The ethics of creative accounting some Spanish evidence

Creative accounting involves accountants in making accounting policy choices or manipulating transactions in such a way as to convey a preferred and deliberately chosen impression in the accounts. Although it is regarded as unethical by most observers, a defense of creative accounting can be based on the assumption that users of accounts can identify bias in accounting policy choices and make appropriate adjustments. In this paper we take the example of the Barcelona Football Club where the club management made three key accounting policy choices that resulted in the presentation of a favourable position, and a supporters club presented an alternative report choosing three alternative accounting policies that presented an unfavourable position. We presented each of these financial reports to one of two groups of Spanish bank loan officers: we found that the more favourable set of accounts was significantly more likely to attract a positive response to a loan request. This result undermines the validity of defending creative accounting based on the argument that accounts users can identify manipulation.     

叶尔羌河平原绿洲土地生态安全预警演变与时空格局分析

[目的]探索叶尔羌河平原绿洲土地生态安全预警问题及其时空格局变化,旨在为叶尔羌河平原绿洲土地生态安全及可持续利用提供科学的参考依据。[方法]文章运用PSR模型构建预警指标体系,采用熵值法测算各指标权重,对2000—2016年叶尔羌河平原绿洲土地生态安全警情格局进行综合分析,并利用GIS技术分析其2000年、2005年、2010年和2016年土地生态安全空间格局变化,最后运用障碍度模型探索其障碍因子。[结果](1)2000—2016年叶尔羌河平原绿洲土地生态安全综合预警指数总体呈上升态势,生态预警状态由"较不安全"转为"临界安全",警度亦由"重警"变为"中警"。(2)从空间格局来看,空间上各县域土地生态安全水平差异明显,研究初期西部地区土地生态安全状态优于东部地区, 2016年呈现出中部高、东北—西南部低的态势。(3)近17年叶尔羌河平原绿洲各县域土地生态环境状况有所改善,安全状态经历了"极不安全—临界安全—较安全"的发展历程。(4)影响土地生态安全的主要障碍因子包括单位面积耕地农药负荷、人口密度、单位面积耕地化肥负荷、土地垦殖率、人口自然增长率和单位面积耕地地膜负荷等。[结论]研究期间叶尔羌河平原绿洲土地生态安全得到明显的提升与改善,并在良好的方向发展。     

叶尔羌河平原绿洲耕地利用转型与粮食产量耦合关系研究

［目的］为了解叶尔羌河平原绿洲耕地利用变化与粮食产量的耦合关系,以此优化粮食生产系统的指导方式,提高叶尔羌河平原绿洲粮食产量,协调叶尔羌河平原绿洲耕地利用转型与粮食产量的耦合关系,并为叶尔羌河平原绿洲的粮食安全保护提供一定的政策启示。［方法］文章运用熵值法,以粮食生产相关的“投入”指标为评价依据,耕地利用强度由地均化肥使用强度、有效灌溉比例、复种指数及地均农业机械化水平等4个指标构成,以及利用1990—2016年叶尔羌河平原绿洲粮食产量,分析其耕地利用转型和粮食产量耦合关系时空变化。［结果］(1)1990—2016年叶尔羌河平原绿洲各县耕地利用强度不断增大,并且区域时空格局差异明显,研究初期东北部地区的耕地利用程度强于西部地区,而2016年呈现出西南—中东部强,东北部弱的态势; 从粮食产量方面来看,叶尔羌河平原绿洲粮食产量整体有所增长,空间分异特征较不明显;(2)耕地利用强度—粮食产量耦合类型时空演化特征明显,高耦合值区增加,低耦合区值逐年减少; 从空间上看,叶尔羌河平原绿洲西部地区耕地利用转型与粮食产量耦合度越来越高。(3)耕地利用转型推动粮食生产格局不断演化,叶尔羌河平原绿洲耕地利用转型与粮食产量耦合度在1990—2016年呈现耦合度逐渐增加的趋势,耕地利用转型对保障区域粮食安全具有重要作用。［结论］叶尔羌河平原绿洲粮食产量随着耕地利用转型的不断深入而不断提高,耕地利用转型对粮食安全具有有利影响。     

Truthfulness in Accounting: How to Discriminate Accounting Manipulators from Non-manipulators

Accountants preparing information are in a position to manipulate the view of economic reality presented in such information to interested parties. These manipulations can be regarded as morally reprehensible because they are not fair to users, they involve in an unjust exercise of power, and they tend to weaken the authority of accounting regulators. This paper develops a model for detecting earnings manipulators using financial statements’ ratios in a sample of Spanish listed companies. Our results provide evidence that accounting data can be extremely useful in detecting manipulators. This approach can be used by a large category of users of accounting information among which we can cite stock exchange supervisors or investing professionals.     

