Do institutional investors drive corporate transparency regarding business contribution to the sustainable development goals?

Institutional investors show increasing interest in how companies align their corporate social responsibility strategies with the sustainable development goals (SDGs) proposed by the United Nations (UN). The information disclosed in this regard is essential to know and monitor business contribution to the 2030 Agenda. In this paper, we analyze the influence that institutional investors have on the adoption of the disclosure strategy established by UN and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)—GRI‐SDG Compass. The results obtained for a sample of 989 international companies, which prepare their sustainability reports following the GRI guidelines, show that ownership by foreign investors, pension funds, and “other” investors boosts the relevance of the information disclosed in relation to the 2030 Agenda. On the contrary, government, financial institutions, and cross holdings have no impact on the information systems developed.     

Portfolio Selection and the Investment Performance of the UK Pension Funds*

Pension funds are the main institutional investors, accounting for 38 per cent of personal sector net financial wealth. As a result of their growing importance in mobilizing personal sector saving, they have emerged as the principal institutional investor, controlling over £200bn of funds at the end of 1987, their total net assets equalling 38 per cent of personal sector net financial wealth. Pension funds also dominate domestic asset markets, owning 27per cent of the stock of outstanding UK equity, 23 per cent of UK government securities and 17 per cent of total UK holdings of overseas equity. In this paper we present the conclusions from recent research, undertaken as part of an updating of the LBS Financial Model. Our results suggest that UK pension fund investment since 1980 is better than previous studies have suggested and, in particular, that funds outperformed the equity market in the 1980s, offering a higher return for any given level of risk. In addition fund behaviour is slow to change, with past behaviour exerting the strongest influence on current investment patterns. Fund managers also appear guilty of “short termism” in that they place little weight on events beyond the next three months. However, this has not made them inefficient. Finally, we find that actions to restrict the funds' surpluses should not affect their investment behaviour. Our results also suggest that the costs from exchange controls in the 1970s were substantial, amounting to some £4bn per year.     

Growth Opportunities,Stockholders' Claim/Liability on Pension Plans,and Corporate Pension Policies

In this study, I derive the value of stockholders' claim on a pension surplus and stockholders' liability for a pension deficit in the post‐Employee Retirement Income Security Act regulatory environment. Based on that valuation, I develop a model of corporate pension policies in which sponsoring firms weigh contributions to their pension plan against the exercise of growth options in the allocation of limited financial resources. The model shows how corporate pension funding and asset allocation policies are shaped by the sponsoring firms' characteristics, such as growth options, the marginal corporate tax rate, and regulatory variables such as the deficit reduction contribution rate, the variable‐rate insurance premium, and the maximum possible fraction of operating assets that can be seized by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. I discuss policy and empirical implications of the theoretical results. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

科学发展视野中我国养老基金缺口的对策研究

养老保障是社会保障的重要组成部分,起保障老年人基本生活的作用。目前,我国老龄化压力增大",未富先老"趋势明显,养老基金需求人数的增长大大超过供款人数的增加。针对养老基金的缺口,应结合本国国情,依据科学发展要求,剖析中国养老保障面临的困境,并找到促进我国养老保险制度实现科学发展的路径。建议实施延长工作年限、促进老年人群再就业和再择业并将养老金发放与缴费年限敏更感挂钩等措施,通过就业政策的调整和退休制度的完善,实现老龄化劳动人口和青壮年劳动人口就业的更合理配置,最终通过劳动生产率的提高彻底解决养老基金缺口的困境,实现经济社会又好又快发展。     

SAVINGS IN TIMES OF DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGE: LESSONS FROM THE GERMAN EXPERIENCE

Pension reforms in many developed countries make individuals shoulder a bigger share of longevity and income risks. The desired response is that individuals accumulate private assets for retirement. Whether this actually takes place, is of paramount relevance for scientists and policy makers. We take Germany as an example: Twenty years of pension reform have transformed the monolithic German pension system into a multipillar system. Formerly generous public pension benefits are gradually being reduced, whereas substantial incentives are granted to occupational and private saving schemes. Has this transition worked out? We survey the reform steps and households’ reactions: How did individuals adjust their labor market behavior? How did private and occupational pension plans take off? How do behavioral adjustments vary in the population? Most Germans adapted to the new situation. Both actual and expected retirement decisions changed and the share of households without supplementary pensions decreased from 73% to 39% in little more than a decade. This is a remarkable success. Nonetheless, households with low education, low income and less financial education did neither adjust their retirement behavior nor pick up supplementary pension plans and are thus likely to face difficulties in bridging the gap arising in future pension income.     

THE EFFECTS OF PENSION FUNDS ON MARKETS PERFORMANCE: A REVIEW

The worldwide reforming process of pension systems triggered by the demographic transition and globalization has led several countries to implement multi‐pillar pension systems and enhance pension funds. For this reason the studies on the effects that pension funds exert on markets performance have been flourishing in the last decades. In this paper, we provide an updated review of the empirical advances in this field of study, with particular focus on the effects that pension funds produce on labour markets, financial markets and economic growth.     

