A look inside AMLF: What traded and who benefited

The Federal Reserve’s AMLF program was designed to provide liquidity to money market funds (MMFs). Between September 2008 and May 2009, the program made $217 billion in non-recourse loans to depository institutions and bank holding companies to purchase asset-backed commercial paper from MMFs. JP Morgan and State Street dominated the program, accounting for over 90% of all loans made. Our analysis suggests that JP Morgan exhibited more self-dealing behavior than State Street. We find that JP Morgan and State Street earned economically and statistically significant cumulative returns of 2.28% and 2.49% (respectively) over the first seven days of the program after controlling for market returns and heteroscedasticity.     

Price discovery in auction markets: a look inside the black box

Opening mechanisms play a crucial role in information aggregationfollowing the overnight nontrading period. This article examinesthe process of price discovery at the New York Stock Exchangesingle-price opening auction. We develop a theoretical modelto explain the determinants of the opening price and test themodel using order-level data. We show that the presence of designateddealers facilitates price discovery relative to a fully automatedcall auction market. This is consistent with specialists extractinginformation from observing the evolution of the limit orderbook. In addition, the specialist's opening trade reflects noninformationalfactors such as price stabilization requirements.     

Leaving an unethical managed care plan: an exploratory look at doctors' intentions

To address the problems of unnecessary care and limited resources, managed care health insurance programs have become commonplace. With managed care programs, however, physicians are facing increasing pressures. This article briefly considers four ethical situations that doctors face under managed care systems. The article surveys a national random sample of general practitioners and surgeons to determine how doctors would respond to these dilemmas and the extent to which exposure to such situations influences them to leave a managed care plan.     

Characteristics of demand for pharmaceutical products: an examination of four cephalosporins

We model demand for four cephalosporins and compute own- and cross-price elasticities between branded and generic versions of the four drugs. We model demand as a multistage budgeting problem, and we argue that such a model is appropriate to the multistage nature of the purchase of pharmaceutical products, in particular the prescribing and dispensing stages. We find quite high elasticities between generic substitutes and also significant elasticities between some therapeutic substitutes.     

Profit pools: a fresh look at strategy

In charting strategy, many managers focus on revenue growth, assuming that profits will follow. But that approach is dangerous: today's deep revenue pool may become tomorrow's dry hole. To create strategies that result in profitable growth, managers need to look beyond revenues to see the shape of their industry's profit pool. The authors define an industry's profit pool as the total profits earned at all points along the industry's value chain. Although the concept is simple, the structure of a profit pool is usually quite complex. The pool will be deeper in some segments of the value chain than in others, and depths will vary within an individual segment as well. Segment profitability may, for example, vary widely by customer group, product category, geographic market, and distribution channel. Moreover, the pattern of profit concentration in an industry will often be very different from the pattern of revenue concentration. The authors describe how successful companies have gained competitive advantage by developing sophisticated profit-pool strategies. They explain how U-Haul identified new sources of profit in the consumer-truck-rental industry; how Merck reached beyond its traditional value-chain role to protect its profits in the pharmaceuticals industry; how Dell rebounded from a misguided channel decision by refocusing on its traditional source of profit; and how Anheuser-Busch made a series of astute product, pricing, and operating decisions to dominate the beer industry's profit pool. The companies with the best understanding of their industry's profit pool, the authors argue, will be in the best position to thrive over the long term.     

Public interest accounting: A look at the issues

Within the last ten years, a very unique and controversial accounting organization, Accountants for the Public Interest, has been developed to assist previously unrepresented citizens and organizations in financial matters involving issues of broad public concern. This paper examines the fundamental issues that must be resolved in the minds of practicing accountants as regards implementation of the services, if the public interest accounting concept is to survive.     

Agency research in managerial accounting: A second look

This paper surveys the recent agency literature, emphasizing its managerial accounting implications. The paper first describes and compares three branches of the agency literature. Attention is paid to the assumptions, focus, contributions and criticisms of each branch. Empirical tests of implications of the agency model are reviewed. Recent theoretical agency papers with managerial accounting implications are then discussed. The last section of the paper discusses possible directions in future research which may increase the insights which the agency paradigm can bring to managerial accounting research.     

A kingdom inside: the future of Hawaiian political identity

“A Kingdom Inside” is a critical look at some of the contemporary political events unfolding in Hawaii at the end of 2002. It takes a look at Hawaiian representation in the media, politics and in history, and it reveals the political and legal reality of the ongoing US military occupation of Hawai’i. By calling into question the legitimacy of Hawai’i as the 50th state, this essay unravels some of the confusing issues around Hawaiian political identity and considers potential economic consequences to the United States that could lead to a negotiated withdrawal from Hawai’i.     

Defining,measuring, and modeling accruals: a guide for researchers

Research on accounting accruals is pervasive. Yet the measurement and modeling of accruals has developed in an ad hoc manner, resulting in a fragmented and incomplete body of research. Our goal is to rectify this situation by (i) providing a comprehensive definition of accruals, (ii) formulating a corresponding empirical measure of accruals, (iii) offering two decompositions of our measure that encapsulate the major classes of accruals studied elsewhere, (iv) combining and expanding prior models of the fundamental determinants of accruals into one parsimonious model, and (v) identifying the primary determinants of each of the major classes of accruals. We close by providing guidance for researchers in tailoring the selection of accruals to the research question at hand.     

