Current issues in PhD supervision of accounting and finance students: Evidence from Australia and New Zealand

This paper reports on the current trends in accounting and finance PhD supervision in Australia and New Zealand. By examining the various supervision styles adopted by students and supervisors, we identified various tensions, including the influence of performance outcomes that may hinder the vibrant spirit of inquiry that should be intrinsic to the PhD journey and to future academia. Our findings demonstrated both supervisor and student preference for more structured (contractual or directorial) styles of supervision. Changes consistent with this preference include group supervision, the closer alignment of student research topics with supervisor interests, and the preference for certain research paradigms and a focus on journal publications. While students and supervisors regard these changes as key elements in addressing the performance demands associated with PhD outcomes, they present challenges for attaining a balance between product (thesis/contribution to knowledge) and process (students' journeys towards scholarship), together with supervisors' roles therein.     

Corporate governance,accounting and finance: A review

We review accounting and finance research on corporate governance (CG). In the course of our review, we focus on a particularly vexing issue, namely endogeneity in the relationships between CG and other matters of concern to accounting and finance scholars, and suggest ways to deal with it. Given the advent of large commercial CG databases, we also stress the importance of how CG is measured and in particular, the construction of CG indices, which should be sensitive to local institutional arrangements, and the need to capture both internal and external aspects of governance. The ‘stickiness’ of CG characteristics provides an additional challenge to CG scholars. Better theory is required, for example, to explain whether various CG practices substitute for each other or are complements. While a multidisciplinary approach to developing better theory is never without its difficulties, it could enrich the current body of knowledge in CG. Despite the vastness of the existing CG literature, these issues do suggest a number of avenues for future research.     

Pair-copulas modeling in finance

This paper concerns itself with applications of pair-copulas in finance, and bridges the gap between theory and application. We provide a broad view of the problem of modeling multivariate financial log-returns using pair-copulas, gathering together for this purpose theoretical and computational results from the literature on canonical vines. From the practitioner’s viewpoint, the paper shows the advantages of modeling through pair-copulas and makes clear that it is possible to implement this methodology on a daily basis. All the necessary steps (model selection, estimation, validation, simulations, and applications) are discussed at a level easily understood by all data analysts.     

事务所开展财务与会计外包服务的思考

财务与会计外包服务正成为服务外包产业发展的热点。作为提供会计、财务与审计服务的专业机构,会计师事务所在开展财务与会计外包服务方面具有天然的优势。然而,在财务与会计外包服务的概念、内容、必要性及可行性、相关职业责任与质量控制等方面,许多事务所的管理层还没有准确而清晰的认识。本文拟就此谈些一己之见。     

Bridging the gap between accounting and finance

I suggest that the separation of the academic disciplines of accounting and finance has had some detrimental consequences for the development of research and practice in both disciplines, and especially in finance. I argue that an understanding of financial statement numbers and the accounting principles on which they depend – the accounting microstructure – can be important in developing better valuation and asset pricing models and in identifying relevant dimensions of risk. Therefore finance research can benefit from assimilating recent advances in accounting research. Similarly, accounting research relevant to valuation and asset pricing can benefit by adopting theoretical perspectives and empirical methods from finance research.     

UK PhD assessment in accounting and finance: social capital in action

Assessment lies at the centre of PhD degree quality standards, with quality assurance relying on independent external examiners. This study investigates the role of the viva and the selection of external examiners from within the accounting and finance discipline across UK institutions. A questionnaire survey and follow-up interviews with academics (299 respondents; 49 interviews) and recent PhD graduates (73 respondents; 18 interviews) were undertaken. Findings identify multiple viva roles including verification; academic career development; and assessment. External examiner selection is outcome-driven, and the independence of examiners is questionable when secured using the social capital existing between an examiner and supervisor. Supervisors and examiners jointly gate-keep the academic community within cliques, although at the viva stage new entrants are rarely excluded. The PhD assessment process offers the opportunity for rogue cliques to develop, driven by favourable outcomes in terms of personal benefits and costs, allowing new entrants of insufficient quality.     

Optimality of project financing: Theory and empirical implications in finance and accounting

During the 1980s a fairly active market developed in the private placement of limited recourse project financing. Although this form of financing is gaining in importance, we know very little about it. This article presents a theoretical analysis of project financing. In the model of the firm presented, outstanding risky debt gives rise to agency costs of underinvestment that are offset by the benefit of debt-related tax shields. The tradeoff specifies the optimal leverage for a firm. Within this framework, we consider the optimality of financing a new project with a nonrecourse project financing arrangement. We derive implications for 1) the characteristics of a new venture that will be project financed, 2) the wealth gains from project financing over that of financing with straight debt, and 3) the optimal allocation of debt across the different assets (the sponsor firm vs. the new venture). It is shown that a project financing arrangement, where the debt is optimally allocated to the sponsor firm and the new venture, increases value by reducing agency costs and increasing the value of tax shields (compared to the case of straight debt financing). The optimal allocation of debt in project financing involves assigning to the sponsor firm and the new venture debt levels equal to their individual optimal capital structures. Several testable empirical implications in finance and accounting are developed.     

