L’incidence de l’information privilégiée et du contrôle continu sur le rôle de la qualité de la comptabilité dans les décisions d’investissement

Les auteurs étudient comment l’information privilégiée et le contrôle continu influent sur le rôle de la qualité de la comptabilité dans la réduction de la sensibilité des investissements aux flux de trésorerie. Selon eux, l’accès à l’information privilégiée et les restrictions directes dont les investissements font l’objet sont susceptibles d’influer sur la mesure dans laquelle la qualité de la comptabilité réduit les contraintes financières. Les résultats de l’étude semblent indiquer que, dans le cas des sociétés soumises à des contraintes financières, l’accès des banques à l’information privilégiée atténue l’importance de la qualité de la comptabilité. Les auteurs constatent en outre que dans les sociétés, qu’elles soient ou non soumises à des contraintes financières, les clauses restrictives qui s’appliquent directement aux dépenses en immobilisations atténuent également l’importance de la qualité de la comptabilité. Les résultats de l’étude donnent à penser que, si les problèmes d’asymétrie de l’information sont susceptibles d’être très importants, la qualité de la comptabilité est elle aussi très importante. Toutefois, l’importance de la qualité de la comptabilité est moindre si les bailleurs de fonds externes ont accès à l’information privilégiée, et elle est nulle si ces bailleurs de fonds imposent à la société des restrictions contractuelles applicables aux investissements. Les auteurs démontrent également que l’accès des banques à l’information privilégiée réduit la sensibilité des liquidités aux flux de trésorerie et atténue l’importance de la qualité de la comptabilité dans la réduction de cette sensibilité. Cette preuve supplémentaire indique, semble‐t‐il, que les résultats obtenus par les auteurs en ce qui a trait à la sensibilité des investissements aux flux de trésorerie ne sont pas le fait d’une erreur de mesure de l’ensemble des occasions d’investissement.     

Knowledge engineering for modelling reasoning in a diagnosis task: application to search and rescue

This paper pertains to the application of knowledge engineering methods to aeronautical search and rescue in Canada. We modelled at the knowledge level the reasoning process of a search mission coordinator when conducting a diagnosis task to determine the routes likely followed by an aircraft missing overland. Knowledge engineering allowed us to develop a reasoning model based on documents and on interviews with domain experts. Our study was conducted in the CommonKADS knowledge modelling framework. The proposed model was validated by domain experts and implemented in a rule‐based prototype. Copyright © 2007 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Viasystems Group,inc.

Viasystems Group, Inc. (Viasystems) is an international supplier of electromechanical assemblies and components. It specializes in manufacturing printed circuits and assembling electric cables and industrial metal cabinets. The case concerns the Printed Circuit Division at Viasystems and its need to adapt its costing system to the relocation of its manufacturing activities to China under its strategic planning, begun in 2001. Planning and controlling operating costs and the presentation of the financial statements have therefore become major issues. The case is set in 2006, six years after the start of progressive offshoring of manufacturing to China. It describes: 1) how external environmental pressures and the need for profitability have led to a critical strategic decision; and 2) how this new business model has changed upper management's informational needs, leading them to rethink their costing system, particularly at the Chinese plants. Setting the case in 2006, when all the plants have been relocated to China, enables discussions of the challenges that management will have to cope with in the future, after the operations transfer has been completed and the consequences on the management control system.     

Resort cycle revisited: The retirement connection

This article reappraises the Butler model of resort evolution with the addition of a focus on retirement-tourism relationships. The model predicts retirement will emerge as a major factor in resorts as tourism goes into decline, but an examination of trends in Parksville and Qualicum Beach, British Columbia, Canada, revealed retirement has been a feature of those resorts since their early days and has grown alongside tourism. However, an analysis of content of local newspapers revealed that the two communities came to appreciate the retirement sector with their first major downturn in tourism, which in itself partially supports Butler's thesis.     

Political implications of Chinese tourism policy

This study is an examination of the political objectives and probable consequences of the decision to open the People's Republic of China to mass tourism. Through personal interviews and other reports, this article traces the organizational and political dimensions of the abrupt reversal of nearly three decades of restricted and selective foreign access. The author found several anomalies: more “market” oriented cost structure than in most non- socialist developing nations; a hierarchy of tourist classes in a supposedly classless society; liberalization in tourism itineraries along with a freezing of contacts between tourist and Chinese. The article concludes that while China has reaped few tangible political benefits and has incurred some new political vulnerability with its new tourism policy, Chinese tourism has avoided many of the social and economic costs associated with tourism development elsewhere.     

Analysis of a merger from a governance perspective: the case of Abitibi‐Consolidated and Donohue

Adopting a governance perspective, this study analyzes the merger between closely‐held Donohue Inc. and widely‐held Abitibi‐Consolidated Inc. Findings suggest that the absence of a controlling shareholder and weak board governance at Abitibi might explain both (a) its executives' interests in the transaction and (b) its CEO's compensation increase despite underperformance. Second, an intergeneration shift of control at Quebecor (Donohue's parent company) led to a strategic reorientation that (a) transformed Donohue into a target and (b) insured that Donohue's executives had incentives to pursue a deal. Finally, Donohue's noncontrolling shareholders benefited from the transaction while Abitibi shareholders experienced wealth reduction. The merger's aftermath provides some counter evidence regarding blockholders' power in widely‐held firms. Copyright © 2008 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Note on the Incremental Validity of Integrity Tests beyond Standard Personality Inventories for the Criterion of Counterproductive Behaviour

Although the validity of integrity tests for predicting the focal criterion of counterproductive work behaviour (CWB) is well‐established, little research has yet addressed the incremental CWB‐related validity of integrity tests beyond basic personality traits. The present research addresses this issue by re‐analyzing data adopted from Marcus, Lee, and Ashton (2007), in which four different overt and personality‐based integrity tests and the HEXACO‐Personality Inventory (Lee & Ashton, 2004) were related to CWB. Integrity accounted for practically significant proportions of incremental variance beyond personality across all integrity tests, yet effect sizes of incremental validity dropped considerably if Honesty‐Humility was added to traditional Big Five dimensions. In addition, findings suggest that CWB is best predicted by a combination of integrity and personality tests. Copyright © 2013 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Study on Purchasing Power Conversion Coefficient at Par

The basic theory of the purchasing power at par refers to the rate of one country＇s currency to U.S. dollar while purchasing ＂a basket＂ goods and services in the same quantity and quality respectively in this country and U.S.A. This paper gives out calculation method of purchasing power conversion coefficient at par and how to calculate the non-base year purchasing power at par.