BAYLOR UNIVERSITY ROUNDTABLE ON INTEGRITY IN FINANCIAL REPORTING

At the center of the U.S. corporate governance controversy are questions about the integrity of the U.S. financial reporting system. Can investors trust the numbers now being reported in corporate financial statements? And, if not, what steps are being taken to bring about the return of investor trust and confidence? The academics and practitioners who took part in this discussion began by expressing their reluctance to describe the current situation as a “crisis.” The consensus was that the recent governance failures are not the reflection of a general decline in corporate moral standards, but rather the work of a handful of opportunists who found ways to exploit some weaknesses in the present system. Part of the discussion focused on the expected benefits (and costs) of the heightened regulatory scrutiny provided by the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act and the newly formed Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. But most of the panelists placed greater emphasis on the role of self‐regulation in resolving problems such as the conflicts of interest within auditing and brokerage firms that played a major role in scandals like Enron and WorldCom. And rather than relying on more vigorous SEC oversight of financial statements, a number of panelists argued that top priority should be given to comprehensive reform of U.S. accounting standards, which are said to be a major source of confusion for both managers and investors.     

PRIOR ACCOUNTING EDUCATION AND PERFORMANCE IN A FIRST-LEVEL UNIVERSITY COURSE IN NEW ZEALAND

This New Zealand study examined whether prior accounting education at school had a positive effect on performance in the corresponding first-level university course. The research question was tested using an ANCOVA. Proxies for academic ability were used as covariates so as to eliminate systematic bias in the samples. Prior study at the Bursary level carried a positive benefit. The findings were in agreement with the thesis that the level of conceptual accounting thought acquired at school, rather than the ability to manipulate figures in accordance with mechanical bookkeeping procedures, affected subsequent performance at university.     

新形势下改进银行信货工作的若干思考

新形势下银行信贷工作面临着一些新情况和新问题。本文就当前信贷工作面临的全新机遇和挑战进行了具体论述,并对信贷工作中存在的主要问题及原因进行了剖析,从而提出全面改进信贷工作的总体思路和对策。笔者认为,要改进信贷工作就要牢固树立适应市场经济发展变化的信贷经营理念,真正把信贷工作纳入到以效益为中心的轨道上来;要加大投入,加快调整,加快发展的经营策略;要按照现代银行制度的要求,深化改革,加快创新,全面提高信贷经营能力和竞争能力;要严格管理,规范运作,切实提高风险防范和控制能力;要以人为本,建立一支适应现代金融事业发展的高素质的信贷队伍,改进和提高信贷工作水平。     

EDUCATION VOUCHERS IN PRINCIPLE AND PRACTICE: A SURVEY

An education voucher system exists when governments make paymentsto families that enable their children to enter public or privateschools of their choice. The tax-funded payments can be madedirectly to parents or indirectly to the selected schools; theirpurpose is to increase parental choice, to promote school competition,and to allow low-income families access to private schools.Some opponents predict that vouchers will destroy the publicsystem, aggravate poverty, and foster segregation. Others fearthat voucher-receiving independent schools will be regulatedout of recognition. The main purpose of this article is to examine the recent emergenceof voucher systems as an interesting phenomenon in its own right.The evidence summarized relates to voucher systems operatingin twenty countries, provinces, and states. The typical "funds-follow-the-child"voucher system, in which governments subsidize "schools of choice"in strict proportion to enrollment, appears to be the favoriteform. This type of voucher has been adopted by developing countries—notablyBangladesh, Belize, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, and Lesotho—aswell as by industrial countries such as Poland, Sweden, theUnited Kingdom, and the United States. Much of the recordedexperience with such programs is pertinent to the longstandingtheoretical debates on the desirability of voucher systems.      

以崭新姿态和积极行动 全面融入国家高水平对外开放新格局

2020年,在全球疫情冲击下,世界百年未有之大变局加速演进。面对香港疫情持续反复、中美博弈全面升级、社会事件余波不断,以及外部需求骤减、利差大幅收窄等不利局面和严峻挑战,工银亚洲认真落实集团"48字"工作思路,始终保持战略定力,坚持把工作放到国家和集团总体战略中去,积极以崭新姿态推动"境外元素与香港元素"融入"国家战略和集团战略",全方位融入和服务国家高水平对外开放新格局。     

