Implications of the mandatory transition from national GAAP to IFRS — Empirical evidence from Germany

This paper analyses the differences between German GAAP and IFRS by quantifying the effects of the first-time adoption of IFRS of German companies in their reporting practices. Due to the IAS Regulation EC No.1606/2002, all publicly traded European companies (including those in Germany) are required to prepare their consolidated financial statements in accordance with IFRS for accounting periods beginning on or after January 1, 2005. This paper measures the effect of the transition from German GAAP to IFRS by using indices of comparability that were developed by Gray (1980). Therefore, the impact on equity and net income is quantified by examining the reconciliations of 103 German companies which had to adopt IFRS for their consolidated financial statements in 2005. On average a significant increase in stockholders' equity and in net income could be observed. The increase in stockholders' equity is primarily due to the adoption of IAS 11, IAS 16, IAS 37, IAS 38 and IFRS 3. Concerning net income, the increase especially results from the adoption of IFRS 3.     

Reciprocity and statehood in Africa: from clientelism to cleptocracy

There is considerable quarrel as to what extent the shape and malfunctioning of contemporary African states can be attributed to the colonial experience or whether the precolonial heritage must be taken into account. Generally, the correct answer is that both, precolonial forms of political organization and the imposition of the colonial state, characterize the African situation. Yet, it is possible to distinguish more specifically between the two formative influences and to gauge their particular importance. Empirically, the result of the colonial encounter was, on the one hand, a subversion of traditional concepts of legitimacy and, on the other hand, still is the fact that the development of market economies and liberal democracies remains unlikely. Theoretically, I propose to use the notion of reciprocity to describe and analyze three historical forms of power relations, namely, clientelism, colonialism and cleptocracy. By reconstructing the historicity and malleability of the concept, I try to show its usefulness and adequacy to outline basic features of societal organization.     

Price competition under universal service obligations

In industries like telecom, postal services or energy provision, universal service obligations (uniform price and universal coverage) are often imposed on one market participant. Universal service obligations are likely to alter firms' strategic behavior in such competitive markets. In the present paper, we show that, depending on the entrant's market coverage and the degree of product differentiation, the Nash equilibrium in prices involves either pure or mixed strategies. We show that the pure strategy market sharing equilibrium, as identified by Valletti, Hoernig, and Barros (2002), defines a lower bound on the level of equilibrium prices.     

Exit as governance: do blockholders affect corporate innovation in large US firms?

Using a sample of large US firms, this study shows that blockholders in combination with liquidity can contribute positively to innovation (R&D investments). We contribute to the literature on managerial myopia that has focused mainly on large owners and their type (short-term/long-term). Our results are in line with recent theoretical studies arguing that blockholders in combination with market liquidity can mitigate managerial myopia, as suggested by the exit model of governance. The results indicate that blockholders can be efficient in resolving agency problems and that they can enhance long-term prosperity, even when the individual blockholder investment horizon may not be long.     

Firm wage differentiation in Eastern GermanyA non-parametric analysis of the wage spread

In Eastern Germany, wage differentiation between firms has clearly grown, parallel to individual wage differentials. Nevertheless, the wage spread between firms is still much less than in Western Germany. In this paper, a non‐parametric decomposition is used to analyze the difference between the wages spread in the two parts of Germany. Only part of the difference can be explained by different economic structures in Eastern Germany. By far, the greater part of the difference in the wage spread between firms in the two parts of the country is due to the fact that differences in wages paid by firms of the same type in Eastern Germany are much less than those of their counterparts in Western Germany. A striking result of the analysis is that the gap in the wage variance between Eastern and Western Germany is increasing.     

THE EFFECTS OF PRESENTATION FORMAT ON THE EFFECTIVENESS AND EFFICIENCY OF AUDITORS‘ ANALYTICAL REVIEW JUDGMENTS

Modern audit practice has focused increasing attention on the use of analytical review procedures to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of audits. To assist in this endeavour, one branch of analytical review research has investigated the judgment processes that auditors' use in analytical review and the development of decision aids to improve these processes. Several recent papers have considered how alternative presentations of financial and operating data, specifically graphs versus tables, may affect the effectiveness of auditors' analytical review judgments. However, the results have been mixed. This study investigated the expectation that there would be effectiveness and efficiency performance advantages for auditors receiving graphically presented data over those receiving tabular presented data in an analytical review setting. This paper reports on the results of an experiment that examined the impact of graphs versus tables on the effectiveness of sales account balance prediction, confidence in this prediction and the setting of a noninvestigation region, and the relative time efficiency with which these tasks were completed, for an analytical review of sales for a retailing client. The study found mixed results for the accuracy of the sales account balance predictions of the graphical and tabular treatment groups, with no difference found when a regression model estimate of the ‘correct’ prediction was used and greater accuracy for the graphical group when the actual audited sales account balance was used as the accuracy benchmark. No significant differences between treatment groups was found for their confidence in their sales account balance predictions and the width of the noninvestigation regions set. However, a significant time advantage was found for the graphical group. These findings suggest that there may a useful role for the use of graphs as decision aids in income statement related analytical review procedures in improving audit efficiency without sacrificing audit effectiveness.     

Foreign investment as a factor in Asian Pacific integration

The Asian Pacific countries do not only show unparalled growth dynamics, they are also in the process of growing ever closer together. There is already talk of the creation of a new economic bloc. The following article analyses private direct investment in the Asian Pacific area, an element in the economic integration of the region which has been paid little attention until now. This article is based on a study completed in November 1991 for the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs. The study has now been published in German and is available on request from the authors: Axel Borrmann and Rolf Jungnickel: Auslandsinvestitionen im asiatisch-pazifischen Integrationsprozess, HWWA-Report No. 102, Hamburg 1992.     

What to do if a dollar is not a dollar? The impact of inflation risk on production and risk management

An entrepreneur faces two types of risk: one from income generation, one from income spending. His income from firm profits is risky due to output price fluctuations and other risks. As a consumer, he is also exposed to inflation risk since he maximizes expected utility of real income. This article focuses on optimal production and risk management decisions of a risk‐averse entrepreneur jointly facing tradable output price risk and untradable inflation risk. Inflation risk applies multiplicatively to the entrepreneur's entire nominal income. Relative risk aversion and the risks' joint distribution determine the effect of introducing a futures market on production. For dependent risks, this effect may be negative if relative risk aversion is above one. Relative risk aversion and the joint distribution also determine optimal risk management with futures contracts where speculation on a real risk premium and cross hedging may be conflicting objectives. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 22:371–386, 2002