Contracting and Reporting Conservatism around a Change in Fiduciary Duties*

We exploit an influential 1991 Delaware court ruling to examine simultaneously two types of conservatism that play important roles in resolving creditor–owner agency conflicts: contracting conservatism and reporting conservatism. The ruling expanded managerial fiduciary duties in favor of creditors for Delaware-incorporated firms in the vicinity of insolvency. In those firms, following the ruling, debt contracts are less likely to include conservative adjustments to accounting numbers used for covenant compliance (i.e., contracting conservatism decreases), while public financial reporting becomes more conservative (i.e., reporting conservatism increases). The decrease in contracting conservatism is concentrated in firms that exhibit a greater increase in reporting conservatism, suggesting that reporting conservatism is more cost-effective in resolving agency conflicts. In addition, the substitution effect is more pronounced in firms facing greater business uncertainty and firms with greater board independence.     

The ‘new public management’ and the reform of public services to agriculture in adjusting economies: the role of contracting

This paper outlines the conditions under which contracting of different types succeeds in the provision of public services to agriculture. It observes that performance contracting has been widely attempted in adjusting countries but generally with little success, since it is demanding of resources, flexibility and motivation in government under conditions where these are scarce. Examples are drawn from agricultural marketing. Given the largely private nature of the services to agriculture currently provided by the state, the long-term reform strategy should be market development. Contracting out and management contracting may have a role in this strategy, particularly in better managed adjusting economies.     

基于不完全契约理论的军队运用地方第三方物流思考

文章以不完全契约理论的视角，分析了军队用户与地方物流服务商的契约所具有更为显著的不完全性，提出了强化军事物流服务商管理机制、构建含有军事物流服务商的信息网络、加强有军事物流服务商参加的物流演练等对策。     

浅析农村妇女在婚姻家庭中土地财产权益及法律保护

土地是农民生存和发展的根基,土地问题是解决当前"三农"即农村、农业、农民问题的核心.土地制度的建立完善和实施直接关系到国家农业产业的发展和农村社会、经济秩序的稳定.农村妇女由于传统习惯和文化素质的影响对土地的依赖性更强,所以对农村妇女土地权益的保护更为重要.《婚姻法》修正后对夫妻财产制度作了许多新的规定,特别是第39条第2款,"夫或妻在家庭土地承包经营中享有的权益等,依法应当予以保护"的规定,是婚姻法对夫妻财产制度的一个新的突破.目前,农村妇女土地权益受侵害的现象比较严重和突出,在一定程度上扰乱了农村的经济秩序和社会秩序,因此,关注农村妇女权益保护,对解决农村妇女土地承包权问题是非常必要的.     

Corporate stakeholders,corporate valuation and ESG

In addition to explicit contracts, corporations issue their stakeholders implicit claims, including fair treatment of employees and the promise of continuing service to customers. Corporate value is created by selling these implicit claims for more than it costs to honour them. Recently, a new class of non-investor stakeholders, related to environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, has arisen. Although many ESG advocates stress their role in creating shareholder value, they do not explain how this value creation occurs. This paper shows that implicit claims provide a critical link that ties non-investor stakeholders and ESG to shareholder value, both its creation and its possible destruction.     

Indigenous Peoples’ Health Care: New approaches to contracting and accountability at the public administration frontier

Abstract

This article analyses reforms to contracting and accountability for indigenous primary health care organizations in Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. The reforms are presented as comparative case studies, the common reform features identified and their implications analysed.

The reforms share important characteristics. Each proceeds from implicit recognition that indigenous organizations are ‘co-principals’ rather than simply agents in their relationship with government funders and regulators. There is a common tendency towards more relational forms of contracting; and tentative attempts to reconceptualize accountability. These ‘frontier’ cases have broad implications for social service contracting.     

Does obligational contracting lead to better performance? A comparison of global carmakers’ supply chain management approaches in Australia

Supply chain management (SCM) has been recognised as key to automobile manufacturers’ (‘buyers’) competitive advantage. However, the performance implication of two different approaches towards SCM, obligational contracting (OCR) vs. arm’s length contracting (ACR), remains inconclusive in the current literature. By focusing on examining how multiple global automobile manufacturers’ SCM practices result in different performance outcomes in the one-country setting of Australia, we are able to ascertain the direct impact of SCM approaches on buyers’ performance. We also provide detailed analysis on the specific influence of each distinguishing feature of the OCR/ACR approaches on different aspects of performance. Through a more nuanced investigation of the links between SCM approaches and automobile manufacturers’ performance at the firm level, this research contributes to a better understanding of the topic with managerially applicable insights.     

Consequences of Debt Forgiveness: Strategic Default Contagion and Lender Learning

I use a unique data set of loans to small business owners to examine whether lenders face adverse consequences when they grant debt forgiveness to borrowers. I provide evidence consistent with borrowers communicating their debt forgiveness to other borrowers, who then more frequently strategically default on their own obligations. This strategic default contagion is economically large. When the lender doubles debt forgiveness, the default rate increases by 10.9% on average. Using an exogenous shock to the lender's forgiveness policy, my findings suggest that as the lender learns about the extent of borrower communication the lender tightens its debt forgiveness policy to mitigate default contagion.     

科威特大学城总承包工程风险控制浅析

分析合同,对项目进行风险识别,制定风险应对措施并进行过程监控,降低风险发生的概率,最大程度地实现工程项目的经济效益。     

An intra-organizational perspective on supply management involvement in contracting services

The relationship between an agent (supply management) and a principal (client functional user) can be studied by using agency theory as a theoretical background. In this study, perceptions of conflict, information asymmetry and risk were examined in relation to perceptions of internal outcomes of supply management’s involvement in services contracting in an intra-organizational dyadic context. Structural equation modeling and regression analysis were used to analyze the nature of the relationships. The contribution is integrating a structured view of internal outcomes with three concepts from agency theory to help build a more comprehensive theory of intra-organizational relationships in the context of services contracting.