A semiotic approach to critical reasoning

Information can be interpreted as in-formation, which refers to the potential of the form for a mediation of meaning. In this paper we focus on reasoning information and consider the question how form involved in reasoning can be used for an analysis of accounting narratives in corporate disclosures. An evaluation of experimental results is included.

Role of ligands in catalytic water oxidation by mononuclear ruthenium complexes

Since first reported in 2005, mononuclear ruthenium water oxidation catalysts have attracted a great deal of attention due to their catalytic performance and synthetic flexibility. In particular, ligands coordinated to a Ru metal centre play an important role in the catalytic mechanisms, exhibiting significant impact on catalyst efficiency, stability and activity towards water oxidation. This review focuses on finding possible correlations between the ligand effects and activity of mononuclear Ru aqua and non-aqua complexes as water oxidation catalysts. The ligand effects highlighted in the text include the electronic nature of core ligands and their substituents, the trans–cis effect, steric hindrance and the strain effect, the net charge effect, the geometric arrangement of the aqua ligand and the supramolecular effects, e.g., hydrogen bonding and influence of a pendant base. The outcome is not always obvious at the present knowledge level. Deeper understanding of the ligand effects, based on new input data, is mandatory for further progress towards a rational development of novel catalysts featuring enhanced activity in water oxidation.

Does stakeholder pressure influence corporate GHG emissions reporting? Empirical evidence from Europe

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to seek to shed light on the practice of incomplete corporate disclosure of quantitative Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and investigates whether external stakeholder pressure influences the existence, and separately, the completeness of voluntary GHG emissions disclosures by 431 European companies. Design/methodology/approach – A classification of reporting completeness is developed with respect to the scope, type and reporting boundary of GHG emissions based on the guidelines of the GHG Protocol, Global Reporting Initiative and the Carbon Disclosure Project. Logistic regression analysis is applied to examine whether proxies for exposure to climate change concerns from different stakeholder groups influence the existence and/or completeness of quantitative GHG emissions disclosure. Findings – From 2005 to 2009, on average only 15 percent of companies that disclose GHG emissions report them in a manner that the authors consider complete. Results of regression analyses suggest that external stakeholder pressure is a determinant of the existence but not the completeness of emissions disclosure. Findings are consistent with stakeholder theory arguments that companies respond to external stakeholder pressure to report GHG emissions, but also with legitimacy theory claims that firms can use carbon disclosure, in this case the incomplete reporting of emissions, as a symbolic act to address legitimacy exposures. Practical implications – Bringing corporate GHG emissions disclosure in line with recommended guidelines will require either more direct stakeholder pressure or, perhaps, a mandated disclosure regime. In the meantime, users of the data will need to carefully consider the relevance of the reported data and develop the necessary competencies to detect and control for its incompleteness. A more troubling concern is that stakeholders may instead grow to accept less than complete disclosure. Originality/value – The paper represents the first large-scale empirical study into the completeness of companies’ disclosure of quantitative GHG emissions and is the first to analyze these disclosures in the context of stakeholder pressure and its relation to legitimation.

Accrual-based and real earnings management before and after IFRS adoption: the case of Greece

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the use of accrual-based vs real earnings management (EM) by Greek firms, before and after the mandatory adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The research is motivated by the fact that past studies have indicated the existence of significant levels of EM for Greece in particular before IFRS. Design/methodology/approach – Accrual-based earnings management (AEM) is examined by assessing performance-adjusted discretionary accruals, while real earnings management (REM) is defined in terms of abnormal levels of production costs, discretionary expenses, and cash flows from operations, for a three-year period before and after the adoption of IFRS in 2005. Findings – The authors find evidence on a statistically significant shift from AEM to REM after the adoption of IFRS, indicating the replacement of one form of EM with the other. Research limitations/implications – The validity of the results depends on the ability of the empirical models used to efficiently capture the existence of AEM and REM. Practical implications – IFRS adoption aims to improve accounting quality, especially in countries with high need for such an improvement; however, the tendency to substitute one form of EM with another highlights unintended consequences of IFRS adoption, which do not improve the informational content of financial statements if EM continues under different forms. Originality/value – Under the expectation that IFRS adoption should lead to improvements in accounting quality, this study examines whether IFRS actually led to a reduction of EM practices for a country with exceptionally high levels of EM before IFRS, by accounting for all possible forms of EM.

Determinants of green building adoption

In this paper we investigate variations in the adoption of LEED-certified commercial buildings across 174 core-based statistical areas in the United States. Drawing upon a unique database and using a robust analytical framework, the determinants of the proportion LEED-certified space are modeled. We find that, despite high growth rates, LEED-certified stock accounts for a relatively small proportion of the total commercial stock. The average proportion is less than 1%. A further contribution of the paper is that our concentration measure avoids the biases associated with simple percentage measures that were used in previous studies of this topic. Strongest predictors of the proportion of LEED-certified commercial space in a local market are market size, educational attainment and economic growth. In terms of policy effectiveness, it is found that only a mandatory requirement to obtain LEED certification for new buildings has a significant positive effect on market penetration.