Chinese Auditors' Ethical Behavior in an Audit Conflict Situation

This paper draws on the economics of ethical compliance model to examine the association between ethical reasoning, perceived risk of detection, perceived levels of penalties and Chinese auditors' ethical behavior in an audit conflict situation. Using 53 Chinese auditors from Shenzen as subjects, and a survey questionnaire, this study found that there is a significant negative association between ethical reasoning and the likelihood of unethical behavior and that this negative association is weaker for auditors who perceive higher risks of detection.     

Deutsche Wirtschaft gut ausgelastet — Wirtschaftspolitik neu ausrichten

The German economy is experiencing a moderate recovery: GDP is expected to grow by 1.9 percent this year, 1.4 percent next year, and 1.6 percent in 2018. Over the course of the forecast period, capacity utilisation will be somewhat higher than in the longterm average. Nevertheless, the contribution of corporate investment to the current upswing is minimal. The global economy is generating only minor stimulating effects, which means that exports are increasing only moderately. The extremely low long-term interest rates are likely to reflect not only the current monetary policy, but also low growth expectations. All of these factors are inhibiting investment into equipment, and thus, consumption continues to be the main growth driver. Private consumption is benefiting from the sustained increase in employment; the high expenditures for accommodating and integrating the refugees is still having a strong impact on public spending. Residential construction is getting a boost from the low interest rates.     

Non-audit services, auditor quality and the value relevance of earnings

This paper tests the hypothesis that there is an inverse relation between non‐audit services (NAS) provided by a firm auditor and the value relevance of earnings (measured as the earnings response coefficient) and that this relation is weaker for firms with Big 6 auditors. The hypothesis is based on anecdotal evidence and previous research that suggests that the provision of NAS by the external auditor is likely to adversely affect investors’ perceptions of the credibility of financial reports, and that Big 6 auditors, because of reputational capital and litigation costs, are likely to mitigate the adverse effects of NAS. Results using 840 firm‐year observations of Australian companies document a statistically significant inverse relationship between NAS and the value relevance of earnings, and this inverse relationship is weaker for Big 6 auditors, therefore supporting the hypothesis.     

The Economic Effects of Integration in the Central African Economic and Monetary Community: Some General Equilibrium Estimates for Cameroon

In this paper we quantitatively assess the impact of the CEMAC on its largest member, Cameroon. We find that Cameroon will gain between 0.41 and 0.62 percent of its GDP. Our decomposition shows that the part of the agreement that calls for further preferential reduction of tariffs is immiserizing, although given the low level of intra‐regional imports, the quantitative impact is quite small. Improved access to partner country markets accounts for about one‐quarter of the gains. We find, however, that about three‐quarters of the gains come from reduction of Cameroon’s tariff against the rest of the world. Moreover, our estimates for Cameroon’s unilateral trade liberalization show that it can gain marginally even more from full unilateral trade liberalization than it can from implementation of the CEMAC arrangements. Our results incorporate, in an otherwise small open economy model, the fact that Cameroon may possess regional market power, and we assess the difference in results with models that have no regional market power. Dans cet article, nous évaluons quantitativement l’impact de la CEMAC sur son pays membre le plus important par son poids économique: le Cameroun. Nos estimations indiquent que le Cameroun enregistrera un gain compris entre 0,41% et 0,62% de son PIB. La décomposition de cet impact montre que l’approfondissement des préférences tarifaires réduit le bien‐être, même si compte tenu du faible niveau des importations intra‐régionales, son impact quantitatif apparaît assez faible. L’amélioration de l’accès aux marchés des partenaires régionaux explique environ un quart des gains. Cependant, environ trois quarts des gains sont expliqués par la réduction par le Cameroun de ses tarifs vis‐à‐vis du reste du monde. De plus, nos estimations indiquent qu’àla marge, le Cameroun gagnerait plus d’une libéralisation commerciale unilatérale que de la mise en oeuvre des accords de la CEMAC. Nos résultats incorporent dans ce qui est par ailleurs un modèle d’une petite économie ouverte, le fait que le Cameroun puisse posséder un pouvoir de marché régional, et nous comparons les résultats àceux des modèles sans pouvoir de marché régional.     

