The effect of pension accounting on corporate pension asset allocation

We examine the impact of new pension disclosures and subsequent full pension recognition under FRS 17 and IAS 19 in the United Kingdom and SFAS 158 in the United States on pension asset allocation. These standards require recognition of net pension surplus/deficit on the balance sheet and actuarial gains/losses in other comprehensive income. Therefore, these standards introduce volatility into comprehensive income and balance sheets. We identify a disclosure period during which UK companies disclosed all the required data under FRS 17 in the notes without recognition. We also identify a full recognition period starting 1 year before until 1 year after the adoption of FRS 17/IAS 19 (UK) and SFAS 158 (US). We predict and find that UK companies, on average, shifted pension assets from equity to debt securities during both the disclosure and the full recognition periods. We also find that while before the adoption of SFAS 158 US companies maintained a stable allocation to equities and bonds, these companies, on average, shifted funds from equities to bonds around the adoption of SFAS 158. Cross-sectional analysis shows that the shift away from equities is related to changes in funding levels, shorter investment horizons, increased financial leverage, and the expected impact of the new standards on shareholders’ equity.     

Pension plan accounting estimates and the freezing of defined benefit pension plans

This study provides evidence that, when “hard” freezing their defined benefit pension plans, employers select downward biased accounting assumptions to exaggerate the economic burden of their benefit plans. Downward biased expected rates of return and discount rates allow managers to increase reported pension expenses and, for discount rates, allow managers to increase reported pension liabilities. We find that prior to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, both rates are downward biased when firms freeze their plans, whereas after SOX the bias is lower. This finding is consistent with managers opportunistically biasing pension estimates to obtain labor concessions during periods of reduced regulatory scrutiny.     

The effect of regulation on optimal corporate pension risk

We study firms' pension prefunding and portfolio allocation choices in a model in which firms trade off the need to compensate workers for the financial risk in their pension benefit against the cost advantage that may be gained by exploiting underpriced pension insurance. In the absence of pension insurance, the firm minimizes costs by rendering promised benefits free of risk to workers, who are assumed to be unable to hedge firm-specific risk. Various forms of government intervention, such as benefit guarantees, can alter this outcome dramatically by providing the firm with an incentive to shift risk to other parties. In this case, we find that the firm's decisions depend on, among other influences, the degree of insurance mispricing, the amount of guaranteed benefits, the stringency of minimum funding requirements, and the costs of financial distress.     

The effect of recognition vs. disclosure on investor valuation: The case of pension accounting

Whether or not the format of financial reporting influences user assessment of the reported information is an important issue to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), and managers. Do investors, in determining security prices, differentiate between information recognized in the balance sheet and that disclosed in the footnotes? The findings indicate that investors appear to consider pension information disclosed in the footnotes as value-relevant, given that an accrued (prepaid) pension liability (asset) is also recognized in the balance sheet. Second, investors attach equal importance to both sorts of pension information.     

The effect of unfunded pension liabilities on corporate bond ratings,default risk,and recovery rate

Unfunded pension liabilities lower ratings of non-senior secured bonds but do not affect ratings of senior secured bonds due to their higher seniority. Pension funding improvement (deterioration) is associated with bond rating upgrade (downgrade). Moreover, large unfunded liabilities increase bond default risk and reduce the recovery rate of bondholders after controlling for credit ratings, suggesting that bond ratings do not fully capture pension underfunding risk. Overall, our results highlight the important effects of unfunded pension obligations on bond ratings, default risk, and creditors’ payoff, and suggest that investors should look beyond bond ratings in making investment decisions.     

