Effects of Advice on Effectiveness and Efficiency of Tax Planning Tasks

Supervisory advice is generally given to tax professionals in public accounting firms before they commence tax planning tasks. The objectives of giving advice are to achieve effectiveness and efficiency in tax planning, as well as for training tax professionals. An experiment with 54 tax professionals, from accounting firms across Canada, was conducted to determine the effects of supervisory advice on effectiveness and efficiency in performing tax planning tasks of different complexity. Advice results in lower effectiveness in lower‐complexity tasks, as evidenced by more technically inadequate tax plans, signs of confusion and overdetermined solutions (i.e., unnecessary information in the tax plans). In higher‐complexity cases, the results suggest a limited improvement in effectiveness, as evidenced by more technically adequate plans, but at a cost of limiting insightful judgment. On the other hand, advice results in limited gains in efficiency for both the lower and higher‐complexity tasks. This study extends the advice and tax literatures by investigating the role of advice in the performance of tax planning tasks of different complexity, which has not been examined in other research. This study also contributes to tax practice, as public accounting firms should consider the limited gains in efficiency with the decrease in effectiveness for lower‐complexity tasks and the potential to limit insightful judgment for higher complexity tasks. The results of this study suggest that firms face trade‐offs in achieving efficiency, effectiveness and the training objective.     

Value Relevance of Fair Values—Empirical Evidence of the Impact of Market Volatility

This study examines empirically the effects of market volatility on the value relevance of fair values. Using the modified Ohlson model ( 1995 ) and a sample of U.S. financial companies for the period of 2008 to 2013, this study shows that fair values are priced at a significant discount when market volatility is high. Song ( 2013 ) shows analytically that the effectiveness of fair value accounting is negatively affected by market volatility. Findings of the current study suggest that investors understand the effects of market volatility on fair values and price them accordingly. The study extends the research on the determinants of the usefulness of fair values by looking beyond factors associated with the reliability of estimated fair values (Level 2 and Level 3 fair values). This study has practical implications: current accounting standards for fair value measurement acknowledge the limitations of the market as a source of fair values by offering a three‐level fair value hierarchy with provisions for fair values to deviate from market prices. Findings of this study shed light on a previously little studied factor, that is, market volatility, on the usefulness of fair values.     

Traditions of sustainability in tourism studies

As sustainability has become an important policy issue in tourism, it is arousing growing discussion and criticism, and an increasing need to understand the nature of the limits of growth. This paper analyzes how these limits are approached and evaluated in discussions on a local scale. The purpose is to recognize that behind the different understandings of them lie distinct traditions that are different in their focuses. These are referred to as resource-, activity-, and community-based traditions of sustainability. Further, the relationship between sustainable tourism and sustainable development is critically discussed.     

Involvement and opinion leadership in tourism

Nature-based tourism, science tourism, and ecotourism are some of the emerging and growing trends in special-interest tourism. This study utilized a southeastern sample of the United States who had an interest in travel and the environment. A modified Dillman total design method survey was used to collect the data. The study demonstrated that widely used concepts of marketing are applicable for nature-based tourism. Results indicate that highly involved nature-oriented travelers tend to be more receptive to information concerning the travel product or destination and spread that information willingly. Findings of this study suggest that opinion leaders take more trips and use slightly more information sources.     

The political economy of tourism in the third world

When a Third World country uses tourism as a development strategy, it becomes enmeshed in a global system over which it has little control. The international tourism industry is a product of metropolitan capitalist enterprise. The superior entrepreneurial skills, resources, and commercial power of metropolitan companies enables them to dominate many Third World tourist destinations. This paper outlines the dynamics of this process, particularly in the context of the South Pacific.     

Tasa de desempleo: ¿puede medir los problemas de absorción de la fuerza de trabajo en países en desarrollo?

La definición estadística «estándar» de desempleo suele criticarse porque excluye a muchas personas, consideradas ocupadas o inactivas, cuya situación es comparable en realidad a la de desempleo. El autor analiza los problemas metodológicos y estadísticos asociados a esta definición, así como su inadecuación a los países en desarrollo, donde el empleo es muy heterogéneo. Demuestra además que la tasa de desempleo tiende a subestimar el excedente de oferta de mano de obra y es un mal indicador del déficit de trabajo decente. Por último, destaca sus límites en tanto que orientador de la política económica.     

A parsimonious model to forecast financial distress,based on audit evidence

This paper provides evidence that audit reports convey relevant evidence for inferring the existence of underlying, unrevealed, financial imbalances. Unlike previous works, which studied US listed-firms bankruptcy, our research deals with Spanish non-financial SMEs under financial stress. Our results indicate that the audit of distressed SMEs has several distinctive features: higher auditor rotation, more qualified reports, and non-compliance with deadlines to approve and file the annual financial statements. We use this evidence to build and test a parsimonious and reliable forecast model. Several implications for auditors’ independence, information quality, and failure forecast are discussed.     

The effect of hospitableness and servicescape on guest satisfaction in the hotel industry

This paper aims to investigate the influence of hotel hospitality on hotel guest satisfaction along with the moderating effect of the hotel servicescape on the relationship between hospitality and satisfaction. In this preliminary study, which involved 403 hotel guests in Malaysia, we employed a questionnaire survey as the main method of data collection. The structural equation modelling (CFA) used to assess the model revealed a good fit. A hierarchical moderated regression analysis was performed and showed statistical support for the positive influence of hotel hospitality on guest satisfaction as well as a positive moderating effect of servicescape. Copyright © 2013 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

议对外商非法撤资的法律规制

进入2008年以后,我国部分地区却密集出现了较为严重的外商非法撤资的情况。非法撤资对当地经济更是雪上加霜,同时造成了企业职工、中方合作者、企业供货商等相关权益人的巨大利益损害。本文通过介绍非法撤资的现状,分析了非法撤资产生的原因以及带来的危害,进而讨论了对非法撤资的法律规制途径,希望能够提出一些有价值的建议。     

Vacaciones y licencias en países desarrollados: los Estados Unidos a la zaga en cuanto a equilibrio entre vida profesional y vida familiar

Los autores comparan las normativas sobre vacaciones y licencias susceptibles de facilitar el equilibrio entre vida profesional y familiar de Australia, Canadá, República de Corea, Estados Unidos, Europa occidental y Japón utilizando un índice compuesto para clasificarlas. Los Estados Unidos figuran en último lugar: la concesión de vacaciones anuales al trabajador no es obligatoria y las licencias por motivos familiares se limitan a 12 semanas al año. Este bajo nivel de reglamentación podría deberse, según los autores, a una concepción mercantilista del empleo sumada a la creencia de que empleador y trabajadores tienen idéntica capacidad de negociación, visión no compartida por las demás democracias industrializadas.