Striking a balance between ‘Sir’ and ‘Dude’

This postcard reflects on an issue common to many academics, whether they teach accounting, politics or—as in my case—commercial law to business and economics students. Creating an open and effective relationship with students is a balancing act undertaken by educators across the board—and no less by my accounting colleagues down the hall. In teaching commercial law to accounting students, I was recently reminded of the importance and occasional difficulty in maintaining a healthy ‘two-way’ relationship. I trust the following may connect with accounting educators and others who are also trying to achieve the right balance.     

必须取缔‘小钱柜’

最近经调查了解,不少单位,尤其是有销售收入的企业,设立了“小钱柜”。有的单位“小钱柜”资金有几千元,甚至上万元。这种“小钱柜”另立账外账,不受财经纪律约束,也不受银行监督,凭领导批条子,随便开支,任意挥霍。“小钱柜”的资金越多,危害就越大。一、违反党和国家政策。如有的单位违反价格政策,任意提高商品价格,把加价款装进     

公费医疗应避免‘一刀切’

北京市平谷区自5月起取消公费医疗，公众普遍赞叹其终于打破了部分人的“医疗特权”。6月29日，北京大学政府管理学院教授顾昕在接受《生命时报》采访时表示，奢望光通过取消公费医疗就达到全民“医疗公平”，并不太现实。     

医改需要‘明白账’

看病贵，百姓满腹牢骚。老差钱，医院也一肚子苦水。2月1日的《人民日报》发表评论，医改需要“明白账”。 文童说，一方喊贵，一方哭穷，钱跑哪儿去了？在现行的医院财会制度中，这是一笔“糊涂账”。尤其是会计科目、成本核算、报表结构等，过于笼统简单、缺乏统一标准，导致医疗服务成本和药品成本严重扭曲，助长了医院粗放管理、以药养医，加重了患者负担，更让政府对医院的业绩评价和宏观管理失去依据。     

‘流浪者’之子逃税

满族领袖多尔衮，是清帝国的实际缔造者，乾隆帝是这样评价多尔衮的——     

‘Deprival value’ vs. ‘fair value’ measurement for contract liabilities: how to resolve the ‘revenue recognition’ conundrum?

Revenue recognition and measurement principles can conflict with liability recognition and measurement principles. We explore here under different market conditions when the two measurement approaches coincide and when they conflict. We show that where entities expect to earn ‘super profits’ (residual income) the conceptual conflict is exacerbated by the adoption of ‘fair value’ (FV) as the measurement basis for assets and liabilities rather than the more theoretically grounded approach of ‘deprival value/relief value’ (DV/RV) which better reflects the impact of, and rational management response to, varying market conditions. However, while the problems of balance sheet liability and revenue recognition, and the related problems of income statement presentation, can be resolved by the application of DV/RV reasoning, this is not sufficient fully to resolve issues of the appropriate timing of profit recognition. Performance measurement issues still need to be addressed directly. The standard setters' current projects on ‘revenue recognition’, ‘insurance contracts’ and ‘measurement’ therefore need broadening to consider the pervasive issue of accounting for internally generated intangibles.     

The magic of branding: The role of ‘pledge’, ‘turn’ and ‘prestige’ in fostering consumer trust in financial services

The purpose of this article is to study the impact of brand image on consumer trust through empirical investigation in the context of the financial services sector. While trust helps to bind consumers to brands, a strong brand image works like magic in reducing consumers’ risk perception and promoting trust. This study analyses how brand image influences consumers’ trusting intention through operationalising an interdisciplinary brand-trust model. Constructs and measures were drawn from interdisciplinary brand and trust literature and tested through employing EFA, CFA and structural equation modelling. Data were collected through a quantitative survey of 300 financial services consumers. Using the analogy of a magic trick, the study unveils the key role of financial services branding in engendering consumer trust in the ‘pledge’ or ‘prestige’ parts of the trick but not in the ‘turn’. The research contributes to the convergent and mutually inclusive theories of trust and branding as well as services marketing literature. For managers and policymakers in the financial services sector the findings will help them to effectively manage brand image and foster consumers’ trusting intention.     

‘We do good things,don’t we?’: ‘Blended Value Accounting’ in social entrepreneurship

This paper presents an exploratory analysis of the emergent reporting practices used by social entrepreneurs in terms of their institutional settings and strategic objectives. These reporting practices not only account for financial performance but also disclose more nuanced and contingent social and environmental impacts and outcomes. Furthermore, they act as symbolic objects expressing the market orientation of many socially entrepreneurial organizations in that they aim to provide more complete and transparent disclosure of a variety of performance impacts. Conceptually, this paper draws upon approaches developed within the sociology of accounting as institutional practice and uses three theoretical interpretations to conceptualize the function and effects of reporting, disclosure, and audit in social entrepreneurship: positivist; critical theorist; and interpretative. A discussion of five case studies leads to the development of a new theoretical construct – ‘Blended Value Accounting’ – that constitutes a spectrum of disclosure logics used by social entrepreneurs to access resources and realize organizational mission objectives with key stakeholders. Conclusions consider some further questions around socially entrepreneurial reporting practices and strategies and suggest some new lines of research going forward.     

