Linked to Corporate Strategy. Such a plan focuses the entire IT group on the company's over-arching goals during a multiyear period, makes appropriate investments directed toward cutting costs in the near term, and generates a detailed blueprint for long-term systems rejuvenation and value creation. A Simplified, Unifying Corporate Technology Platform. Instead of relying on vertically oriented data silos that serve individual corporate units (HR, accounting, and so on), companies adopt a clean, horizontally oriented architecture designed to serve the whole organization. A Highly Functional, Performance-Oriented IT Organization. Instead of functioning as if it were different from the rest of the firm or as a loose confederation of tribes, the IT department works as a team and operates according to corporate performance standards. Getting IT right demands the same inspired leadership and superb execution that other parts of the business require. By sticking to the three central principles outlined in this article, companies can turn IT from a quagmire into a powerful weapon.