Top pay transparency in Europe: codes,convergence and clichés

Following the waves of corporate scandals and the increasing attention to corporate governance, the transparency of reporting on director-level pay has increased across Europe. This article examines the extent of convergence in laws, codes and corporate reporting practices in regard to director-level pay in France, Germany, Switzerland and the UK. The paper analyses annual reports and the websites of 23 companies, using institutional theory to discuss the coercive, normative and mimetic pressures for convergence that are revealed, not just in the laws and codes in each country, but also in the standardized wording in the relevant sections of reports which have become clichés.     

Foreign trade,resource allocation,and structural adjustment in Yugoslavia: 1976–1980

A multisector computable general-equilibrium model for the Yugoslav economy is used to analyze some of the internal and external causes of the foreign-exchange crisis of the 1976–1980 period. Methodologically, its modeling approach, appropriately modified for institutional differences, can be used to study the behavior of socialist economies in which prices play a role in resource allocation. Empirically, the results suggest that internal policy errors and systemic factors were the predominant force behind Yugoslavia's growing foreign-exchange shortage between 1976 and 1980. J. Comp. Econ., March 1985, 9(1), pp. 46–70. University of California, Berkeley, California 94720.     

Nuclear licensing in the United States: enhancing public confidence in the regulatory process

A nuclear regulator’s paramount purpose is to utilize its expertise to ensure protection of public safety. But, recent actions by countries, such as Germany, to phase out nuclear power illustrate that public perception of nuclear safety can change swiftly despite a country’s long history of safely operating nuclear power plants. Public trust, acceptance, and involvement in nuclear regulatory decisions, therefore, are critical to a successful nuclear power program. In the United States, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (‘NRC’) has a long-standing practice of conducting its regulatory responsibilities in an open and transparent manner. The NRC, as a regular part of its decision-making process, also reaches out to affected and interested parties and invites their involvement in its regulatory processes. The NRC’s efforts to instill public confidence are an explicit recognition that nuclear safety and security are the public’s business. While the NRC must balance the public’s rights to participate in the licensing process with the applicant’s right to an efficient and timely licensing decision on an application, ultimately the NRC’s decision-making process is more effective and more broadly accepted by the public when it includes participation of a diverse range of interested and affected parties.     

Downsizing and the changing role of HR

This paper examines the changing role of HR in the specific context of downsizing. It highlights the key dilemmas facing HR professionals - on the one hand, the contribution of HRM to the achievement of business results has come under increasing scrutiny and, on the other hand, most of the challenges of downsizing are people-related issues that require sophisticated HR interventions. The paper reports the key findings of a pilot study conducted in sixty organizations in the UK that downsized in the last three years. The key conclusion of the study is that the role of HR has become wide ranging, covering the strategic as well as implementation aspects. The clear message from the study suggests that, unless there is alignment between the two aspects, the envisaged benefits of downsizing are unlikely take place. Key challenges facing HR professionals are managing middle managers, managing careers and managing employee expectations. There are indications to suggest that the process role of HR is likely to become more important in the medium and longer terms.     

America's “exceptional” transition to capitalism: A counter view

This paper is a response to part two of Rob Bryer's (RB) analysis of the development of capitalism in the US, focusing on the second half of the 19th century when the nation was transformed into the world's largest industrial power. We argue that RB's view that America became a capitalist economy only post-1900 is counterintuitive given the scale of output, the rate of acceleration, and the accumulation and concentration of capital prior to that date.     

Parallels between US and UK cost accountancy in the World War I era

Both the US and UK governments attempted desperate measures during World War I in an effort to maintain wartime production levels of necessary commodities and to allow for their economical purchase by the military. Loft (1986a, 1986b, 1990) has studied the British experience in depth, concluding that UK cost accountancy 'came into the light' as a result. It might be expected that similar developments would have occurred in America with the activities of the War Industries Board. In both countries, national associations were established in the immediate aftermath of the war to promote the professional standing of cost accountants. This paper utilizes archival materials in an effort to investigate whether US cost accountancy was developing more sophisticated costing techniques as Loft has claimed for the UK, or whether practitioners in this country were left 'still cursing the darkness'. Our findings suggest that cost accountancy developed in parallel fashion in both countries. US and UK cost accounting professionalism was dominated by the presence of leading financial accounting practitioners, and in both countries the movement towards more sophisticated costing techniques was gradual rather than dramatic.     

