Accountability and corporate governance of public private partnerships

Brennan and Solomon (2008) identify six new frontiers in accountability and corporate governance research to stimulate research. This paper contributes to such research by devising a reporting framework and research agenda that relates to Brennan and Solomon's fourth frontier, sectors and context, focusing on the regulated hybrid organisational forms of Public Private Partnerships, which operate at the interface of the public and private sectors.As the framework shows, these organisations are subject to multiple influences and demands. There is a need for more and different reporting than is the norm under the private sector's decision-useful reporting framework. Although the framework focuses on what Mulgan (2000) describes as the core of accountability, it is not only a financial reporting framework but it also seeks to make concrete Kamuf's (2007) argument that accountability might include accounting through narrative as well as the prevailing numeric evaluation.The paper stresses the need for information to be accessible to the public, and in particular argues that a stream of information between the public and private sector partners needs to be developed and disseminated to achieve accountability for public money that is increasingly spent in the private sector.     

The role of the forecasting process in improving forecast accuracy and operational performance

Several operations decisions are based on proper forecast of future demand. For this reason, manufacturing companies consider forecasting a crucial process for effectively guiding several activities and research has devoted particular attention to this issue. This paper investigates the impact of how forecasting is conducted on forecast accuracy and operational performances (i.e. cost and delivery performances). Attention is here paid on three factors that characterize the forecasting process: whether structured techniques are adopted, whether information from different sources is collected to elaborate forecasts, and the extent to which forecasting is used to support decision-making processes. Analyses are conducted by means of data provided by the fourth edition of the Global Manufacturing Research Group survey. Data was collected from 343 companies belonging to several manufacturing industries from six different countries. Results show that companies adopting a structured forecasting process can improve their operational performances not simply because forecast accuracy increases. This paper highlights the importance of a proper forecasting-process design, that should be coherent with how users intend to exploit forecast results and with the aim that should be achieved, that is not necessarily improving forecast accuracy.     

Anonymity and individual risk

Adverse selection economies with private information are generally studied under the assumption that contracts are exclusive. That is, retrading is prohibited. An alternative market mechanism, the anonymous mechanism, is studied here. Risk averse agents trade contingent claims directly and side markets are in equilibrium. The result is the anonymous equilibrium. The anonymous equilibrium results in a set of endogenous transfers and subsidies.     

Do Geographic Scale Economies Explain Disturbances to Heckscher–Ohlin Trade?

This paper examines whether "geographic scale economies" explain the trade that remains unexplained by the Heckscher–Ohlin model. The paper develops a theoretical specification that integrates geographic scale economies into the Heckscher–Ohlin model, and develops a statistical method for detecting geographic scale economies in the distributional features of a disturbance term. The units of analysis are US states. The findings reveal that empirical support for the Heckscher–Ohlin theory is improved by accounting for geographic scale economies within states; geographic scale economies do not generate differences in Rybczynski effects across states; and the scope of geographic scale economies is contained within states.     

Discussion of “Accruals,Cash Flows and Equity Values”

Review of Accounting Studies -     

Do Analysts and Auditors Use Information in Accruals?

Existing research indicates that firms with high accruals are more likely to experience future earnings problems, but that investors' expectations, as reflected in stock prices, do not appear to anticipate these problems. In this paper, we directly examine the published opinions of two types of professional investor intermediaries to see if they provide investors with information concerning the future earnings problems experienced by firms with high accruals. First, we examine the earnings forecasts of sell-side analysts. We show that analysts' earnings forecasts do not incorporate the predictable future earnings declines associated with high accruals. Second, we examine the behavior of independent auditors. We find no evidence that auditors signal the future earnings problems associated with high accruals through either their audit opinions or through auditor changes. Overall, our evidence indicates that analysts and auditors do not alert investors to the future earnings problems associated with high accruals, thus corroborating previous findings that investors do not appear to anticipate these problems.     

Improving employee service levels through identifying sources of customer satisfaction

A major source of satisfaction for customers of hospitality operations is the service employees provide. In order for employees to be trained to perform activities which provide customer satisfaction, it is necessary for the hospitality manager to determine what service actions bring about satisfaction. The major thrust of this article is to describe an objective approach for designing an instrument that may be used to identify components of customer satisfaction. The identification of these specific measurable behaviours will be a great asset to hospitality managers in training and evaluating their employees, ultimately leading to a higher level of customer satisfaction.