Student career aspirations and perceptions: The case of Israeli accounting students

The study investigates changes in Israeli accounting students' career aspirations during their course of studies, and the relationship between these and their perceptions of professional accountancy firms. We employed a cross-sectional analysis of students across consecutive educational levels from the first year to the end of their formal education. We assumed that revealed differences between the accounting student cohorts, in terms of their perceptions of professional accountancy firms and their career aspirations, could be interpreted as reflecting changes over time in students' attitudes. Results from the sample show that accounting student' aspirations to pursue a career with a professional accountancy firm decline significantly between the first and postgraduate years, while their desire to work in the business sector increases. The results show the same trend with regard to the student's positive perceptions of the above firms as future workplaces. Non-parametric tests demonstrate significant relationships between students' career aspirations and their perceptions of professional accountancy firms. We suggest that the change in students' perceptions and aspirations is a symptom of something similar to a ‘reality shock’, and that it results from the students' exposure to the accounting profession. Professional accountancy firms need to implement innovative policies to meet the challenge.     

Incentive effects of rate-of-return regulation: The case of Hong Kong electric utilities

A comparison of Hong Kong and United States rate-of-return regulation indicates differences in the definition of the rate base and in the proportion of it permitted a fair rate of return. These differences imply that Hong Kong electric utilities utilize proportionately more fixed (less current) assets, and that these assets are financed proportionately more by equity (less by debt), than their United States counterparts. Our results support both these predictions, providing further evidence that since rate-ofreturn regulation is implemented by reference to reported results, comparatively minor differences in regulatory frameworks can have quite dramatic consequences for utilities' asset structure and financing mix.     

Emerging models of organizational buying processes

The purpose of this article is to assess past and current trends in the literature on buying decisions by organizations and to look constructively toward future problems and developments. Until recently, organizational buying behavior has been largely ignored. There are, however, a number of promising developments, and we might be at the threshold of moving from alchemy to the beginning stages of scientific understanding.The article starts with a brief discussion of the “methodological” and “substantive” choices that can be made in studying organizational processes that underlie buying behavior. An appreciation of these choices is necessary for the examination of the past and current literature. The major trends in the study of organizational buying behavior are then identified and evaluated. Building upon these trends, we sketch the basic dimensions of the organizational buying processes and highlight some of the major problem areas to be faced in future research and model development. Throughout the article we assume some familiarity with the professional and academic literature in industrial buying.