Managing Social and Environmental Performance: Do Companies Have Adequate Information?

The commonwealth government has again explored the issue of mandatory social and environmental reporting by companies. This paper reviews the for-and-against arguments. We investigate the capacity for Australian organisations to voluntarily provide adequate social and environmental information by undertaking an analysis of current reporting practices with a focus on the reporting of performance-related information. To understand whether Australian companies are achieving best practice we benchmark disclosure against a sample of British companies.     

外汇管理部门支持宁夏涉外经济的思考

调查发现,宁夏涉外经济发展中存在的困难和问题是：总量太小,结构失衡;缺少大型国际生产出口企业,资源依赖性强;国际市场复杂性增大,国内竞争加剧。因此,外汇管理部门应积极参与重点领域改革,支持涉外企业加快发展;加快外汇市场发展,支持开展跨境贸易人民币结算试点;扎实落实进口核销改革政策,支持能源及原材料进口,改善宁夏贸易进出口结构。     

Asset Returns and Labor Supply in a Production Economy

The introduction of an endogenous labor decision represents a challenge for models that seek to jointly explain asset pricing and business cycle facts. This paper shows that several improvements can be made if a standard real business cycle model is augmented with a novel preference specification that increases the stochastic discount factor volatility and simultaneously reduces the wealth elasticity of labor supply.     

The Option Value of Acquiring Information in an Oilfield Production Enhancement Project

In many industrial applications, the option to acquire information instead of simply waiting for conditions to improve can add considerable value to projects. As one example, most oil wells require periodic "workovers" to maintain production at satisfactory levels, and acquiring up-to-date information on the reservoir using a production logging tool (PLT) generally improves the efficiency of such workovers.
This article presents a case study of oil production enhancement in which Bayesian analysis is incorporated into a real options framework to determine whether the additional cost of acquiring information is justified. This case is different from most applications of real options in that there are two main sources of uncertainty: the oil price and the reservoir. Bayesian analysis was used to update the reservoir model, using the PLT data together with prior knowledge about the reservoir. The updated reservoir model was then incorporated into a real options valuation framework.     

Incentives and Information Exchange in International Taxation

The exchange of taxpayer-specific information between national tax authorities has recently emerged as a key and controversial topic in international tax policy discussions, most notably with the OECD's harmful tax practices project and the EU's savings tax initiative. This paper analyzes the effects of information exchange and withholding taxes, recognizing that countries which agree to exchange information do not forfeit the ability to levy withholding taxes, and also focusing in particular on the effects of innovative revenue-sharing arrangements. Amongst the findings are that: (i) the transfer of withholding tax receipts to the residence country, as planned in the European Union, has no effect on equilibrium tax rates, but acts purely as a lump-sum transfer; (ii) in contrast, allocating some of the revenue from information exchange to the source country—counter to usual practice (though no less so than the EU agreement)—would have adverse strategic effects on total revenue; (iii) nevertheless, any withholding tax regime is Pareto dominated by information exchange combined with appropriate revenue sharing; and, in particular, (iv) sharing of the additional revenues raised from information provided, while efficiency-reducing, could be in the interests of large countries as a means of persuading small countries to provide that information voluntarily. JEL Code: H77, H87, F42     

2006年沪市公司内部控制信息披露研究

本文针对上海证券交易所出台的《上海证券交易所上市公司内部控制指引》和《关于做好上市公司2006年年度报告工作的通知》中关于内部控制信息披露的规定,通过描述性统计对2006年沪市年报内部控制信息披露的现状分析,认为2006年沪市公司内部控制信息披露存在以下问题:内部控制信息披露的强制规定未得到有效执行、内部控制信息自愿性披露动机不足、公司的内部控制自我评估和会计师事务所的核实评价缺少统一的标准。文章相应提出如下改进建议:制定明确的内部控制框架;作为制定、执行、评估和审核的基础,内部控制自评报告应采用强制披露和分步走相结合的做法;内部控制审核报告应采用强制性披露和鼓励性披露相结合的作法;加强对内部控制信息披露的监管。     

我国税收情报交换中存在的主要问题及建议

税收情报交换是目前跨国税收征管合作中最重要和最有效的手段之一,对发现和查处跨国偷避税行为具有不可替代的作用。本文首先介绍了我国税收情报交换工作的特点,然后对存在的问题提出了有针对性的解决方法。     

美国税收情报交换的经验与借鉴

税收情报交换是国际税收征管合作的重要形式之一,对经济全球化背景下打击跨国偷、逃税具有积极的意义。本文详细介绍了美国税收情报交换的机构设置、人员职责以及操作程序,并提出了学习借鉴美国经验以改进我国情报交换工作的建议。     

Tight Money in a Post-Crisis Defense of the Exchange Rate: What Have We Learned?

