Joint selection of balanced scorecard targets and weights in a collaborative setting

Information asymmetries may create problems in developing both the balanced scorecard (BSC) targets and weights. In practice, the process of assigning weights to performance measures can be challenging in terms of reaching a consensus between top management and divisional managers. In this research, we address the issues of target and weight selection using a collaborative decision-making model. Most of the previous research related to performance measurement has assumed self-interested agents. When weights are assigned subjectively, there is evidence in the literature of common-measure bias leading to BSC disagreement (conflict). We contribute to the literature by considering actor preferences in a novel approach that permits the parties jointly to determine optimal (or approximately optimal) BSC targets and weights.     

New Research Directions in Engineering Economics—Modeling Dependencies with Copulas

Understanding and quantifying dependencies among variables often arises in stochastic capital investment and real option analysis. In such modeling situations, Pearson product moment linear correlation is widely used as a dependence measure. Linear correlation has several limitations. More recently, copulas have been used in financial economics and insurance to model dependencies. We contribute to the engineering economy literature by introducing copulas to model dependent risks that will enhance research and practice. We demonstrate the usefulness of copula-based sampling in simulation of project risk and regression analysis for forecasting. We also discuss potential copula research in engineering economic analysis.     

Peasants and plantations in the Sri Lankan tea sector: causes of the change in their relative viability*

In contrast to the increasing trend in farm size found in most agricultural sectors, the absolute number of producers and relative share of total production from small farms growing green leaf tea in Sri Lanka have increased significantly over time. The boom in peasant production and the corresponding decline in plantations are due to the same general drivers explaining the increase in farm size elsewhere. Government programs and price effects that reduced revenue uncertainty and relative costs of production have enhanced the competitive position of small farmers relative to large estates.     

Economics of Soil Conservation: The Upper Mahaweli Watershed of Sir Lanka

This paper estimates the benefits and costs of soil conservation in the Upper Mahaweli Watershed of Sir Lanka. The costs of soil erosion control include the implementation costs of control measures, while the benefits are reductions in the costs of soil erosion. In contrast to many studies in developed countries, the on‐site benefit of soil erosion control in Sri Lanka is estimated to be greater than the off‐site benefit While a social benefit‐cost analysis demonstrates that it is socially desirable to implement conservation measures, the private financial analyses indicate that it is feasible for individual farmers to adopt the conservation measures. Despite private economic feasibility, programs addressing farmers' reluctance to adopt soil conservation measures may be preferable to public intervention in soil conservation activities when the on‐site benefits are greater than the off‐site benefits.     

Determination of yield and erosion damage functions using subjectively elicited data: application to smallholder tea in Sri Lanka

Tea has been Sri Lanka's major export earner for several decades. However, soil erosion on tea-producing land has had considerable on-site and off-site effects. This study quantifies soil erosion impacts for smallholder tea farms in Sri Lanka by estimating a yield damage function and an erosion damage function using a subjective elicitation technique. The Mitscherlich-Spillman type of function was found to yield acceptable results. The study indicates that high rates of soil erosion require earlier adoption of soil conservation measures than do low rates of erosion. Sensitivity analysis shows the optimum year to change to a conservation practice is very sensitive to the discount rate but less sensitive to the cost of production and price of tea.     

Inference of economic truth from financial statements for detecting earnings management: inventory costing methods from an information economics perspective

We introduce uncertainty in the classic inventory costing choice problem to investigate the underlying partitions imposed by two accounting inquiries (processes of generating information): variable costing and absorption costing. In a contemporaneous reporting environment, we show that absorption costing provides a finer partition of the state space compared to variable costing when a firm arbitrarily increases the production level (opportunistic overproduction), and the predetermined fixed overhead rate is adjusted. Grounded in an information economics perspective, the intent of the article is to propose an approach to detect real earnings management by extracting information from financial statements. The resulting managerial biases arising from earnings management are also discussed.     

Why not accounting and finance: An African American perspective

The authors investigated the role of influence factors and information sources why African Americans choose or do not choose a career in accounting or finance. The most important factor was career-based occupational growth. Students were more deeply influenced by information on the university's website than any other media source. The findings will provide useful insights for the university's administrators, and accounting and finance professional bodies in formulating strategies to promote accounting and finance careers.     

Postauditing and Cost Estimation Applications: An Illustration of MCMC Simulation for Bayesian Regression Analysis

Often in Bayesian anlysis closed-form posteriors cannot be derived for complex models. However, it is important to be able to do Bayesian analysis relatively easily. This article presents an alternative, the more general Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulation approach, which permits the efficient development of posterior distributions. MCMC simulation methods are now becoming the state of the art in numerous empirical and analytical applications in applied mathematics, biostatistics, marketing, economics, and other areas, but those methods are noticeably absent in the engineering economic analysis literature. The purpose of this article is to introduce MCMC simulation methods to the engineering economics research and practitioner community. Using postaudits and cost estimation as application areas, the article focuses on what MCMC simulation entails, its advantages, and its disadvantages and highlights the usefulness and versatility of the approach.