Making sense and transparency in finance literature: Evidence from trends in readability

Transparency continues to interest finance scholarship, as regards not just to financial reporting, but to a host of areas. Concomitantly, there is a growing emphasis on the transparency of the finance research process, with journals initiating requirements for uploading data and codes. However, little consideration is given to the transparency of finance scholarly texts, despite new emphasis by academic institutions and accreditation bodies on articles having an impact on practitioners. We use textual analysis to investigate the readability of articles in a selection of finance journals. Results evidence that academic articles are becoming less readable. Whether readability straightforwardly implies transparency is unclear, still, we consider these issues alongside our findings. Our study should be of great interest to those concerned with the state of finance scholarship.     

Firm life cycle and the disclosure of estimates and judgments in goodwill impairment tests: Evidence from Australia

The goodwill impairment disclosure literature examines the association between firm-and country-level factors and the disclosure of estimates and judgments used in the goodwill impairment test under International Accounting Standard 36. Although the accounting literature provides competing predictions about the relation between firm life cycle and these disclosures, prior studies did not explore the role of firm life cycle in these disclosures. This paper fills in this gap in the literature, and documents that, in Australia, these disclosures vary by life cycle stages and that firm size moderates this association. We, however, find that the differences are more pronounced for some disclosure items than for others.     

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.     

The Role of Stock Size and Trading Intensity in the Magnitude of the "Interval Effect" in Beta Estimation: Empirical Evidence from the Polish Capital Market

In this paper, we present empirical evidence about the "interval effect" in estimation of beta parameters for stocks listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. We analyze models constructed for the returns calculated using intervals of different length—that is, 1, 5, 10, and 21 trading days (corresponding to, roughly, 1 day, 1 week, 2 weeks, and 1 month, respectively). In the cases in which heteroskedasticity was present, we estimated ARCH models. The results indicate that the estimates of betas for the same stock differ considerably when various return intervals are used. We further explore the source of differences in betas for every stock by investigating the relations between them and such factors as stock size and its trading intensity. The empirical results provide evidence that a statistically significant relationship exists between these two characteristics of stocks. This finding has important practical implications for beta estimation in practice.