In the mirror of the market: The disciplinary effects of company/fund manager meetings

This paper draws upon empirical qualitative research with Finance Directors and Investor Relations managers to examine the disciplinary consequences of their meetings with institutional investors. These ‘private’ meetings have increased both in frequency and importance in the last decade, but, when compared to public disclosure, they are relatively under researched. Existing studies have focussed on the role that the meetings play either in the market for information, or as a mechanism for corporate governance. By contrast, in this paper we draw upon Foucault’s analysis of power/knowledge to explore how the meetings shape executive subjectivity. The meetings take place in the context of a proliferation of techniques through which corporate performance is disclosed, modelled, compared and ranked. Such visibility makes possible processes of executive subjection which the paper traces firstly in the anticipatory self-discipline of executive’s extensive rehearsals for the meetings, and secondly in the rituals of face-to-face scrutiny of the meetings themselves where the body of the executive is understood to represent the company. The paper then explores the ways in which subjection to investors enables executives to speak on behalf of the investor within the business and effect its restructuring in the name of shareholder value. We suggest that these neglected disciplinary effects of company/fund manager meetings have been all too potent in recent years.     

Technologies for the people: a future in the making

India’s post-independence policy of using science and technology for national development, and investment in research and development infrastructure resulted in success in space, atomic energy, missile development and supercomputing. Use of space technology has impacted directly or indirectly the vast majority of India’s billion plus population. Developments in a number of emerging technologies in recent years hold the promise of impacting the future of ordinary Indians in significant ways, if a proper policy and enabling environment are provided. New telecom technologies—a digital rural exchange and a wireless access system—are beginning to touch the lives of common people. Development of a low-cost handheld computing device, use of hybrid telemedicine systems to extend modern healthcare to the unreached, and other innovative uses of IT at the grassroots also hold promise for the future. Biotechnology too has the potential to deliver cost-effective vaccines and drugs, but the future of GM crops is uncertain due to growing opposition. Some of these emerging technologies hold promise for future, provided a positive policy and enabling environment.     

Discovering the ‘international’ in accounting and finance

As higher education in accounting and finance moves increasingly in the direction of internationalisation of degree programmes and student populations, this paper reflects on the ways in which contemporary research contributes to the academic community's understanding of the rich potential of evidence available on international convergence and diversity.Reviews of research published in recent years have pointed to strong parochiality in the research questions and data choices of many researchers. This paper looks for a meta-structure of cross-sectional international comparisons across a range of papers at one point in time. Research papers of 2005 are selected from eight journals giving a broad coverage of subject matter.A cultural framework is proposed as a basis for an ethnographic view of the data and findings of empirical research papers. Cultural diversity is found as an explicit discussion in some papers but others are silent or even apologetic for cultural differences.Country-specific studies reveal the potential for comparative studies on a wider geographical basis but the achievement of such an aim will require the academic research community (editors, reviewers and authors) to show flexibility in dealing with smaller data sets and greater uncertainty about the nature of accounting information. Most importantly this review shows the considerable wealth of interest waiting for those who take time to peruse academic journals.     

Defining the Reporting Entity in the Not‐for‐profit Public Sector: Implementation Issues Associated with the Control Test

This paper reports the main findings of a research project carried out on behalf of the Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) and the New Zealand Financial Reporting Standards Board. The purpose of the research is to inform standard setters about implementation issues that had been encountered in the not‐for‐profit (NFP) public sector when applying the control concept in AASB 127, Consolidated and Separate Financial Statements. The intention is to use the findings to inform proposed implementation guidance for AASB 10, Consolidated Financial Statements. Data were collected via a literature review and meetings with various NFP public sector constituents. Identified issues were either conceptual in nature (for example, who are the relevant users of NFP public sector general purpose financial statements and what are their needs?) or related to implementation concerns (for example, is the power exerted by one NFP public sector entity over another of an ‘ownership’ or a ‘regulatory’ form?). The findings give rise to several suggested actions that standard setters could take in providing useful guidance to NFP public sector constituents.     

政治关联与我国民营上市企业的多元化投资

本文以2010年我国沪深民营上市企业为研究对象,研究民营上市企业的政治关联对民营企业多元化投资的影响.研究发现:1.民营上市企业的政治关联对其多元化程度的影响是显著为正的,当民营上市企业的政治关联划分为代表委员类政治关联、前政府官员类政治关联和政府行业协会类政治关联之后,只有代表委员类政治关联对民营上市企业多元化程度有...     

Corporate portfolio management

Summary We solve the optimal portfolio problem in continuous time from the point of view of a corporation, acting on behalf of risk neutral shareholders. Our model fits for example the case of a commercial bank. Risk aversion is generated endogenously by financial frictions, and increases when the value of the firm’s assets decrease. We find a remarkably simple investment policy: invest a multiple of the firm’s equity into the risky asset, keep the rest as cash reserves, and distribute dividends when the value of the firm exceeds some threshold. As a consequence, the firm locally behaves as a Von Neumann-Morgenstern investor with constant relative risk aversion.We thank three anonymous referees for their comments.     

