Performance analysis of business process models with advanced constructs

The importance of actively managing and analysing business processes is acknowledged more than ever in organisations nowadays. Business processes form an essential part of an organisation and their application areas are manifold. Most organisations keep records of various activities that have been carried out for auditing purposes, but they are rarely used for analysis purposes. This paper describes the design and implementation of a process analysis tool that replays, analyses and visualises a variety of performance metrics using a process definition and its corresponding execution logs. The replayer uses a YAWL process model example to demonstrate its capacity to support advanced language constructs.

Charity law

Charity Law - 2nd edition addresses the modern law relating to this sector. Like the first edition, it comes at a time of public concern about the law regulating charitable activity. While concentrating on both legal and practitioner issues, this book also explores the modern concept of charity. It examines and explains the regulatory framework for charity and the need for transparency and public accountability. It gives you a complete understanding of the changes introduced by the Charities Act 2009, giving particular attention to the responsibilities of the new regulatory authority for charities, the importance of the role now statutorily allocated to the public benefit principle, and the significance of a new extended range of charitable purposes.

Modernising charity law : recent developments and future directions

In recent years the pressure for charity law reform has swept across the common law jurisdictions with differing results. Modernising Charity Law examines how the UK jurisdictions have enacted significant statutory reforms after many years of debate, whilst the federations of Canada and Australia seem merely to have intentions of reform. New Zealand and Singapore have begun their own reform journeys. This highly insightful book brings together perspectives from academics, regulators and practitioners from across the common law jurisdictions. The expert contributors consider the array of reforms to charity law and assess their relative successes. Particular attention is given to the controversial issues of expanded heads of charity, public benefit, religion, competition with business, government participation and regulation. The book concludes by challenging the very notion of charity as a foundation for societies which, faced by an array of global threats and the rising tide of human rights, must now also embrace the expanding notions of social capital, social entrepreneurism and civil society. This original and highly topical work will be a valuable resource for academics, regulators and legal practitioners as well as advanced and postgraduate students in law and public policy. Specialists in charity law, comparative law, and law and public policy should also not be without this important book.

Strategic issues for the Not-for-profit sector

Bringing together some of Australia’s leading and emerging researchers studying different aspects of the not-for-profit (NFP) sector, Strategic Issues in the Not-for-Profit Sector draws on original Australian and comparative research to provide a spirited exploration of strategic issues facing NFP organisations. A diverse, vital and ever-growing sector in Australia, the NFP sector provides the organisational framework through which many of the most disadvantaged in the community receive access to services and support. However, pressures such as a changing composition, an erosion of financial sustainability, the need to professionalise, and demographic trends affecting patterns of volunteering have put pressure on the NFP sector to innovate and grow in new directions. Strategic Issues in the Not-for-Profit Sector considers the local and global drivers of change, as well as the industry, policy and community imperatives impacting upon NFP sustainability, providing a unique insight into not only the strategic issues, but also strategic responses emerging within the sector.

Disclosure, conservatism and the cost of equity capital : a review of the foundation literature

In this review piece, we survey the literature on the cost of equity capital implications of corporate disclosure and conservative accounting policy choice decisions with the principle objective of providing insights into the design and methodological issues, which underlie the empirical investigations. We begin with a review of the analytical studies most typically cited in the empirical research as providing a theoretical foundation. We then turn to consider literature that offers insights into the selection of proxies for each of our points of interest, cost of equity capital, disclosure quality and accounting conservatism. As a final step, we review selected empirical studies to illustrate the relevant evidence found within the literature. Based on our review, we interpret the literature as providing the researcher with only limited direct guidance on the appropriate choice of measure for each of the constructs of interest. Further, we view the literature as raising questions about both the interpretation of empirical findings in the face of measurement concerns and the suitability of certain theoretical arguments to the research setting. Overall, perhaps the message which is most clear is that one of the most controversial and fundamental issues underlying the literature is the issue of the diversifiability or nondiversifiability of information effects.

The determinants of corporate sustainability performance

This paper investigates the factors that drive high levels of corporate sustainability performance (CSP), as proxied by membership of the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index. Using a stakeholder framework, we examine the incentives for US firms to invest in sustainability principles and develop a number of hypotheses that relate CSP to firm-specific characteristics. Our results indicate that leading CSP firms are significantly larger, have higher levels of growth and a higher return on equity than conventional firms. Contrary to our predictions, leading CSP firms do not have greater free cash flows or lower leverage than other firms.

Reaction to the mandatory write-down provisions of AASB 1010 : accounting for the revaluation of non-current assets

Commentators in the financial press claimed that the amendments to AASB 1010, Accounting for the Revaluation of Non-Current Assets, issued in September 1991, would have “disastrous” implications for the accounts of companies. This paper is concerned with whether the amendments did indeed affect asset write-down activities. An analysis of write-down practices of 75 Australian companies before and after the amendments were operative suggests that the commentators' judgment could have been hasty.

