The unintended consequences of PCAOB auditing Standard Nos. 2 and 3 on the reliability of preliminary earnings releases

Implementation of Public Company Accounting Oversight Board Auditing Standards No. 2 on internal control and No. 3 on documentation has delayed audit completion. However, due to market demand for timely disclosures, most firms maintain the same preliminary earnings release date even though the audit may not be complete as of that date. Results indicate revisions to preliminary announcements when filing the 10-K report would have been 35% lower during 2005 if the historical frequency of issuing earnings releases after the audit report date had not changed. Additionally, stock market reaction to impending revisions suggests lower reliability of preliminary earnings.     

The Geopolitics of conflict and diamonds in Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone provides an example of a current geopolitical reality in which both a state and an insurrection developed similar characteristics of predatory behaviour as they competed for a dispersed, accessible resource – in this case, diamonds. A conflict of this type can be sustained for extended periods if it is part of a larger global system that provides both markets for the resource and weapons. Unfortunately, the two contenders in this contest, offlcial state and insurgency, have used creative strategies to stave off defeat, initiate new rounds of combat and so perpetuated the ongoing violence and destruction. The civilian population caught in this kind of cauldron has few choices – participate in the carnage, flee, or suffer brutality. Unless the resource itself is exhausted, the termination of a resource-based confrontation is likely to come from the involvement of the international community, including the UN, individual governments, and transnational companies. A combination of interventions such as boycotts, trade restrictions, peacekeeping efforts and even a military role may be required to terminate resource wars. Yet even now, when the conflict in Sierra Leone seems to have been resolved, the social and economic changes brought about by the war and circumstances that prevail in the wider region make it difficult for the country to recreate the peace and security of past decades.     

Food Stamp Participation among Adult‐Only Households

Several recent changes in the Food Stamp Program have been directed toward households without children, including new work requirements for able‐bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs) and easier application and recertification procedures for the disabled and the elderly. Despite their relevance to policy makers, adult‐only households have not been extensively examined. We use administrative records from South Carolina to investigate how spells of food stamp participation for adult‐only households vary with ABAWD provisions, recertification intervals, and other characteristics. We find that households that were subject to ABAWD policies had shorter spells and lower rates of food stamp participation than other households. We also find that households were much more likely to leave the Food Stamp Program at recertification dates than at other dates. We further find that time limits were associated with exits with and without earnings, suggesting that this policy increased self‐sufficiency for some households but left others without support.     

Parasitic-Industries Analysis and Arguments for a Living Wage for Women in the Early Twentieth-Century United States

This paper examines arguments by activists and economists surrounding attempts to establish minimum wages for women in the United States in the Progressive Era. In particular, the paper focuses on analyses based on Beatrice and SidneyWebbs' argument that industries paying less than a living wage were "parasitic" on the society, a net drain on macro-efficiency. This analysis, widely accepted among economists of the time, viewed women as particularly vulnerable workers facing labor markets that were institutionally constructed and predatory. Unequal gender roles, employer power, and the absence of collective bargaining could all result in wages that were socially unacceptable as well as economically nonoptimal. These debates offer insights for modern feminist wage theories, and for current living wage campaigns.     

Emerging female entrepreneurship in Japan: A case study of Digimom workers

An economic solution for reversing Japan's financial challenges is entrepreneurship. New ventures are emerging outside the traditional Japanese management systems of lifetime employment, seniority systems, enterprise unions, and the Japanese business culture, which stresses a group‐oriented, riskaverse orientation. Governmental changes are slowly improving the climate for entrepreneurship. Using a case‐study approach, this article follows the development and strategic challenges facing the company Digimom (or “Digital Mom”) Workers, and profiles the historic and cultural challenges facing a female entrepreneur in Japan. Financial reports as well as a profile of the competitive environment are included. Implications and lessons learned follow the case analysis. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Business Cycles and the Relation between Security Returns and Earnings

This paper examines business cycle variation in the earnings-returns relation. Earnings are more persistent when growth rates are high (i.e., in an expansion) than when growth rates are low (i.e., in a recession). Earnings are more persistent when production is high (i.e., in a credit crunch period) than when production is low (i.e., in a reliquification period). Relatedly, earnings response coefficients are larger in expansions (credit crunch periods) than in recessions (reliquification periods). Thus, earnings persistence and earnings response coefficients are positively associated with the rate of growth in economic activity and the level of economic activity.     

Working Technologically: Investigations into How Young Children Design and Make During Technology Education

Technology education in the early years in Australia is a newly defined curriculum area. A growing amount of resource development has occurred to support technology teaching in schools. However, only a limited amount of research into technology education for children aged three to eight years has taken place. This paper presents the findings of a pilot study which investigated the planning, making and evaluating activities of children when engaged in technology education whilst in childcare. In particular, young children's ability to design, and then use their design for making was examined.     

The Behaviour of Socially Responsible Investments as Financial Assets

This paper examines the behaviour of socially responsible investments (SRIs) as financial assets using a returns-based style analysis methodology. Conflicting views exist on the risks of SRIs in terms of their exposure to asset classes and industry sectors. This paper provides empirical evidence from a sample of Australian SRI managed funds. The sample SRI funds do not have strong consistent patterns in terms of style. They do not appear to represent a homogenous category of investments, and do not belong in an investment class of their own.     

The Impact of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act On The Risk of Savings Institutions

The Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act (FIRREA) of 1989 was intended to enhance the safety of savings institutions. We develop and test a model showing how institution‐specific characteristics modify the overall effect of FIRREA on the risk of savings institutions. Our model incorporates market risk, interest rate risk, and exposure to real estate conditions. We find that risk shifts vary across savings institutions. Larger institutions exhibit no obvious shift in risk, while smaller institutions show reduced risk since FIRREA. Moreover, the effects are more favorable for institutions that maintained higher capital levels in response to FIRREA's provisions.     

Memory for advertising and information content: Comparing the printed page to the computer screen

An experiment was used to test memory for two forms of information—ad copy (persuasive) and consumer information (nonpersuasive) presented in print and screen media. For both forms of information, print outperforms screen on recall but not on recognition. The results suggest that print information is easier to retrieve but also that screen information is available in memory. Differences between print and screen media are persistent and not readily explained by any of the obvious individual factors—comfort/familiarity, preference, and reading time. Other results with implications for marketing communication decisions show that brand name is poorly recalled from the screen relative to the printed page and that the nonpersuasive consumer information is better remembered than is persuasive ad information. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.