“The everyday accountant and researching his reality”: Further thoughts

It is the contention of this paper that accounting researchers have been dominated in thier research methodology by methods supposedly adopted from the natural sciences. It is argued that it is time that attention was paid to the possible use of radically different “naturalistic” (or “interpretive humanistic”) research approaches in order both to focus research more closely on the concerns of practitioners and to give greater insight into everyday effects of accounting and the practices of accountants themselves.     

The roles of accounting in organizations and society

The paper seeks to contrast the roles that have been claimed on behalf of accounting with the ways in which accounting functions in practice. It starts by examining the context in which rationales for practice are articulated and the adequacy of such claims. Thereafter consideration is given to how accounting is implicated in both organizational and social practice. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for accounting research.     

Transferring knowledge across sub-genres of the ABC implementation literature

In the last decade, a continuous stream of empirical articles has investigated how various implementation process factors (including, top management support, adequate resources, and ABC training) influence ABC implementation success. However, at the same time, a growing number of researchers have criticised this ‘mainstream approach’ for, among other things, neglecting issues of power and politics and for viewing ABC implementations as something inherently positive. Based on Lukka and Granlund's [Lukka, K., Granlund, M., 2002. The fragmented communication structure within the accounting academia: the case of activity-based costing research genres. Acc. Organ. Soc. 27, 165–190] call for communication between various streams of ABC research, the purpose of this paper is to discuss how the ‘mainstream’ implementation literature may benefit from insights made in the politically oriented literature. A key conclusion is that such an analysis not only provides us with enriched explanations of the relatively strong and coherent findings in the ‘mainstream’ ABC implementation literature, but has also the potential to explain ‘unexpected’ and ‘contradictory’ results found in this stream of research. Based on these observations, a number of directions for future research are proposed.     

Accountability of the accountancy bodies: the peculiarities of a British accountancy body

The UK accountancy bodies, enjoying Royal Charters, exercise considerable social power. They act as statutory regulators for the auditing and the insolvency sector. Their regulatory activities (e.g. disciplining members) have a potential to blemish the name and reputation of their members and can bring the accountancy bodies into dispute with their members. In liberal societies, a common understanding is that the aggrieved individuals may be able to take legal action to correct perceived injustices. However, as this paper shows, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) has asserted, and the courts accepted that they themselves have no powers to intervene in the internal affairs of the ACCA. Such powers, the ACCA established, are reserved for an official known as the ‘Visitor’, who may be appointed by the Lord Chancellor's Department on behalf of the Sovereign/Crown. The ACCA has relied upon this legal precedent, which it helped to create, to prevent an aggrieved member from airing his grievances in courts. However, eventually the legal precedent became problematic for the ACCA, as it had the potential to directly enmesh the state in the governance of the ACCA. At this point, the ACCA sought reversal of the legal precedent. The case illuminates the politics of accountability and shows the manner in which one of the UK accountancy bodies mobilised its resources to enact a very particular kind of accountability.     

Exploring (false) dualisms for environmental accounting praxis

This paper focuses on the political nature of the linguistic dualisms or ‘false antinomies’ that inhere in environmental accounting practice and environmental accounting research. These dualisms, ‘subject–object,’ ‘man–woman,’ ‘mind–body,’ and ‘culture–nature,’ the paper argues, need to be ‘ambiguized’ if the politics inherent in these dualisms are to be resisted. Two strategies for the ‘ambiguization’ of these dualisms are suggested: ‘performative parody,’ which is a strategy intended for environmental accounting practitioners, and ‘democratic reflexivity,’ which is a strategy intended for environmental accounting researchers. In taking this linguistic focus, the paper challenges common sense constructions of the environment and the potentially elitist and anti-democratic nature of environmental accounting research. By offering these two strategies, the paper provides a means of environmental accounting praxis, or means of resisting global ‘environmental’ domination.     

R&D and performance persistence: Evidence from the United Kingdom

There is compelling evidence from both the United States and United Kingdom suggesting that R&D investment is positively related to operating and/or market performance. This study extends prior research on R&D and valuation by further examining the sustainability or persistence of operating growth and market performance as a result of R&D investments.We use a large dataset of U.K. companies during the period 1990–2003 and our findings confirm the relation between R&D intensity and consistent growth in Sales and Gross Income, but only in the cases when a firm needs to engage in R&D activity because of the industry in which it operates. Moreover, our evidence indicates not only a positive relation between R&D intensity and subsequent risk-adjusted excess returns among firms that engage in R&D as testified by prior literature, but we also show that R&D intensity improves persistence in excess stock returns: the highest R&D-intensity firms are found to earn higher risk-adjusted excess returns more consistently than the sample median return, compared to lower R&D-intensity firms, as well as firms with no R&D. We interpret this finding as consistent with at least some form of market mispricing.     

