Enforced Standards Versus Evolution by General Acceptance: A Comparative Study of E-Commerce Privacy Disclosure and Practice in the United States and the United Kingdom

We present data on privacy practices in e‐commerce under the European Union's formal regulatory regime prevailing in the United Kingdom and compare it with the data from a previous study of U.S. practices that evolved in the absence of government laws or enforcement. The codification by the E.U. law, and the enforcement by the U.K. government, improves neither the disclosure nor the practice of e‐commerce privacy relative to the United States. Regulation in the United Kingdom also appears to stifle development of a market for Web assurance services. Both U.S. and U.K. consumers continue to be vulnerable to a small number of e‐commerce Web sites that spam their customers, ignoring the latter's expressed or implied preferences. These results raise important questions about finding a balance between enforced standards and conventions in financial reporting. In the second half of the 20th century, financial reporting has been characterized by both a preference for legislated standards and a lack of faith in its evolution as a body of social conventions. Evidence on whether this faith in standards over conventions is justified remains to be marshaled.     

Convexity of Valuation Accuracy Function: Empirical Evidence for the Canadian Economy*

Abstract. We investigated the benefits (more accurate valuations) obtained from the use of more specific measures, such as the use of specific price indexes, rather than a general price index, to approximate the current value of historical cost accounting numbers. We found the valuation accuracy function for the Canadian economy to be highly convex; that is, marginal gains in accuracy decline sharply as the specificity of price indexes increases. A few broad price indexes yield a relatively accurate valuation of assets, and little accuracy is gained by using more specific price indexes. These results are consistent with empirical studies conducted in the United States (Hall 1982; Sunder and Way mire 1983; Shriver 1986) and Australia (Tippett 1987). These results suggest that Canadian standard setters may be able to achieve their objective of getting relatively accurate valuations for industrial assets by adopting a simple and verifiable price index methodology, rather than resorting to costly and complicated computations such as those required by Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) Handbook Section 4510. Résumé. Les auteurs étudient les avantages (évaluations plus exactes) de l'utilisation plus grande de mesures spécifiques — comme celles d'indices des prix spécifiques plutôt que d'un indice des prix général — pour obtenir la valeur actuelle approximative des données produites par la comptabilité au coût d'origine. Ils constatent que la fonction d'exactitude de l'évaluation pour l'économie canadienne présente une grande convexité, c'est-à-dire que les gains marginaux en exactitude déclinent abruptement lorsque la spécificité des indices de prix augmente. Quelques grands indices des prix livrent une évaluation relativement exacte de l'actif, et l'on gagne peu d'exactitude en utilisant des indices des prix plus spécifiques. Ces résultats sont conformes aux études empiriques réalisées aux États-Unis (Hall, 1982; Sunder et Waymire, 1983; Shriver, 1986) et en Australie (Tippett, 1987). Les résultats portent à croire que les responsables canadiens de la normalisation pourraient être en mesure d'atteindre leur objectif d'évaluations relativement exactes, dans le cas des actifs industriels, en adoptant une méthodologie d'indice des prix simple et verifiable plutôt que de recourir à des calculs onéreux et complexes comme ceux qu'exige le chapitre 4510 du Manuel de l'I.C.C.A.     

Packaging and design of consumer goods: a comparative study between Turkey and Jordan

The purpose of this study of packaging design is to examine the preferences of Turkish and Jordanian consumers living in the capital cities of both countries. A field survey was carried out to measure consumers' preferences, mostly for consumer goods, for colour or colour combinations of packages, and package sizes. The colour and size preferences show differences based on different cultures and economic conditions both in Turkey and Jordan. The study also investigates the influence of purchase frequency on package sizes. The conclusions will be beneficial to those who are planning and developing suitable marketing strategies for multinational companies.