Is neuroaccounting waiting in the wings? An essay

This paper discusses a recently published handbook on neuroeconomics ( and ) and extends the discussion to reasons why this newly emerging discipline should be of interest to behavioral accounting researchers. We evaluate the achieved and potential contribution of neuroeconomics to the study of human economic behavior, and examine what behavioral accounting researchers can learn from neuroeconomics and whether we should expect to see a similar sub-field emerge within behavioral accounting in the near future. We conclude that a separate sub-field within behavioral accounting is not likely in the near future due mostly to practical reasons. However, the behavioral accounting researcher would do well to follow research in this discipline closely, and behavioral accountants in the near future are likely to collaborate with neuroscientists and neuroeconomists on questions of mutual interest.     

A critical review of multi-criteria decision making methods with special reference to forest management and planning

This paper provides a review of research contributions on forest management and planning using multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) based on an exhaustive literature survey. The review primarily focuses on the application aspects highlighting theoretical underpinnings and controversies. It also examines the nature of the problems addressed and incorporation of risk into forest management and planning decision making. The MCDM techniques covered in this review belong to several schools of thought. For each technique, a variety of empirical applications including recent studies has been reviewed. More than 60 individual studies were reviewed and classified by the method used, country of origin, number and type of criteria and options evaluated. The review serves as a guide to those interested in how to use a particular MCDM approach. Based on the review, some recent trends and future research directions are also highlighted.     

Value relevance of human capital based disclosures: Moderating effects of labor productivity,investor sentiment,analyst coverage and audit quality

Voluntarily disclosed employee costs in annual reports of listed firms are value relevant, according to US based studies. However, investors appear to fail to take full advantage of the signaling opportunities presented by these disclosures. This study suggests that labor productivity, audit quality, analyst coverage and high technology categorization moderate the value relevance of voluntarily disclosed employee costs in Malaysia, contributing a novel set of moderating variables to the human capital accounting and value relevance literature, and extending the extant literature to an emerging economy. The results are consistent with the findings from US based settings, after incorporating these moderating factors. Pertinent policy recommendations, based on these findings, are suggested.     

Multi-attribute preference modelling and regional land-use planning

Forest management policy decisions are complex due to the multiple-use nature of goods and services from forests, difficulty in monetary valuation of ecological services and the involvement of a large number of stakeholders. Multi-attribute decision techniques can be used to synthesise stakeholder preferences related to regional forest planning because it can accommodate conflicting, multidimensional, incommensurable and incomparable objectives. The objective of this paper is to examine how the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) can be used to incorporate stakeholder preferences in determining optimal forest land-use choices. The Australian Regional Forest Agreement Programme is taken as an illustrative case for the analysis. The results show that the AHP can formalise public participation in decision making and increase the transparency and the credibility of the process.     

Mutual adaptation in buyer-supplier relationships

In buyer-supplier relationships, effective partnerships require mutual adaptation to execute strategies effectively. Using LISREL, we test a model of relational exchange factors that includes dependence, joint action and trust and their influence on the mutual adaptation of supplier and buyer firms in the U.S. automotive industry. The results of the study indicate that both economic and social dimensions of the relationship impact mutual adaptation, but that these two are not necessarily complementary. Specifically, supplier adaptation is negatively impacted by trust between supplier and buyer, but positively impacted by dependence and joint action. Buyer adaptation, on the other hand, is positively impacted by trust between the two, joint action and the adaptation undertaken by the supplier. The negative relationship between trust and supplier adaptation may be symptomatic of deeper issues in the U.S. automotive industry that should merit concern.     

What factors drive the adoption of digital banking? An empirical study from the perspective of Omani retail banking

This study aims to investigate the factors influencing the adoption of digital banking by retail banking customers. A theoretical model was developed based on an extended technology acceptance model to conceptualize the linkage among the factors impacting digital banking adoption. The primary data were acquired through a structured questionnaire from 200 customers. The multiple linear regression equation was used to analyse the relationship among six independent factors. The study revealed awareness, web features and perceived usefulness have significant positive influence on adoption of digital banking. The study is useful to plan and promote service model to enhance digital banking adoption.     

A segmented trend model to assess fiscal sustainability: The US experience 1929–2009

The academic literature has focused largely on testing for long-run fiscal sustainability. In this exercise we formulate a flexible regression model that can be used to assess the sustainability of a more recent build-up of fiscal deficits and debt that would be of major concern to policy makers. The analysis of US data shows that, after adjusting for some fundamentals, the gross Federal debt–income ratio has been growing at an unsustainable rate of 4 % per year since 2007. The net debt–income ratio does not show such a significant trend. Since not all government assets are readily available to reduce debt, significant positive trends in the gross debt–income ratio calls for policy actions.     

The experience of some OECD economies on tax smoothing

Observed random walk behaviour of a tax rate does not necessarily support the tax smoothing hypothesis though the latter implies the former. This article presents a direct test of tax smoothing by showing that if the tax smoothing hypothesis holds then the future tax rate should cointegrate with the current permanent government expenditure rate even though the tax rate is a random walk. This test is a direct and robust test of a number of ‘random walk models’ available in the literature. This procedure also enables us to differentiate among ‘strong tax smoothing’, ‘weak tax smoothing’ and ‘no-tax smoothing’, all of which are consistent with the random walk behaviour of a tax rate. Application of this test to Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the UK and the US show evidence in support of weak forms of tax smoothing.