Tax risk management and the multinational enterprise

The financial scandals in the United States and other countries ushered in financial reporting and corporate governance reforms that extend beyond the U.S. Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX). These initiatives have increased the international financial community's awareness of the importance of risk management and internal controls. Tax risk management and related internal controls have been accorded less focus than risk management generally. The purpose of this research is to describe the current state of tax risk management of multinational enterprises (MNEs) by reporting survey responses from chief financial officers (CFOs) of U.S. and non-U.S. MNEs. The research shows that significant progress has been made by large MNEs in developing and implementing both general and tax risk management policies. The results provide guidance in identifying the loci and impact of organizational tax risk and indicate that respondents do not perceive alarming degrees of tax risk in their organizations. The study reveals a remarkable degree of similarity in U.S. and foreign firm responses and demonstrates, unexpectedly, that existing reporting structures enable CFOs to shift a significant degree of tax risk management to heads of tax.     

IPO share allocation and conflicts of interest

The underwriter of an IPO has two sources of compensation for its services on behalf of the issuer. One is through a commission (spread), the other is by buying issued shares for itself (or its affiliates) and reselling them in the post-issue market. Profits from the former decrease along with the magnitude of underpricing while profits from the latter increase with it. Faced with these countervailing interests, the present paper analyzes how the underwriter decides upon the pricing and allocation of IPOs.      

Ranking Accounting Ph.D. Programs and Faculties Using Social Science Research Network Downloads

We rank accounting Ph.D. programs and accounting faculties based on downloads individuals' working papers posted to the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) receive. We retain 185 individuals included in Accounting Faculty Directory 2002–2003 (Hasselback, 2002) whose work has been most heavily downloaded as of August 21, 2002. We rank Ph.D. programs (faculties) both adjusting and not adjusting for program (faculty) size. We provide rankings both without regards to when individuals graduated and for individuals graduating during three consecutive sub-periods: pre-1982, 1982–1991 and 1992–2001. We first provide rankings without regards to teaching or research area. After dichotomizing individuals into those whose teaching/research area is financial versus non-financial we provide additional rankings focusing on non-financial research areas.     

Minority membership on boards of directors: the case for requiring pictures of boards in annual reports

Affirmative action and diversity continue to be contentious issues in the United States. Financial markets are still reeling from the effects of Enron, WorldCom and other corporate exemplars of corruption and malfeasance. The role of the board of directors in these scandals is the subject of serious and ongoing concern. Weak and/or ineffectual boards are often the consequences of “old-boy networks” and a lack of diversity in membership. This research study argues for an increased presence of gender and race diversity on boards of directors. Empirical evidence is presented that shows a significant increase in the presence of ethnic minorities and females when pictures of board members are included in annual reports. We suggest that requiring pictures of board members in annual reports and regulatory filings would result in a larger presence for gender and race diversity on boards of directors. This requirement is not a significant burden and merely represents compliance with the spirit and intent of the “full disclosure” principle.     

Online customer relationships in the European financial services sector: A cross-country investigation

Reportedly, over the past 30 years there has been a general sense of willingness, on behalf of suppliers and customers alike, to develop increasingly close ‘emotional’ relationships based on trust. While buyers reward suppliers with brand loyalty, suppliers in turn develop strategies continually to energise this ‘connective’ relationship. As customers and suppliers increasingly become physically connected to one another via computer networks an important emergent issue is whether the nature of their relationship is changing as a result of transactions taking place across these networks. This paper discusses part of an exploratory research project designed to question the extent to which computer-based technologies that previously enabled the building of emotionally connective relationships through the analysis of customer data are instead facilitating anonymous transactional relationships. The project focuses on organisations in three European countriescolon; France, Germany and the United Kingdom. The broad aims are to explore whether consumer segments are emerging, that actually prefer the minimal personal interaction afforded by sophisticated new computer technology, and to examine the extent to which financial service organisations are responding to the demands of such segments. The paper includes an outline of the contextual background, followed by the research methodology and a discussion of the findings. Conclusions are drawn about the implications of these findings for both industry practitioners and academic researchers.     

税务机关征收养老保险费对征缴率的影响研究

基于养老保险2002—2018年省级面板数据,运用系统GMM估计方法研究社保费征收模式对征缴率的影响。研究发现：社保全征的征缴率高于税务全征,但低于税务代征,后者无统计意义。进一步的机制和异质性检验结果表明：税务全征可能增加企业研发投入或减少雇佣人数,对实际征缴收入产生负面影响;对于系统老龄化程度低于30%,或征缴率高于60%,或参保率高于69.107%的样本,税务全征使征缴率下降10.8～16.2个百分点。可见,税务代征模式更有助于社保体系的可持续发展。