Professional accounting development in Nigeria: threats from the inside and outside

Over the years several, sometimes conflicting, theories attempting to explain the development of professions have emerged. The “functionalist” and “interactionist” theories have since lost the spotlight to a more critical approach based on the Weberian concept of closure. Limitations in the concept and practice of this neo-Weberain concept have led to suggestions that research into the sociology of professions, should also include historical analyses of professionalism that capture historical specificities with the aim of generating theory that sees beyond “just massive historical variation” [Collins, R. (1990). Changing conceptions in the sociology of the profession. In R. Torstendahl, & M. Burrage, The formation of professions: Knowledge, state and strategy. London: Sage Publications]. Such research should also investigate the structural conditions under which the professionalisation process takes place [Johnson, T. (1977). The profession in the class structure. In R. Scase, Industrial society: Class, cleavage and control. London: George Allen and Unwin.]. In order to achieve this, there is the need to critically study the relationship of the State and the profession [Klegon, D. (1978). The sociology of professions: an emerging perspective. Sociology of Work and Occupations, 5, 3, 259–283.] and to document more extensively, the process, rather than the product, of closure [Chua, W. F., & Paullaos, C. (1993). Rethinking the profession-state dynamic: the case of the Victorian Charter Attempt, 1885–1906, Accounting, Organizations and Society, pp. 128–691; Chua, W. F., & Paullaos, C. (1998). The dynamics of “closure” amidst the construction of market, profession, empire and nationhood: an historical analysis of an Australian Accounting Association. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 23 (2), 155–187; Ramirez, C. (2001). Understanding social closure in its cultural context: accounting practitioners in France (1920–1939), Accounting, Organizations and Society.]. Such is the approach of this article, which focuses on the development of the accounting professions in Nigeria. It critically examines the profession/ State dynamics that have helped shape the outcome of the various episodes in the history of the accounting profession in Nigeria. An important influence in this dynamics is the nature of government in place (i.e. military or civilian).     

Dollar-weighted returns to stock investors: A new look at the evidence

Dichev [2007. American Economic Review 97, 386–401], in an influential paper, examines the gap between the performance of major stock markets and the dollar-weighted performance of investors in these markets. He finds a significant gap of 1.3 percent per year for NYSE/AMEX and 1.5 percent internationally. We question these results. The NYSE/AMEX performance gap is actually negative in the last two thirds of Dichev's 1926–2002 period, while his international results are influenced by a dramatic increase in Datastream's coverage. When, instead of Datastream, we use a comprehensive share price database, the UK performance gap changes from 1.1 to −1.3 percent. In short, Dichev's findings are not robust.     

Trading on inside information: Evidence from the share-structure reform in China

We examine stock trading activities in days before Chinese listed firms made public announcement to start share-structure reform. There is significant evidence that, relative to a benchmark period, institutional investors bought more event firms’ shares in the last two trading days prior to announcement. Randomization tests show significant differences in institutional trading activities between event firms and matched control firms, which suggests that some institutions had inside information. Moreover, large trades account for a significant proportion of daily stock price changes in the last 2 days. The evidence is consistent with the prediction by Holden and Subrahmanyam (1992) that, when multiple informed investors acquire the same piece of information, they will trade aggressively. We also find that over the reform period, the median share value change of event firms is 6% higher than that of control firms. Our findings have important implications for enforcement of insider trading regulations in China.     

2006金融展:展示金融机构新风貌的大舞台

2006年9月17日至20日，2006中国国际金融（银行）技术暨设备展览会在北京展览馆隆重举行。其中，金融服务展区主要展现各家金融机构的IT应用及主推业务。参展单位包括中国人民银行、中国人民银行清算总中心、中国外汇交易中心、中国人民银行营业管理部、中国银联股份有限公司、国家开发银行、中国银行、交通银行股份有限公司北京分行、中信银行、中国光大银行、华夏银行、中国民生银行总行营业部、深圳发展银行北京分行、北京银行、北京农村商业银行、北京邮政储汇局、农信银资金清算中心、万家基金管理有限公司等。各展台融声光电于一体，主题特色鲜明，成为展示各金融机构新风貌的多彩舞台。     

Defining management accounting constructs: A methodological note on the risks of conceptual misspecification

This paper stresses the need for a sound conceptual specification of research constructs prior to fitting them to explanatory models. It emphasizes that in addressing the conceptual level of the predictive validity framework [Libby, R., Bloomfield, R., & Nelson, M. (2002). Experimental research in financial accounting. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 27, 775–810], special attention must be paid to two issues: (1) the production of a specific agreed-upon meaning and domain for each construct of interest; and (2) the specification and conceptual justification of the nature and direction of the epistemic relationships between constructs, dimensions and indicators (i.e., reflective vs. formative models; latent vs. emergent models). The paper highlights the importance of both issues especially in the case of practice-defined variables, and it provides guidelines on how to address both aspects of conceptual specification. While the issues raised are pertinent to many research areas, the paper concentrates on the implications for management accounting and control systems (MACS) research, using interactive use of control systems [Simons, R. (1995a). Levers of control. Boston: Harvard Business School Press] to illustrate how researchers should go about specifying meaning and epistemic relationships in MACS research.     

The new landscape: a fresh look at long-term incentives for corporate America

Today's environment presents us with a torrent of issues surrounding the design and management of long-term and equity-related incentives, both for top executives and employees at large. This article reviews, at a conceptual level, the most important characteristics, advantages and disadvantages of the various principal long-term incentive types as they appear from key perspectives. The authors conclude with predictions about the future of long-term and equity-related incentives.