New development: The future of public service regulation—the professional's perspective

Regulatory failures have shifted the debate from the burden of regulation to its effectiveness. In response, regulators will be more sceptical of self-assessments, more responsive to consumers, provide better information, investigate inputs as well as outcomes and work more collaboratively.     

The disciplinary process of the accounting profession: protecting the public or the profession? The Québec experience

The voluntary self-regulatory system of the accounting profession was criticized in recent years for its lack of effectiveness, of public representation, and the conflict between the profession's desire to protect its industry and its “role as self-regulator and protector of the public” (Coofee, Working Paper, Columbia Law School, 2001, p. 22 (available on SSRN Electronic Library at id=270944)). This study examines the role of disciplinary activities of the profession in protecting the public interest in the Canadian province of Québec, a jurisdiction where, although the profession is self-regulated, several rules are imposed by the government, including mandatory public participation and oversight by a regulatory agency.My results indicate that at the trial stage, which is heavily regulated and where public participation is high, public-interest violations predominate, are considered more serious than private-interest violations, and result in more severe sanctions. At the inquiry stage, which is characterized by a lower level of public involvement and a high degree of discretion, the results indicate that the decision of whether or not to prosecute a case depends on the cost of the disciplinary process, the notoriety of the case, and the risk that the case if prosecuted results in an acquittal. These findings suggest that the preponderance of the public interest over the private interest depends on the degree of regulation and public participation.     

The future of SETI: Finite effort or search without end?

For almost 50 years, astronomers have scanned the skies for evidence of an extraterrestrial civilization that has reached or surpassed our level of technological development. In the course of this search, technology has improved dramatically, and additional developments such as larger and more sensitive telescopes and increased computing power will accelerate the search and extend it into new areas. Speculative search strategies that are more firmly rooted in imagination and wish than present-day science may mature with the practical effect of further extending the search space. The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), based on passive observation, has been joined by the controversial activity of messaging extraterrestrial intelligence (METI), the use of radio transmissions and space probes to proclaim our place in the universe. Potential “wild cards” that could fundamentally change the nature of the search include government intervention, the fruition of breakthrough technologies, and a confirmed detection. A rigorous search could confirm the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence tomorrow, within the lifetime of many people now alive, or in the distant future. All that is required for its continuation is a small number of scientists who have the skills and equipment to conduct a search that most scientists find credible. Since the search for life beyond Earth is motivated by cultural and psychological as well as scientific considerations, we may expect it to continue into the indefinite future.     

Unmasking scenario planning: The colonization of the future in the ‘Local Governments of the Future’ program

In the Netherlands, the ‘Local Governments of the Future’ program has been introduced by the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations in 2014, in the context of the ongoing transformation of the Dutch welfare state; more specifically, the transformation of the social care sector. Scenario planning is a major preoccupation in this program and two major reports have been published in this connection. In this article, the authenticity of the scenario planning of the ‘Local Governments of the Future’ program is questioned. It is found that the ‘Local Governments of the Future’ program’s scenario planning is not a real scenario planning but, instead, a continuation of the neoliberal discourse by hegemonic stakeholders that seek to ‘close’ the future. It is concluded in this article that in the ‘Local Governments of the Future’ program the future is colonized and presented as an impersonal trend in which governmental agency for creatively negating and transcending the neoliberal discourse is irrelevant.     

The efficient markets hypothesis: The demise of the demon of chance?

Many commentators have suggested that economists in general and financial economists in particular have some responsibility for the recent global financial crisis. They were blinded by an irrational faith in a discredited Efficient Markets Hypothesis and failed to see the bubble in asset prices and to give due warning of its collapse. There is considerable confusion as to what this hypothesis is and what it says. The irony is that the strong implication of this hypothesis is that nobody, no practitioner, no academic and no regulator had the ability to foresee the collapse of this most recent bubble. While few economists believe it is literally true, this hypothesis is considered a useful benchmark with some important practical implications. Indeed, a case can be made that it was the failure to believe in the essential truth of this idea, which was a leading factor responsible for the global financial crisis .     

