日本环境政策评估的体系化建设与实践

建立环境政策评估机制是开展环境政策评估工作、完善我国环境政策体系、进一步提升环境保护决策水平、促进绿色发展转型的重要手段之一。日本作为较早开展环境政策评估的国家,在政府公共政策评估的框架下,制定了《环境省政策评价基本计划》以及相关指南,构建了"评估对象体系化""评估过程标准化"和"评估结果实用化"的环境政策评估体系框架,建立了环境政策的内部自评估机制与周期性评估实践模式,为日本环境政策调整优化的科学决策提供了重要支撑,这些实践经验对我国建立环境政策评估体系,开展环境政策评估实践具有重要参考价值。     

IT Outsourcing—A Source of Innovation? Microeconometric Evidence for Germany

Does IT outsourcing really influence firms' process innovativeness? We investigate this question with a distinguished view on manufacturing and service sectors. Previous studies suggest firms sourcing out IT services to external service providers are generally more process innovative. Based on a firm‐level data set comprising 1452 firms from the German manufacturing and services sectors, the econometric analysis confirms a positive and significant relationship between IT outsourcing and process innovation activity on an aggregate level. As proposed by our framework of differences between manufacturing and service firms, a more detailed analysis reveals that this positive relationship only holds for services firms. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Background factors to innovation performance: results of an empirical study using fsQCA methodology

On the one hand, we have analyzed the relationships between four key constructs: entrepreneurial orientation, online social networks, organizational learning capability and innovation performance. On the other hand, we have observed the importance of correctly using and justifying the calibration in fsQCA given that the obtained results may differ. We developed an empirical study with 209 four-star and five-star Spanish hotels. Using the fsQCA methodology, the results show that in order to obtain innovative results, hotels should combine Entrepreneurial Orientation and online Social Networks along with organizational learning capability.     

The Role and Current Status of IFRS in the Completion of National Accounting Rules – Evidence on Cyprus

Abstract

The case of Cyprus with respect to the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) is unique given the country’s strong reliance on international business and accounting-related services. As such, Cyprus has required the use of IFRS since 1981 not only for publicly listed firms but also for private companies regardless of their size. Cyprus’ reluctance to fully transpose Directive 2013/34/EU into national law cannot be unrelated to its long-standing requirement of financial statements that are not only prepared under IFRS but are also audited for all types of corporations registered in the Republic. We conclude that transposing the new Accounting Directive in its entirety into national law could have adverse effects on the Government tax revenue, the GDP of the services sector and the credibility of Cyprus as an international business and financial services center.     

Stakeholder Relationships,Engagement, and Sustainability Reporting

The concept of sustainability was developed in response to stakeholder demands. One of the key mechanisms for engaging stakeholders is sustainability disclosure, often in the form of a report. Yet, how reporting is used to engage stakeholders is understudied. Using resource dependence and stakeholder theories, we investigate how companies within the same industry address different dependencies on stakeholders for economic, natural environment, and social resources and thus engage stakeholders accordingly. To achieve this objective, we conducted our research using qualitative research methods. Our findings suggest that the resource dependencies on different stakeholders lead to development of different stakeholder relationships and thus appropriate resources within the company to execute engagement strategies that are informing, responding, or involving. Our research explains why diversity exists in sustainability disclosure by studying how it is used to engage stakeholders. We find that five sustainability reporting characteristics are associated with the company’s stakeholder engagement strategy: directness of communication, clarity of stakeholder identity, deliberateness of collecting feedback, broadness of stakeholder inclusiveness, and utilization of stakeholder engagement for learning. Our study develops the literature by providing insight into companies’ choices of stakeholder engagement strategy thus explaining diversity in sustainability reporting based on the characteristics and relationships with specific stakeholders.     

Market's perception of deferred tax accruals

This study investigates the value relevance and incremental information content of deferred tax accruals reported under the ‘income statement method’ (AASB 1020 Accounting for Income Taxes) over the period 2001–2004. Our findings suggest that deferred tax accruals are viewed as assets and liabilities. We document a positive relation between recognized deferred tax assets and firm value using the levels model, while the results from the returns model suggest that deferred tax liabilities reflect future tax payments. The balance of unrecognized deferred tax assets provides a negative signal to the market about future profitability, particularly for companies from the materials and energy sectors and loss‐makers.     

The Influence of Harm Characteristics on Endorsement of Actions That Cause Harm

This study investigated the influence ofcharacteristics embedded in ethical dilemmas on theendorsement of actions that caused both benefits andharms. The results revealed that the identity of thetarget to be harmed and the number to be harmedinfluenced endorsement of the proposed action in theethical scenarios. Specifically, study subjects wereless likely to endorse actions that cause harm tohumans than actions that cause harm to non-humans(non-human animals and plants). Subjects indicatedthat they were less likely to endorse actions thatcause harm to many than actions that cause harm tofew.