Enhancing the transparency of accounting research: the case of narrative analysis

Purpose – This paper aims to clarify what ‘narrative analysis’ may entail when it is assumed that interview accounts can be treated as (collections of) narratives. What is considered a narrative and how these may be analyzed is open to debate. After suggesting an approach of how to deal with narrative analysis, the authors critically discuss how far it might offer insights into a particular accounting case. Design/methodology/approach – After having explained what the authors’ view on narrative analysis is, and how this is linked with the extant literature, the authors examine the socialisation processes of two early career accountants that have been articulated in an interview context. Findings – The approach to narrative analysis set out in this paper could help to clarify how and why certain interpretations from an interview are generated by a researcher. The authors emphasise the importance of discussing a researcher’s process of discovery when an interpretive approach to research is adopted. Research limitations/implications – The application of any method, and what a researcher thinks can be distilled from this, depends on the research outlook he/she has. As the authors adopt an interpretive approach to research in this paper, they acknowledge that the interpretations of narratives, and what they deem to be narratives, will be infused by their own perceptions. Practical implications – The authors believe that the writing-up of qualitative research from an interpretive stance would benefit from an explicit acceptance of the equivocal nature of interpretation. The way in which they present and discuss the narrative analyses in this paper intends to bring this to the fore. Originality/value – Whenever someone says he/she engages in narrative analysis, both the “narrative” and “analysis” part of “narrative analysis” need to be explicated. The authors believe that this only happens every so often. This paper puts forward an approach of how more clarity on this might be achieved by combining two frameworks in the extant literature, so that the transparency of the research is enhanced.

New perspectives on the governance of executive compensation:an examination of the role and effect of compensation consultants

We develop a multi-theoretic approach, drawing on economic, institutional, managerial power and social comparison literatures to explain the role of the external compensation consultant in the top management pay setting institutional field. Taking advantage of recent disclosure requirements in the UK, we collect data on compensation consultant use in 232 large companies. We show that consultants are a prevalent part of the CEO pay setting scene, and document evidence of all advisor use. Our econometric results show that consultant use is associated with firm size and the equity pay mix. We also show that CEO pay is positively associated with peer firms that share consultants, with higher board and consultant interlocks, and some evidence that where firms supply other business services to the firm, CEO pay is greater. © 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

Understanding the role of self-identity in habitual risky behaviours: pedestrian road-crossing decisions across the lifespan

Self-identity as a careful pedestrian has not been fully considered in previous work on predicting intention to cross the road, or actual crossing behaviour, in non-optimal situations. Evidence suggests that self-identity may be a better predictor than attitudes in situations where decision-making styles have become habitual ways to respond. This study compared contributions of self-identity and attitudes to the prediction of intentions in two situations differing in level of habitual crossing expectation, and to crossing behaviour. Three hundred and sixty-two adults (17–92 years) completed a questionnaire measuring self-identity, attitudes, intentions, experience, social identity variables (e.g. age, gender) and personal limitations (mobility). Two hundred and five participants also completed a road-crossing simulation. Self-identity and attitude were both shown as significant independent predictors of intention in both situations. However, self-identity was less effective as a predictor in the higher risk scenario, where intention to perform the behaviour was lower, and for participants aged >75 years who had lower intention across scenarios. Self-identity strongly predicted intention to cross, which in turn predicted behaviour, but self-identity did not directly predict behaviour. Self-identity was strongly predicted by age. Implications for theories of compensation in older age and for design and targeting of pedestrian safety education are discussed.