ACCOUNTING STUDENTS AT UNIVERSITY AND TECHNICAL INSTITUTE IN NEW ZEALAND

The first year intake of accounting students at Auckland University and the three technical institutes that serve the Auckland region were surveyed to find out: what characteristics differentiate university and technical institute students; their reasons for choosing to major in accounting; their perceptions of their own course and institution vis-á-vis the alternative course and institution; and the relative importance of family, friends and school personnel as influences on their choice of tertiary education. In general, university accounting students are significantly older (due mainly to the fact that university students tend to remain longer at secondary school), are better qualified academically and come from families higher on the socioeconomic scale. It was also found that university students perceive their course to have higher status, while stated reasons given by technical institute students revolve around the practicability and vocational orientation of the course. Parents, particularly father, and friends exert far more influence on educational and vocational decision-making than any other source, including school personnel.     

世界经济周期逆转与金融扩张

有人对人类文明的轨迹进行研究发现,人类文明是以亚欧大陆为起点一直沿着向西的方向延伸.目前人类文明的中心处于太平洋西岸的北美,按照这个轨迹,下一个中心应该是处于太平洋西岸的东亚.实际上,早在一个半世纪前,马克思就预见到"太平洋两岸很快就会像现在从波士顿到新奥尔良的海岸地区那样人口密集,贸易方便、工业发达.这样,太平洋就会像大西洋在现代、地中海在古代和中世纪一样,起着伟大的世界交通线的作用;大西洋的作用将会降低,而像现在的地中海一样成为内海."[1]     

公司业务 在转型中寻求新突破

公司金融业务是商业银行最重要的业务之一。在金融市场上,拥有顶尖的公司客户资源,并且承担有国际影响力的公司金融服务,是商业银行做大做加快结构调整与经营转型,不断提升核心竞争力,实现了公司金融业务的快速发展,尤其是股改上市后,公司金融业务在规模、质量、效益上实现了良性发元,年均增长16.2%,贷款规模始终保持市场第一;不良贷款余额从1423亿元下降至732亿元,不良率从1.63%下降至1.56%,     

THE IMPACT OF HEALTH AND NUTRITION ON EDUCATION

Child health and nutrition are strongly associated with educationalachievement. But associations do not necessarily indicate causality;estimates generally are likely to be biased in one directionor the other. As a result analysts and policymakers should havemuch less confidence in findings about the effect of healthon schooling success than has been claimed in previous surveys.The evidence is more nuanced and qualified than is often recognizedbut may still support the conclusion that health may have considerableeffects on postschooling productivity. Policy implications pointtoward providing public subsidies for the collection, analysis,and dissemination of information about the links between healthand education; and toward providing services to improve thehealth of poor children.      

ON THE THEORETICAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BUSINESS RISK AND SYSTEMATIC RISK

This article develops a theoretical relationship between systematic risk and business risk. It is an area that has not been substantially developed in the literature. Rubinstein (1973) and Lev (1974) both developed theoretical models of systematic risk allowing for stochastic demand. A model is derived that allows for prices, variable costs and demand to be simultaneously stochastic, utilizing the covariance of the product of random variables. The temporal stationarity of unlevered systematic risk is dependent upon the temporal stationarity of the theoretical structure derived. Insight is gained as to a potential source of the empirically observed temporal instability of levered systematic risk.     

華東理工大學商學院

<正>会计硕士(MPAcc)项目简介华东理工大学MPAcc项目依托商学院卓越的工商管理专业学位教育实践和先进的财务会计教育理念,致力于培养系统掌握现代会计学、审计学、财务管理以及相关领域,同时具备较强投资和融资策划、企业重组等资本运作能力,具有全球视野、又深谙中国国情,具有持续竞争力的财务会计与公司金融领域的实战型、复合型、管理型的高级人才。     

EFFECTS OF THE EUROPEAN MONETARY UNION ON INSURANCE BUSINESS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

Abstract: The European Monetary Union is intended to bring about a number of positive consequences, such as more effectiveness and lower cost in foreign trade, economic growth and – not least – an internationally competitive currency. In the short run, two of these effects are of particular interest, namely reduction of exchange rate risk and transaction cost. The paper first describes the scope of these problems, analyzing bid-ask spreads for EU-currencies and selected transaction costs. The particular prospects of insurance companies in EMU-countries depend mainly on their activities in foreign markets. We will therefore look into present foreign business in insurance and the relevance of the single currency for acquisition of production factors and capital investment decisions.     

