User involvement in the standard-setting process: A research note on the congruence of accountant and user perceptions of decision usefulness

This is an exploratory study which examines whether accountants and users of financial statements hold congruent or incongruent views on the decision usefulness of accounting information. This issue is important to the question of whether users require direct involvement in the standard-setting process, or whether their views may be adequately represented in the process by other participants such as accountants. Drawing on the sociology of professions literature under which professionals, such as accountants, are assumed to seek to maintain the judgement domain and indeterminacy of their professional task, it is hypothesised that accountant and user views on decision usefulness will be incongruent in those situations where a change in accounting method reduces judgement domain or indeterminacy. Specifically, it is hypothesised that, compared to users, accountants will perceive a lower degree of decision usefulness to be associated with a change in accounting method that reduces judgement domain or indeterminacy. Using a survey questionnaire, developed around a series of accounting method change scenarios, and administered to a sample of accountants and investment analysts (as an example of users), support was found for our hypothesis in relation to judgement domain, but not for indeterminacy.     

Panel data analysis of multi-factor capital asset pricing models

In this article, we propose MFCAPM panel models with fixed effects and test theories associated with risk exposures and anomalies postulated by Fama and French, and we assess their out-of-sample predictive performances. Based on the portfolios formed by French, we construct 10 panel models, each consisting of 10 portfolios grouped by size deciles, and another 10 panels by value deciles. In the presence of cross-section dependence, the MFCAPM panel model is estimated by the feasible generalized least squares (FGLS) method for the sample period 1963(1)-2018(9). The results show that the market, firm-size and value risk exposures are significant and robust across three-, five- and six-factor panel models. Significant time-fixed effects indicate that there are several portfolios resilient to dot.com bubble peak in 2000, while some others resilient to GFC in 2007. We estimate the models for the in-sample period 1963(1)–1999(12) and generate the out-of-sample portfolio returns for the period 2000(1)–2018(9). We find that portfolio returns forecasts generated by the six-factor panel model are superior to other MFCAPM panel models, mostly due to the momentum factor (investor behaviour) explaining large return variations and volatility exposures. The findings have implications for investors, security traders and portfolio risk managers.     

Governing Enclosure: The Role of Governance in Producing Gated Communities and Guarded Neighborhoods in Malaysia

Enclosed residential areas are proliferating in Malaysian cities, in common with many other parts of the world. The production of gated communities and guarded neighborhoods in Malaysia reveals the active role of the state in creating conditions that support enclosure and securitization of space. This article examines the role of governance in producing residential enclaves that reinforce segregation and fragment urban landscapes. Based on a study of gated communities in Malaysia, we argue that governments, corporations and citizen groups collaborate within a complex governance system that (re)produces enclosure. Neoliberal market principles fuse with ethnic politics, cultural predilections and economic imperatives to generate a socially and spatially fragmented urban landscape where security concerns dominate and where citizens culturally, physically and symbolically segregate themselves from others.     

Evaluating environmental disclosures: The relationship between quality and extent measures

This study compares the results from conducting various forms of content analysis that measure extent of reporting (sentence count, page count, proportions) with an evaluation of the quality of information determined by applying a disclosure quality index. We examine the environmental reporting of the same group of companies in various media and find that the various content analysis methods used to assess extent and quality of disclosure are highly correlated with one another. In particular, the quality of disclosure is highly correlated to the extent of reporting measured by a sentence count. Furthermore, we report a new measure – quality score per sentence. We propose that a quality per sentence measure could help to distinguish between companies making high quality and low quality disclosures, as it takes into account both the extent and the quality of the disclosures.     

A Process Perspective on Organizational Failure: A Qualitative Meta‐Analysis

An important stream of the organizational failure literature has proposed process models to describe how firms fail. Despite much progress, this stream is currently at a crossroads. Previous process models try to capture how failure unfolds in singular models that describe organizational failure as the result of either inertia or extremism or as a mixture of both. However, it remains unclear how these competing explanations are related and what underlying mechanisms explain why organizational failure processes unfold as they do. We address these issues by examining failure processes using a qualitative meta‐analysis research design. The qualitative meta‐analysis allows us to analyse and synthesize the wealth of previously published single‐case studies in order to develop process models of organizational failure. The most salient finding of our analysis is that failure processes converge around four distinct process archetypes, which we name imperialist, laggard, villain, and politicized. Each process archetype can be explained by the interplay of distinct rigidity and conflict mechanisms. Differentiating the four process archetypes and explaining the underlying mechanisms helps to resolve some contradictions in the previous failure process literature.     

A Private-Public Strategy for International Marketing Through Collective Brands: Canada Brand Foods

A country brand for agrifood products requires managing quality across a range of products and firms while recognizing the potential pitfalls in linking a brand's image with a country's image. Understanding the incentives for firms adopting the brand to use and contribute to the brand's equity informs the choice of brand management mechanism. The challenges in managing a country brand for international agrifood exports are discussed. This case is used to illustrate a strategy based on the obstacles faced by a collective brand that is used by many firms. The article highlights how a successful strategy will produce a brand that is unique, robust to impersonators, and has quality assurance mechanisms that are in line with firm's incentives to produce high-quality products.     

IASB Standards for Australia by 2005: Catapult or Trojan Horse?

The Financial Reporting Council has announced a plan to adopt from January 2005 standards issued by the International Accounting Standards Board. The announcement foreshadows the wholesale replacement of Australia's financial reporting protocol. Unless others make a similar decision, Australia will be the only western country in 2005 to have adopted entirely the IASB's accounting standards for both group and single company reporting. We suggest that the cost, apart from changeover expenses, could be a reduction in the quality of financial reports. We believe that attempts by government agencies to downplay problems in international standard-setting mask a set of political decisions which emphasise expediency, favour larger corporate interests over smaller, and make questionable assumptions about future risks to corporate governance.     

Global energy strategies: The implications of CO2

The author discusses the uncertainties and shortcomings that surround the current models of the carbon cycle, climatic change, and energy consumption; all are required in predicting the effect of carbon dioxide (CO₂) on climate. Using estimates of energy consumption in 2025 the author defines the boundaries of the problem: a global warming (preponderantly at the poles), and unpredictable (at present) regional climatic variations. The implications for energy policy are discussed, and it is concluded that all options must be kept open at present.