La valeur économique de l’audit et son efficacité dans le fonctionnement de l’école publique

Les auteurs examinent l’incidence de l’audit sur le fonctionnement de l’école publique en poursuivant deux objectifs : déterminer si les audits procurent des avantages économiques aux parties prenantes et définir l’incidence de la complexité des règles à observer sur l’efficacité de l’audit. Utilisant des données relatives au temps consacréà l’audit et profitant de l’occasion unique offerte par la Quality Basic Education Act en Georgie, les auteurs estiment le rendement relatif des activités des arrondissements scolaires au moyen d’une méthode stochastique d’estimation des frontières. Ils constatent que l’audit produit de véritables avantages économiques pour les parties prenantes en atténuant le manque d’efficience de l’utilisation des ressources scolaires. Ils constatent également que la rigueur des règles à observer réduit l’efficacité de l’audit mais que l’expérience des auditeurs peut contribuer à surmonter ce problème. Le fait que les coûts d’audit ne soient pas communiqués entrave la réalisation d’une analyse coûts‐avantages des nouvelles exigences. L’analyse des auteurs vient confirmer la thèse selon laquelle l’audit est indispensable à l’établissement de mécanismes de gouvernance et la communication des coûts d’audit est importante dans l’évaluation adéquate d’une nouvelle politique. Les données pertinentes peuvent être obtenues auprès des sources publiques indiquées dans le texte.     

Has SOX Enhanced Non–Big 4 Auditors' Ability to Deal with Client Pressure?

We investigate whether non–Big 4 auditors have enhanced their ability to resist client pressure over accrual reporting following the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act (SOX). Regressing abnormal accruals on proxies for economic bonding, we find that changes in the association, defined as (Post–Pre), are significantly negative, implying an improvement in auditor independence after SOX. Among non–Big 4 auditors, only Tier 3 auditors compromised reporting objectivity before SOX, but neither Tier 2 nor Tier 3 auditors yielded to client pressure after SOX. Evidence that these two groups of non–Big 4 auditors differ in the way they cope with client pressure in a loose regulatory regime highlights the importance of assessing the efficacy of SOX separately for subsets of auditors and contributes to an understanding of the underresearched, but inherently important, segment of the audit market served by non–Big 4 auditors. Further analysis indicates that the low pre‐SOX audit quality observed in the full sample is driven by non–PCAOB registrants.     

Impact of responsive and proactive market orientation on SME performance: The moderating role of economic crisis perception

This study examines the relationship between market orientation (MO) and the performance of small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) within the context of economic crisis. It distinguishes between two levels of MO: responsive market orientation (RMO) and proactive market orientation (PMO). Data were collected on a sample of 300 SME. Findings indicate that SMEs, confronted with an economic downturn, use a MO approach that is both proactive and responsive, and reveal the moderator effect of the SME manager's perception of an economic crisis on PMO/RMO–performance. Research and practical implications are discussed. © 2018 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Antecedents and Consequences of Eco‐Control Deployment: Evidence from Canadian Manufacturing Firms

Environmental issues have become an important consideration for a growing number of organizations. Eco‐control may represent a valuable tool to help organizations address such issues. The aim of this study is to provide an overview of the eco‐control practices adopted by Canadian organizations and to understand the antecedents and consequences of their adoption. More specifically, this study examines (i) the extent to which eco‐control practices are deployed within organizations, (ii) the factors and motivations that lead organizations to implement eco‐control practices, and (iii) the impact of adoption on firms’ managerial and operational environmental actions as well as on environmental and economic performance. Using survey data from a sample of 249 Canadian manufacturing firms, this article shows that environmental missions, environmental policies, environmental strategic planning, environmental budgets and environmental performance indicators are the most frequently adopted eco‐control practices among the investigated firms, while environmental incentives seem to be less frequently adopted. The results of this study also suggest that competitive and ethical motivations as well as size, environmental exposure and stakeholder pressure are all important factors in explaining eco‐control practice adoption by Canadian manufacturing firms. Moreover, the results of this study show that organizations that have undertaken more intensive managerial and operational environmental actions have also adopted more intensive eco‐control practices. Organizations adopting more intensive eco‐control practices perform better both environmentally and economically performance than firms adopting less intensive eco‐control practices.     