Loan loss provisions, earnings management and capital management under IFRS:the case of EU commercial banks

Prior research has shown that loan loss provisions are primarily used as a tool for earnings management and capital management by listed banks. Effective 2005 all listed companies in the European Union (EU) are required to comply with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Adherence to IFRS, it is claimed, should enhance transparency of reporting practices relative to local General Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). The overall objective of this paper is to examine the impact of the implementation of IFRS on the use of loan loss provisions (LLPs) to manage earnings and capital. We use a sample of 91 EU listed commercial banks covering a period of 10 years (before and after implementation of IFRS). Since early adopters may have different incentives and motivations relative to those who adopt mandatorily, we dichotomize our sample into early and late adopters. Overall, we find that earnings management (using loan loss provisions) for both early and late adopters while significant over the estimation window is significantly reduced after implementation of IFRS. We also find that, for risky banks, earnings management behavior is more pronounced when compared to the less risky banks, but is significantly reduced in the post IFRS period. Capital management behavior by bank managers is not significant in both pre and post IFRS regimes. Overall, we conclude that the implementation of IFRS in the EU appears to have improved earnings quality by mitigating the tendency of bank managers of listed commercial banks to engage in earnings management using loan loss provisions.

I am the very model of a special purpose vehicle

Purpose – This paper aims to provide a critical comment on complex funding systems. Design/methodology/approach – This is a critical comment written in the form of a poem. The poem is in the style of the English light opera composers Gilbert and Sullivan, and is a variation on their song “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General”, from The Pirates of Penzance. Findings - The poem spotlights financial failure. Originality/value - The poem spotlights the crazy names and poor transparency of special purpose vehicles.

Strategies to optimize the impact of nutritional surveys and epidemiological studies

The development of nutrition and health guidelines and policies requires reliable scientific information. Unfortunately, theoretical considerations and empirical evidence indicate that a large percentage of science-based claims rely on studies that fail to replicate. The session "Strategies to Optimize the Impact of Nutrition Surveys and Epidemiological Studies" focused on the elements of design, interpretation, and communication of nutritional surveys and epidemiological studies to enhance and encourage the production of reliable, objective evidence for use in developing dietary guidance for the public. The speakers called for more transparency of research, raw data, consistent data-staging techniques, and improved data analysis. New approaches to collecting data are urgently needed to increase the credibility and utility of findings from nutrition epidemiological studies. Such studies are critical for furthering our knowledge and understanding of the effects of diet on health.

Patients’ perceptions and experiences of cardiovascular disease and diabetes prevention programmes:a systematic review and framework synthesis using the Theoretical Domains Framework

Background - This review provides a worked example of ‘best fit’ framework synthesis using the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) of health psychology theories as an a priori framework in the synthesis of qualitative evidence. Framework synthesis works best with ‘policy urgent’ questions. Objective - The review question selected was: what are patients’ experiences of prevention programmes for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and diabetes? The significance of these conditions is clear: CVD claims more deaths worldwide than any other; diabetes is a risk factor for CVD and leading cause of death. Method - A systematic review and framework synthesis were conducted. This novel method for synthesizing qualitative evidence aims to make health psychology theory accessible to implementation science and advance the application of qualitative research findings in evidence-based healthcare. Results - Findings from 14 original studies were coded deductively into the TDF and subsequently an inductive thematic analysis was conducted. Synthesized findings produced six themes relating to: knowledge, beliefs, cues to (in)action, social influences, role and identity, and context. A conceptual model was generated illustrating combinations of factors that produce cues to (in)action. This model demonstrated interrelationships between individual (beliefs and knowledge) and societal (social influences, role and identity, context) factors. Conclusion - Several intervention points were highlighted where factors could be manipulated to produce favourable cues to action. However, a lack of transparency of behavioural components of published interventions needs to be corrected and further evaluations of acceptability in relation to patient experience are required. Further work is needed to test the comprehensiveness of the TDF as an a priori framework for ‘policy urgent’ questions using ‘best fit’ framework synthesis.

PMD tolerant nonlinear compensation using in-line phase conjugation

In this paper, we numerically investigate the impact of polarisation mode dispersion on the efficiency of compensation of nonlinear transmission penalties for systems employing one of more inline phase conjugation devices. We will show that reducing the spacing between phase conjugations allows for significantly improved performance in the presence polarisation mode dispersion or a significant relaxation in the acceptable level of polarization mode dispersion. We show that these results are consistent with previously presented full statistical analysis of nonlinear transmission appropriately adjusted for the reduced section length undergoing compensation.