叶尔羌河平原绿洲耕地生态安全评价及预警分析

[目的]为了明确叶尔羌河平原绿洲耕地生态环境现状,分析耕地生态安全当前面临的主要影响因素,探索耕地生态安全预警问题及协调人地关系。[方法]文章运用DPSIR概念模型构建预警指标体系,在此基础上,运用DPSIR概念模型与障碍度模型对1991—2016年叶尔羌河平原绿洲的耕地生态安全警情格局进行评估和主要障碍因子分析,最后采用灰色GM(1, 1)预测模型对其2018—2025年的警情演变趋势进行预测。[结果](1)总体上, 1991—2016年叶尔羌河平原绿洲耕地生态安全预警值从0.149 1增加到0.691 8,呈波动上升趋势,安全警情经历了"巨警—重警—中警—轻警"的发展历程。(2)就各子系统的变化趋势而言, 1991—2016年压力系统的预警值整体上呈现下降态势,驱动力、状态、影响和响应系统的预警值总体上呈现递增趋势。(3)长期来看,系统压力是影响耕地生态安全的主要因素,是今后调控的重点。1991—2016年系统压力的障碍度以年均7.57%的速度增加,而系统驱动力、状态、影响和响应的障碍度分别以年均0.34%,1.01%,100%和4.65%的速度下降。(4)影响耕地生态安全的主要障碍因子包括农作物受灾面积、农药使用强度、灾害指数、地膜使用强度、化肥使用强度和人口密度等。(5)按现状发展态势,灰色预测分析得出2018—2025年耕地生态安全预警值分别为0.697 0,0.730 1,0.765 3,0.802 8,0.842 5,0.884 6,0.929 2,0.976 3。[结论]叶尔羌河平原绿洲耕地生态安全在向较好的态势发展。     

Creative Accounting: Some Ethical Issues of Macro- and Micro-Manipulation

Preparers of financial statements are in a position to manipulate the view of economic reality presented in those statements to interested parties. This paper examines two principal categories of manipulative behaviour. The term macro-manipulation is used to describe the lobbying of regulators to persuade them to produce regulation that is more favourable to the interests of preparers. Micro-manipulation describes the management of accounting figures to produce a biased view at the entity level. Both categories of manipulation can be viewed as attempts at creativity by financial statement preparers. The paper analyses two cases of manipulation. First, it describes a recent case of significant and successful lobbying against the accounting regulator in the USA. The second case examines some recent Spanish earnings manipulation to demonstrate the effects of biased reporting at the entity level. Both types of creativity are considered in an ethical context. The paper concludes that the manipulations described in it can be regarded as morally reprehensible. They are not fair to users, they involve an unjust exercise of power, and they tend to weaken the authority of accounting regulators.     

External reporting of accounting and financial information via the Internet in Spain

This paper describes the current (July 1998) level of usage of Internet communication technologies by Spanish quoted companies for communication of financial and other information to interested parties. First, in order to place the communication activity in context, the current extent of Internet access in Spain is described. Second, a study of the websites which have been established by Spanish companies quoted on the Madrid Stock Exchange is reported. Finally, the paper discusses the actual and potential development of the Internet as a means of establishing ‘corporate dialogue’ (Spaul, 1997) with stakeholders.     

Heterogeneous effects of nontariff measures on cross-border investments: Bilateral firm-level analysis

We analyze the heterogeneous effects of technical regulations and safety standards embodied in nontariff measures on foreign direct investment using global firm-level panel data of bilateral cross-border ownership relationships over the period 2008–2018. We develop a novel measure of time-varying bilateral ad valorem equivalents of sectoral nontariff measures, which reveals that technical barriers to trade (TBTs) played a much greater role as a trade-inhibiting factor in comparison with import tariffs and sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures over the period 1996–2018. Estimations using the Poisson pseudo-maximum likelihood framework reveal the importance of nontariff measures as a driver of foreign direct investment.