《电子签名法》对支付结算的影响

2004年8月28日，第十届人大第十一次会议通过了《中华人民共和国电子签名法》，它是继《全国人大常委会关于维护互联网安全的决定》之后的第二部立法层次最高的网络立法。它广泛借鉴了联合国及有关国家和地区的电子签名立法的做法，进一步确定了数据电的合法性，明确了电子签名的法律效力，规定电子签名的安全保障措施，还对电子认证服务市场的准入做出规定，明确了认证机构的法律地位及认证程序。     

上篇 作用企业的解决方案

当前,全国各地政府最重视的要务之一,要数招商引资做大GDP了。我们看到,政府为吸引扶持企业,大都给予一系列的政策红利,比如零地价,税收减免等等。但政府如何真正有效的作用于企业,还远未破题。而地方财政,为了实践政府扶持企业之责,多     

Corporate boards and regulation: The effect of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act and the exchange listing requirements on firm value

The Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 and recently modified exchange listing requirements impose uniformly high levels of outside director monitoring on all firms. However, recent research in finance suggests that corporate governance structures, including boards of directors, are chosen endogenously by firms in response to their unique operating and contracting environments. Using the relative costs and benefits of outside director monitoring as a benchmark, I find significant cross-sectional variation in the wealth effects around the announcement and passage of these regulations. I find that firms which have high monitoring-costs and fewer benefits from outside monitoring benefited less from the regulations. In particular, I find that the wealth effects around the passage of these new regulations are positively related to firm size and age, and negatively related to growth opportunities and the uncertainty of the firm's operating environment. The results suggest that a blanket “one size fits all” governance regulation maybe detrimental to certain firms, particularly young, small, growth firms operating in uncertain business environments, that are costly for outsiders to monitor.     

中篇 公共经济的解决方案

如果说上篇文章为我们提供了政府和财政作用企业发展的解决方案,那么,除了市场经济这一块,还有另外一个领域,即学界尚在争论的公共经济(政府经济)。对此,各界人士纷争激烈,比如公共投资和政府融资平     

Earnings management and the allocation of net periodic pension costs to interim periods

We examine the pattern of reported quarterly net periodic pension costs. Quarterly pension costs are one of the largest single expense items for firms with pension plans (around 15% of income before extraordinary items in our sample). Under ASC 270, net pension costs should be recognized as incurred, or as the benefit provided by the expense is realized. We find that over the period of 2004–2010, there is significant variation in the amount of quarterly pension cost firms report. In addition, we find that income-increasing changes in pension costs are significantly associated with meeting or beating analysts' forecasts in a given quarter. We also show that income-decreasing changes to net periodic pension costs that would cause a firm to miss its earnings forecast are extremely rare. Finally, we find evidence that income-increasing and income-decreasing changes in quarterly pension costs are “settled up” in the fourth quarter (e.g., they are reversed).     

高等职业教育办学模式的比较研究

通过对美国、德国高等职业教育的研究，提出我国独立设置的高等职业学校应结合实际走地方办学模式；高校内设置的职业技术学院应走高校内设模式；在选择实训基地时，应采取学校与企业合作办学的模式，即校企合作模式；在办学经费不足的条件下，可利用私立或民办教育发展高等职业教育。     

The JOBS Act and the Costs of Going Public

We examine the effects of Title I of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act for a sample of 312 emerging growth companies (EGCs) that filed for an initial public offering (IPO) from April 5, 2012 through April 30, 2015. We find no reduction in the direct costs of issuance, accounting, legal, or underwriting fees for EGC IPOs. Underpricing, an indirect cost of issuance that increases an issuer's cost of capital, is significantly higher for EGCs compared to other IPOs. More importantly, greater underpricing is present only for larger firms that are newly eligible for scaled disclosure under the Act. Overall, we find little evidence that the Act in its first three years has reduced the measurable costs of going public. Although there are benefits of the Act that issuers appear to value, they should be balanced against the higher costs of capital that can occur after its enactment.     

2001～2009：我国农村养老保障适度水平研究

确立适度的农村养老保障水平是我国农村养老保障制度可持续发展的关键。本文通过建立农村养老保障适度水平的精算模型,应用2001年～2009年数据对我国农村养老保障实际水平和适度水平进行了比较分析。随后基于“新农保”的政策评析,对影响适度水平的关键因素进行了实证分析,并提出了相应的政策建议。     

中美邀请言语行为对比研究

邀请言语行为是语言中不可缺少的部分,对于日常交际有着一定的影响;邀请言语行为与民族文化有着密切的联系,体现出不同民族的文化特色,遵循着不同的民族礼貌规范;不了解邀请言语行为的规范及其背后的民族文化,就会导致跨文化交际失误;外语教学中培养学生得体的邀请言语行为能力,可以帮助他们减少语用失误。     

