Trade developments during the first Lomé Convention

The Lomé Convention signed in 1975 between the European Economic Community (EEC) and 46 African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) States, was hailed as a model for a New International Economic Order. This article analyses the trade between the two groupings during the five years (1975–1979) of the first Convention, in the context of world trade. In general there was no substantial change in trade flows. Contrary to ACP aspirations for an improvement in their export performance with the Europeans, the EEC share of ACP exports declined. Despite the Convention's provisions, the ACP even failed to maintain their shares of the EEC market, actually faring worse than other non-oil LDCs. Little diversification was achieved in ACP exports. In contrast, the EEC maintained its position in ACP markets.     

A Phase-wise Development Approach to Business Excellence: Towards an Innovative,Stakeholder-oriented Assessment Tool for Organizational Excellence and CSR

The European Corporate Sustainability Framework (ECSF) is, among other concepts, based on a phase-wise development approach as described by Clare Graves' Levels of Existence Theory. As much as corporate sustainability has a sequence of adequate interpretations, aligned with each development level, also the notion of business excellence can be defined at multiple levels, as this paper demonstrates. Furthermore, the authors analyze the current EFQM Excellence Model for particular biases towards various development levels and suggest a new and innovative two-step approach to assessing organizational performance with respect to organizational excellence (OE) and corporate sustainability. According to the organization's ambition, the assessment is either limited to a shareholder approach, mainly focusing at optimal usage of resources, or it also includes an additional assessment format based on the stakeholder approach, with specific reference to the organization's performance on the financial, social and ecological bottom line. This paper demonstrates the need and feasibility of an EFQM-Based assessment tool with a combined focus on corporate sustainability and OE.     

The Role and Current Status of IFRS in the Completion of National Accounting Rules – Evidence from Poland

ABSTRACT

We outline the process of implementation of the accounting Directive 2013/34/EU by the Republic of Poland in the context of references to IFRS. The purpose of the article is to determine to what extent IFRS are used by actors taking part in the legislative and enforcement processes. The accounting regulation in Poland comprises an act of Parliament and the regulations of the Ministry of Finance. As a result the regulation is relatively succinct and many elements present in IFRS are not covered, while the issues of record-keeping and verification of accounting documentation receive more attention. A review of the responses to a call for opinions reveals that IFRS are rarely mentioned.     

Accounting for People: A real step forward or more a case of wishing and hoping?

In principle, the Accounting for People initiative announced by the UK government in January 2003 held out the possibility of a real step forward in promoting the interests of employees. Despite its distinctly managerialist discourse, the initiative acknowledged that having now recognised that ‘people are our greatest asset’, employers should begin to consider how to report on their people management activities in financial statements. After more than three and a half years of consultation, debate and deliberation, larger UK quoted companies are now charged with providing only a minimal level of general information on their employees. Whatever promise may have been evident to wishful thinkers in the early months of the initiative, this outcome confirms that there is little possibility for progressively ‘accounting for people’ as long as such practices are shaped by powerful sectional interests. The purpose of this paper is to subject the initiative to critical scrutiny. The paper seeks to document how the Accounting for People initiative was quickly and effectively emasculated as a consequence of the power and influence wielded by the UK accountancy profession, identified as a key agent of capital. Additionally, attention is drawn to a number of contemporary developments, largely and perhaps knowingly ignored in the course of the Accounting for People debate, that may yet inform and energise a more radical approach to accounting for people.     

娱乐场所未婚从业人员性行为研究——以江苏某市一大型娱乐场所为例

利用2007年6-7月对江苏某市一大型娱乐中心489名未婚从业人员匿名问卷调查的资料,了解他们的性行为现状,分析其"不安全性行为"相关因素.娱乐场所未婚从业人员的婚前性行为比例远高于其他人群,安全套使用比例不高,存在诸多"不安全性行为",他们的"不安全性行为"与流动状况相关,是否使用安全套和有多个性伙伴与艾滋病相关知识和态度不显著相关.     

Managerial ability,forecasting quality,and open-market repurchase program completion

Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting - We examine how the US and EU antidumping (AD) cases against Chinese firms affected their stock prices and long-term financial performance during...     

The Political Limits of Economic Integration

Economic integration can be beneficial for all participating countries. But after a point, further gains from integration can be achieved only by trading off costs in one policy or sector against benefits in another. In this article we explore the relationship between these trade-offs and their political sustainability. We conjecture that a viable policy is politically sustainable when its benefits to citizens are visible to them. In the longer term, the trade-offs which are required to deepen integration become invisible, at which point reversing the process of integration appears to be in the national interest. We conclude that integration needs to be supported with domestic policies that mitigate the costs of integration borne by some groups or sectors.     

Innovations in the Application of Insurance-linked Securities in Non-financial Companies

Recently, capital market innovations within transferring insurable risk have grown in diversity. It initiated the development of innovative financial instruments, with the prime role of Insurance Linked Securities （ILS）. Financial institutions （insurers in particular） remain the key players on this market. However, ILS are applicable in non-financial companies as well. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to broadly discuss the application of ILS in non-financial companies. In particular, the purpose of this paper is to provide answers to the crucial questions： （1） What are the potential areas of the use of ILS in non-financial companies？ （2） What are the consequences of the use of ILS in non-financial companies？ The paper is based on the application of document analysis and literature studies as its main research methods. The literature review was directed to enable the provision of systemized characteristics of 1LS. Additionally, case studies were implemented to indicate the areas of ILS applications in non-financial companies. Overall, ILS in the class of financial instruments （including cat bonds, insurance derivatives, and contingent capital structures） may find potential use in non-financial companies. However, significant limitations of such a use are identifiable, mainly within the expert knowledge need and accessibility.     

The Deviance Information Criterion in Comparison of Normal Mixing Models

Model selection from several non‐nested models by using the deviance information criterion within Bayesian inference Using Gibbs Sampling (BUGS) software needs to be treated with caution. This is particularly important if one can specify a model in various mixing representations, as for the normal variance‐mean mixing distribution occurring in financial contexts. We propose a procedure to compare goodness of fit of several non‐nested models, which uses BUGS software in part.     

Employed unemployed? On shadow employment in transition

Unregistered employment poses two types of challenges to the researchers: (1) reliably evaluating the wage differential between formally and informally employed and (2) accounting for the push and pull factors in general and the effects of business cycle in particular. We address the former with the use of propensity score matching and analyse the evolution of the estimated average compensations and the differentials with reference to GDP and unemployment fluctuations. Using 13 years of quarterly labour force survey data from Poland of de iure unemployed but de facto employed individuals we find, that in-the-shadow compensations tend to be higher and procyclical. We also find considerable distributional heterogeneity.