IFRS framework-based case study: DaimlerChrysler – Adopting IFRS accounting policies

This instructional case applies a framework-based approach to explore the concept of comparability in financial reporting and retrospective application of new accounting policies. The DaimlerChrysler (DC) case provides an opportunity for you to research key financial reporting concepts, analyze accounting policy differences between U.S. GAAP and IFRS, determine adjustments necessary to convert financial statements from U.S. GAAP to IFRS, and compute and discuss key ratio impacts following financial statement conversion. This case demonstrates that transitioning to IFRS is more than an accounting issue; it provides opportunities for financial restructuring (e.g., Daimler’s amendments to pension plans and its 2007 sale of Chrysler). It also illustrates the importance of professional judgment when initially adopting IFRS accounting policies. Also, despite FASB and IASB convergence efforts, you learn that most of the key differences between U.S. GAAP and IFRS identified in DC’s reconciliations continue today. This case helps you to: (1) develop skills to interpret and apply the requirements on first-time adoption of IFRS to a real-world setting; (2) research key differences between U.S. GAAP and IFRS and their effects on the financial statements and ratios; and (3) understand significant impacts of the transition to IFRS on businesses and financial statements. Completing the case develops your critical thinking and research/technological skills.     

Accounting for complex investment transactions

This case study exposes students to complex investment transactions. You must document the following: (1) apply the appropriate accounting literature along with its provisions and justify the order of its application; (2) identify and interpret key facts to classify the given investments and relations; (3) discuss the choice of key assumptions that are central to the analysis; (4) interpret the nature of all investment relations with Holdings; discuss all Owner level and below relations; (5) discuss how accounting for varied levels of influence impact the items reported on/off the face of investors' financial statements; (6) from DT's perspective, discuss the potential positives and negatives of its arrangement with Owner with respect to Holdings; and (7) after analyzing additional facts, discuss the nature of the relations of Simon and Herb III with Owner.     

The Elite of St Petersburg as Seen by the City Inhabitants

This paper is based on a survey of St Petersburg's elite, carried out in October 1994 for a city daily, Nevskoe Vremia (a paper with approximately 100,000 subscribers). A representative sample of 800 city dwellers were interviewed by phone, responding to mainly open questions about the city elite. Eight main indicators provided data on the general composition of the elite and lists of names by categories of influence, authority and personal fortune. Of the 150 names nominated by our respondents, all but 12 were identified and characterized in terms of their current or recent formal status, political or social-cultural standing and/or reputation. Some general and specific problems of the study are considered: What is an elite? Is there a theoretical consensus on the nature of the ruling and non-ruling constituents of an elite? What are the dynamics of regional or city elites in modern Russia today? Has the emergence of an elite any relevance to the system of representative democracy and to other aspects of social life? What are the mechanisms determining the formation and reproduction of an elite in public space? Cet article est basé sur un sondage de l'élite de Saint Pétersbourg, fait en 1994 pour un quotidien de la ville, Nevskoe Vremia (un journal qui a environ 100,000 abonnés). Une section représentative de 800 citadins fut interviewée par téléphone, répondant à des questions, principalement des questions ouvertes, concernant l'élite de la ville. Huit indicateurs principaux offraient des informations sur la composition des élites et des listes de noms classés par catégories d'influence, d'autorité et de fortune personnelle. Des 150 noms cités par les personnes interrogées, tous sauf 12 furent identifiés et caractérisés par leur statut formel, leur rang et/ou réputation politique ou socio-culturel, actuels ou récents. Certains problèmes de cette étude, généraux ou spécifiques, sont examinés. Qu'est-ce qu'une élite? Y a-t-il un consensus quant à la nature des éléments qui constituent une élite dirigeante et non-dirigeante? Quelles sont les dynamiques des élites régionales ou citadines de la Russie moderne actuelle? Est-ce que l'apparition d'une élite a un rapport avec le système de democratie représentative et avec d'autres aspects de la vie sociale? Quels sont les processus qui déterminent la formation et la reproduction d'une élite dans l'espace public?     

