The usefulness of performance reporting in local government: comparing Italy and Spain

This article presents a comparative analysis of the perceived usefulness of performance information by managers in local authorities in Italy and Spain. Italy and Spain have similar cultural and administrative characteristics and in both countries there are external requirements (from central government) to adopt performance indicators. The adoption of performance indicators was found to be almost symbolic in both states.     

Stakeholder engagement in internet financial reporting: The diffusion of XBRL in the UK

Internet financial reporting is now widespread with most medium and large companies in the developed world providing a wide variety of financial data online. However, much of this information mirrors the paper versions of financial reports, often with little attempt to enhance the decision usability of the data, providing a so called ‘first generation’ of online reporting (ICAEW, 2004). eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) has been designed to provide a ‘second generation’ of online reporting, specifically to enhance the usability of the data. Documents rendered in XBRL are digitally-enabled so that it is easier for stakeholders to extract information directly into spreadsheets, or any other XBRL-enabled analysis software, without the need to re-key data thus providing significant improvements in information flows and enhancing inter-company comparability.XBRL consortia have spent more than 15 years promulgating the use of this technology within the business and government communities. However, despite their efforts XBRL has not become widely diffused, there is little stakeholder engagement and very few organisations have voluntarily adopted XBRL in practice.The results of a questionnaire survey in the UK indicate that awareness of XBRL, and second generation reporting more generally, resides in key champions but there is little diffusion outside this narrow set of stakeholders. Regulatory engagement seems to be the only impetus for diffusion and better channels of communication within stakeholder networks, such as between regulators, preparers, users and the XBRL community are needed. This paper suggests that currently the supply-push for XBRL is failing to produce effective use of this technology in the UK. Greater regulatory commitment is now needed to create an impetus for XBRL such as creating tools and making publicly available, accessible, repositories of XBRL data. Unless this happens, diffusion will not occur, and the demand-pull which is now needed will vanish and XBRL will fade and die.     

A comprehensive comparison of corporate environmental reporting and responsiveness

This research is motivated by an interest in determining if there is an association between companies that have been identified as environmentally responsive according to an independent ranking and the quality and extent of their disclosures about their environmental impacts. We use the proactive approach to achieving legitimacy to develop the expectation that legitimacy theory can be used to predict a positive association between environmental responsiveness and disclosure. Using all forms of environmental reporting (both hard copy and website), we comprehensively assess the quality and extent of what is being reported and then match this assessment with an independent assessment of each company's environmental responsiveness. We find significant positive correlations between the independent ranking and our rankings based on the quality and extent of disclosure. This suggests that companies’ environmental disclosures reflect their environmental responsiveness and supports the expectations we developed in terms of legitimacy theory.     

Adoption of IFRS in Spain: Effect on the comparability and relevance of financial reporting

EU Regulation 1606/2002 requires application of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by groups listed on European stock markets. In Spain, listed groups are now obliged to prepare consolidated financial information under IFRS, and legislative changes to bring local rules into line with international standards have been tabled.In this context, the potential impact of IFRS is fraught with uncertainty. Our study of IBEX-35 companies focuses on the effects of the new standards on comparability and the relevance of financial reporting in Spain. We address these objectives by seeking significant differences between accounting figures and financial ratios under the two sets of standards (i.e. Spanish accounting standards and IFRS).The results obtained show that local comparability has worsened. The study reveals that local comparability is adversely affected if both IFRS and local accounting standards are applied in the same country at the same time. Reforms to bring local rules into line with international standards are therefore urgent. We also find that there has been no improvement in the relevance of financial reporting to local stock market operators because the gap between book and market values is wider when IFRS are applied. While there has been no gain in terms of the usefulness of financial reporting in the short-term, improved usefulness may be achieved in the medium to long-term.     

Public Sector Managers Handling Accounting Data: A UK Framework Validated in Spain

A group of Spanish researchers wanted to understand how public sector managers were affected by the accounting systems that provide their data and how such managers used the data at a time when Government policy sought to reduce cash expenditures. The group, who interviewed the managers of seven Galician Business Schools, found that the data was not used but further explanations were difficult. It turned to an Original Framework of 8 UK Issues for public sector managers handling data (Purdy, 1993a). This paper takes the Original Framework, discusses its bases, considers areas for research then introduces the concept of a Continuum of learning related to handling data. Successive amendments to the Framework are made until an Extended Framework of 19 Spanish Issues is produced. These Frameworks are discussed with the interview material. The findings show that the Issues were generally well covered by managers and in the direction anticipated by the Extended Framework indicating some relevance to this Framework. The independently collected material had a close correspondence with the Original Framework and was sufficient for that Framework to become a general research instrument for examining the handling of data by its recipients.     

A welfare comparison of ad valorem and unit tax regimes

This paper strives to merge two strands of the literature. The first group of papers compares ad valorem and unit taxes in a tax competition framework in terms of welfare. The second group of papers regards capital income taxes as a conjunction of taxes on pure profits and taxes on capital income. We find that, given decreasing returns to scale, there always exists a level of the share of deductible capital costs strictly smaller than one, such that for all values larger than this threshold, an ad valorem tax regime unambiguously Pareto-dominates a unit tax regime.     

