Managing Earnings with Intercorporate Investments

Abstract:  We explore to what extent firms deliberately manage their financial reports by exploiting the flexibility of generally accepted accounting principles. Using a sample of Oslo Stock Exchange-listed firms with 20–50% equity holdings in other firms, we find that firms with high financial leverage tend to maximize reported earnings from these investments through their choice between the cost method and the equity method, possibly in an attempt to reduce debt renegotiation costs or to avoid regulatory attention. In contrast, managers do not systematically bias reported earnings to extract private benefits or to signal revised expectations about future cash flows. Firms use different earnings management tools in a consistent way, as the earnings effect of the cost/equity choice is not offset by discretionary accruals.     

专业化管理的家族企业——新加坡的华人企业

通过考察大量口迷历史记录、个人访谈、文献研究及有关新加坡经济、社会的评论，研究了亚洲金融危机（以下简称危机）前后新加坡华人企业变化及其发展的持续性，表明危机前，这些大型企业由家族制管理变为专业化管理；危机后，其变化趋势有两种，一种由于面临着西方企业日益激烈的竞争，在政府密切关注下，同时也因缺乏有能力、有管理家族企业意愿的后代，家族制度已松散；另一种由于没有政府的直接管制，在危机后消极的市场形势下，为谋求生存，任用有能力的家族后代充分发挥优势，维持着传统的家族制。本文分别从市场、制度（包括文化和政府）及一些主要大公司的领导者行为分析，推导一个路径清晰、条脉分明的管理变化模式，同时提出进一步的研究方向——专业化管理家族企业的结构及政府的角色。     

关于建立物流管理会计理论体系的思考

本文认为,制造业企业物流管理会计的建立可以通过大量的走访式调查,形成分类型的制造业企业的物流系统作业项目库、作业资源库、作业成本动因库,制作出分类型的制造业企业物流系统作业问卷调查表寄送各调查单位,通过数据处理得出初步的分类型的制造业企业物流系统作业项目体系,最后经过纠偏得出较理想的分类型的制造业企业物流系统作业项目体系,再根据此作业项目体系,按作业成本法的思想,对传统管理会计中的4大部份内容进行适当修改,形成物流管理会计内容。物流管理会计的研究可通过统计调查法、正交实验法、专家共构法、统计加工法、软系统综合集成法、SWOT矩阵分析法、作业成本法等。     

反倾销应诉的集体行动研究——行业协会克服"搭便车"机制的思考

本文针时我国企业在反倾销共同应诉中的不合作或者“搭使车”问题，试图探讨行业协会作为一种治理机制，如何提供或设计一种有效的制度安排（如俱乐部规范），把一群相互依存的企业组织起来，并通过自主性努力克服不合作或“搭便车”，以取得长期的共同利益的实现。     

黑龙江省医药销售企业现代化管理刍议

黑龙江省各医药销售企业规模日益扩大,伴随着信息技术在各行各业日益深入的应用,传统的手工记账已经不能满足日益增加的业务量的需要及进行有效控制和管理的需要.因此,应用现代财务软件已经势在必行.     

The Returns to Education: Microeconomics

In this paper we focus on education as a private decision to invest in "human capital" and the estimation of the rate of return to that private investment. While the literature is replete with studies that estimate the rate of return using regression methods where the estimated return is obtained as the coefficient on a years of education variable in a log wage equation that contains controls for work experience and other individual characteristics, the issue is surrounded with difficulties. We outline the theoretical arguments underpinning the empirical developments and show that the evidence on private returns to the individual is compelling. Despite some of these issues surrounding the estimation of the return to schooling, our evidence, based on estimates from a variety of datasets and specifications, is that there is an unambiguously positive effect on the earnings of an individual from participation in education. Moreover, the size of the effect seems large relative to the returns on other investments.     

高等职业院校实践学分制的思考

高等职业院校实施学分制是教育教学改革的必然趋势,因此,高等职业院校要勇于实践,不断探索。文章就高等职业院校如何实践学分制,提出了从制订学分制的政策、学分制的操作流程到建立学分制管理手段的一些建议。     

Missing Markets and Redundant Reservoirs

This paper uses a two-sector, two-period,spatial model of groundwater usage withstochastic surface water supply to illustratethe potential for the suboptimal management ofthe timing of groundwater uses. A ``timeprofile externality' is said to exist when thetiming of groundwater extraction by one set ofusers impacts on the time profile of wateravailability to another set of users. Theexistence of the time of use externalitydepends on the presence of importantdifferences in the preferences between thecontrol and non-control sectors. It alsodepends on the absence of the markets thatwould internalise these differences. Oneimportant implication of the existence of suchexternalities is that they can inducesub-optimal insurance investments in the formof water storage capital, i.e., unnecessarysurface water reservoirs.