An international investigation of associations between societal variables and the amount of disclosure on information technology and communication problems: The case of Y2K

This study examines the association between five societal variables—political and civil system, cultural values, type of legal system, level of economic development, and equity market features—and the amount of corporate disclosure on the Year 2000 (Y2K) technological dilemma. Data are collected from the 1997/1998 fiscal-year annual reports of 1618 publicly listed firms spanning 17 nations. Empirical findings indicate the amount of Y2K disclosure varied significantly across national boundaries. Statistical analysis indicates a strong positive association between the amount of Y2K disclosure and the level of (a) political rights and civil liberties and (b) economic development. Results also imply publicly listed firms in Common Law nations disclose more Y2K information than counterparts in Roman-German Law nations. Of Hofstede's [Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture's consequences: International differences in work-related values. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications] four cultural dimensions, only power distance is a significant explanatory factor of variations is the amount of Y2K disclosure.     

Effects of database choice on international accounting research

Data availability is one of the traditional obstacles confronting researchers carrying out international empirical studies in accounting. In recent years several databases have claimed to offer comprehensive coverage of accounting and financial data of firms worldwide. We analyse whether the choice of database has an effect on the results of empirical studies. We find that the results of a simple empirical adaptation of the Ohlson (1995 ) model for fourteen member states of the European Union change significantly depending on the database chosen (Datastream, Global Vantage, Company Analysis, Worldscope, Thomson Financial, Financials and BvD Osiris). These differences are mainly attributable to differences in the samples across databases. When we match observations across all databases the differences persist but are much less pronounced. Our main conclusion is that database choice matters, as it leads to different results when the same research design is used.     

支持外向型经济持续发展的对策探讨——基于河池国际收支十年数据的分析

本文从区域外向型经济发展的视角,结合河池1999-2008年十年间的国际收支情况,从地方产业结构、外贸依存度、外贸基础、企业管理制度以及国家宏观经济政策对区域外向型经济的个体影响等五个方面人手,对值得关注的问题和矛盾进行了简要分析与思考,并提出了相应对策.     

对我国外汇储备高增长的国际政治经济学分析

近年来,我国外汇储备一直保持快速增长,但单纯从经济角度就得出我国外汇储备“过多”的结论有失偏颇。在世界多极化和经济区域化的背景下,只有从国际政治经济学的综合视角才能得出符合事实的结论。我国持有现有规模的外汇储备是国内外政治经济因素综合作用的结果。     

The influence of international taxation structures on corporate financial disclosure patterns

This paper investigates the extent of financial instrument disclosures (FIDs) within the annual reports of Australian listed extractive resource companies over a 4-year longitudinal period (2003–2006) and its association with international tax characteristics. Statistical analysis shows that thin capitalisation structures and withholding taxes are positively and significantly associated with disclosure patterns. In contrast, the occurrence of foreign sourced income and tax haven links are significantly negatively associated with FID patterns. These findings demonstrate that international tax structures can influence corporate disclosure patterns. This paper contributes to an understanding of the extent, trends and rationale behind resource firms’ financial instrument disclosure practices in Australia.     

The effect of owner versus management control on the choice of accounting methods

This paper examines the relationship between the ownership control status of firms and the accounting methods they adopt. The arguments of Watts and Zimmerman's positive theory are integrated with those of managerial economists to generate the prediction that management controlled firms are more likely than owner controlled firms to adopt accounting methods which increase reported earnings. This prediction is inconsistent with Fama's hypothesis that the market for managerial talent will prevent management controlled firms from acting differently than owner controlled firms. This paper compares the depreciation methods used by a sample of management and owner controlled firms for financial reporting purposes. The comparison considers and controls for the factors of firm size, leverage, and the depreciation method used for tax reporting purposes. The comparison reveals that there is a significant difference in the depreciation methods adopted by management controlled and owner controlled firms for financial reporting purposes.     