The visual history of the Tableau Économique

This article looks at the history of the Tableau Économique from a visual point of view. It shows that Quesnay invented the Tableau to formalize visually his economic theory, and that he used different versions of the Tableau (‘Zigzag’, ‘Précis’ and ‘Formule’) for reasons of visual rhetorics. Accordingly, the visual history of the Tableau clarifies several problems identified by previous ‘ecommentors’. The paper concludes that the history of the Tableau as an image cannot be equated with that of Quesnay's abstract economic model without missing the Tableau Économique's raison d'être.     

Hosts and guests the bed-and-breakfast phenomenon

Proprietors of British bed-and-breakfasts houses and recent Australian tourists to the U.K. were interviewed in depth about their respective experiences as hosts and guests in such establishments. Accounts covered their motives for involvement with bed-and-breakfast transactions, their familiarity with and preparedness for them, the nature of their interactions, the effect of the domestic scale and location of the transaction, and the interpenetration of economic and other psychological components. The transaction went beyond the commercial; its dominant characteristics appeared in psychological rather than material forms. Of particular importance was the negotiation of mutually acceptable rules of conduct for being a host and guest in an essentially ambiguous situation. Difficulties of understanding between hosts and certain nationalities among tourists were reported. Comments are added on the applicability of the study's findings.     

Rod F. Ziemer**

This paper investigates the effect of disequilibrium prices on consumer and producer surplus in the U.S. fed beef market. An econometric model which allows for the possibility of prices that do not clear the market was used in the analysis. Results indicated that (I) the effect of disequilibrium prices in the U.S. fed beef market in the 1960s was relatively small compared to the 1970s and (2) recent price controls on beef caused price distortions that yielded surplus gains to consumers while producers suffered surplus losses. Cet article a pour but de déterminer ?effet du déséquilibre des prix sur le surplus du consommateur et du producteur dans le marché des bovins ?alimentation, aux Etats- Unis. Dans cette analyse, nous avons utilisé un modele économétrique qui peut s'appliquer aux cas où les prix ne sonl pas à la situation ?équilibre. Les résullats indiquent que: (1) ?effet do déséquilibre des prix dans les années 60 aux Etats- Unit était relativement modeste compareéà?effet enregistré dans les années 70; (2) les récents contrölles de prix imposés sur les bovins ont causé des distortions de prix. lesquelles distortions ont entrainé un accroissement du surplus du consommateur au détriment du surplus du producteur.     

Tourism and economic diversification in Hong Kong

Input-output techniques are used to assess the role of tourism in the economic diversification in Hong Kong. It is found that, in comparison with domestic manufacturing, the value-added content and labor productivity of tourism are relatively high, and tourism requires very little energy, not many laborers, moderate amounts of capital and appreciable amounts of skills, all of which are ideal in an environment of rocketing energy costs, rising wages, and fast growth with rapid accumulation of capital and skills. Moreover, the shares of tourism in GDP and total employment have been increasing due to decreasing leakage. On the demand side, the growth of tourist exports is more stable than many major commodity exports partly because tourism is less subject to import protectionism. Tourism is thus considered a prime choice in the current economic diversification of Hong Kong.     

Tourism development: Assessing Social Gains and Losses

Resident attitudes toward tourism, and perceptions of its impacts, are often diverse, with development often generating gains for some and losses for others. The net effect has been discussed conceptually for many years. This study illustrates an empirical evaluation of it, as well as of gains to tourists. Survey responses to hypothetical ski resort development in Åre, Sweden, indicate that some residents gain from such an expansion while others lose; the net effect on the community is negative over the range of slopes evaluated. Tourists gain from expansion, but their gains are not great enough to outweigh the net losses for residents, such that the welfare change for society as a whole is negative.     

The economic impact of tourism at the port of Miami

The total disaggregated economic impact that cruise industry tourism has on Dade County is examined in economic terms using a regional input-output model developmen by the Regional Science Research Institute. The analysis indicates that cruise industry tourism at the Port of Miami had a total economic impact on Dade County of $546 million in 1982. The total direct, indirect and induced number of jobs generated by the cruise industry and cruise passengers is 21,627. Wages totalling $271 million were paid in 1982 in Dade County as a result of the total impact of the cruise industry. Finally, the model revealed that cruise industry tourism contributed $264 million to the county's Gross Regional Product in 1982