The impact of corporate social disclosure on investment behavior: A cross-national study

We examine the impact of corporate social disclosure (CSD) on investment behavior in the US, Japan, France, and Sweden using stakeholder theory as the underlying framework for our analysis. We find that there is a significant difference in investors’ reactions to CSD across countries. Using a unique stakeholder scale we also find that these reactions are related to the investors’ stakeholder orientation. These findings provide insight into cross-national differences in the perceived relevance of CSD to investors.     

A comparison of V-I-E model predictions: A cross-national study in professional accounting firms

Behavioral research in accounting has largely ignored the impact of cross-national differences. This paper deviates from that trend and reports the results of a study comparing the predictive ability of the Valence-Instrumentality-Expectancy (V-I-E) model of motivation in two cultural settings: Australia and the United States of America. Data was collected from a matched sample of 45 staff-level auditors drawn from a large public accounting firm in each of the two respective countries. The findings indicate that few differences exist between the two groups with respect to personal value structures, motivation levels, and perceptions of the work environment. The results are significant both as a systematic cross-national comparison of accounting groups and as an extension of current V-I-E research in accounting.     

Agriculture in Europe 2000: An interim report on a cross-national research project

The futures research programme initiated by the European Cultural Foundation, Amsterdam, in 1968, under the general title of Plan Europe 2000, consists of four projects : Education, Industrialisation, Urbanisation and Agriculture.¹ Work on the last Agriculture Project commenced in September 1970. The prime aim of the project is to provide alternative “guiding images” of the roles and functions which agriculture could fulfil in Western Europe in the future.²     

Institutional characteristics and capital structure: A cross-national comparison

The main objective of this paper is to investigate whether differences in institutional characteristics result in different capital structure determination among countries. First, we analyze the institutional setting in Greece compared with that of other countries. Second, we provide survey information about the determinants of capital structure in Greece and compare our findings with those of similar surveys in the United States and Europe based on Graham and Harvey [Graham, J., & Harvey, C. (2001). The theory and practice of corporate finance: Evidence from the field. Journal of Financial Economics, 60, 187–243], Bancel and Mittoo [Bancel, F., & Mittoo, U. (2004). Cross-country determinants of capital structure choice: A survey of European firms. Financial Management, 33(4), 103–133 Winter 2004] and Brounen, de Jong and Koedijk [Brounen, D., de Jong A., & Koedijk, K. (2006). Capital structure policies in Europe: Survey evidence. Journal of Banking and Finance, 30, 1409–1442] respectively. Greek firms seem to follow an own-business policy and seem to care more about the disadvantages of debt than try to exploit its advantages. Financial distress considerations, market timing and competitiveness are important factors, whereas agency costs of equity, pecking order and the signalling theory do not seem to apply. Conclusions are relatively similar with those of other countries, though specific differences that can be attributed to the different institutional settings do exist. In general however, we conclude that differences in institutional characteristics do not seem to affect the way of thinking of financial managers when they decide on capital structure issues.     

Nominal uncertainty,real uncertainty and macroeconomic performance in a time-varying asymmetric framework: Implications for monetary policy

This study examines the dynamic causal links and volatility spillovers of inflation, output growth and their uncertainties in four South Asian countries, namely, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka by utilizing asymmetric GARCH family models. Our empirical evidence supports a number of important conclusions. There is an overwhelming support for Friedman-Ball hypothesis of positive inflation-uncertainty trade-off for all countries excluding India and Sri Lanka. The Cukierman-Meltzer’s idea that inflation uncertainty generates inflation, hold for Bangladesh and Sri Lanka only and the Holland’s hypothesis of negative influence of inflation uncertainty on level inflation is supported by India only. The positive influence of output uncertainty on inflation (Devereux (1989) hypothesis) is supported by all countries excluding Bangladesh while nominal uncertainty (real uncertainty) has negative (positive) effect on output growth in Pakistan (Bangladesh). Output growth is reducing real uncertainty in all countries excluding Sri Lanka and nominal uncertainty in Pakistan only. There is significant negative relationship between inflation and output growth for Pakistan only while real uncertainty is positively (negatively) related with nominal uncertainty in India (Bangladesh). The estimated results are almost robust with the simultaneous estimation procedure for testing the main hypotheses. In general, there is asymmetric effect and persistence of the GARCH parameters for all countries. The study suggests that the concerned central banks should pay more attention to the effects of macroeconomic uncertainty and should focus their monetary policy strategy on stabilizing both output growth and inflation.     