Asymptotic Investment Behaviors under a Jump-Diffusion Risk Process

We study an optimal investment control problem for an insurance company. The surplus process follows the Cramer-Lundberg process with perturbation of a Brownian motion. The company can invest its surplus into a risk-free asset and a Black-Scholes risky asset. The optimization objective is to minimize the probability of ruin. We show by new operators that the minimal ruin probability function is a classical solution to the corresponding HJB equation. Asymptotic behaviors of the optimal investment control policy and the minimal ruin probability function are studied for low surplus levels with a general claim size distribution. Some new asymptotic results for large surplus levels in the case with exponential claim distributions are obtained. We consider two cases of investment control: unconstrained investment and investment with a limited amount.     

Youth entrepreneurship in emerging economies: can family support help navigate institutional voids?

Abstract

Institutional voids plague entrepreneurship in emerging economies. In this paper, we investigate how the social structure of the family can enable young entrepreneurs to navigate the institutional voids and progress through the venturing process. Findings suggest that both institutional voids and family support have a significant effect on startup activities, and that family financial support helps absorb the negative influence of capital market voids. Our study begins to explain the relationship between institutional voids and family support, thereby contributing to the ongoing development of institutional theory in an emerging economy context and to the literature on family influences on entrepreneurship.     

FASB's ASU 2011-7 changes financial statement reporting requirements

FASB's new Accounting Standards Update 2011-07 will change how healthcare entities accumulate and report major portions of their financial statements, including patient revenues, net accounts receivables, and bad-debt expenses. Healthcare entities now must reclassify their provisions for bad debts associated with patient service revenue from an operating expense to a deduction from patient service revenue (net of contractual allowances and discounts). International Financial Reporting Standards do not require healthcare entities to comply with this new standard.     

“China,why not?”: serious leisure and transmigrant runners’ stories from Beijing

The purpose of this study was to examine how amateur, serious distance runners negotiate their running practices upon transnational migration to China. Despite the extensive body of research into expatriate experiences and adaptation, serious leisure as a site where meaning-making occurs has not been studied in existing research. Through interviews with five female and two male expatriates, we studied the ways in which Western runners brought meaning to the transition experience and negotiated meanings and bodily practices associated with running. Through narrative analysis, we identified three core narratives of migration (possibility, necessity and growing up) and two emergent narratives (community and running to feel like oneself) about shifting meaning in running. We conclude with implications for future research in serious leisure and migration studies.     

The optimal initial allocation of pollution permits: a relative performance approach

The initial allocation of pollution permits is an important aspect of emissions trading schemes. We generalize the analysis of Böhringer and Lange (2005, Eur Econ Rev 49(8): 2041–2055) to initial allocation mechanisms that are based on inter-firm relative performance comparisons (including grandfathering and auctions, as well as novel mechanisms). We show that using firms’ historical output for allocating permits is never optimal in a dynamic permit market setting, while using firms’ historical emissions is optimal only in closed trading systems and only for a narrow class of allocation mechanisms. Instead, it is possible to achieve social optimality by allocating permits based only on an external factor, which is independent of output and emissions. We then outline sufficient conditions for a socially optimal relative performance mechanism.     

SOME WELFARE IMPLICATIONS OF OPTIMAL STABILISATION POLICY IN AN ECONOMY WITH CAPITAL AND STICKY PRICES

In this paper we review and extend some of the key lessons that seem to be emerging from the Ramsey‐inspired theory of dynamic optimal monetary and fiscal policies. We construct measures of the key distortions in our economy; we label these ‘dynamic wedges’. Inflation, actual or anticipated, distorts these wedges in the present period, shrinks the tax base and increases the deadweight loss. We show that, if possible, labour as well as capital ought to be subsidised in steady state. We point to a number of extensions to the Ramsey literature that may help in the formulation of actual policy.     

In good company: The role of personal and inter-firm networks for new-venture internationalization in a transition economy

Although personal and inter-firm networks are critical for the survival and growth of entrepreneurial ventures in transition economies, their role in new-venture internationalization has been understudied. Exploring the internationalization of entrepreneurial ventures (n = 623) in Bulgaria, we find that domestic personal networks have a positive effect on internationalization. Firm age negatively moderates the effect of inter-firm networks: the earlier the new venture engages in inter-firm collaboration, the higher the degree of its internationalization. Internationalization is positively associated with new venture size and varies by industry. Implications for managerial practice and public policy are discussed.