“新国九条”是直接融资的号角

到2020年,基本形成结构合理、功能完善、规范透明、稳健高效、开放包容的多层次资本市场体系。扩大直接融资比重是中国金融改革的重要方向,建立高效而活跃的股权、债权、期权、产权市场     

The Effects of Senior Internal Auditor Behaviour on Staff Performance and Satisfaction

The increasing importance of the internal audit function in the USA is evidenced by the attention focused on this function by professional standard setting bodies (Institute of Internal Auditors, 1989; American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, 1991) and an investigatory commission (National Commission on Fraudulent Financial Reporting, 1987). Previous research in both accounting (Jiambalvo and Pratt, 1982; Pratt and Jiambalvo, 1981) and organisational behaviour (see Yukl, 1989 for a review) has identified specific leader behaviours that result in improved performance and satisfaction. Using a recently developed taxonomy unavailable at the time these previous studies were conducted, this study explores the effect of leader (senior internal auditor) behaviours on subunit (internal audit team) performance and subordinate (internal audit staff) satisfaction. The results of this study indicate that audit efficiency is influenced by both task behaviours (e.g. administering discipline) and relationship oriented behaviours (e.g., facilitating cooperation and teamwork and providing praise and recognition); in contrast, audit effectiveness is influenced primarily by task-oriented behaviour. Staff satisfaction is influenced by both types of behaviour. These associations have implications for the training of internal auditors and assignment of internal auditors to projects. Also, increases in staff satisfaction should result in lower turnover, providing a cost saving to the organisation through reduced training, staffing and recruiting costs.     

The Impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act on the Structure of REIT Boards of Directors

The changes in the board structure for REITs for the period 1999?C2005 are presented. Post-SOX REIT boards have changed primarily in the form of greater independence, as fewer REIT boards are led by their CEOs due to SOX. In the relation between Post-SOX board structure and performance, the results show no improvement in performance for REITs whose boards have a majority of preferred features. That is, REITs with small boards, majority of outside directors, and not led by their CEOs do not perform better than their counterparts. These results provide additional fuel for the debate on the benefits and costs of SOX.     

美国《21世纪支票清算法案》及其对我国的借鉴意义

传统的支票在带给人们方便的同时也产生了许多问题。而且随着网络银行的发展,传统支票作为重要支付工具的地位也受到挑战。将于2004年10月28日生效的美国《21世纪支票清算法案》适应了金融电子化的发展,将会对支票的交换和票据的清算产生深远的影响。中国的银行业应在加快现代化支付系统建设的同时,借鉴该法案的有关规定和做法。     

“新国九条”基本原则的解读与思考

中国资本市场改革与发展要处理好四大基本关系,如果这四大关系处理好,资本市场就能够发展与繁荣,中国股市就能够走出长期低迷的困境。否则,再好的制度安排都无法实施     

Regulation and Bonding: The Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Flow of International Listings

In this paper, we examine the economic impact of the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act (SOX) by analyzing foreign listing behavior onto U.S. and U.K. stock exchanges before and after the enactment of SOX in 2002. Using a sample of all listing events onto U.S. and U.K. exchanges from 1995–2006, we develop an exchange choice model that captures firm‐level, industry‐level, exchange‐level, and country‐level listing incentives, and test whether these listing preferences changed following the enactment of SOX. After controlling for firm characteristics and other economic determinants of these firms' exchange choice, we find that the listing preferences of large foreign firms choosing between U.S. exchanges and the London Stock Exchange's (LSE) Main Market did not change following the enactment of SOX. In contrast, we find that the likelihood of a U.S. listing among small foreign firms choosing between the NASDAQ and LSE's Alternative Investment Market decreased following the enactment of SOX. The negative effect among small firms is consistent with these marginal companies being less able to absorb the incremental costs associated with SOX compliance. The screening of smaller firms with weaker governance attributes from U.S. exchanges is consistent with the heightened governance costs imposed by SOX increasing the bonding‐related benefits of a U.S. listing.