The influence of earnings per share on capital issues: some evidence from UK companies

This paper investigates the simple hypothesis that when companies issue more capital, they have a tendency to select the type of capital, all other things being equal, which results in the higher short-term earnings per share (eps). The methodology employs probit analysis to test the hypothesis that the form of issue selected was that which gave the higher eps after controlling for other factors such as leverage and industry classification. The results lead us to conclude that there is evidence in capital issues of functional fixation on eps.     

Have labour practices and human rights disclosures enhanced corporate accountability? The case of the GRI framework

This paper critically evaluates Transnational Corporations’ (TNCs) claimed adherence to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)’s ‘labour’ and ‘human rights’ reporting guidelines and examines how successful the GRI has been in enhancing comparability and transparency. We found limited evidence of TNCs discharging their accountability to their workforce and, rather, we found evidence to suggest that disclosure was motivated more by enhancing their legitimacy. TNCs failed to adhere to the guidelines, which meant that material information items were often missing, rendering comparability of information meaningless. Instead, TNCs reported large volumes of generic/anecdotal information without acknowledging the impediments they faced in practice.     

Tax competition and the international distribution of firm ownership: an invariance result

How does the international distribution of firm ownership affect the outcomes of tax/subsidy competition for mobile plants? As corporate ownership becomes increasingly globalised, this question becomes increasingly important for policy. We prove a strong invariance result in the context of the tax/subsidy competition between two host countries for a monopoly firm’s plant. Both the equilibrium plant location and the equilibrium tax/subsidy offers are independent of the international distribution of the firm’s ownership. The reason is that the tax/subsidy competition equalises the firm’s post-tax profits across countries, making owners of capital indifferent towards the location of production.     

Tweaking public sector reporting with integrated reporting (IR) concepts

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the annual departmental reports prepared by Maltese government departments and highlights the gap between current practices and integrated reporting (IR). The authors suggest that principles and elements of IR could be gradually introduced in an effort to enhance transparency and accountability. The internalization of integrated thinking could also lead to enhanced value creation, and overcome the silo mentality that characterizes the Maltese public sector. Detailed guidelines for preparing ADRs urgently need to be developed in Malta—preparers should not expect to find them in the IIRC Framework, because they are not there.     

On the prediction of financial distress in developed and emerging markets: Does the choice of accounting and market information matter? A comparison of UK and Indian Firms

We examine differences in price delay for a sample of real estate investment trust (REIT) and non-REIT matched pairs. Results suggest an economically and statistically higher level of price delay for REIT securities, which implies heightened frictions that increase the time needed for new information to be impounded into the prices of REIT shares. The primary drivers for the observed delay differential include differences in idiosyncratic volatility, market risk, and the number of days traded. Within-REIT determinants of delay confirm findings for the pooled sample of matched pairs. Importantly, we infer find that REIT investors are not compensated for restricted information flow, as excess returns are unrelated to the price delay.     

Postcards from the Front: Changing narratives in UK financial services

This paper seeks to explore the methodological difficulties that confront those who would seek to explain, to account for and to intervene in social affairs. Noting the predominance of ‘behaviourist’ and ‘cognitivist’ accounts of the change process and the, recent, development of ‘narrative’ alternatives we reflect upon the craft of academic writing and upon the creative choices that fabricate our worlds and our understanding. Taking the Financial Services Authority (FSA) as our example we attempt to reveal the manner in which particular authorial strategies, that remain submerged with ‘behaviourist’ and ‘cognitivist’ accounts of change, precipitate distinctive forms of policy and action in the arena of financial services. Yet we also suggest that ‘narrative’ accounts of change, which base their authority on primary research, similarly, tend to downplay the political and poetical choices that shape their elaborations because they portray ‘context’ as natural and self-evident. By revealing the authorial strategies that shape our appreciation of ‘context’ and the organized world, more generally, we hope to encourage further reflection on the application of narrative approaches, and so, further discussion of the regulation of financial services. Through such analytical processes we aim to precipitate a ‘reciprocal’ appreciation of the problems associated with accounting for the lives and experiences of others.     

Public trust,the law,and financial investment

How does trust evolve in markets? What is the optimal level of regulation and how does this affect trust formation and economic growth? In a theoretical model, we analyze these questions, given the value of social capital and the potential for growth in the market. When social capital is valuable, regulation and trustfulness are substitutes. In this case, regulation may cause lower aggregate investment and decreased economic growth. When the social capital is less valuable, regulation and trustfulness may be complements. In the paper, we analyze the optimal level of regulation and highlight the novel predictions of the model.     

Analysing the role of sustainable development indicators in accounting for and constructing a Sustainable Scotland

The main objective of this paper was to analyse how sustainable development indicators impacted upon the integration of sustainable development into the governing of Scotland. A major concern was whether an accounting technology could represent this complex multi-dimensional and interdisciplinary concept. We analysed the relationship between the official sustainable development strategy of the Scottish Executive and the associated indicator set using an analytics of government framework (Dean, M. (1999). Governmentality: Power and rule in modern society. London: Sage Publications. Dean, M. (2007). Governing societies. Berkshire: Open University Press). We observed a lack of alignment between these sustainable development indicators and the visions, fields of visibilities, forms of knowledge and techniques of government contained in this strategy. Critical aspects of this strategy were omitted from the indicator set and we argue that these indicators did not to effectively measure progress towards a Sustainable Scotland but that they could calculatively capture and distort the sustainable development governing process. The analytical framework used allowed us to problematise these indicators and contribute to a wider discourse on the composition and nature of sustainable development indicators.