Maximising international returns: Impact of IFRS on foreign direct investments

This study investigates whether the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by a country increases Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) and impacts the profitability of investments conducted by Multi-National Enterprises (MNEs). The proposed regression models are tested on a data set containing 493 observations of Swedish companies’ FDIs in 73 countries made during 2007–2014. Empirical evidence is provided for a significant impact of IFRS adoption on FDIs and earnings generated by foreign investments, depending upon the extent of IFRS implementation and the level of convergence. This study also suggests that IFRS adoption is significant both for FDIs and reported profits obtained through FDIs for developed countries, contrasting with emerging markets. Finally, this is one of the first papers to empirically test and confirm that several significant underlying variables (including IFRS), which can explain both FDIs and profits reported by MNEs, are identical.     

The food problem and the evolution of international income levels

In most poor countries, large fractions of land, labor, and other productive resources are devoted to producing food for subsistence needs. We show that a model incorporating the “food problem” can provide new and useful insights into the evolution of international income levels. In particular, we find that the food problem can explain why some countries started to realize increases in per capita output more than 250 years later in history than others. We also show that the food problem has important implications for growth miracles and the speed at which a country converges to its balanced growth path.     

Eco-control: The influence of management control systems on environmental and economic performance

Eco-control is the application of financial and strategic control methods to environmental management. In this study, we investigate to what extent eco-control influences environmental and economic performance. Using survey-data from a sample of Canadian manufacturing firms, the results suggest that eco-control has no direct effect on economic performance. A mediating effect of environmental performance on the link between eco-control and economic performance is observed in different contexts. More specifically, eco-control indirectly influences economic performance in the context of (i) higher environmental exposure, (ii) higher public visibility, (iii) higher environmental concern, and (iv) larger size. This study contributes to the management accounting literature by providing insight into the roles and contributions of management accounting in the context of sustainable development.     

外商直接投资收益对国际收支的影响

文章认为,当前的外商投资企业外方利润滞留境内存量呈现上升趋势,但是总量规模相对于国家1.53万亿美元左右的外汇储备来讲,仍处于适当可控的范围之内,可以考虑将外方利润留存监测纳入以企业为主体的外汇监管,建立相应的风险预警体系。     

商业银行环境金融业务管理的国际经验及启示

在环境保护备受关注的背景下,环境金融业务开始成为金融机构拓宽市场、提升社会声誉的重要途径。发达国家商业银行在环境金融领域已经占有先机,不但在战略高度上重视环境问题,而且将环境金融理念与环境要求融入到金融政策制定、企业组织结构、业务操作流程、贷后监控等日常经营活动中。我国商业银行可以借鉴其经验,充分把握环境金融发展契机,推行要求更高的国际准则,创新环境金融产品与服务,完善内部环境管理体系,推动人才储备建设。     

The dynamics of the Monday effect in international stock indices

This examination of the temporal dynamics of the international Monday effect is based on 50 countries. Observed between-country differences are characterised by an economic factor based on four indices. The prior day effect captures the tendency for price changes to follow those on the prior day. A bad (good) day occurs when the price change on the prior day is negative (positive). A panel regression with panel corrected standard errors, is used to characterise the way that the Monday effect and the cognate prior day effect systematically vary between countries over the period 1994 to 2006. At the start of the data in 1994, there is a considerable prior day effect which is larger for poor countries. This between-country difference declines over time and has essentially disappeared by 2006. The bad non-Monday effect and the bad-Monday effect also decline over time. Further analysis with six leading economies provides evidence that the prior day influence on Mondays and non-Mondays dates back to at least 1973.     

The unsung impact of currency risk on the performance of international real property investment

The paper revisits the currency risk debate to ascertain the statistical significance of currency risk on the return of international real property investment, especially in a period of increased exchange rate volatility. After statistical analyses of the returns of a portfolio of office investments in seven Asia Pacific cities over the 1986 to 2007 period, it was found that currency risk had a statistically significant positive impact on the performance of the portfolio of office investments. This is confirmed by the results of stochastic dominance test. If the results of this study are verified by subsequent studies, and the past reliably presages the future, they would imply that investors holding portfolios of real property investments in the sample markets might not need to be unduly concerned with currency risk.     

