Evidence of Fraud,Audit Risk and Audit Liability Regimes

We investigate the effectiveness of proportionate liability in reducing the probability of fraud and audit risk relative to joint and several liability in two strategic audit settings: one that provides conclusive evidence of fraud and one that provides inconclusive evidence of fraud. In both settings the auditor makes an audit effort choice, but in the second setting the auditor also evaluates the audit evidence. Our results show that when the auditor chooses only effort, a proportionate liability rule with large marginal liability relief decreases audit risk. However, when the auditor also evaluates the audit evidence this result no longer holds.     

Produce Marketing and Retail Buying Practices

Produce suppliers have raised concerns over retailer demands for slotting fees and other promotional allowances. These business practices have long existed in packaged goods trade, but are new to produce, which suppliers attribute to recent retail consolidation. Others argue that these allowances are consistent with the a competitive market, which is confronted with an enormous number of new products, most of which fail. Questions on the applicability of existing antitrust laws has limited their use. Eventually, the situation may rectify itself as more retailers adopt new business strategies that obviate the need for slotting fees and allowances.     

Forced compliance in family decision-making

‘Forced compliance,’ a situation in which a person engages in a behavior that he or she would normally deem as inappropriate, is used in this study to examine conflict resolution in family decision-making. Specific hypotheses related to a major purchase decision are tested in a field study. The results indicate that those husbands or wives who have been forced to engage in counterattitudinal behaviors find numerous ways to justify their inconsistencies.     

Productivity in the '90s. Lessons from the assembly line

Defining the right product at the right moment is important. But how long it takes to develop and introduce that product can have a dramatic impact on both customer satisfaction and ROI. Here's a metaphorical approach to streamlining the process.     

专家点评汽车配件案 何为贵？“和”为贵

2005年7月，笔者在布鲁塞尔欧盟总部、国会访问。国会的官员透露，欧盟正准备和中国打两个贸易战，一个是针对中国鞋的反倾销，一个就是汽车配件的关税问题。2006年4月初，欧美共同把中国汽车关税案告到了WTO争端解决机制，汽车配件案急剧升级。该案更多具有官方性质，涉及的是关税政策，自然中国政府是案件的第一责任人，所以我们没有见到中国企业的积极反馈，案子一下子就走入了WTO似乎快了点。     

The Information Content of REIT Short Interest: Investment Focus and Heterogeneous Beliefs

This article examines real estate investment trusts (REITs) to determine the correspondence between short interest and subsequent prices. The theoretical basis for our tests comes from the overvaluation conditions created by a combination of costly short selling and heterogeneous beliefs. This article exploits the unique characteristics of REITS as they are similar with respect to high dividend payouts and differentiated by underlying real asset investments. An innovative aspect of the methodology involves partitioning firms based on investment focus as a proxy for transparency and as a determinant of heterogeneous beliefs regarding valuation. The findings (i) affirm the information content of REIT short interest and (ii) highlight the importance of investment focus in resolving the divergence in investor opinions of value. Overvaluation conditions exist among REITs with greater short interest and less transparency, whereas such valuation conditions do not appear among transparent REITs, regardless of the level of short selling.