THE COST OF WASHING CLOTHES: SOURCES OF VARIATION

This paper develops the national average cost of washing clothes by examining consumer research data on the frequencies of using various water temperature settings and laundry additives and by utilizing national surveys of laundry product prices. Variations in these costs are shown to be significantly affected by three variables: (1) costs increase with family size due to the higher number of loads washed, (2) costs increase in areas where phosphate detergents are not available due to an increased use of hot water and laundry additives and (3) costs increase in harder water areas due to an increased use of hot water and fabric softener. The average increased cost for energy and laundry additives per family due to the nonavailability of phosphate detergents exceeds $11.00 per year. In addition to this amount, increased wear on washing machine parts and fabrics from the use of carbonate-built detergents significantly increases the costs to consumers in nonphosphate areas.     

Consumers' Nutritional Ratings of Fast-Food Meals

This study examines the nutritional beliefs about fast-food restaurant meals held by a small sample of consumers. Views on the nutritional quality, caloric content, potential hazards and economic value of such meals were examined with respect to the socioeconomic level and nutritional knowledge of consumers. Findings indicate that consumers perceive these nutritional aspects of fast-food meals to be important but often ignore them in practice. Implications for consumer education and a need for greater social responsibility on the part of the restaurants are noted.     

Correlates of marital satisfaction in a Manitoba low income sample

Marital satisfaction in a low-income sample in the province of Manitoba in Canada was investigated in this study. The sample consisted of 505 couples who took part in Manitoba's low-income experiment in 1974. Using a single measure of marital satisfaction, both husbands and wives reported high satisfaction. Using multiple regression analysis to examine correlates of marital satisfaction, it was found that the best predictors for couples were companionship, money management and husband's occupation. The best predictors for wives' marital satisfaction were companionship and husband's occupation, and the best predictors for husbands' marital satisfaction were companionship and money management.     

How Are Earnings Managed? An Examination of Specific Accruals*

There is relatively little evidence on the specific accruals used to manage earnings. This paper examines this issue by considering the use of specific accruals in three earnings‐management contexts: equity offerings, management buyouts, and firms avoiding earnings decreases. We argue that the costs of managing earnings through different income statement items vary and that the benefits of earnings management through each of these items depend on the context. We thus make differential predictions regarding which specific accrual will be used to manage earnings in each of the three contexts we consider. To measure earnings management for specific accruals, we develop performance‐matched measures to capture the unexpected component of accounts receivable, inventory, accounts payable, accrued liabilities, depreciation expense, and special items. Consistent with our predictions, we find that firms issuing equity appear to prefer managing earnings upward by accelerating revenue recognition. Specifically, we find that accounts receivable for these firms are unexpectedly high. Conversely, for the management buyout context, we predict and find unexpected accounts receivable to be negative. For firms trying to avoid reporting an earnings decrease, we expect firms to be less concerned with earnings persistence and therefore more likely to use more transitory, and less costly, items to achieve their goal. We find that special items are significantly more positive for this group. This paper provides a further step toward understanding how the incentives behind earnings management affect the method used to achieve earnings goals, and it illustrates the usefulness of examining individual accruals in specific contexts.     

The Use of SPlus Software to Analyse Event History Data: An Application to the Early Career Promotion of Nurses in UK

This paper discusses the benefits of using SPlus software to carry out longitudinal analyses such as event history methods. An illustration is provided using three-year career histories of a nationally drawn cohort of recently qualified registered nurses, who completed a diploma programme in the UK between August 1997 and September 1998. For the purposes of this paper, the time to first promotion is examined using a Cox proportional hazards model with a frailty term included, to allow for unobserved heterogeneity. The results indicated that men have a slightly higher rate of promotion compared with women, and particularly when compared with women who took a maternity break during their early career. Age is also a significant factor, with younger cohort members being promoted at a higher rate than their older colleagues. The inclusion of a frailty term to account for clustering at the university level also significantly improved the model. It is shown that SPlus, which is a powerful, user-friendly statistical package, can be easily utilized by researchers to carry out event history analysis as well produce high quality cumulative hazard and diagnostic plots using its sophisticated graphics facilities.     

HOUSING DEFECTS IN NEWLY PURCHASED HOMES: IMPLICATIONS FOR FAMILY RESOURCE MANAGEMENT*

The occurrence of unexpected housing defects and the expense of repair can be a sizeable burden for the unprepared home owner. Within the family management framework, unexpected event demands play an important role in the management of resources. To assess the dimension of the problem, a survey of recent home buyers was undertaken to provide empirical data on the incidence and cost of major housing problems, as well as characteristics of the buyer and homes purchased. Multiple regression and profit procedures were used to determine what factors were important in predicting incidence and cost of repair.     

ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES OF MAJOR COMPANIES: AUSTRALIAN EVIDENCE

In the world-wide literature on business and the environment, the development of a Corporate Environmental Policy (CEP) is seen as an important step in becoming environmentally aware. Australian companies have been found to be developing CEPs, and this study investigates some of the major influences on them to do so. Environmental law appears to be the most persuasive mechanism in the greening of companies. CEPs also appear to be increasingly structured and many appear to contain a statement of objectives which supports the first element of the general framework developed by Grayet al. (1987) for social (environmental) reporting.