Lobbying of accounting standard-setting bodies in the U.K. and the U.S.A.: A Downsian analysis

This paper examines the response of those affected by financial accounting standards to new accounting rules. The efforts of individuals and organizations to promote or obstruct such rules are described collectively as lobbying. The Downsian voting model provides the framework for the discussion of important aspects of lobbying, namely the characteristics of lobbyists, the timing of their lobbying and the methods they are likely to employ. The analysis is illustrated with examples drawn from U.K. and U.S. experience of standard-setting.     

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.     

改革开放三十年 三大举措奠定注册会计师行业发展基础

注册会计师制度既是市场经济发展到一定阶段的产物,同时又是市场经济赖以健康发展的条件。我国的注册会计师制度最早开始于1918年。新中国成立以后,由于在较长的时间内,一     

科学引导扎实推进谋求注册会计师行业更好更快发展

为贯彻落实国办56号文件,去年山西省注协配合省财政厅制定了山西省贯彻落实国办56号文件的实施意见,从政策扶持、注册会计师业务范围拓展、行业人才培养等6个方面提出了15条举措.     

UK immigrants and the foundation of the US public accountancy profession

Building on a previous study (Lee, 1997) describing the case of Edinburgh chartered accountants, the current study observes 394 chartered and incorporated accountants who migrated to the US by the end of 1914. The data are reported in the context of an emerging US public accountancy profession, and the purpose of the paper is to document the migration and its place in the development of American public accountancy. A comparison is made with 112 unqualified emigrants from the UK to the US who became public accountants there by the end of 1914. This contrast provides a means of discovering subsets of the migrant group with respect to preemigration backgrounds and post-immigration careers of 506 men. Comparisons are also made of differences within defined subsets of the qualified migrant group. Data were collected from available UK and US sources. These were then aggregated in a manner that permits a coherent picture to emerge of the immigrants as public accountants in the US at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries. The analyses reveal that the immigrant group was relatively small, and that the immigrants succeeded in their careers to differing degrees. A sizeable proportion returned to the UK or moved on to another host country. Of those that remained in the US, most had productive if unexceptional lives, typically in public accountancy. A few men became leaders of US public accountancy institutions and firms. A small minority achieved senior positions in industry and commerce. It is argued that the influence of UK accountants on US accounting and auditing went beyond the documented successes of specific individuals and firms. The paper is therefore more than the typical history of prominent US accountants and firms of the past.     

谈谈我国注册会计师行业发展中的五大热点问题

我国注册会计师(CPA)行业恢复重建至今已有20年,行业建设取得了令世人瞩目的成就.进入新千年,我国CPA行业发展还将呈现哪些重大热点?我们应当怎样迎接这些发展热点?笔者认为,至少有以下五个热点应当积极应对.     

An examination of the benefits of dynamic trading strategies in U.K. closed-end funds

We examine the after-cost out-of-sample performance of the unconditional mean–variance (UMV) strategy in the presence of conditioning information (Ferson and Siegel (2001)) using portfolios of U.K. equity closed-end funds. We find that the performance of the UMV strategy significantly improves when using lagged information variables with the highest persistence (first-order autocorrelation) levels and reduces turnover. This strategy is able to outperform alternative dynamic trading strategies and performs well across different subperiods. At low levels of trading costs, the UMV strategy is able to deliver significant value added to investors.     

The value relevance of major media advertising expenditures: Some U.K. evidence

This study examines whether ACNielsen MEAL major media advertising expenditure measures, that are publicly available at a cost, have value relevance. Our results suggest that these advertising-expenditure measures are positively associated with market value. We also find little difference in the value relevance of these expenditures among different sizes of firms. Value relevance is found to be present only for nonmanufacturing firms. This suggests that the costly information provided by ACNielsen MEAL surveys may be potentially useful to market participants in valuing firms, at least for nonmanufacturing firms.     

