Changes in Segment Reporting in the Australian Banking Industry

This paper examines changes in segment reporting in the Australian banking industry following the introduction of the revised AASB 1005 Segment Reporting. We find that the standard has implications for the qualitative characteristics of "understandability" and "comparability". Feedback on the revised standard is timely, as both the AASB and the IASB have recently issued new segmental reporting standards that are based on US GAAP's management approach of determining operating segments.     

POLTICAL EFFICACY AND POLITICAL PARTICIPATION OF FAMILY-ORIENTED PROFESSIONALS*

Political activities of home economists were found to be markedly limited. Those who reported greater amounts of participation were characterized by strong feelings of political efficacy, backgrounds of family political involvement, greater amounts of community participation, and employment in colleges or universities. Respondents not presently employed, including students, homemakers and retired persons, appeared to be the least politically active group. Implications for the academic preparation of home economists are explored.     

THE DECREASING INFLUENCE OF DOMESTIC MARKET STRUCTURE ON RACIAL EARNINGS DIFFERENTIALS: 1984 TO 1996

This study investigates the market concentration/racial earnings discrimination relationship in two periods: 1984–90 and 1991–96. In each period, the racial wage gap and the residual wage gap are compared for union and nonunion workers in monopolistic and competitive industries. The authors find no evidence of market structure–driven discrimination for union workers in either period. However, from the first to the second period they find evidence of increased racial earnings differentials for nonunion workers, yet market structure–driven discrimination decreases. The authors suggest that concentration has become a less effective measure of market power and firms' latitude to discriminate. (JEL J31, J71 )     

Auditor Mindsets and Audits of Complex Estimates

Auditors experience significant problems auditing complex accounting estimates, and this increasingly puts financial reporting quality at risk. Based on analyses of the specific errors that auditors commit, we propose that auditors need to be able to think more broadly and incorporate information from a variety of sources in order to improve audit quality for these important accounts. We experimentally demonstrate that a deliberative mindset intervention improves auditors’ ability to identify unreasonable estimates by improving their ability to identify and incorporate into their analyses contradictory information from diverse parts of the audit and improving their ability to think critically about the evidence. We perform additional analyses to demonstrate that our intervention improves auditor performance by causing them to think differently rather than simply to work harder. We demonstrate that critical thinking can improve the identification of unreasonable estimates and, in doing so, we provide new directions for addressing audit quality issues.     

Optimizing Environmental Product Life Cycles

In this paper, we propose a methodology, based on materials accounting and operational research techniques, to assess different industry configurations according to their life cycle environmental impacts. Rather than evaluating a specific technology, our methodology searches for the feasible configuration with the minimum impact. This approach allows us to address some basic policy-relevant questions regarding technology choice, investment priorities, industrial structures, and international trade patterns. We demonstrate the methodology in the context of the European pulp and paper industry. We are able to show that current environmental policy's focus on maximizing recycling is optimal now, but that modest improvements in primary pulping technology may shift the optimal industry configuration away from recycling toward more primary pulping with incineration. We show that this will have significant implications for the amount and type of environmental damage, for the location of different stages in the production chain, and for trade between European member states. We caution policy makers that their single-minded focus on recycling may foreclose investment in technologies that could prove environmentally superior. Finally, we hint that member state governments may be fashioning their environmental policy positions at least in part on some of the trade and industrial implications we find.     

SURVEYS OF STUDENT LIFE AND ATTITUDES: PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE OF SURVEY RESEARCH METHODS FOR UNDERGRADUATE HOME ECONOMISTS

This paper describes the operation of a course in Social Research Methodology for undergraduate home economists. The advantages of a practically based course are stressed. Results from the students 'surveys on student life and attitudes are outlined and briefly discussed.