‘I can’t get no satisfaction’...or can I? A study of satisfaction with financial planning and client wellbeing

This paper reports findings from an ongoing collaborative research project with the Financial Services Council (FSC), which contributed funding and facilitated the survey of financial planners’ clients through FSC member organisations. The article draws on the report to the FSC that was prepared by the QUT researchers, reporting findings on the initial exploratory stage of the project.1 The lyric in the title of this paper has become a catchcry for consumers dissatisfied with a range of financial services and products, and, as recent Federal Government inquiries have revealed, there is some truth to the claim. But as financial planning undergoes a series of reforms, including increased professionalism (FPA 2009) and improved quality of advice (Australian Government 2011), there are good reasons to explore the conditions under which clients report satisfaction with their financial planners; not least because the provision of effective financial planning and advice, delivered in accordance with, or transcending, the rules and norms of industry best-practice has the potential to benefit clients, not just financially, but across a number of life domains. In this paper, we report findings from an exploratory study investigating whether financial planning and advice contribute to client well-being, beyond effects on financial well-being. While anecdotal evidence supports psychological benefits such as a sense of security, little research has explored these links in any systematic or theoretically driven way. However, theory and research from cognate disciplines, such as psychology, indicate clear links between planning, goal setting and well-being that are likely to arise in the financial planning domain. Surveyed clients were asked to indicate their satisfaction with their financial advisers, the planning process and the advice they received. Clients responded to items designed to reflect key areas for financial planners in the shift towards increased professionalism, improved disclosure and greater client focus (e.g. FPA 2009). Clients also reflected on their financial situations before and after seeing their advisers, and considered the impact of their financial situations on a number of life areas including family relationships, mental health and well-being, and overall life satisfaction.

The impact of the Malaysian code on corporate governance: compliance, institutional investors and stock performance

In 2001, the Malaysian Code on Corporate Governance (MCCG) became an integral part of the Bursa Malaysia Listing Rules, which requires all listed firms to disclose the extent of compliance with the MCCG. Our panel analysis of 440 firms from 1999 to 2002 finds that corporate governance reform in Malaysia has been successful, with a significant improvement in governance practices. The relationship between ownership by the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and corporate governance has strengthened during the period subsequent to the reform, in line with the lead role taken by the EPF in establishing the Minority Shareholders Watchdog Group. The implementation of MCCG has had a substantial effect on shareholders' wealth, increasing stock prices by an average of about 4.8%. Although there is no evidence that politically connected firms perform better, political connections do have a significantly negative effect on corporate governance, which is mitigated by institutional ownership.

Manufacturing practices and performances: A Malaysian study

The purpose of this study is to identify the most common manufacturing practices adopted by the Malaysian manufacturers, company performance factors and relationship between practices and performances. To fulfil the study objectives, 400 manufacturers were surveyed by a standard 400 questionnaire. Three research methodologies such as descriptive analysis, ANOVA and regression analysis have been employed in this study. The analysis revealed that Malaysian manufacturers focus on optimizing three critical performance factors: product development, less customer return rate and on time delivery (OTD). The most important competitive factor was found to be company reputation and design and manufacturing capacity is the least important factor. The findings also proved that manufacturing practices significantly influence company performances

The adoption of advanced quality practices and its impact on manufacturers

Presently, the manufacturing sector faces unprecedented levels of competition in both the domestic and international markets. This competition is mainly as a result of rapidly expanding international trade, gradual removal of protection, substantial reforms in labour markets and industrial relations, rapid technological changes and discerning customers. Intense global competition requires manufacturers to deliver products with higher quality in a shorter time. Simultaneously, owing to new technological innovations, the complexity of the products is increasing. In Australia, the impact of this intense competition and structural changes appear to be having negative effects on the manufacturing sector. This paper discusses the quality and reliability (Q & R) practices and associated drawbacks of Australian manufacturers and presents the findings of an investigation of the challenges Australian manufacturers are currently facing. The results reported in the paper are based on the data collected from a survey using the standard questionnaire. The study was driven by a conceptual model, which relates advanced quality practices to manufacturing performance and manufacturing difficulties.Evidence indicates that Q & R is the main competitive factor for Australian manufacturers. Design capability and on time delivery (OTD) came second. Results show that Australian manufacturers in general are facing some manufacturing difficulties. The relationship between advanced quality practices and company performance and manufacturing difficulties are explored. It is found that the companies who have more emphasis on advanced quality practices have fewer problems in manufacturing practices. Moreover, companies who have actively implemented the advanced quality practices have managed to improve the quality of the product continuously. The results validate the proposed hypothesis and lend credence to current thinking that improvement in Q & R is a vital tool for competitive advantage.

A comparison of alternative bankruptcy prediction models

Early models of bankruptcy prediction employed financial ratios drawn from pre-bankruptcy financial statements and performed well both in-sample and out-of-sample. Since then there has been an ongoing effort in the literature to develop models with even greater predictive performance. A significant innovation in the literature was the introduction into bankruptcy prediction models of capital market data such as excess stock returns and stock return volatility, along with the application of the Black–Scholes–Merton option-pricing model. In this note, we test five key bankruptcy models from the literature using an upto- date data set and find that they each contain unique information regarding the probability of bankruptcy but that their performance varies over time. We build a new model comprising key variables from each of the five models and add a new variable that proxies for the degree of diversification within the firm. The degree of diversification is shown to be negatively associated with the risk of bankruptcy. This more general model outperforms the existing models in a variety of in-sample and out-of-sample tests.