经济学的国民性：“做中国‘猫’，抓中国‘鼠’”

大家知道，经济学的研究对象是国民经济，任务是促进国民财富增长，目的是为国民谋福利，方法则应是立足中国本土国民的实践。一旦经济学研究离开了国民财富的增长，离开了为国民服务的宗旨，离开了中国本土的实践，亦即背离了经济学的国民性，就失去了这个学科的本能和立足点。邓小平同志曾有句名言：“不管黑猫白猫，能抓住老鼠就是好猫。”这句话以通俗的、老百姓的语言阐述了一个非常深刻的道理。我想，中国改革开放道路的成功，也没有多少玄机，无非是一切从中国实际出发，犹如“猫”抓“老鼠”：摸着黑、探着路、盯住方位、伺机出手。那么，我们的经济学者，在经济学研究中也要“做中国‘猫’，抓中国‘鼠’”。     

谈谈信用社的‘扩股’问题

我們基本上同意作者的看法。在進行扩股工作時,除应坚决贯徹自願和互利原则,以免影响贫、中农之間的關係以外,还须防止因擴股而放鬆吸收存款的偏向,必须認識到存款是信用社的主要资金來源。     

军属姚大娘的‘好闺女’

河南省汲县城内有一位九十六岁高龄的军属姚大娘,儿子、儿媳等一家十几口都参军在外。前几天,儿子来信说,春节准备回家看望老人。姚大娘接信后,马上托人给儿子写了回信,说自己的日子过得赛蜜甜,让儿子在部队安心工作。为什么姚大娘能过上象蜜一样甜的生活呢?这是因为她有个“好闺女”,这个“好闺女”就是河南省金融红旗手、优秀共产党员王兴凤。王兴凤同志原是城内储蓄所的会计和负责人。她以雷锋为榜样,从一九六三年起,经常到姚     

‘银行现金调拨办法’问题解答

问:签发出库命令是先用核准出库命令做保证签发,还是无用後备库存做保证签发?又上级行於接到下级行出库报告后,是先用核准数办理抵缴,还是以後备库存缴库? 答:为促使提高现金调拨的计划性,便於上级行掌握辖内投放与回笼整个活动情况,上级行签发出库命令时,一般是用核准出库命令的数额做保证签发;於支付不足时,再以本身后备库存力量进行辖内调剂;在核准数余额不多时,也可同时以後备库存做保证签发。如以核准数签发,下级行出库后,卽以核准数抵缴;如以后备库存做保     

不容忽视的‘杀手’——电磁波

当你坐在电视机前愉快地欣赏精彩节目,或一边轻松地哼着小曲一边将衣物丢进洗衣缸或将电吹风对准你的青丝秀发时,你是否意识到你正在遭受这些现代文明产物的“摧残”呢?将电磁波比喻为人类的“杀手”一点也不过分。当家用电器接通电源,这些“杀手”便纷纷跃出机器扑向你的躯体。斯德哥尔摩卡洛利斯卡大学的研究人员通过对43万名居住在高压线附近的居民调查发现:电磁波与癌症,尤其是脑癌、白血病的发     

一个温暖的‘职工之家’

中国银行北京分行工会是1979年建立的。同时成立了工会委员会。一名主管副     

努力提高水平 积极参加‘大赛’

经财政部同意,由中国会计学会、华人世界社、中央人民广播电台、中央电视台联合举办的首届全国会计知识大赛正在积极、紧张地进展,其中由全国统一命题的第一赛程预定在今年十月底开卷考试;由各地组织选拔优秀选手进京参加全国比赛的第二赛程也将在明年四月举行。这次“大赛”是我国会计界空前的创举。王丙乾部长曾为“大     

‘Slow-burn’ spillover and ‘fast and furious’ contagion: a study of international stock markets

‘Fast and furious’ contagion across capital markets is an important phenomenon in an increasingly integrated financial world. Different from ‘slow-burn’ spillover or interdependence among these markets, ‘fast and furious’ contagion can occur instantly. To investigate this kind of contagion from the US, Japan and Hong Kong to other Asian economies, we design a research strategy to capture fundamental interdependence, or ‘slow-burn’ spillover, among these stock markets as well as short-term departures from this interdependence. Based on these departures, we propose a new contagion measure which reveals how one market responds over time to a shock in another market. We also propose international portfolio analysis for contagion via variance decomposition from the portfolio manager’s perspective. Using this research strategy, we find that the US stock market was cointegrated with the Asian stock markets during four specific periods from 3 July 1997 to 30 April 2014. Beyond this fundamental interdependence, the shocks from both Japan and Hong Kong have significant ‘fast and furious’ contagion effects on other Asian stock markets during the US subprime crisis, but the shocks from the US have no such effects.     

London‘best for global business’Urges

London must not be complacent1about its continuing pre-eminence as a financial centerbutt hea vailabilityo f skilleds taff,f lexiblelabour markets and comparatively lightregulation now make the city the bestplace for global institutions to do business,acc…     

‘白条抵税’现象应予制止

前几年,在农副产品收购中的“白条”和邮政汇兑中的“绿条”现象,曾严重影响广大人民群众的切身利益,并引起了党和政府的高度重视。经过综合治理,上述现象几近绝迹。笔者最近在工作检查中,却发现某些基层税务机关未及时向纳税人收取税款,而是允许一些纳税人打一张白条子抵税。