Critics of the tight monetary policies pursued by some of thecountries hurt by the 1997 Asian financial crisis have questionedthe presumption that tight money can help sustain the valueof a currency. The issue is actually an empirical one becausetheory does not unambiguously predict the effect of tight moneyon the exchange rate under the circumstances faced by the crisiscountries. This article reviews the empirical research and showsthat the evidence does not yet support strong statements aboutpost-crisis links between monetary policy and the exchange rate.Proposed deviations from a sustainable medium-term monetarypolicy stance should thus be viewed with skepticism.      

Sharing Demand Information in a Value Chain: Implications for Pricing and Profitability

While it is known that information exchange (IE) in a value chain improves resource coordination, scant attention has been paid to two issues. The first issue is the effect of relative bargaining strengths of the parties on whether and how IE will be implemented. The second issue is whether a resource-based costing system is adequate to motivate the implementation of information exchange. In this paper, we model a value chain consisting of a manufacturer and a retailer, where the retailer gets (private) demand information that has the potential of improving the manufacturers resource decisions. In this model, it is always beneficial for the value chain to implement IE. We show that in a monopsony or in a bilateral monopoly when the retailer has sufficient bargaining power, IE can be implemented if and only if the wholesale price compensates him for the loss of the information rent that he would get without IE. Using this model as the benchmark, we also examine other settings where the retailers have less bargaining power due to competition or size. In such settings, even though the retailers are better informed, the manufacturer can implement the IE regime costlessly and appropriate the information rent partially or fully. In effect, the manufacturer benefits both by improved resource coordination and by reduced payment for information rent. In all these settings, we find the retailer will not be motivated to adopt IE solely by a resource-based costing and pricing system.     

非上市公众公司信息披露的理论基础与价值选择

证券法的价值之一是保护投资者,判断某一类投资者是否需要法律的特殊保护及所需保护的强弱程度。这一问题是与公司的公众性结合在一起的。非上市公众公司是为配合证券监管部门监管各类别公司动向和满足监管制度改革的要求而提出的一个概念,其兼具封闭性和公众性的特征。基于其公众性特点,强制筹资者进行一定程度的信息披露,对于投资者克服信息不对称和做出理性投资选择,乃至使稀缺的社会资源得到优化配置都是大有裨益的。但在对非上市公众公司进行信息披露的制度设计时,必须要考虑其在公众性上与上市公司的差别,兼顾保护投资者利益与证券流动性,协调筹资便利和证券市场运行效率。     

建议内地与香港特别行政区尽快达成税收情报交换条款

1997年香港回归后成为中华人民共和国特别行政区,具有自己的税收管辖权和管理制度.由于内地与香港地区适用税法不同,以及税收管辖权方面的差异,必然造成某些所得在两地存在双重征税.又因香港特区的特殊地位,内地和香港特区间不能采用政府间签署避免双重征税协定的方式解决内地与香港之间双重征税问题,1998年2月经国务院批准,在香港特别行政区正式签了<内地和香港特别行政区关于对所得避免双重征税的安排>的备忘录(以下简称<安排>),给予香港特区在内地的投资者类似于国际税收协定给他国投资者的税收待遇.     