Corporate reporting of intellectual capital: Evidence from UK companies

This paper reports the results of an empirical investigation into the intellectual capital reporting practices of UK companies in four distinct sectors. It differs from prior intellectual capital reporting studies in that it analyses a wide range of corporate reports for their intellectual capital content. It finds major differences between the elements of intellectual capital reported in each sector studied. The study also finds that a range of different types of corporate reports were used for communicating intellectual capital information, and that the annual reports were not a good proxy for the proportion of disclosures across all corporate reports analysed in this study.     

Corporate reporting implication in migrating from defined benefit to defined contribution pension schemes: A focus on the UK

Pensions are intricately linked to employees’ well-being in the latter part of their life and during their working life in that they provide a sense of financial security in retirement. Since the 1980s, pension schemes have changed both in concept and detail with significant consequences for beneficiaries. This paper explores one of the major changes: the migration from defined benefit (DB) to defined contribution (DC) pension schemes focusing on this change's interface with accounting. In exploring this shift from DB to DC schemes, the paper uses a critical perspective to reflect on this interface including how the change is accounted for in corporate reporting narrative. The key focus is on issues of political economy: it is found in this respect that while wealth is effectively distributed from pension holders efforts are made to legitimise or displace attention from pension changes. An analysis of narratives of corporate annual reports is undertaken to critically explore corporate communication to stakeholders vis-à-vis pension scheme changes. Findings suggest limited and problematic engagement with employees as per the corporate annual report narrative. We also point to a lack of appetite on the part of existing employees to engage employers on these changes. The change is framed to give workers an impression that they are taking responsibility for their future whilst an alternative view is that in actuality the organisation is decoupling from pension responsibility and devolving associated risks to employees for greater profitability. Counter accounting may be a way forward.     

Forecasting the returns on UK investment trusts: a comparison

The well known fact that investment trusts (closed-end mutual funds in the USA) trade at a discount means that the return to an investor depends not only on the change in net asset value (NAV), but also on changes in the discount over the holding period. Using daily data, this paper models the relationship between UK investment trust prices and NAV's using cointegration methodology then shows that the forecasts based on the, error correction mechanism (ECM) compare poorly with those from vector autoregressions. And then incorporates a number of modifications to the ECM in an attempt to improve the forecasts. In particular, modelling volatility persistance and allow for asymmetric resonses in the ECM.     

Market valuation of greenhouse gas emissions under a mandatory reporting regime: Evidence from the UK

This study provides evidence on the potential benefits of mandatory environmental reporting for listed firms’ market valuation. It takes advantage of recent regulation that requires all listed firms in the UK to report their annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in their annual reports and shows that the magnitude of the negative association between GHG emissions and the market value of listed firms decreased after the introduction of the reporting regulation. This decline is attributed to regulation forestalling shareholders’ negative reflexive reaction toward firms’ carbon disclosures, as proposed by the theoretical work of Unerman and O’Dwyer (2007).     

中英会计职业道德规范比较

职业道德问题对任何行业都很重要,而对于注册会计师行业则更具有特别的重要性.英国是职业会计师发展最早的国家,会计职业道德规范(准则)体系相当完善,并在会计教育体系中有所体现.年轻的中国注册会计师行业在加快处理各种技术标准难题的同时,同样也面临着会计职业道德问题的严峻挑战.1996年12月26日,中国注册会计师协会(CICPA)发布了《中国注册会计师职业道德基本准则》,并从1997年1月1日起施行.本文进行英国和中国的会计职业道德规范之比较,给中国注册会计师界以一定的启示,以加快中国注册会计师职业道德规范的建设和推动相关教育.鉴于英国的会计职业道德规范已相当体系化,而中国还只是制定了基本上属于框架性质的"基本准则",所以目前的对比分析还不可能侧重在具体技术层面.本文主要介绍以下内容:对比法律背景与文化差异对会计职业道理解及教育的影响;借鉴英国的会计职业道德之框架体系,提出对中国的可借鉴之点.     

Management reporting incentives and classification credibility: The effects of reporting discretion and reputation

In this study we investigate how the level of discretion in the reporting environment and management’s reporting reputation influence the extent to which management’s reporting incentives are important in determining the perceived credibility of management’s classification choices. Consistent with prior research, we show that users view incentive-inconsistent classifications as more credible than incentive-consistent classifications. We extend this finding by showing that the strength of this relationship (i.e., the extent to which users consider the consistency between the classification and management’s reporting incentives) depends on the level of discretion in the reporting environment and management’s reporting reputation. We find that users rely less (more) on the consistency between management’s reporting incentives and the classification in a mandated (discretionary) reporting environment and when managers have a good (poor) reporting reputation. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings and potential future research.     

Changing reporting models: A summary of the experience in Finland

This study identifies relevant issues regarding behavior and responsiveness of accounting practices and standards to political developments in a single national setting. Research into monitoring of attitudes and practices regarding traditional versus evolving models will likely engage researchers for some time to come in all sovereign jurisdictions particularly in the light of post 2008 global financial events.     