新政府会计制度下事业单位财务内控应对措施分析

事业单位的职责是向社会提供各种公益性的服务。对于事业单位来说,其所有资金并不会全部投向办公环节,还会将部分资金投入专用资产的购置、服务地方经济发展的各项科研工作当中。因此,论文以新政府会计制度为切入点,对事业单位财务内控存在的问题进行深入探究,针对问题提出应对措施,以期促进事业单位实现可持续发展。     

Examining the behavior of renewable‐energy fund investors

Mutual fund investors could contribute to sustainable development by encouraging fund managers to channel their savings into the funding of sustainable energy projects adopted by firms. This study examines whether renewable‐energy investors take into account financial and/or nonfinancial factors when making the decision to invest in a specific fund, comparing their investment behavior with that of black‐energy and conventional investors. To this end, we have gathered information about 4,368 mutual funds (76 renewable‐energy funds, 109 black‐energy funds, and 4,183 conventional mutual funds) from January 2007 to December 2017. For this sample, we adopt a panel‐data approach with Petersen's standard errors clustered by fund and year. Our results indicate that renewable‐energy fund investors are less sensitive to past financial performance than are black‐energy and conventional fund investors, indicating that the former derive their utility from nonfinancial attributes whereas black‐energy investors derive their utility from a conditional multiattribute and conventional fund investors derive their utility from financial attributes.     

The Rise and Demise of Defined Benefit Pension Plans

The Defined Benefit Pension Plan (DBPP), once regarded as the gold standard of traditional corporate pension plans, has fallen upon hard times. Corporate sponsors regard the plans as financial drains, fountains of bad publicity, and targets for heavy-handed government regulation. Employees covered by the plans fear they will not deliver on the promises employers made to provide financial security after retirement. Legislative fixes for the system have hastened, not slowed down, the exodus of employers from DBPP. The authors of this paper agree that DBPP is, indeed, an endangered species in the private sector, but concur with the criticism that the conventional explanations for it – particularly in the trade literature – tend be self-serving, superficial and not convincing and often incomplete in their analysis. Using Porter’s model of competition to identify the relative strengths and weaknesses of competing influences we endorse the conclusion that the failure of DBPP is one of strategic choice by employers whose power and influence in the global economy is not effectively counter-balanced by labor, or by forces sympathetic to labor. The growing trend towards the Defined Contribution Pension Plan (DCPP) is consonant with employers’ interests but a setback for employees who had to give up the “gold standard” (DBPP). Even the paradoxical effect of ERISA hastening the demise of the pension system it was created to reform is less puzzling when examined in the context of who had influence in drafting the legislation, writing regulations and enforcing the law.     

关于科研事业单位预算管理问题的思考

近年来,随着我国科教兴国战略的高速推进,科研创新作为重点发展内容得到了越来越多的关注.作为国家科研攻关的中坚力量,科研事业单位可使用的研究经费逐年快速增加,但与此同时,也暴露出了现阶段陈旧的科研经费预算管理体系不能有效进行资金管控的缺陷.针对阻碍科研工作更好实施的现实问题,国家财政部陆续出台了一系列加强预算管理改革的政策,科研事业单位应在相关政策法规的要求下,通过规范本单位的规章制度,改变科研人员陈旧的预算管理理念,将单位的战略目标融入预算管理当中;通过建立健全内控流程、建立信息化办公系统等方式加强预算管理;通过合理运用绩效评价等手段强化预算支出责任,提高资金使用效益,从而为研究工作的顺利进行提供资金保障,为今后的预算管理提供合理依据.文章从预算编制、预算执行和预算考核等方面分析了当前预算管理中存在的主要问题,并有针对性地提出了相应的对策及改进措施,以期为科研工作提供强有力的管理支撑,为促进科学事业的可持续发展提供借鉴.     

Sovereign wealth funds,productivity and people: The impact of Norwegian Government Pension Fund‐Global investments in the United Kingdom

Sovereign wealth funds have an increasing presence in the global financial ecosystem, principally through their investments in equities, which, in turn, may influence HRM. This study examines the influence of the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, the Norwegian Government Pension Fund‐Global (NGPF‐G), on employment in its U.K. investee firms. We find that firms with NGPF‐G investment are significantly less likely to reduce their demand for labour, more specifically in the immediate aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. When a drop in the demand for labour does occur, it is less extreme when compared to similar organisations without a NGPF‐G shareholding, and this is evident even in the case of relatively small NGPF‐G investments. These findings are in line with the fund's objective of promoting corporate sustainability and Norwegian values. We draw out the key implications of our findings for HR practice.     

