The Effects of Secondary School Accounting Education on University Accounting Performance—A Canadian Experience*

Abstract. This study examined the impact of high school accounting education on students' performance in the first financial accounting course at a Canadian university, specifically the differential impact of different degrees of exposure to high school accounting (i.e., number of courses taken) and the type of courses (i.e., OAC) versus non-OAC courses) on the students' performance. The results strongly suggest that previous experience in accounting has a significantly positive relationship with students' performance in the first university accounting course. Although the results show that there is a significant positive correlation between performance and the number of accounting courses taken in high school, the results also indicate no significant difference in performance between students who have taken one or two courses. When controlling for the type of courses taken in high school, the results suggest that OAC students perform significantly better than non-OAC students. The results reported in this study may have important implications for university curricula policy makers. Résumé. Les auteurs examinent l'incidence de la formation en comptabilité des étudiants de niveau collégial sur leur succès dans le premier cours de comptabilité financière qu'ils suivent dans une université canadienne, et plus précisément la variation de cette incidence selon la mesure dans laquelle ils sont exposés à la comptabilité dans leurs études collégiales (en termes de nombre de cours suivis) et la nature des cours qu'ils suivent (selon que ces cours appartiennent ou non à la catégorie des Ontario Academic Courses (OAC)). Les résultats donnent toutes les raisons de croire que l'expérience préalable en comptabilité a une relation positive significative avec le succès des étudiants dans leur premier cours universitaire de comptabilité. Bien que l'étude aboutisse à la conclusion qu'il existe une corrélation positive significative entre le succès et le nombre de cours de comptabilité suivis au niveau collégial, les résultats n'indiquent aucune différence significative dans le succès des étudiants, selon qu'ils ont suivi un ou deux cours. Selon les résultats de l'analyse, les étudiants ayant suivi des cours appartenant à la catégorie des OAC réussissent beaucoup mieux que ceux qui ont suivi des cours n'appartenant pas à cette catégorie. Les constatations des auteurs pourraient avoir des répercussions majeures sur la conception des programmes universitaires.     

Innovation Perception and Adoption of Solar Heating Technology

This study examines the differences between solar adopters and the general public in their perceptions of solar technologies. Factor analysis confirmed the existence of the theorized dimensions of innovation perception. Discriminant analyses and post hoc comparisons were used to assess differences between adopters, nonadopters, and procrastinators. Models including these facets resulted in significant improvements over a model containing only demographic variables. Results are used to make suggestions for increasing the pace of solar adoption.     

为什么德国“不折腾”

二战结束后,特别是到20世纪50、60年代,依靠艾哈德"社会市场经济"政策的调节,联邦德国经济发展迅速,创造了经济增长的奇迹。1963年阿登纳因专权引起党内反对而辞职,当时的经济部长艾哈德接任总理职务。     

THE IMPACT OF ACADEMIC PATENTING ON THE RATE,QUALITY AND DIRECTION OF (PUBLIC) RESEARCH OUTPUT*

We examine the influence of faculty patenting on the rate, quality, and content of public research outputs in a panel dataset of 3,862 academic life scientists. Using inverse probability of treatment weights (IPTW) to account for self‐selection into patenting, we find that patenting has a positive effect on the rate of publications and a weak positive effect on the quality of these publications. We also find that patenters may be shifting their research focus to questions of commercial interest. We conclude that the often voiced concern that patenting in academe has a nefarious effect on public research output is misplaced.     

Earnings Metrics,Information Processing,and Price Efficiency in Laboratory Markets

An enduring issue in financial reporting is whether and how salient summary measures of firm performance (“earnings metrics”) affect market price efficiency. In laboratory markets, we test the effects of salient earnings metrics, which vary in how they combine persistent and transitory elements, on investor information search, beliefs about value, offers to trade, and market price efficiency. We find that including transitory elements in salient earnings metrics causes traders to search unnecessarily for further information about these elements and to overestimate their effect on fundamental value relative to a rational benchmark. In contrast, separately displaying persistent elements in earnings increases the accuracy of traders’ value estimates. Prices generally reflect traders’ beliefs about value, and prices are most efficient when transitory elements are excluded from earnings metrics entirely. Our study contributes to research on salience effects in financial reporting by showing that including transitory elements in salient earnings metrics causes inefficient information search and biased beliefs about value that can aggregate to affect market prices. We also contribute to research in experimental markets by showing that redundant disclosure is not always beneficial; redundant disclosure of transitory earnings elements, in particular, appears to have negative consequences for investor behavior and market efficiency.