ACCOUNTABILITY AND GOVERNMENTAL FINANCIAL REPORTING

Accountability is the cornerstone of Governmental Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GGAAP) in the United States according to the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB). This paper analyzes the implications of alternative definitions of the concept of accountability for GGAAP and for GASB. It also discusses the costs and benefits of accountability information, the effect of diverse users of governmental reports, and alternative mechanisms for achieving accountability in governments. Finally, a governmental accounting research agenda based on accountability is proposed for the future.     

ASSET PRICING AND FINANCIAL REPORTING WITH CHANGING PRICES

This study empirically investigates the recent SFAS No. 33 requirements to determine if the inflation disclosures, or information similar to it, are impounded in security returns. An attempt is also made to determine which of the two diverse disclosures best represent the information impomded by the market. The investigation utilizes a methodological framework arising out of currently accepted asset pricing theory. The results suggest that the current cost data parallels the information impounded in security returns and that it provides risk information not included in the commonly employed systematic risk factor, beta.     

ON THE LINKAGE BETWEEN FINANCIAL RISK TOLERANCE AND RISK AVERSION

We explore the linkage between financial risk tolerance (FRT) and risk aversion. To do this, we obtain FRT scores from a psychometrically validated survey and conduct a battery of online lottery choice experiments involving the same nonstudent participants. We contrast: real and hypothetical payoffs, low and high stakes, decisions involving gains and losses, and order effects. Our key finding is that the two approaches to analyzing decision making under uncertainty are strongly aligned. We present evidence that this is particularly the case for the female participants in our sample and when high‐stake gambles are employed.     

国际财务报告准则下的评估

欧盟各国上市公司从2005年1月1日起采用国际财务报告准则。为了解在其执行过程中评估准则的应用情况,国际评估准则委员会(IVSC)对欧洲主要不动产投资公司按国际财务报告准则(IFRS)编制的年报中评估准则应用的一致程度,以及不动产评估的价值定义情况进行了调查分析。译者对该调查分析结果进行了编译,供读者参阅。     

FINANCIAL REPORTING IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR AND THE DEMAND FOR INFORMATION

The public good nature of information in the public sector means that the concept of direct'user need'as a basis for the development of a conceptual framework for financial reporting needs to be extended to the more general concept of'individual informational benefits'. Lack of individual demand for financial reporting information does not imply zero potential individual benefit from the use of such information. The achievement of a social optimum in the use of information is likely to require both a well-grounded conceptual framework for financial reporting and independent monitoring bodies able to make effective use of the information.     

防范金融创新风险 加强金融稳定

信用衍生产品和投资型结构产品的发明和创新以及市场的发展．有助于改进金融稳定，因为这些产品的市场活动加速了信用风险的分散和负债压力的缓释．传统上由银行业机构背负的经营风险．在更广泛的领域和基础上分散到各类投资人身上。由此．银行业机构承受信用风险、市场风险的能力及其盈利能力都可得到一定的加强。     

PREDICTING SYSTEMATIC RISK WITH MACROECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL VARIABLES

We analyze the predictive power of several macroeconomic and financial indicators in forecasting quarterly realized betas of 30 industry and 25 size and book-to-market portfolios. We model realized betas as autoregressive processes of order 1 and include lagged values of macroeconomic and financial indicators as exogenous predictor variables. In out-of-sample forecasting exercises, forecasts using bond market variables as exogenous predictors statistically outperform forecasts from a benchmark model without any exogenous predictors. These forecasts based on bond market variables also economically outperform benchmark forecasts by providing better performance in hedging the market risk of portfolios.     

INTERNATIONAL DIFFERENCES IN RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT REPORTING PRACTICES: A FRENCH AND CANADIAN COMPARISON

This paper compares the research and development (R&D) disclosure practices in France and Canada, as evidenced in the annual reports of 76 French and 110 Canadian listed companies. It finds that Canadian high-tech companies (hardware, software, and biotechnology) disclose significantly more information on their R&D activities than their French counterparts. It also finds a strong link between R&D intensity and R&D disclosure among Canadian high-tech companies. Canadian companies overall are also found to be more likely to use non-financial disclosure as a means to resolve any R&D information asymmetry, while French firms disclose more traditional financial and accounting information. Canadian companies are also more willing than French firms to provide information concerning their future R&D expenditures. These results are consistent with inherent cultural and capital market differences between France and Canada. In contrast, the study does not find any significant difference in R&D expenditure capitalization policies between French and Canadian firms.     

DEBT, FOLKLORE, AND CROSS-COUNTRY DIFFERENCES IN FINANCIAL STRUCTURE

Conventional wisdom has long held that, in relationship-based economies such as Japan and Germany, corporations are able to borrow more than U.S. companies, which in turn reduces their cost of capital and gives them a competitive edge. But such folklore does not stand up to scrutiny. In Japan and Germany, large businesses do not borrow more than U.S. companies–and, in fact, judging from coverage ratios, German companies (as well as U.K. companies) seem to borrow considerably less than their international competitors.
The article also reports that, in countries where financial markets are transparent, the development of the banking sector has little additional impact on the growth of financially dependent industries. That is, although industries that require a lot of external finance grow faster in countries where the bank credit-to-GDP ratio is high, the growth rates of such industries are much more correlated with the level of accounting standards (with high standards serving as a proxy for well-developed capital markets) than with a strong banking system.