The plight of accounting education in Australia: a sense of déjà vu

Abstract

Advocates of the case method in accounting education have provided strong arguments in favour of this classroom approach. However, a primary objection has been unanswered. Cases generate ‘canned’ solutions that, when passed between students, jeopardize the accountability of individual efforts and the educational value of the exercise. Although students have leveraged computer technology to exacerbate this problem, academic staff generally have not ‘fought fire with fire.’ This paper shows how computer technology, through the use of artificial intelligence, can restore the confidence that each student will work his/her own case solution and, therefore, will extract the intended educational value from the effort. With computer technology made to act intelligently, the case method in accounting classes should become more robust as a primary pedagogical device.     

Is that a future we want?: An ecofeminist exploration of images of the future in contemporary film

Contemporary film images of the future are usually made within the hegemonic world of the Hollywood¹ film industry. This paper will argue that these films, with their global reach, are contributing to the dominant single view of the future. A view that limits the future to a Western high-tech, white, heterosexual, patriarchal, militaristic, dark blandness where a small number of the rich and powerful men are in control; it is a view that misses out on the lushness of human and biological diversity and the joyful messiness of plurality and truly democratic systems of shared power. Using Causal Layered Analysis as a methodological framework, and ecofeminism to ask questions, this paper explores images of the future in a small number of contemporary films, with specific attention to images of the ecological future in depictions of landscape, food, and animals as well as women's roles in society as an indicator of social justice and equality.Ecofeminism provides a theoretical base from which to identify areas of domination of women, human Others, non-human Others, and the Earth. Ecofeminism combined with Futures Studies provides direction on alternative ways to envision futures—futures that celebrate and protect local human and biological diversity as well as a recognition of common values based on requirements for peace, shelter, food, water, basic material well-being, and cultural expression.     

Pessimistic futures generation for pessimistic future generations? The youth has the future but the older has the authority

In this paper the German-Hungarian international representative comparative youth surveys have been used as basic reference points (15–24 years old youth, 1984/1985). The social changes in the last decade have had a dramatic effect on both the Hungarian and German societies, which are represented by university students’ opinion as well (1985–2000). The civilization theory of Margaret Mead proved to be a useful principle in interpretation of the common European youth cultural style. At the radical social changes, common high pessimistic characteristics can be found in the relation of the future-orientation and generations’ attitude scale of German and Hungarian youth. In the 10–15 year period after the political system change significant difference can be observed in the future-orientation of German and Hungarian youth attitude. In this paper we discuss in detail the connection between the pessimistic youth attitude and its effect on sustainable development. We argue that sustainable development can be imagined only if the optimistic youth attitude has effect on the negative demographical changes in Europe. Our goal was to discover new life sentiments which can be detected from the opinions of today's Hungarian youth. According to our hypothesis, young people experience the enlarging process of EU as peripheral participants representing that both the optimistic and pessimistic youth attitudes equally refuse to grow up more children in family, which suggest that the sustainable development is not in the focus of their future orientation.     

The Genesis of the 2007 Conseil National de la Comptabilité: A Case of Institutional Isomorphism?

This article puts forward an interpretation of the reform of the French accounting standard-setter initiated by Decree no. 20076629 of 27 April 2007 relating to the national accounting standards board, the Conseil National de la Comptabilité (CNC). This reform, if it goes to term, will give birth to a French accounting standards authority, the Autorité des Normes Comptables (ANC). The proposed interpretation fits within a neo-institutionalist framework. In particular, it uses the notions of path dependency and institutional mimetism. The new CNC is first put into context as an institution in relation to its predecessors. It is then compared with two institutions, the architecture of which may have inspired its conception, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF). It would appear that the new CNC clearly departs from the historical path traced by French accounting regulation and tends to mimic French autorités administratives indépendantes (independent administrative authorities) of the AMF type. However, such ‘authorities’ are strongly inspired by the American Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). So paradoxically, the model of the new French Accounting Standards Authority would be a SEC rather than an FASB.     