Auditor Industry Specialization,Political Economy and Earnings Quality: Some Cross‐Country Evidence

Using cross‐country data, we evaluate the impact of investor protection on the association between earnings quality and audits by industry specialists. Our findings show that the positive association between industry specialist auditors and earnings quality as documented in the literature is affected by the political electoral system, which reflects investor protection rights in a country. We document that audits by industry specialists are associated with higher earnings quality in countries with the proportional electoral system, reflecting weak investor protection. Our results also confirm Kwon et al.'s findings that overall there is a positive association between earnings quality and audits by industry specialists in countries with weak legal enforcement. Our findings, however, indicate that Kwon et al.'s results are valid only for countries with weak investor protection reflected by the proportional electoral system and not for countries with strong investor protection reflected by the majoritarian electoral system. These findings thus suggest that higher earnings quality of firms audited by industry specialists across countries can especially be expected when investor protection is low and legal enforcement is also weak. In addition, our research suggests that future cross‐country studies could explicitly consider the role of the political electoral system of a country in evaluating corporate governance, management and accounting issues.     

Elektromobilität braucht intelligente Förderung

Die EU-Kommission sieht in ihrer Roadmap 2050 vor, ab 2050 keine Fahrzeuge mehr mit Verbrennungsmotoren in den St?dten zuzulassen. Der Verbrennungsmotor als Antrieb für Kraftfahrzeuge muss entsprechend mittelfristig durch andere Antriebsformen abgel?st werden. Dies geschieht nicht reibungslos und macht eine intelligente F?rderung notwendig. Wie gro? die Bereitschaft in der Bev?lkerung ist, auf Elektromobilit?t umzusteigen, wird von den Autoren anhand eines Experiments gezeigt.     

Niedrige Zinsen — gesamtwirtschaftliche Ursachen und Folgen

Due to the financial crises from 2008 to 2012, unconventional monetary policy caused an environment of record low interest rates around the world. Maintaining the low interest rate policy might be reasonable for the ECB in the short run in order to fight the fragmentation of the financial market and the risk of defl ation in the Eurozone. Some authors argue that permanently low interest rates lead to wrong incentives in the financial market for debtors and creditors alike. They fear potential risks for fiscal policy and financial stability in Germany and recommend macroprudential measures beyond the Basel III framework and a beginning exit of the ECB from its unconventional monetary policy. Others warn against overburdening monetary policy. They find rather that effective financial market regulation and proper fiscal rules and institutions are required to secure financial market stability and the sustainability of public debt and that a premature exit from accommodating monetary policies would do more harm than good. They argue that monetary policy alone will not solve Europe’s problems. The differing recommendations are mainly based on differing assessments of the European business cycle.     

Uncertainty of Governmental Relief and the Crowding out of Flood Insurance

This paper discusses the problem of crowding out of insurance by co-existing governmental relief programs—the so-called ‘charity hazard’—in the context of different institutional schemes of governmental disaster relief in Austria and Germany. We test empirically whether an assured partial relief scheme (as in Austria) drives a stronger crowding out of private insurance than a scheme promising full relief which is subject to ad-hoc political decision making (as in Germany). Our general finding is that the institutional design of governmental relief programs significantly affects the demand for private natural hazard insurance.     

An empirical study of the usefulness of human resources turnover costs in australian accounting firms

This paper reports the results of a laboratory experiment designed to evaluate the usefulness of applying Human Resources Accounting (HRA) to the problem of labour turnover management decision making in a sample of Australian accounting firms. Useful was defined as a reduction in uncertainty and an increase in relevance and sufficiency. Using a pretest-post-test research design, 57 volunteer accountants responsible for personnel decisions were individually administered (1) a two-part pilot tested case study with and without Human Resources Turnover Costs (HRTC); (2) a questionnaire which measured subjects' response to levels of uncertainty, relevance and sufficiency of the information. Three specific hypotheses tested warranted the conclusion that HRTC information significantly reduced accountants' levels of uncertainty and increased their levels of relevance and sufficiency.