王军副部长对注册会计师行业科学发展再提新要求

6月25日下午,王军副部长来到中注协调研,在听取中注协领导班子就学习实践科学发展观活动开展情况以及近期协会工作汇报后,王副部长对中注协前一段学习实践科学发展观活动给予肯定,要求下一阶段学习实践活动按照中央和财政部的部署,结合行业实际,学以致用,以用促学,多找差距,自觉整改,切实将学习成果转化为加强协会工作,促进行业科学发展、和谐发展的自觉行动和强大动力。     

An empirical examination of the diversification benefits of U.K. international equity closed-end funds

I use the Bayesian approach of Wang (1998) to examine the diversification benefits of international equity U.K. closed-end funds (CEF) in the presence of market frictions. No short selling constraints substantially reduce, and in some cases eliminate the diversification benefits of CEF. However, adjusting for higher trading costs in the benchmark assets, the diversification benefits of the funds are significant. The paper also finds that when comparing to the international equity exchange-traded funds (ETF), that both groups of funds are necessary to maximize the benefits of international diversification.     

Transfer Pricing Practices and Regulatory Actions in the U.S. and U.K.: A Cross-Country Comparison and Analysis

With the continued globalization of world markets, transfer pricing has become one of the dominant sources of controversy in international taxation. Cross-country differences in transfer pricing practices and regulations present challenges to taxing authorities and multinational enterprises (MEs). In the last two decades, tax authorities in the United States (U.S.) and other countries have brought major court cases against MEs accused of underpayment of taxes through transfer pricing practices. This paper discusses transfer pricing practices, regulatory agencies, penalties related to violations, and proper documentation required in the U.S. and one of its major trading partners, the United Kingdom (U.K.). The paper also examines the acceptable valuation methods allowed as a surrogate for arm's-length transactions as established by the country's regulatory agency. Finally, the paper discusses the similarities and differences between the major court cases related to transfer pricing in the two countries.     

Accountants and Empire: the case of co-membership of Australian and British accountancy bodies, 1885 to 1914

This study examines one aspect of the influence of the British Empire connection on the establishment of an accountancy profession in Australia in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It does so by analysing data collected on the comembership of the numerous Australian and British accountancy bodies formed before 1914. It casts doubt on the conclusions of Johnson and Caygill (1971) regarding the predominance of accountants with British qualifications in the creation and growth of the Australian bodies and also elucidates the connection between the professionalization strategies of particular bodies and the membership choices of accountants in the context of imperialism.     

Seasonality in Stock Price Mean Reversion: Evidence from the U.S. and the U.K.

The evidence of slowly mean-reverting components in stock prices has been controversial. The hypothesis of stock price mean-reversion is tested using a regression model that yields the highest asymptotic power among a class of regression tests. Although the evidence that the equally weighted index of stocks exhibits mean-reversion is significant in the period 1926–1988, this phenomenon is entirely concentrated in January. In the post-war period both the equally weighted and the value-weighted indices exhibit seasonal mean-reversion in January. A similar phenomenon is also observed for the equally weighted index of stocks traded on the London Stock Exchange.     

英、美、日、智利社会保障制度改革比较研究

福利国家中的典型代表英国、美国、日本,非福利国家的特色代表智利,都在不断进行社会保障制度的改革.改革的共同趋势表现为调整政府和市场的比例,转变政府职能,在保持政府控制权的前提下,实现社保的"市场化"或"私有化". 中国应该借鉴国际经验,以养老、医疗为重心,建立高效率、市场化的社会保障资金管理机制,推进社保事业的发展.     

Price trends and patterns in technical analysis: A theoretical and empirical examination

While many technical trading rules are based upon patterns in asset prices, we lack convincing explanations of how and why these patterns arise, and why trading rules based on technical analysis are profitable. This paper provides a model that explains the success of certain trading rules that are based on patterns in past prices. We point to the importance of confirmation bias, which has been shown to play a key role in other types of decision making. Traders who acquire information and trade on the basis of that information tend to bias their interpretation of subsequent information in the direction of their original view. This produces autocorrelations and patterns of price movement that can predict future prices, such as the “head-and-shoulders” and “double-top” patterns. The model also predicts that sequential price jumps for a particular stock will be positively autocorrelated. We test this prediction and find that jumps exhibit statistically and economically significant positive autocorrelations.     

