Wall Street''s contribution to management accounting: the Stern Stewart EVAfinancial management system

EVA^®is a variant of residual income marketed byStern Stewart & Co., a New York consulting firm, with the purpose of promoting value–maximizing behaviour in corporate managers. This paper reviews the EVA system in the light of this purpose. First, it outlines the rationale for the use of residual income in ‘value-based management’, highlighting the potential shortcomings of residual income as a single-period performance indicator. Second, it considers the adjustments to GAAP-based accounting advocated by Stern Stewart in order to produce a more economically meaningful version of residual income (EVA) which might serve as an effective indicator of single-period performance. Third, it examines the Stern Stewart approach to the setting of EVA benchmarks. Finally, it reviews the logic behind the use of the ‘bonus bank’ to separate the award of EVA–based bonuses from the payment of such bonuses.     

Earnings Management and the Long-Run Market Performance of Initial Public Offerings

Issuers of initial public offerings (IPOs) can report earnings in excess of cash flows by taking positive accruals. This paper provides evidence that issuers with unusually high accruals in the IPO year experience poor stock return performance in the three years thereafter. IPO issuers in the most "aggressive" quartile of earnings managers have a three-year aftermarket stock return of approximately 20 percent less than IPO issuers in the most "conservative" quartile. They also issue about 20 percent fewer seasoned equity offerings. These differences are statistically and economically significant in a variety of specifications.     

Effects of Feedback and Task Predictability onTask Learning and Judgment Accuracy

This study examines the effect of different types of feedback on task learning and judgment accuracy across different levels of task predictability. The results of a laboratory study show that outcome feedback, alone, and in combination with task properties feedback, promotes judgment accuracy for both high and medium levels of task predictability. The beneficial impact of outcome feedback resulted from learning effects. Specifically , the outcome feedback improved judgment accuracy because of improved task knowledge and, in contrast to previous psychology research, it did not cause a deterioration in judgment consistency where task predictability was less than perfect. The results suggest that the negative effects of outcome feedback on judgment accuracy found in the psychology literature, where task predictability is less than perfect, may be limited in accounting settings where judges have experience with the task.     

INFORMATION ASYMMETRY,MANAGEMENT CONTROL,AND METHOD OF PAYMENT IN ACQUISITIONS

We examine the information asymmetry hypothesis and the management control hypothesis by examining the relation between insider trading and insider holdings to the choice of payment method in acquisitions. Our results indicate that both insider ownership and insider trading are significantly related to payment method. These results provide additional evidence for both the management control theory and the asymmetric information theory in the choice of payment method in acquisitions. Furthermore, we find a significant relation between insider trading activity and the market reaction to the announcement of acquisitions. We conclude that information asymmetry exists in the takeover market and that it influences the payment method decision.     

Tax resistance, economy and state transformation in China and Europe

This article considers the distinct ways in which Chinese and European governments have historically approached taxation. The similarities of popular resistance in both regions to taxation deemed illegitimate contrast with the diverse solutions to tax collection put forward under varied political systems. Differences in state relations with elites, the intensity of demands for revenues and the kinds of strategies developed to secure additional funding contribute to the definition of distinct patterns of political change. Tax operations can therefore serve as a useful diagnostic for comparing broader economic and political developments in China and Europe over the past several centuries. Received: August 28, 1999 / Accepted: January 20, 2000     

Fixed Asset Revaluation and Equity Depletion in the UK

UK GAAP has traditionally allowed the write-off of purchased goodwill directly to reserves, resulting in the widespread depletion of book equity. Companies have also been permitted to revalue fixed assets at management's discretion. This study examines whether upward revaluations have been associated with the depletion of book equity and with other costly contracting explanations identified in prior research. Our results provide strong support for the equity depletion hypothesis, both with regard to the decision to revalue and the timing of the revaluations. Indebtedness, liquidity, size and fixed asset intensity are also consistently associated with upward revaluation.     

Growth of Hong Kong Before and After its Reversion to China: The China Factor

The paper focuses on the Hong Kong economy and attempts to measure the contribution of Hong Kong's integration with mainland China to its GDP growth rate. Two linkages have received particular attention, namely, Hong Kong's foreign direct investment (FDI) in China and immigrants from China. While the former is assumed to stimulate capital investment in Hong Kong but at the same time to reduce human capital formation (owing to a shrinkage of its domestic manufacturing sector), the latter is assumed to further reduce Hong Kong's average human capital because immigrants tend to be less educated. By making some assumptions about the future trajectories of Hong Kong direct investment in China and Chinese immigrants into Hong Kong after its reversion to China, the paper offers some predictions about Hong Kong's future economic growth.     

Global influences on UK manufacturing prices: 1970-2000

We introduce the first consistent series of domestic-product and related import price indices at the industry level for the UK, using the data to analyse both domestic and international determinants of UK manufactured product prices. Foreign influences on UK prices in domestic markets are always present, but domestic cost movements dominate. We show that the pass-through of world-price, tariff and exchange rate changes into product prices is partial in general and varies markedly between product categories. Standard tariff and exchange rate theories overstate price responses to global pricing determinants and fail to allow for variation between industrial sectors. Such theories can mislead when used for policy analysis and prediction.