Energize your accounting class with a simulation that's fun for students

One way for students to become more actively involved in their classes is for educators to design instruction that requires student participation. Frequently, at the university level, participative learning exercises are viewed either as inappropriate or unmanageable. The job-cost simulation outlined in this article can be performed in a 50-minute class period. Students work in teams to perform a real task and cost the output of their efforts. The exercise raises a number of provocative issues regarding standard costing and quality control, and, perhaps best of all, occurs in a spirited, enlivened class session.     

How CEOs manage growth agendas

When does it make sense for companies to grow from within? When is it better to gain new capabilities or access to markets by merging with or acquiring other companies? When should you sacrifice the bottom line in order to nurture the top line? In a thought-provoking series of essays, five executives--Kenneth Freeman of Quest Diagnostics, George Nolen of Siemens USA, John Tyson of Tyson Foods, Kenneth Lewis of Bank of America, and Robert Creifeld of Nasdaq--describe how they have approached top-line growth in various leadership roles throughout their careers. They write candidly about their struggles and successes along the way, relaying growth strategies as diverse as the companies and industries they represent. The leaders' different tactics have almost everything to do with their companies' particular strengths, weaknesses, and needs. Freeman, for instance, emphasizes the importance of knowing when to put on the brakes. When he first became CEO of Quest, he froze acquisitions for a few years so the company could focus on internal processes and "earn the right to grow." But for Greifeld, it's all about innovation, which "shakes up competitive stasis and propels even mature businesses forward." The executives agree, though, that companies can grow (and can do so profitably) by distinguishing their offerings from those of other organizations. As Ranjay Gulati of Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management points out in his introduction to the essays, no matter what strategies are in play,"it's important to remember that growth comes in many forms and takes patience.... The key is to be ready to act on whatever types of opportunities arise."     

Enterprise demand for money and illiquidity crises in Yugoslavia

This paper examines the short-term demand for money by Yugoslav enterprises during the 1961–1971 period in an attempt to explain the recurrence of so-called ‘illiquidity crises’ in the Yugoslav economy. The empirical results indicate that a traditional transactions demand for money equation, modified to allow for the effects of inflationary expectations and lagged adjustment, can explain the cash-holding behavior of the Yugoslav enterprise sector in the post-1965 period. Further examination of the evidence indicates that the decline in enterprise liquidity which occured during this period was also the result of enterprise response to the growth of money substitutes and the result of involuntary increases in holdings of trade credit occasioned by payments' defaults.     

The Evolution of Standard Costing in the U.K. and U.S.: From Decision Making to Control

Decision making and control are two fundamental components of industrial management that are aided by accounting information. This article traces the evolution of standard costing in the U.K. and U.S. and describes how it has served these two purposes over time. At the start of the industrial revolution, standard costing, in the form of past actual costs, aided managers in make-or-buy, pricing, outsourcing and other routine and special decisions. In the late nineteenth century, as the mass production of homogeneous products became more common, predetermined, norm-based standard costs were promoted as the means to control operations and reduce waste. The use of predetermined costs was recommended by both academic and professional branches well into the twentieth century. Since the mid-1980s, norm-based standards have come under fire for not providing appropriate strategic signals in an era of global competition, continuous improvement and perpetual cost reduction.
This article compares the nature of standard costing practices in the British Industrial Revolution with those that evolved in the U.S. under scientific management. The enquiry is not limited to double-entry systems and, like Miller and Napier (1993), the domain is broadened to include other forms of cost-keeping practices. We utilize primary and secondary sources to argue that the environment and rationales for standard costs have changed fundamentally over time. It is speculated that in the future standard costing will be used far less for individual accountability or operational control, but will return to its decision-making roots in the form of long-run cost targets that benchmark the success of continuous cost-reduction efforts.