Private Equity vs. PLC Boards in the U.K.: A Comparison of Practices and Effectiveness

The consistently higher returns generated by the most successful private equity firms have been attributed in part to their willingness to take on high levels of debt and their ability to exit from their investments at attractive multiples. But recent research suggests that the largest contributor to the superior performance of the best PE firms has been their ability to improve the operating performance of the companies they buy. And as the authors of this article argue, a key source of such improvements are fundamental differences in the way boards function in the public and private realm.
Using in-depth interviews with 20 executives who have served on both PE and plc boards of relatively large U.K. companies, the authors provide a number of suggestive insights into such differences:
Perhaps the most visible of these differences is the "single-minded" focus of PE boards on "value creation," as contrasted with the focus of plc boards on issues of "governance" and "compliance."
Whereas PE boards view their role as "leading" the strategy of the firm and overseeing its execution by top management, plc boards are described as "monitoring" or "accompanying" strategies that are proposed and executed by management.
Whereas PE boards report near-complete alignment of objectives between executive and non-executive directors, plc boards are described as having multiple commitments to and priorities that are divided among multiple stakeholders.
Finally, whereas PE board members undergo an intensive "due diligence" process when joining boards, have frequent ongoing contacts with management, and focus heavily on the cash-generating capacity of the business, initiations of plc board members are much more formal and ceremonial, their dealings with operating management are few and limited, and the information provided them has an "accounting" orientation and covers a broad range of subjects and corporate "responsibilities."     

Monitoring the accounting profession under the AICPA code of professional conduct: An analysis of state board of accountancy participation

We study state board of accountancy participation in monitoring the conduct of accounting professionals under the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ (AICPA) Code of Professional Conduct (CPC). In doing so, we examine all sanctions imposed by the AICPA under its CPC from 2008 to 2016 to determine the extent to which a state board’s reporting of violations to the AICPA is associated with its full, partial, or non-adoption of the AICPA’s CPC. Our findings suggest that widespread full adoption of the AICPA’s CPC might not result in enhanced state board participation in reporting violations to the AICPA, as might otherwise be expected. Indeed, we find that state boards that partially adopt the AICPA’s CPC report the most violations. We also highlight the variability of state board participation in monitoring the misconduct of accounting professionals and provide suggestions for enhanced monitoring.     

Pension Funds and the U.K. Economy

Abstract

The paper considers the impact of U.K. defined benefit (DB) pension plan unding and investment on the U.K. economy. It suggests that many conventional theories are based on incomplete or inconsistent economics. In particular, the author suggests that:

? An economy cannot really gain competitive advantage from high returns on the domestic assets in which pension funds invest.

? DB liabilities are essentially similar for most schemes and can be closely matched with bonds.

? Funding pension liabilities has no primary impact on individuals’ consumption and saving or on firms’ capital investment.

? Pension funds are not natural investors in the equity of new ventures.

The conclusion of the paper is that the most significant impact of pension funds on the U.K. economy relates to the costs imposed by extreme mismatching between their financial assets and liabilities. The author argues that such risks can, in essence, “crowd out” entrepreneurial risk. He asserts that the U.K. economy would gain from greater focus on the matching of these assets and liabilities, and that the best way to stimulate enterprise is by eliminating the frictional costs in the economy arising from current practices.     

ENVIRONMENTAL VARIABLES OF MULTINATIONAL TRANSFER PRICING: A U.K. PERSPECTIVE

This paper reports the findings from an empirical study of multinational transfer pricing based on the information provided by 47 British multinational companies. The results indicate that company profit after tax was the key consideration for those companies in formulating their international transfer pricing policies. In addition, they also considered other important variables including the competitive position of their foreign subsidiaries, divisional performance evaluation, and foreign restrictions on repatriation of profits. Six dimensions of environment variables of multinational transfer pricing were also extracted using factor analysis technique.