Mad hatter's corporate tea party

This paper aims to provide an insight into the corporate greed and consequent corporate collapses of companies such as HIH, One.Tel and Harris Scarfe in Australia, while concurrently, Enron, WorldCom and other companies were attracting the attention of the accounting profession, the regulators and the general public in the USA. It is argued that the rise in economic rationalism and the related increased materialism of both the public and company directors and managers, fed the corporate excesses that resulted in spectacular corporate collapses, including one of the world’s largest accounting firms. The opportunistic behaviour of directors, and managers and the lack of transparency and integrity in corporations, was compounded by the failure of the corporate watch-dogs, such as auditors and regulators, to protect the public interest. If the history of bad corporate behaviour is not to be repeated, the religion of materialism needs to be recognised and addressed, to ensure any corporate governance reforms proposed for the future will be effective.

Further evidence on the corporate use of derivatives in Australia : the case of foreign currency and interest rate instruments

In a recent issue of this journal Nguyen and Faff (2002) reported on an empirical exploration of the motives behind the aggregate use of financial derivatives by Australian companies. Employing the same sample of firms, the current paper extends their analysis to investigate similar issues, this time focussing separately on foreign currency and interest rate derivatives. At a specific level, our results reveal the following. A firm is more likely to use foreign currency derivatives if it is large and has more debt in its capital structure. Interest rate derivatives, on the other hand, are more likely to be used if a firm is larger, more levered, more liquid and pays higher dividends. These results are consistent with existing hedging theories. Market to book value (proxying growth opportunities), however, portrays an inconsistent relationship with the likelihood of interest rate derivative usage. When it comes to the extent of usage, a firm uses foreign currency derivatives more extensively if it is smaller, pays higher dividends and has more debt. Similarly, interest rate derivatives are used more extensively to address a high level of debt and a high dividend payout policy. At a general level, the current study confirms the core finding of Nguyen and Faff (2002), namely, that Australian companies use derivatives with a view to value maximisation.

Towards institution-wide online teaching and learning systems: trends, drivers and issues

Universities worldwide are consolidating and enhancing their commitments to various models of e-learning. These activities are leading to the adoption of corporate-wide e-learning systems, and accompanying changes in structures, processes and infrastructure requirements. The professed ideal is to identify narrowly defined corporate IT solutions which can deliver the full range of educational, administrative and student support features to meet the organisational need to expand e-learning activities globally. The trend seems to be away from locally driven and controlled IT development and adoption towards investments in Instructional Management Systems (IMS). In reality, however, universities generally are developing and using a broader array of solutions to meet their needs than may be deemed desirable under a more centralised, corporatised IT approach. This paper examines these trends by analysing the drivers shaping corporate approaches to IT implementation, and reflects critically on some of the educational, economic and organisational tensions and issues evident in institutional approaches to establishing such systems. The paper highlights the ongoing need for innovative, dynamic organisational solutions to progress the e-learning agenda, and the thoughtful reconciliation of centralised and decentralised approaches to achieving desired ends.

Part-time research students: the`reserve army` of research students for universities

Over the past twenty years, in Australia, there has been a steady growth in the numbers of part-time research students. However, they have generally been invisible in government policy on research training, and have rarely been the focus of specific treatment in universities, where the full-time scholarship-holder is taken as the norm. Yet, these are people who often undertake their research in their workplaces on problems germane to their work. They do so with relatively less ‘drain on the public purse’ and they are well-placed to ensure their research has effect. This paper suggests that this ‘reserve army’ of research labour—part-time research students—could benefit from the integration of the perspectives that have driven other aspects of adult education with those, often economic rationalist perspectives, that have driven research training policy. In this way, government policy-makers may appreciate that this ‘reserve army’ provides good value, and universities may shape their research training policies and practices to provide support, infrastructure and supervision that matches the needs and contexts of part-time students, and which facilitates ‘technology transfer’ and links between universities and industries and the professions.