Integrating security services into computer supported cooperative work

This research describes the development of a groupware system which adds security services to a Computer Supported Cooperative Work system operating over the Internet. The security services use cryptographic techniques to provide a secure access control service and an information protection service. These security services are implemented as a protection layer for the groupware system. These layers are called External Security Layer (ESL) and Internal Security Layer (ISL) respectively. The security services are sufficiently flexible to allow the groupware system to operate in both synchronous and asynchronous modes. The groupware system developed - known as Secure Software Inspection Groupware (SecureSIG) - provides security for a distributed group performing software inspection. SecureSIG extends previous work on developing flexible software inspection groupware (FlexSIG) Sahibuddin, 1999). The SecureSIG model extends the FlexSIG model, and the prototype system was added to the FlexSIG prototype. The prototype was built by integrating existing software, communication and cryptography tools and technology. Java Cryptography Extension (JCE) and Internet technology were used to build the prototype. To test the suitability and transparency of the system, an evaluation was conducted. A questionnaire was used to assess user acceptability.

Individual and group differences in driving behaviour

Road traffic accident involvement rates show that younger males are over represented in accidents. A number of studies have shown individual differences in accident involvement. Questionnaire-based methods to investigate individual and group differences in driver stress and risk perceptions reported in chapter 2 and 3 revealed that neuroticism was associated with; heightened perception of personal risk, driver stress, and inefficient coping strategies. Younger drivers and female drivers reported higher levels of stress. Young male drivers assessed their personal risk and driving abilities less realistically than did other age and sex groups. Driving simulator-based methods reported in chapter 4 revealed that young drivers and male drivers; drive faster, overtake more often, and commit more `high risk' overtakes than do other age and sex groups. Middle-aged and elderly drivers were poorer at maintaining a fixed distance from a lead `vehicle'. Older drivers adopt a slower, more cautious driving style, but appear to be worse at controlling distance from a `lead' vehicle. Results are consistent with individual and group differences in accident involvement rates. Findings are discussed with reference to the implementation of driver education programs to reduce stress, the adoption of more realistic perceptions of risk among younger drivers, and the training of compensation strategies to counteract age-related changes in older drivers.

Making energy service companies (ESCOS) future fit

Energy service companies (ESCOs) are faced with a range of challenges and opportunities associated with the rapidly changing and flexible requirements of energy customers (end users) and rapid improvements in technologies associated with energy and ICT. These opportunities for innovation include better prediction of energy demand, transparency of data to the end user, flexible and time dependent energy pricing and a range of novel finance models. The liberalisation of energy markets across the world has leads to a very small price differential between suppliers on the unit cost of energy. Energy companies are therefore looking to add additional layers of value using service models borrowed from the manufacturing industry. This opens a range of new product and service offerings to energy markets and consumers and has implications for the overall efficiency, utility and price of energy provision.

Tunable compensation of second and third order dispersion by non-uniformly strained chirped fibre Bragg grating

A novel fibre grating device is demonstrated with tuneable chromatic dispersion slope. The tuning range is 70 to 190 ps/nm and 0 to 25 ps/nm2 for the second and third order dispersion, respectively.

Efficient optimisation of per-channel pre-compensation in WDM 20-Gbit/s RZ-DPSK transmission in non-slope matched submarine links

We propose a computationally efficient method to the per-channel dispersion optimisation applied to 50 GHz-spaced N × 20-Gbit/s wavelength division multiplexing return-to-zero differential phase shift keying transmission in non-zero dispersion-shifted fibre based submarine systems. Crown Copyright © 2010.

Soliton transmission at 10 Gbit/s over 2022 km of standard fibre with dispersion compensation

We present experimental results of 10 Gbit/s, 20 ps soliton data transmission over standard fibre, dispersion compensated to 0.5 ps/nm/km. Acceptable Q values were measured to a distance of 2022 km.