Swedish auditors' view of auditing: Doing things right versus doing the right things

Abstract

This paper aims to describe and analyse the thought patterns of Swedish auditors with regard to the way in which they audit information provided by listed companies, and possible changes in their duties. Eighty-two auditors were interviewed using the repertory grid technique and open-ended interview questions. To check the stability in the thought patterns of the respondents, six retests were made and, to validate the findings, an expert panel and two reference groups consisting of auditors and other representatives of the accounting and auditing professions were consulted. Distinct patterns emerged in the mean grid of the thought patterns of all the respondents. One dimension was related to the time perspective, past versus future, and another to auditing practice. Auditors devote a relatively long time and considerable effort to objects that can be satisfactorily verified, but not to objects that they perceive as being of primary importance to investors and other stakeholders. This inconsistency in the thought patterns of the auditors is similar to the gap between auditing in practice and stakeholders' expectations of auditing, which is a phenomenon frequently found in previous research. Moreover, the auditors were very reluctant to make statements about any information except that elicited according to current practice. In addition to this traditional view, the auditors appear to be more concerned about their own situation than that of the parties they are meant to be protecting. Doing things right seems to be more important than doing the right things. That the auditors spend much time on objects that they themselves do not consider to be of primary importance for the investors and other stakeholders, and their unwillingness to change current practice is of great concern in Sweden, where there is a strong belief in self-regulation of the auditing profession.     

The impact of index‐insured loans on credit market participation and risk‐taking

Index‐insured loans offer considerable advantages over standalone insurance policies for improving farmers’ access to agricultural credit. However, research on demand for such products and their impact on profitable investment decisions has been limited and conflicting. In this article, we investigate the impact of index insurance on demand for credit and investment decisions using a lab‐in‐the‐field experiment conducted in rural Tanzania. We find that index insurance increases demand for credit and high‐risk high‐return investments.     

Losing autonomy: the Norwegian central bank during the Second World War

In the mid‐twentieth century a number of central banks around the western world lost their operational autonomy and were placed under government control. The origin of these policy changes can be traced to the intellectual and political developments of the interwar era in addition to the introduction of the Bretton Woods monetary system. The Norwegian central bank offers a particularly stark example of this phenomenon: experiencing a rapid decline from its high level of autonomy in the interwar years, to a clear subordination to the government after 1945. Through an analysis of the correspondence between the main policy makers in the exiled Norwegian government and central bank management, this article contributes to the understanding of central bank autonomy by tracing the decisive factors that led to the Norwegian central bank's loss of agency.     

Working onboard - Job perception, organizational commitment and job satisfaction in the cruise sector

This paper focuses on the perceived work environment and its influence on organizational commitment and job satisfaction in the cruise sector. Two focus group interviews were conducted in addition to one survey among the crew in an upmarket cruise line. The focus groups elicited responses concerning crew experiences of working onboard. Based on this information, a questionnaire was constructed to measure job perceptions among crew members. The results indicate that all of the experience domains were related to job commitment and job satisfaction, but that the strongest effects were found to be perceived “Respect”, the “Social atmosphere”, and “Food and living quarters”.     

Fuel Efficiency Improvements: Feedback Mechanisms and Distributional Effects in the Oil Market

We study the interactions between fuel efficiency improvements in the transport sector and the oil market, where the efficiency improvements are policy-induced in certain regions of the world. We are especially interested in feedback mechanisms of fuel efficiency such as the rebound effect, carbon leakage and the “green paradox”, but also the distributional effects for oil producers. An intertemporal numerical model of the international oil market is introduced, where OPEC-Core producers have market power. We find that the rebound effect has a noticeable effect on the transport sector, with the magnitude depending on the oil demand elasticity. In the benchmark simulations, we calculate that almost half of the energy savings may be lost to a direct rebound effect and an additional 10% to oil price adjustments. In addition, there is substantial intersectoral leakage to other sectors through lower oil prices in the regions that introduce the policy. There is a small green paradox effect in the sense that oil consumption increases initially when the fuel efficiency measures are gradually implemented. Finally, international carbon leakage will be significant if policies are not implemented in all regions; we estimate leakage rates of 35% or higher when only major consuming regions implement fuel economy policies. Non-OPEC producers will to a larger degree than OPEC producers cut back on its oil supply as a response to fuel efficiency policies due to high production costs.     