逆周期拨备：来自西班牙的经验借鉴及启示

本文以西班牙如何通过逆周期拨备来实施宏观审慎监管为研究出发点,对逆周期拨备体系、计算模型以及在宏观审慎监管中所发挥的作用进行了研究,并对我国建立逆周期宏观审慎监管体系提出了政策建议,目的是为我国在宏观审慎监管中建立逆周期机制提供借鉴。     

The impact of introductory accounting courses on student perceptions about the purpose of accounting information and the objectives of business: A comparison of the UK and Japan

This paper is concerned with the impact of introductory financial accounting courses on student perceptions of business objectives. The paper reports the results of a questionnaire survey of UK and Japanese university students which investigated their views at the start and end of an introductory financial accounting module. The views of Japanese students, in comparison with those from the UK, are of particular interest given evidence in the literature that traditional “social market” traditions in Japan are being influenced by Anglo-American “stock market” values. Our results are consistent with such a phenomenon in that Japanese students’ values regarding business objectives show significant changes that are not mirrored by changes in the perceptions of their UK counterparts. We suggest that accounting education is acting as a conduit for views more commonly held in Anglo-American societies.     

The potential of integrated reporting to enhance sustainability reporting in the public sector

This paper examines the influence of integrated reporting (IR) on the sustainability reporting practices of a state-owned enterprise through a content analysis of their reports and interviews with report preparers. The findings show a steady increase in the quantity and quality of sustainability disclosures. In 2012, the organization chose to adopt the IR framework in order to enhance sustainability reporting for all stakeholders. The IR process resulted in a more balanced disclosure of material aspects of sustainability. However, while IR has the potential to enhance public sector sustainability reporting, inter-generational equity issues were ignored.     

The performance of insolvency prediction and credit risk models in the UK: A comparative study

Theoretically-driven, market-based contingent claims models have recently been applied to the field of corporate insolvency prediction in an attempt to provide the art with a theoretical methodology that has been lacking in the past. Limited studies have been carried out in order directly to compare the performance of these models with that of their accounting number-based counterparts. We use receiver operating characteristic curves to assess the efficacy of thirteen selected models using, for the first time, post-IFRS UK data; and investigate the distributional properties of model efficacy. We find that the efficacy of the models is generally less than that reported in the prior literature; but that the contingent claims models outperform models which use accounting numbers. We also obtain the counter-intuitive finding that predictions based on a single variable can be as efficient as those which are based on models which are far more complicated – in terms of variable variety and mathematical construction. Finally, we develop and test a naïve version of the down-and-out-call barrier option model for insolvency prediction and find that, despite its simple formulation, it performs favourably compared alongside other contingent claims models.     

The relationship between returns and unexpected earnings: A global analysis by accounting regimes

Numerous studies have documented a long-term association between earnings and returns. Surprisingly, few attempts have been made to internationally examine market reactions to earnings releases over return windows less than 12 months. This paper globally explores the market reaction to unexpected earnings defined by both the change in earnings per share (EPS) and analyst forecast errors (AFE) using a 1-month return window. First, the existence of the earnings-returns relationship is examined using a sample of firms from 32 countries grouped into accounting regimes. Accounting regimes represent groups of countries that exhibit similarities in accounting standards, stock market characteristics, corporate governance mechanisms, and economic conditions. Thus, similar reactions to earnings are expected within regimes. Next, the incremental information content of analyst forecasts, a proxy for investors’ earnings expectations, is examined. Finally, changes in the structure of the earnings-returns relationship over time are investigated. Results support the existence of a relationship between earnings and returns in all accounting regimes. In addition, analyst forecast errors appear to be incorporated into earnings expectations in most developed countries. Finally, evidence suggests that the significance and explanatory power in the earnings-returns relationship has increased in recent years.     

The UK Financial Sector and Risk Management in PFI Projects: A Survey

In PFI transactions the private companies which take on the obligation to build and manage a facility usually provide only a small fraction of the project's capital requirements. Most of the capital is borrowed from banks and other financial institutions. This poses challenges to financial services providers which often have to retain untypical residual project risks. This article describes the types of risks faced by financial services providers and the strategies they use to cope with these risks. Given the often politically-sensitive nature of PFI projects, the authors suggest that financial institutions should investigate a broader set of parameters than they do at present, which relate directly to the political economy of PFI projects.     

Financial weather derivatives for corn production in Northern China: A comparison of pricing methods

The focus in this study is on the pricing of financial derivatives for hedging weather risks in crop production. Employing data from an earlier study, we compare different methods for pricing weather derivative options based on growing degree days (GDDs). We employ average daily temperatures to derive GDDs using three approaches: (1) An econometric approach with a sine function; (2) Monte Carlo simulation with a sine function and three methods to estimate the mean-reversion parameter; and (3) a historic approach (burn analysis) based on a 10-year moving average of GDDs. Results indicate that the historical average method provides the best fit, followed by the stochastic process with a high mean reversion speed, and, finally, the approach using the econometrically estimated sine function. Depending on the method used, premiums for weather derivative options vary from $21.27 to $24.39 per GDD index contract.