欧盟税收情报交换制度及启示

欧盟建立的税收情报交换法律制度基本上和OECD税收协定范本保持一致,而且更加细化和具可操作性。其特点是建立了丰富的情报交换方式,并实现了税收情报交换的电子化。它对在我国内地与香港、澳门地区间构建完善的税收情报交换制度提供了参考。     

Oil Futures Prices in a Production Economy with Investment Constraints

We document a new stylized fact, that the relationship between the volatility of oil futures prices and the slope of the forward curve is nonmonotone and has a V-shape. This pattern cannot be generated by standard models that emphasize storage. We develop an equilibrium model of oil production in which investment is irreversible and capacity constrained. Investment constraints affect firms' investment decisions and imply that the supply elasticity changes over time. Since demand shocks must be absorbed by changes in prices or changes in supply, time-varying supply elasticity results in time-varying volatility of futures prices. Estimating this model, we show it is quantitatively consistent with the V-shape relationship between the volatility of futures prices and the slope of the forward curve.     

网络购物对社会经济及消费者知情权的影响

随着社会经济的繁荣发展,网络技术的普及以及应用,网络购物作为一种新型的消费形式,在中国市场近年来如火如荼地发展。网络购物的迅速发展在改变消费者的生活方式、促进国民经济发展的同时,也出现了虚假信息等损害消费者知情权的情况。本文结合现阶段我国网络购物的现状,分析网络购物行为对经济社会的影响,并从经营者、消费者、监管者等方面探析网络购物行为对消费者知情权的挑战。     

国际税收情报交换的最新动态和启示

近年来,国际社会在税收情报交换领域采取了一系列重大行动,主要表现在:谈签税收情报交换协议成为国际税收合作的新趋势;OECD全面修订情报交换条款;税收情报交换成为全球税收论坛主题等。我国也应遵循国际惯例,谈签税收情报交换协议,维护国家权益并用好税收情报交换手段,提高国际税源管理质量。     

Optimality of the Disclosure of Private Information in a Production-Exchange Economy

This study provides an analysis of the effects on individual welfare of information revelation in a production-exchange economy. It is shown that the total effect of information revelation on an agent's utility level may be decomposed into three elements: a price effect, a shareholding effect, and a production effect. Through this decomposition, it is demonstrated that, although a Pareto improvement need not result from information revelation, there are perspectives from which the release can be considered beneficial.     

Voluntary Disclosure of Information in a Setting in which Endowment of Information has Productive Value

Abstract:  This paper introduces a model capturing managers' disclosure policies in settings in which disclosure is rewarded by the financial market because disclosure implies that managers are endowed with information and endowment of information may potentially improve the firm's productive efficiency. It provides sufficient condition for a threshold disclosure equilibrium to obtain and compares disclosure policies in a setting in which endowment of information improves the firm's productive efficiency with disclosure policies in a setting in which endowment of information has no impact on the firm's productive efficiency. Managers' disclosure policies are shown to depend crucially on whether the endowment of information is exogenous or endogenous. When the endowment of information is exogenous, an increase in the usefulness of information in improving the firm's productive efficiency leads to a decrease in the disclosure threshold and hence an increase in the amount of information disclosed. In contrast, when the endowment of information is endogenous, an increase in the usefulness of information in improving the firm's productive efficiency has no effect on the disclosure threshold but leads to a decrease in the probability with which information is acquired and hence a decrease in the amount of information disclosed. As, in the threshold disclosure equilibrium, the net present value of information acquisition arising from any increase in production efficiency is negative, an increase in the usefulness of information in improving the firm's productive efficiency thus reduces the inefficiency caused by information acquisition.     

价值具象化:信息革命赋予价值管理及其管理会计新框架

信息化背景,为会计改进反映与控制价值创造能力取得实质性进步创造了有利条件。现行会计理论与实务以日益成熟的工业化为前提,适应了工业社会企业职能型组织结构和财务业绩主导的管理模式,但已严重不适应信息时代网络型组织、自助式经营、智能化管理对信息内容、结构、频率、时态等基本要求。为此,论文从企业会计整体角度探讨信息化背景下会计理论与制度创新问题,提出了具有广泛适用价值的VCU与VCPS理论。作者以信息化提供了具象化价值创造完整图景为契机,认为:确认企业价值创造基本单元VCU,揭示了企业价值创造的细胞化结构,从而赋予企业价值创造的生物性生命特征。通过对VCU的实时监测报告完善管理会计制度,建立具有普遍推广意义的价值创造导航系统,即VCPS,可以促进企业价值的持续增长。