Ecoefficiency: Defining a role for environmental cost management

This study investigates the relationship between environmental performance and productive efficiency in the United States electric utility industry before and after the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. Using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), cross-sectional examinations reveal lower polluting plants are more efficient than higher polluting plants. Longitudinal analyses indicate plants can simultaneously reduce pollution and increase relative efficiency. Collectively, these results are evidence that proactive environmental management can reduce environmental costs and thus, lends support for adopting an environmental cost management system.     

Towards Some Principles for Intangible Asset Accounting

This paper examines the conceptual issues of intangible asset accounting in the context of recent controversies over the treatment of brand names and goodwill in company accounts. Issues of definition and recognition and the rationale for balance sheet disclosure are considered for goodwill and other intangibles. The implications of capitalising intangibles under accounting models based on present value, net realisable value, current cost and historical cost are examined, and certain principles are proposed. The problem of testing the validity of asset valuation is explored, and a test is developed on the basis of the ‘recoverable amount’ rule of historical cost. This test is demonstrated for two major UK companies.     

Market Making and Trading in Nasdaq Stocks

This paper examines the relations between the number of market makers, trading activity, and price improvement in Nasdaq stocks, using a model motivated by Grossman and Miller (1988). Results indicate a positive relation between the number of market makers and trading frequency, and that competition among market makers reduces effective bid-ask spreads. Results estimated using a simultaneous equations framework support the model predictions of Grossman and Miller. Results also indicate that trading frequency may be more important than trade size in determining the number of market makers.     

Private Information and the Exercise of Executive Stock Options

This paper finds strong evidence that executives use private information when exercising their stock options. The most informed executives tend to exercise early, do not exercise on the vest date, do not exercise to capture dividends, exercise a high percentage of their options, and exercise when the option is the least in‐the‐money. We also find that exercises around resignation and retirement are followed by significant negative abnormal returns. Furthermore, the operating performance of firms following exercises motivated by private information is significantly worse than that of firms in which the exercises are not motivated by private information.     

AN INFRA-SURFER'S PARADISE: RIDING THE CREST OF THE LAND - VALUE WAVE

The author devoted his working life to adding wealth to the nation. Now, to expose the damage caused by taxes to the enterprise economy, he is an accredited Infra-surfer. And as he triangulates between deals in St Petersburg, up-state New York and the coast of Spain, he finds himself slipping into a dream-like world of virtual reality…     

Applications of computer-assisted tax research in academic tax programs

The use of computer-assisted tax research by students and faculty has begun to increase rapidly after being available for over 15 years. Factors contributing to this increased usage include accessibility to the data bases by microcomputers, transmission technology improvements, the emergence of new competitors, and the growth of specialized tax programs. The purpose of this research was to determine the nature and extent of the use of computer-assisted tax research in academic tax programs. A survey was conducted of all schools with American Taxation Association members, AACSB accreditation, and/or graduate tax programs. Current users project increased use while the 71% of respondents who are nonusers overwhelmingly cite cost constraints as the deterrent, with pessimism about the possibility of adopting CATR in the near future.     

Correction note for ��The large-maturity smile for the Heston model��

The papers (Forde and Jacquier in Finance Stoch. 15:755?C780, 2011; Forde et al. in Finance Stoch. 15:781?C784, 2011) study large-time behaviour of the price process in the Heston model. This note corrects typos in Forde and Jacquier (Finance Stoch. 15:755?C780, 2011), Forde et al. (Finance Stoch. 15:781?C784, 2011) and clarifies the proof of Forde et al. (Finance Stoch. 15:781?C784, 2011, Proposition 2.3).     

The teaching of business ethics: A survey of AACSB member schools

This report presents the findings of a survey of business ethics education undertaken in the Fall of 1988. The respondents were the deans of colleges and universities associated with the AACSB.Ethics, as a curriculum topic, received significant coverage at over 90 percent of the institutions, with 53 percent indicating interest in increasing coverage of the subject. The tabulations of this survey may prove useful to schools seeking to compare or develop their emphases in business ethics. Lyle F. Schoenfeldt is currently the Ernest and Dorothy Niederer Professor of Business Administration. His principal research is in the area of management talent, and as a result is Director of the CBA Fellows Program, a management identification and development effort. He has published numberous research articles and is a coauthor of Human Resource Management (Houghton Mifflin, 1990). He currently serves on the editorial boards of several journals.Don M. McDonald is currently a Ph.D. student concentrating on human resources and labor relations. Stuart A. Youngblood's current research interests focus on unjust dismissal disputes, turnover and absenteeism, and the determinants of ethical decision-making. He has published numerous research articles and is a coauthor of Effective Personnel Management (West Publishing Co., 1989) with R. Schuler and N. Beutell. He currently serves on the Editorial Boards of Academy of Management Journal and Journal of Management.