The Questionable Use of Moral Development Theory in Studies of Business Ethics: Discussion and Empirical Findings

The topic of the article is how moral development theory can enlighten the understanding of ethical behaviour in business. It discusses previous research on the subject, and reports an empirical study of academics (engineers and business economists with a master degree) working in the private sector in Norway.Moral development theory is based on a long research tradition, and many researchers within business ethics have assumed the importance of moral reasoning in business environments. However, the truth of these assumptions has not been confirmed by previous empirical research.The article reports on my investigation into the relationship between moral reasoning, ethical attitudes and decision-making behaviour. The data were collected by a survey study among Norwegian engineers and business economists working in businesses (N = 449) in 1997.It has been hypothesised that strong ethical attitudes would have a restraining effect on moral reasoning. In order to test this, ethical attitudes were categorized into four issue categories. The assumption being that the four categories would explain the different restraints on moral reasoning. The statistical testing showed that there was a negative, but not significant, correlation between strong attitudes and good moral reasoning ability.It was also hypothesised that good ability in moral reasoning would tend to exhibit a smaller difference between Policy-decisions and Action-decisions. This hypothesis was based on the difference in behaviour explained in "espoused theory" and "theory in use". When making policy-decisions these can be based on espoused theory and nice "talk" because it is always possible to make exceptions to or reconsider a policy. Action-decisions, on the other hand, are very concrete because they immediately trigger an action. The statistical testing rejected my hypothesis but gave a significant converse result: Good ability in moral reasoning seems to imply less stability and more inconsistence.The article concludes with the fact that moral reasoning testing seems to explain some differences in moral reasoning among people in business but not what kind of behavioural effects these differences actually have.     

Manors and states: the distribution and structure of private manors in early modern Scandinavia and their relation to state policies

ABSTRACT

This article explores the development of private manors in Scandinavia between the reformation and the eve of the great agrarian reforms in Denmark ca. 1770 and their relation to state policies. It compares Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Skåne and Schleswig-Holstein. Firstly, it analyses the amount of land held by private landlords and the internal structure of the landholding class. It shows that it changed considerably over time, but in very different ways in the different territories. This is explained by the interaction of the nobility or landholding classes with the state power. Secondly, the article looks at the economic and spatial structure of manors with specific attention to the degree of demesne farming based upon corvee. It is discussed to which degree these manors came to follow the path of Gutsherrschaft or demesne lordship associated with the lands south of the Baltic. Demesnes of Scandinavia were erected and enlarged out of a mixture of agricultural economic considerations, tax evasion and status needs. Also this differed with territory. Part of the explanation is a different structure of the nobility emerging from massive ennoblements in Sweden, but also in other direct or indirect ways the state furthered, hindered or checked the development.     

How governments seek to bridge the financing gap for university spin-offs: proof-of-concept,pre-seed,and seed funding

University spin-offs often develop early-stage technologies characterised by long development paths and uncertain commercial potential. Private financiers, such as banks, informal investors, and venture capital firms, are reluctant to invest in these ventures at an early stage. To bridge this financing gap, governments have set up specialised programmes, but few studies have examined the rationale and organisation of different types of programmes. We analyse government schemes in six countries and identify three main categories of funding initiatives. Proof-of-concept (PoC) schemes aim to reduce the technological uncertainty. Pre-seed schemes aim to reduce the organisational uncertainty and make the nascent venture attractive to investors. Seed funding schemes provide early-stage equity financing. The seed funding initiatives seek to improve the supply of funding, while there seems to be an increasing number of pre-seed and PoC schemes seeking to bridge the financing gap from the demand-side by increasing the attractiveness of the spin-offs towards investors.     

The relationship between resources,entrepreneurial orientation and performance in farm-based ventures

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how firm-specific resources and entrepreneurial orientation (EO) of the firm may influence performance in small farm-based ventures. It builds upon theoretical strands from the resource-based and entrepreneurship perspectives. Research within these fields indicates that these relationships might be dependent on the context within which the firm operates. Hypotheses are developed to test the possible effect of entrepreneurial efforts and resources (financial position, farm size, location, network and unique competence) on short- and long-term performance. Data gathered in 2003 and 2006 from farms engaged in innovative ventures were used to test the hypotheses. The results show that financial capacity, unique competence and entrepreneurial efforts influence performance in the investigated firms. This suggests that firms do get paid back in the long run for engaging in entrepreneurial efforts. Thus, entrepreneurial activities and attitudes represent an important factor enabling firms to create, reconsider and apply their resources in more efficient ways.