The effects of uncertainty on the roles of controllers and budgets: an exploratory study

This paper explores how contextual uncertainty and the use of the budgetary system explain cross-sectional variation in the organisational role of business unit controllers. We argue that there are complementarities between the role of the budgetary control system (i.e. coercive vs. enabling) and the role of the controller (i.e. corporate policeman vs. business partner). Thus, we explore both the direct effect of uncertainty on the role of the controller and the indirect effect through the role of the budgetary control system. Using survey data from 134 business unit controllers, we find that uncertainty provides a partial explanation of the variation in the role of budgetary control systems and in the role of controllers. In particular, our data suggest alignment between the coercive (enabling) use of the budgetary control system and the role of controllers acting as corporate policemen (business partners). These findings add to our understanding of the functioning of business unit controllers within their organisational context.     

Nominal contracting in a world of uncertainty

This paper evaluates corporate sensitivity to relative price risk and inflation risk and suggests how the existence of various nominal contracts, particularly debt and forward contracts, may modify firm behavior under uncertainty. By differentiating between the two types of price risk, this paper demonstrates the distinct risk reduction functions served by forward contracts and debt. Debt primarily protects against inflation risk whereas forward contracts can be used to protect against relative price risk. Complications arise, however, because forward contracts, which are denominated in nominal terms, also have an impact on the firm's degree of inflation risk.     

Dynamic relations of uncertainty expectations: a conditional assessment of implied volatility indices

This study examines the spillover effects in international financial markets with respect to implied volatility indices. The use of the latter as the basis of integration analysis means that we test market participants’ expectations and not the actual price fluctuations. The empirical analysis, which includes all publicly available implied volatility indices, employs the dynamic conditional correlation model of Engle (2002) and its findings suggest that there is significant integration of investors’ expectations about future uncertainty. Furthermore, by accounting for the dynamic volatility of implied volatility inter-dependencies, we are able to reveal possible shifts in conditional correlations of market expectations over time. More specifically, our findings show a slight increase in the conditional correlations for all the volatility indices under review over the years and prove that in periods of turbulence in the financial markets the conditional correlations across implied volatility indices increase.     

全球经济正进入新的不确定阶段

在2010中关村论坛上,国际货币基金组织总裁特别顾问朱民应邀做主旨演讲。他在演讲中谈到全球经济正在进入一个新的不确定阶段,而这一新变化的表现是全球的经济增长开始放慢,     

曲折的"谜局"之解

一、案情简介2007年岁末隆冬,一封匿名举报信飞向A市国家税务局稽查局,举报该市某从事图文设计业务的私营企业(以下简称"Y公司")在与四家外资企业的业     

The propensity of managers to create budgetary slack: A cross-national re-examination using random sampling

Following a review of the slack literature, Merchant (1985a) proposed that the propensity of subordinate managers to create slack is positively related to the importance placed on meeting budget targets, negatively related to the extent of participation allowed in budgeting processes, negatively related to the degree of predictability in the production processes, and negatively related to their superiors' abilities to detect slack. The results of his empirical tests provided little overall support for these hypotheses. The mixed nature of his results is of some concern since the literature provides considerable support for the theoretical framework underlying his propositions. He concluded that his use of non-random sampling may have influenced the results of his study. The objectives of this paper are first to extend Merchant's (1985a) study using the same measures but employing random sampling in a cross-national setting to enhance result generalizability. Second to assess whether the ability of superiors to detect slack interacts with budgetary participation to affect a subordinate manager's propensity to create slack. The results provide support for the cross-national generalizability of all five hypotheses.     