养老金制度及其改革——基于不同福利模式的分析

不同福利模式国家的养老金制度在建立之初就呈现出不同的特征,其发展路径也有所差异,但在结构、参数、管理体系方面的改革呈现出共同的规律。各国基本都建成了多支柱体系或多层次体系;普遍采取了提高费率、延长缴费年限和延迟退休、调整待遇等方式来进行参数改革;并对养老金管理机构采取了横向整合或纵向的集中化改革,建立了养老金投资监管机构。中国逐步建成了三层次养老金体系,并在个人账户、待遇计发等方面进行了参数调整,同时在统筹层级、征缴机构、投资管理体系方面进行了改革。中国养老金制度仍存在未实现全国统筹、结构失衡、基金可持续性差等问题,可借鉴国际经验,在结构、参数、管理机构等方面进行改革。     

上市公司超募资金使用与投资者保护——基于科伦药业的案例研究

随着上市公司超募资金现象受到广泛关注，上市公司如何管理和使用所超募的资金、加强保护广大投资者利益逐渐成为市场参与者关注的焦点。本文通过对科伦药业超募资金的管理与使用状况进行考察，发现该公司首先建设了超募资金相关制度，为公司合理使用超募资金奠定了制度基础；在不到一年的时间内，该公司超募资金的使用率达到95％，其中绝大部分...     

简论企业财务管理存在的主要问题及其对策略

随着我国社会主义市场经济向纵深推进,财务管理在企业管理中的核心地位日益成为企业家和经济界的共识。财务管理作为企业管理的核心,主要是通过价值形态对企业资金运动进行综合性管理的,财务管理渗透和贯穿于企业的一切经济活动之中。企业资金的筹集、使用和分配都与财务管理有着密切关系。企业的生产、经营、进、销、调、存每一环节都离不开财务的反映、调控。企业的财务监督更是企业整个管理活动的中枢。因此,加强财务管理是企业可持续发展的一个重要问题。文中主要从分析企业财务管理存在的问题出发,提出财务管理应确保的几个问题,进而结合实际提出应对问题的具体策略。     

Corporate sustainability and institutional shareholders: The pressure of social responsible pension funds on environmental firm practices

This paper analyses the role of social responsible (SR) pension funds as influential institutional shareholders in the corporate sustainability of investee firms. We study the influence of 197 UK SR pension funds on 1,253 firms with 31 environmental, social, and governance (ESG) indicators from 2002 to 2018. According to the indicator nature, we perform logit and ordinary least square (OLS) estimations with panel error correction models to control causality. Our results show that SR pension funds significantly impact on 41.93% of the ESG indicators studied. We find that larger pension‐fund shareholding positively influences on ESG firm performance and encourages proactive behaviour towards environmental practices. Firms with larger pension‐fund shareholding are more likely to use renewable energies and disclose environmental information, increasing the firm transparency towards stakeholders. This study contributes to understand that, besides stakeholders, institutional shareholders (SR pension funds) demand sustainable development and are able to transfer important values for the society and the environment to corporate governance.     

The Chilean model

In 1981, Chile replaced its government-run pay-as-you-go pension system with a national system of individual Pension Savings Accounts managed by the private sector. The new system has contributed to the increase in the country's savings rate, the productivity of capital and the rate of economic growth. More important, Chilean workers now have property rights over their own pension contributions and enjoy much higher pensions than under the old system.     

企业资金集中管理与财务核算的标准化问题分析

资金集中管理既是企业财务管理中的重点内容,也是财务管理的重要手段之一,资金集中管理对企业的长远发展具有重要意义。近年来,在社会经济快速发展的背景下,企业的发展速度不断加快。但是在企业的发展中,在资金集中管理以及财务核算当中仍存在一定问题,这就需要提出有效的解决对策,并对财务管理目标以及战略进行调整,从而推动企业稳定发展。论文主要分析了企业资金集中管理与财务核算的标准化问题。     

How are pension integration and pension benefits related?

Pension integration is the ability to allow differentiated pension benefits across earnings groups. In the academic literature, it is often described as a way for firms to reduce pension benefits (and therefore costs). Justified by the requirement that firms pay half of Social Security payments, integrated pensions are typically found to reduce benefits for lower income workers. Data on retirees from the Health and Retirement Study, however, reveal a more complex picture where some individuals receive more benefits when one of their pension plans is integrated, ceteris paribus. Some reasons are discussed why this might be the case.     

A two-step hybrid investment strategy for pension funds

We propose a two-step hybrid investment strategy suitable for pension funds. Our method consists of an active component (an optimization-based approach to decide the asset allocation), followed by a passive strategy (an index-based approach). We test our strategy with data from the Chilean pension system using two different risk metrics and we show that our approach, in three out of five cases, yields results that are better than those generated by the Chilean fund administrators. In the two cases where our approach underperformed we show that it was the result of excessively tight constraints set up by the regulator.