ACCOUNTING PRACTICE AND BUSINESS FINANCE: SOME CASE STUDIES FROM THE IRON AND COAL INDUSTRY 1865—1914

The use of secret reserves by British companies, both to manipulate the content of published reports and to influence investor perceptions of corporate progress during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, has been an important focus of historical enquiry. By way of contrast, relatively little attention has been devoted to the possible exploitation of fixed asset accounting practices to achieve similar financial reporting objectives. It is the aim of the present paper to help to redress this imbalance. The principal basis for the study is the archival records of four major iron and coal companies. Identified features of prudent financial policy include: a determination to restrict distributions and the level of activity to what the company could comfortably afford; and a reluctance to use loan finance. The selection of accounting practices was subordinated to the pursuit of these, and related, policy objectives. The identified use of prudent financial policies may be contrasted with Briefs (1976, p. 184) conclusion that nineteenth century companies consistently over-estimated profitability, with a consequential stimulation of business investment and economic growth.     

党领导金融事业的新篇章——改革开放中的两次全国金融工作会议

改革开放以来,我国多次召开全国金融工作会议。但在中国共产党直接领导下,由党中央、国务院在京召开的最高级别的全国金融工作会议只有两次:一次是1997年11月17—19日,中共中央总书记江泽民,中央政治局常委李鹏、朱基、胡锦涛、李岚清出席了会议;另一次是2002年2月5—7日,江泽民、李鹏、朱基、李瑞环、胡锦涛、尉健行、李岚清出席了会议。     

20世纪金融监管理论与实践的回顾和展望

金融监管问题是20世纪以来一直困扰世界各国金融与经济安全稳定的重大问题之一.30年代的世界经济大危机和90年代以来频繁爆发的金融风暴,提醒人们注意研究、防范和应对金融体系运行与发展失常及其引发的种种消极的经济金融效应;而近年来兴起并不断加深加快的经济金融全球化和经济金融化,则进一步要求人们把对金融监管问题的考察视野扩展到金融的所有领域和超越国界的范围.本文力图通过对20世纪金融监管理论演化和金融监管实践变迁的分析性回顾,阐释和反思金融监管理论与实践在过去一百年来的得失成败,并就面向21世纪的金融监管理论与实践进行了前瞻性的探索和展望.     

THE ROLE OF COMPONENTIAL AND INTEGRATIVE KNOWLEDGE IN ACCOUNTING EDUCATION

This study examines the role of componential knowledge, i.e., generally accepted accounting principles, and integrative knowledge, i.e., performing LIFO and FIFO inventory analysis, in solving complex accounting problems. This study predicts a dynamic, interactive process among componentiai knowledge, integrative knowledge and problem solution. Accounting students were given training in inventory methods, and then they were given inventory problems. The results support the prediction that there is a dynamic, interactive process between componential knowledge, integrative knowledge, and problem solving. The results provide several useful new directions for accounting pedagogy research and practice.     

BUYING AND SELLING COMPANIES IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM

The growth in corporate mergers and acquisitions in the 1990s has been nothing short of spectacular. Among the most important contributors to the growth of M&A are globalization and technological change, which are working together to create excess capacity in virtually all global industries. When industries are experiencing overcapacity, some degree of consolidation becomes inevitable, and M&A is a primary means for accomplishing consolidation. Although much of the dollar volume of M&A comes from the highly publicized mergers of large companies, by far the greatest number of transactions is taking place in the middle market—that is, companies with revenues less than $500 million or a market cap under $1 billion. Along with the sharp increase in middle‐market M&A, the author notes a relatively new financing practice in which private equity groups take large minority stakes in middle market companies. One factor contributing to this development, which the author calls “the small‐cap trap,” is that the stocks of small and mid‐sized public companies now appear to be trading “at large discounts to the values of their large‐cap peer group, even in cases where the operating performance of the smaller firms is better.” According to the author, the most plausible explanation for such discounts is the limited “float” of such companies; most receive little research coverage by Wall Street analysts and have limited institutional followings. After reviewing broad trends in M&A, the author offers some tips on designing a broad M&A strategy and conducting a selling process. One of the keys to the selling process is to create a sense of “exclusivity” among interested buyers without removing the pressure of competition. Consistent with the message of other articles in this issue, the author argues that one of the most reliable ways to create a sense of exclusivity is by providing good information, relatively full disclosure. Indeed, the disclosure should be sufficiently revealing that the initial bids are based on all relevant information.