邹志英:演绎精彩

初见邹志英,她优雅的举止、得体的谈吐,极具亲和力的风格给记者留下深刻的印象。然而,用"美女CFO"并不能准确概括她。工作中的邹志英,兼具理性与感性、智慧与激情,追求完美主义的特质,使得她肯为目标付出常人难以企及的巨大艰辛。     

Linking environmental uncertainty to non-financial performance measures and performance: a research note

Several previous research studies have reported mixed results concerning the direct association between non-financial performance measures and performance. The presence of environmental uncertainty on this relationship has not been established. This paper makes a contribution to this area by proposing that it is in conditions of environmental uncertainty that non-financial measures are most useful in improving organizational performance. It analyses empirical data from a sample of New Zealand manufacturing organizations to test the hypothesis that non-financial measures of performance would lead to improved organizational performance under conditions of increased environmental uncertainty. Multiple regression analysis of the data suggests that performance should be a declining function of the size of the ‘mismatch’ between an organization's environment and use of the different combinations of non-financial performance measures. Further, the paper concludes that prior mixed results may be attributed to the omission of environmental uncertainty.     

MBO的新解释：企业家精神说

传统的MBO安排不能适应培育企业家精神的需要。企业家精神的关键是创新，而创新行为的特点是周期长、风险高、不确定性强、高度紧张，这些因素都与传统MBO的融资安排和激励安排不兼容。     

Perceived environmental uncertainty,organizational adaptation,and employee performance: A longitudinal study in professional accounting firms

The importance of organizational adaptation to the environment has been long recognized. A major feature of this adaptation process involves coping with environmental uncertainty. This paper reports the results of an exploratory longitudinal study which investigated the effectiveness of organizational coping in several large professional accounting firms. A significant positive relationship was observed between the reported level of organizational coping and employee performance. The implications of this finding for professional accounting firms, and organizations in the general, are discussed.     

细读融资评标--融资方案评审实例介绍

准确计算出一个融资方案的综合成本需要较全面的金融知识,是一项技术性较强的工作.以中国银行资金部融资处参与过的一个水电站融资评标为例,其复杂程度可见一斑.     

Leadership and uncertainty: complexity and the lessons of history

Problems faced by military leaders will be used to evaluate techniques for dealing with the limits of knowledge. A survey of recent scientific developments will establish that knowledge is limited in principle, and historical examples for coping with limited knowledge in practice will then be analyzed. The convergence between the science of complexity and successful cases of social evolution indicates that the limits of knowledge extend the frontiers of understanding. Concluding sections will briefly explore some ethical implications potentially useful to political and social leaders.     

Cost uncertainty and budget overspending: A safety-first perspective

In this study we model a cost center manager's decision about how to achieve a required level of output. The spending plan that the manager adopts is expected to result in successful performance, but at an uncertain cost. The uncertainty associated with the spending plan is inversely related to the expected cost. The analysis presented in this article suggests that a manager who exhibits Safety-First behavior and wishes to avoid large budget deviations is more likely to exceed what he or she perceives to be the overspending limit rather than the underspending limit. That manager will tend to incur costs in excess of the budget. This mathematical result has an intuitive appeal; a manager is willing to pay a certain “risk premium” to avoid the risk of large budget deviations and accompanying adverse consequences. This result has implications for both performance evaluation and budget setting, particularly in the public sector. Under the circumstances that we describe, using budgets in evaluating managerial performance may be misleading. Another application of our study relates to the “budget creep” phenomenon and how, under particular circumstances, its size can be reduced.     

Macroeconomic uncertainty and corporate liquidity: the Indian case

Interest in the uncertainties prevailing at the macroeconomic level has always been well known in economic literature. This article analyses the effect of firm level and macroeconomic uncertainty on the decisions of Indian firms with regard to their optimal cash holdings. Using a dynamic panel data model, the study finds strong support for the hypothesis that Indian firms increase their cash holdings with an increase in either form of uncertainty. Also, results for the sub-samples show that middle-aged and middle-sized firms are most affected by variations in macroeconomic uncertainty.