Welfare Effects of Timely Reporting

A principal-agent model is examined in which a manager acquires private cost information sequentially. All possible communication schemes are equivalent to one of two: (1) timely reporting, where the manager reports as soon as possible, and (2) delayed reporting, where the manager delays the report of the first of two signals. In the primary case identified, timely reporting is shown to be owner valuable. However, the manager is better off under delayed reporting. Finally, total expected surplus is shown greater under delayed reporting. The owner's benefit from timely reporting is less than the manager's loss.     

On voluntarism and the role of governments in CSR: towards a contingency approach

In the corporate social responsibility (CSR) literature, the principle of voluntarism is predominant and implies that responsible business activities are discretionary and reach beyond the rule of law. This principle fails to explain that governments have a great interest in CSR and exercise influence on firms’ CSR activities. Therefore, we argue in favour of a contingency approach on voluntarism in CSR. To this end, we analyse the academic literature to demonstrate how governments are part of the CSR debate. We selected 703 papers where the impact of governments is mentioned from five journals in our field (BEER, BEQ, BSE, BAS, JBE) in the period 1982–2011. We studied the titles and abstracts of these papers and provide an overview of: (i) the geographical orientation of the reviewed studies; (ii) the variety of government levels involved; and (iii) the various subjects where governments appear to be involved. In addition, an in‐depth reading of a subsample of 39 articles offers more details on the role of governments in the CSR literature. Hence, we offer a structured overview on the discussion of CSR and governments while stimulating a contingent understanding of the voluntarism concept in CSR.     

Editorial. Problems, challenges and opportunities: the small business as a setting for management accounting research

This special issue is devoted to management accounting in the small firm. It comprises five studies which address various aspects of this topic, which have been undertaken from different perspectives and which involve different research methodologies. The editorial below reviews the potential for and significance of research in this area and assess the contribution made by the five studies.     

The geography of tourism: An introduction

The geography of tourism is limited by a dearth of published research in geographic journals, the relatively few individuals who actively participate in the sub-discipline, and the lack of prestige the subject matter specialty has in geography. Despite these imperfections geographers make important contributions to the study of tourism because of their unique point-of-view. This characteristic perspective is seen in the context of a conceptual frame-of-reference which consists of a matrix based on two trichotomies. An analysis and interpretation of this framework and its application to the nine substantive articles included in the special issue constitute a majority of the article.     

Policy implications

Abstract: In the European Union, the framework of financial services legislation at EU level has been aimed primarily at forming a single market for banks, insurers and other financial services firms. Substantial progress has been made towards this objective. Also, the EU initiatives have stimulated a reappraisal of national regulatory systems. Most of this EU legislation (with the exception of the consumer credit directives) has not had consumer protection as one of its main aims, although it has been assumed that consumers will eventually benefit from a wide choice of financial services providers and from price competition. However, partly in response to consumer pressure, the European Commission is developing a set of initiatives more closely geared to protecting consumers’ interests. Within the context of the EU’s approach, there remain considerable variations in the approach to protecting consumers’ interests in different member states as a result of legal and cultural differences.     

Pricing, price dispersion, and information: The discount brokerage industry

The paper provides an empirical analysis of the pricing behavior of firms within the discount brokerage industry, with emphasis on testing the role of costly information in affecting prices. Several empirical tests are performed that indicate that prices in this industry respond in ways hypothesized by theoretical models of markets operating under conditions of imperfect information. The industry is characterized by a wide degree of price dispersion that does not appear to simply reflect quality differences among firms. In addition, the variance of prices across geographic markets is associated with variables that theoretically should affect the levels of consumer information in those markets.     

Evaluating Statistical Models of Mortgage Lending Discrimination: A Bank-Specific Analysis

We present our efforts to develop bank-specific models to test for the presence of mortgage lending discrimination. We discuss the potential for selection and simultaneity biases and delineate the conditions under which a single-equation model is appropriate. The results from three national banks demonstrate that, by incorporating the specific underwriting guidelines of each bank, our alternative approach significantly improves the ability of the model to explain the outcomes of the mortgage lending decision process when compared to a single generic specification applied across all banks. Our results also demonstrate the difficulties encountered in attempting to incorporate the specifics of a bank's underwriting criteria and the remaining potential for omitted-variables problems.     

Cow-calf profitability and leptin genotyping

Profitability of cow-calf production is determined largely by market prices, calf weaning weights, and cow productive life. While producers individually have no effect on prices, weaning weights and productive life have genetic influences and hence can be altered by selection programs implemented by producers. We investigate the impact of a mutation in the leptin gene (exon 2; single nucleotide polymorphism [SNP] 305) on cow-calf profitability. Prior research shows that this mutation has effects on performance and traits of fed cattle and milk production in dairy cows. Using data from a teaching-research herd, we find that it is also associated with calf weaning weights and cow productive life. A bio-economic stochastic simulation demonstrates that the mutation has statistically positive impacts on profits, suggesting that producers can profitably make use of this information.     

Issues in the relationship between theory and practice in management accounting

In recent decades the interest of academic researchers in the practical aspects of management accounting has waned. This editorial explores some of the reasons of this development. Over the past few decades we have witnessed the establishment of management accounting in academia as a social science. This has increased the credibility of the accounting academics. However, it has also meant that academic researchers have neglected the technical core of their discipline and its problems and issues which have a direct practical relevance. It is concluded that there is a need for academic researchers to have a stronger focus on the technical core of the subject and to harness the findings of empirical research so that they can be used to develop and support practice.     

Hunting the Whale: More Evidence on State Government Leviathans

Caplan holds that governments are Leviathans, seeking to extend their power by increasing government expenditures beyond the level preferred by voters. We extend Caplan's model by examining the real (percentage) growth rates of government. We also examine whether government size increases at an increasing rate as the minority party weakens. We find evidence that supports and fails to support the original Leviathan hypothesis. We also fail to support our extensions of Caplan's hypothesis. Furthermore, our significant and contrary results have intuitively appealing interpretations. From these results, we conclude that the impact of political party power on government spending is ambiguous.