Can patients drive the future of health care?

As the traditional system of health care in the United States gives way to a regime run increasingly by the private sector, a powerful force is emerging: the patient. According to Harvard Business School professor Regina Herzlinger, health care is much like other service industries. Providers that hope to survive must cater to increasingly demanding and well-educated consumers. In a review of Herzlinger's book Market-Driven Health Care: Who Wins, Who Loses in the Transformation of America's Largest Service Industry, Alexandra Wyke, managing editor at the Economist Intelligence Unit, argues that the path to consumerism in medicine will be longer and bumpier than Herzlinger suggests. Consumers of medicine don't simply want health care to be more convenient; they want cures for all ills. How can providers gratify this appetite for ever better medicine? Furthermore, patients are not always capable of making sound decisions about their medical care. And health care professionals, who emphasize the complex nature of decision making in medicine, are doing their best to keep patients from holding the health care steering wheel. Herzlinger has written a bullish book on the virtues of market-driven health care, but, Wyke contends, she has overlooked the far-reaching effects that emerging technology could have in shaping medicine--especially in reducing the need for specialists. She also has given short shrift to the young managed-care industry, which has succeeded in controlling costs and is now under competitive pressure to meet patients' needs better.     

Economic democracy: A path for the future?

As opposed to political democracy and its attempts at power control in the public sector, the concentration of economic power, and its antidote, the concept of economic democracy, has received much less attention. In the paper, we first offer a definition of economic democracy as a “a system of checks and balances on economic power and support for the right of citizens to actively participate in the economy regardless of social status, race, gender, etc.” Based on our definition, we suggest six possible faces of economic democracy and look at their implications for the vision of a sustainable, equitable and non-growing society, as discussed within the degrowth movement: (1) Regulation of market mechanisms and corporate activities. Regulation is one of the most obvious paths to curbing economic power, hence we highlight the issue of deregulation vis a vis possible degrowth policies. A revision of the free-market paradigm is suggested. (2) Support for social enterprises. We discuss different forms of democratic governance within enterprises and suggest that co-operative approaches, common in social enterprises, are better suited to a degrowth economy. (3) Democratic money creation processes, including pluralist community currencies, are suggested to counter economic power caused by the practice of fractional banking. (4) Reclaiming the commons (especially in their original sense as communal land stewardship systems) both conceptually and physically is seen by us as an important aspect of enhancing economic democracy. (5) Redistribution of income and capital assets is discussed as another approach to achieving economic democracy. (6) Finally, inspired by Vandana Shiva, we suggest that a broader view of economic democracy would involve a diversity of production scales and modes, including small-scale, subsistence and self-employment.     

Is cloud computing the digital solution to the future of banking?

This study investigates the impact of banks’ strategic move to cloud computing on bank performance and risk-taking. Based on a novel index of banks’ exposure to cloud computing, we find that banks’ adoption of cloud computing is associated with lower cost efficiency, higher profit efficiency, and greater operational risk using data on Chinese banks over the period 2008–2019. We also find that cloud computing interacts with other newly emerging technologies, leading to synergy gains in cost efficiency and operational risk control but with a substitutive effect on profit efficiency from blockchain. The findings are of timely policy importance and practical relevance for regulators, policy-makers, and bank managers.     

Do dividend changes predict the future profitability of firms?

Many previous studies have been conducted to test whether corporate dividend changes predict the future profitability of firms. While the debate continues, we assess the information content of dividends (ICD) hypothesis in the Korean market as it provides an interesting experimental setting for testing the hypothesis in the context of corporate governance. We find that it is difficult to support the ICD hypothesis if one accepts nonlinear patterns in earnings. However, when we divide the sample in terms of Chaebol vs. non‐Chaebol and high‐growth vs. low‐growth firms, we find that the ICD hypothesis becomes valid, especially for non‐Chaebol firms and for low‐growth firms. Therefore, we suggest that the validity of the ICD hypothesis may be dependent on firm characteristics such as the corporate governance structure and growth stage.