Earnings Reported under IFRS Improve the Prediction of Future Cash Flows? Evidence from European Banks

This paper examines the relative costs and benefits of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption in the European Union by testing the ability of earnings computed under IFRS to predict future cash flows. The study considers the contribution of net income, comprehensive income and other comprehensive income to the usefulness of earnings to predict cash flows, and it compares IFRS with domestic Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). Evidence from a sample of Continental European banks shows that IFRS improve the ability of net income to predict future cash flows. Comprehensive income, too, provides relevant information to predict future cash flows, although with a measurement error which is higher than that in net income for greater lags of time. In our interpretation, these findings are consistent with unrealised gains and losses recognised in other comprehensive income being more transitory and volatile in nature. Overall, our results are relevant to academics and standard setters debating the merits of IFRS adoption and to those who use financial statements and adopt reported earnings to form expectations about future cash flows.     

Toward a bias corrected currency equivalent index

The currency equivalent index measures the discounted economic capital stock of money producing the monetary service flow, but does so under assumptions that cause downward bias. We propose an extension that will correct for a significant amount of this bias.     

Debate: Increasing the impact of academic research on public policy

Audit committees were perceived as overcoming the difficulties of operating in a political environment. In general, they achieved good ratings for monitoring internal audit but were seen as less effective in engaging with external auditors and risk management. In some key aspects the attitudes of internal auditors differed from those of committee chairs and CFOs.     

Limits on the Use of Public Space and Consumer Tactics: A Study on Urban Cycling

Although public space is supposed to be democratic and accessible to all, in reality, such access is inegalitarian and exclusionary. The research aims, therefore, to understand how public space that reflects the imposition of interests of dominant ideologies affects the consumption practices of nondominant ideologies. The qualitative research data were collected in the context of urban cycling through in-depth interviews and observation and are analyzed using a hermeneutical approach. The research explains that, in order to deal with the limits of public space use, these consumers use tactics involving (1) disputes for space, (2) disorganized occupation, and (3) transgressive practices; moreover, there is an overlapping relationship between the agency of consumers and public space.     

A Minimizing Risk Strategy for Brazilian Fixed-Income Portfolios

This study presents various risk immunization strategies for fixed-income portfolios, including not only classical measures like duration, convexity, and dispersion but also modern measures such as VaR (value-at-risk) and ES (expected shortfall). Empirical tests are conducted in the Brazilian domestic and international bond market. Because it has had one of highest interest rates since the 1990s, Brazil offers an interesting case study for fixed-income studies. Our results are different for domestic and international bonds. For domestic bonds, using the highest convexity criterion to choose the best portfolio is better than using minimum dispersion, and there is a coincidence between the optimum portfolio selected by the convexity, historical VaR, and ES criteria. For international bonds, our findings indicate that the minimum dispersion strategy performs much better than the maximum convexity strategy. The overall performance of portfolios chosen by minimum VaR and ES criteria is also good, with satisfactory realized returns and squared errors.     

New business models in online hotel distribution: emerging private sales versus leading IDS

This article deals with online hotel distribution. Its purpose is to investigate the private sales formula, which has recently emerged as a new business model. Two case studies are presented: Expedia, a leading internet distribution system (IDS), and Voyage Privé, a private sales Website. The study highlights the main features of the private sales formula by means of a cross-case comparison between the two travel Websites. The article ends with some final remarks on the main strengths and weaknesses of the formula as compared to the leading IDS in the online travel market.     

Querschnittstechnologie Internet – Universallösung für den Arbeitsmarkt der Zukunft?

The ongoing processes of digitalisation in economy and society have certainly important implications, not only for economic growth but also for the future labour market. But, what are the actual effects of this ?Digital Revolution“? Who will be the winners and who will be the losers? This article reviews the current empirical literature and draws relevant policy conclusions. While the growth effects will be substantial, the labour market effects of ICT and broadband technologies and their linkage with industrial production via the “internet of things” are likely to be ambivalent. The authors point to the need for political action with respect to labour market institutions that support workers in adjusting to the rapidly changing work environment in a digital world, and measures designed to reduce the skill gap between “digital natives” and “digital illiterates”. They also identify the need to help increase adoption and use intensity of the new technologies, rather than solely investing in broadband infrastructure.     

Cost-effectiveness of everolimus plus reduced tacrolimus in de novo liver-recipients in the Italian setting

Introduction: Long-term exposure to calcineurin inhibitor-based immunosuppressant (IS) therapy in liver transplant (LT) recipients is associated with renal complications. In the randomized trial H2304, everolimus?+?reduced-dose tacrolimus (EVR?+?rTAC) demonstrated equivalent efficacy and superior renal function compared to standard-dose tacrolimus.

Methods: To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of EVR?+?rTAC vs TAC, in de novo LT patients, a Markov model simulating both liver and kidney function was developed and estimated the long-term outcomes of IS following LT. The analysis used the Italian healthcare payer perspective.

Results: Patients treated with EVR?+?rTAC gained on average 1.92 years and 1.62 quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). The incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICER) were €35,851 and €42,567 for LY gained and QALY gained, respectively. For the hepatitis-c sub-population, the ICERs decreased to €22,519 and €30,658, respectively.

Conclusion: EVR?+?rTAC improves survival and quality-of-life and is a cost-effective alternative to calcineurin-inhibitor monotherapy for patients requiring LT.     

Finding an academic home for fundraising: a multidisciplinary study of scholars' perspectives

• The high‐demand, high‐paying field of fundraising does not have an academic home in higher education, which hampers fundraising research and education. Recent advances in fundraising education and research can be attributed to four different disciplines: public relations, marketing, nonprofit management, and higher education administration. This disjointed approach has impeded the empirical study of fundraising, the development of theory in the field, and the education of future fundraisers. The purpose of this study is to begin the process to scientifically identify an appropriate academic home for fundraising that benefits fundraising practice, advances scholarship, and strengthens America's nonprofit sector. In‐depth interviews were conducted with 15 scholars from multiple disciplines who had published articles on fundraising in the three major nonprofit management and philanthropy journals. Findings show that there is no consensus among scholars about whether fundraising belongs in public relations, marketing, or nonprofit management. Although this study found no consensus among fundraising scholars about the appropriate academic home for fundraising, it does identify areas of agreement and disagreement on pertinent topics and provides a benchmark to guide further discussions about locating fundraising within an academic discipline.

Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.