外国企业来我国上市的必要性及其法律准备

中外股市都存在着三大定理,即"会有越来越多的公司上市"、"会有越来越多的资金入市"和"牛市总比熊市长"。这给我们的启迪是:要使越来越多的公司上市以扩大供给,要使越来越多的资金入市以扩大需求。为使越来越多的公司上市以扩大供给,为了建立中国的国际金融中心,就应该允许外国企业来我国上市。未来牛市格局为外国企业来我国上市提供了经济上的可行性,为此,我国要做好一系列的法律准备,包括制定专门的规范性文件,规定外国企业境内首次公开发行并上市的各种条件和程序;对外国企业在我国境内发行证券实行注册制;完善保护投资者的法律制度等。     

Regulatory flexibility and management opportunism in the choice of alternative accounting standards: an illustration based on large French groups

Due to the flexibility of domestic accounting regulations, French groups are entitled to refer to international or American standards for their consolidation. The objective of this research paper is to focus on the choices made by the 100 largest French companies during the last 16 years (1985-2000). In practice, apart from the French rules, three “alternative” sets of standards are used: the International Accounting Standards (IAS), “international principles,” and the U.S. GAAP. The percentage of companies referring to alternative (i.e., non-French) standards rose in the first part of the period, then fell. Additionally, while the number of companies choosing U.S. GAAP increased over the period as a whole, the number preferring IAS or “international principles” has been in sharp decline since 1994-1995. Our results show that in this voluntary move towards international accounting harmonization, the choices made by French companies have clearly varied according to developments in French accounting regulations and the changing power balance between the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) and the SEC-FASB. This indicates a certain degree of opportunism by the management, who clearly keeps one eye constantly on the cost-benefit trade-off.     

The effect of investor sophistication on the influence of nonfinancial performance indicators on investors’ judgments

This paper presents an experiment that examines how enhanced disclosure of nonfinancial performance indicators affects the stock‐price estimates of nonprofessional and professional investors. Participants were provided with a case study containing excerpts from a hypothetical company’s annual report. The experiment was a 2 (nonprofessional and professional) × 3 (positive nonfinancial performance indicators, negative nonfinancial performance indicators, and financial information only) between‐subjects design. Consistent with conservatism, the nonprofessional investors underreacted in their stock‐price estimates to the positive nonfinancial disclosures, compared with professional investors with task‐specific knowledge. The results from this study suggest that the value of enhanced disclosure of this type may not flow equally to all users of financial reports, if conservatism, and lack of task‐specific knowledge, adversely affect their decision‐making.     

The impact of mandatory IFRS adoption on foreign mutual fund ownership: The role of comparability

Proponents of IFRS argue that mandating a uniform set of accounting standards improves financial statement comparability that in turn attracts greater cross-border investment. We test this assertion by examining changes in foreign mutual fund investment in firms following mandatory IFRS adoption in the European Union in 2005. We measure improved comparability as a credible increase in uniformity, defined as a large increase in the number of industry peers using the same accounting standards in countries with credible implementation. Consistent with this assertion, we find that foreign mutual fund ownership increases when mandatory IFRS adoption leads to improved comparability.     

机构投资者独立性对代理成本的影响

本文以2006~2009年沪深两市A股上市公司为样本,在根据投资目标对机构投资者进行类型划分的基础上,探讨了机构投资者独立性对代理成本的影响。研究发现,独立机构持股比例越高,公司管理层代理成本和控股股东代理成本越低,而非独立机构持股对两类代理成本影响有限。在进一步考虑了控股股东持股比例的影响后,发现独立机构持股在控股股东偏好控制权私有收益的情况下更能降低管理层代理成本,表明在此情况下,独立机构对管理层自利行为有更大的监督作用。     

发展我国国际金融中心的战略思考

金融主导全球化的趋势表明,国际金融中心的博弈历来是大国崛起与博弈的制高点。全球化战略新思维应成为我国发展国际金融中心首先必须明确的定位思路,同时,借助全球化带来的机遇,抓紧构建主动金融战略与策略,尽快完成从被动金融向主动金融的转型;最后提出构建适合我国国情的金融中心网络体系。