Widening participation and contextual entry policy in accounting and finance

The paper examines the performance of accounting and finance students entering university via a ‘widening participation’ scheme that seeks to attract students who have been historically under-represented in higher education. Focus is placed on the policy of providing contextual entry offers that recognise that academic qualifications be judged in the social context in which they were achieved. Accounting and finance recruits the highest proportion of ‘widening participation’ students at a UK ‘Russell Group’ university and provides a key arena for investigating widening participation policy. The study is based on a quantitative analysis of relative performance levels over 12 years and interview findings with 27 students. The quantitative results show that those receiving contextual offers perform at least as well at university level as students with equivalent entry qualifications, thereby supporting contextual entry offer policy. The paper also provides insights into why accounting and finance is popular with ‘widening participation’ students.     

Tracking the numbers: Across accounting and finance,organizations and markets

This introductory essay reviews recent advances in the emergent field of social studies of finance (SSF) and, subsequently, sets out to illustrate how a closer engagement with SSF might benefit research interests in accounting and vice versa. Finally, it provides a sketch of how mutual engagements across the fields might be intensified in what is identified as an emerging accounting and finance track in the discourse of social science. The prospects of a broader field of research exploring the use of financial numbers across social settings, markets, organizations and cultures are projected, and the possibility of articulating a strong sociological programme of research is considered.     

On measuring serial correlation: Implications for finance and accounting research studies

Accounting and finance studies that measure serial correlation implicitly make two assumptions. One, the studies assume that the sample estimate of the autocorrelation coefficient is unbiased. The assumption is intuitively appealing, but incorrect. This article provides a measure of the size of the bias. Two, the studies assume that the target of the time series is constant over time. However, over a long period target values may change. This article models the general case in which not only do random shocks affect actual values, but also random changes affect target values.     

A new method for ranking academic journals in accounting and finance

Given the many and varied uses to which journal rankings are put. interest in ranking journal ‘quality’ is likely to persist. Unfortunately, existing methods of constructing such rankings all have inherent limitations. This paper proposes a new (complementary) approach, based on submissions to RAE 2001. which is not restricted to a pre-defined journal set and, importantly, is based on quality choice decisions driven by economic incentives. For three metrics, submissions to RAE 2001 are compared with the available set of publications to provide evidence on the perception of journal quality, a fourth metric is based on the overall RAE grades, and an overall ranking is produced.     

Mergers and acquisitions research in finance and accounting: Past,present, and future

This study presents an analysis of publication patterns and major themes in research on mergers and acquisitions in finance and accounting. We find that takeovers as mechanisms of governance, drivers of mergers, mechanisms of mergers, bank mergers, cross-border mergers, shareholder wealth effects of mergers and related events, and the role of financial experts and ownership structure form major themes of research in the finance area, while in accounting area major themes are corporate governance and accounting outcomes, predicting takeovers and their outcomes, valuation, financial reporting and takeover decisions, and financial reporting and performance.     

Experiences in publishing peer-reviewed research with undergraduate accounting and finance students

This paper describes an educational program involving joint research projects undertaken between faculty and undergraduate accounting and finance students. The goal of the program was to provide undergraduate accounting and finance students a valuable educational experience resulting in a joint peer-reviewed journal publication. The paper discusses issues, concerns, and strategies that were successfully and unsuccessfully employed in conducting and publishing research with undergraduate students. The program was conducted over a six-year period, resulting in ten publications in peer-reviewed journals as well as several conference presentations, proceedings, and awards. Administrators should consider the program described here as one tool in their arsenal to help faculty maintain academic qualifications while simultaneously benefiting students.     

生态金融机制的类型及其法律问题

作为环境危机的应对机制,生态金融市场因应而生。生态金融市场包括市场化机制和生态金融机制,前者以排污权交易为代表,后者的类型较为多样,比如环境基金、气候变化衍生品、自然灾害证券和生态期权机制均属于生态金融机制。作为新型的金融市场机制,生态金融机制对现行金融法制构成了一定的挑战。为推动生态金融机制的发展,我国应当完善现行的金融法制以便为生态金融机制提供良好的法制环境。     

Consequences of state-level regulations in accounting,finance, and corporate governance: A review

We review the literature on the consequences of U.S. state-level local regulations for various corporate outcomes in the accounting, finance, and corporate governance domain. We argue that state-level regulations might affect corporate outcomes through at least two channels. First, the state intervention channel that includes state regulations pertinent to auditor liability, director-liability, and shareholder litigation rights. Second, the dispute resolution channel as reflected in circuit court rulings. Our review shows that these regulatory and legal effects have had profound implications for various corporate outcomes.