Analysts' Forecast Accuracy in Germany: The Effect of Different Accounting Principles and Changes of Accounting Principles

This paper assesses the influence of an adoption of IAS/IFRS or US GAAP on the financial analysts’ forecast accuracy in a homogenous institutional framework. Our findings suggest that the forecast accuracy is higher for estimates based on IFRS or US GAAP data than for forecasts based on German GAAP data.Moreover, in the year of switching from German GAAP to US GAAP the forecast accuracy is lower than in other years. The paper contributes to prior research by providing evidence about the usefulness of international accounting data and about the adoption effects of a change to such accounting principles.

A Simple Accounting-based Valuation Model for the Debt Tax Shield

This paper describes a simple way to integrate the debt tax shield into an accounting-based valuation model. The market value of equity is determined by forecasting residual operating income, which is calculated by charging operating income for the operating assets at a required return that accounts for the tax benefit that comes from borrowing to raise cash for the operations. The model assumes that the firm maintains a deterministic financial leverage ratio, which tends to converge quickly to typical steady-state levels over time. From a practical point of view, this characteristic is of particular help, because it allows a continuing value calculation at the end of a short forecast period.

Board Overlap, Seat Accumulation and Share Prices

We examine the board overlap among firms listed in Switzerland. Collusion, managerial entrenchment, and financial participation cannot explain it. The overlap appears to be induced by banks and by the accumulation of seats by the most popular directors. We also document that seat accumulation is negatively related to firm value, possibly because of the conflicts of interest that multiple directorships induce and the time constraints directors face. Contrary to popular beliefs, however, the directors of traded firms do not generally hold more than one mandate in other traded firms. They do hold multiple seats in non-traded firms.

Financial Benchmarks for Beef Producers

Detailed financial information on individual farm operations is difficult to obtain. This study analyzes 22 beef operations in detail to arrive at a set of financial benchmarks compatible with the recommendations of the Farm Financial Standards Task Force. Averaging the 22 operations in the study shows them to be on solid financial footing. However, the study points out significant variability between individual operations. This demonstrates how critical it is for farmers to analyze their own operation.

Balancing Control and Coaching in CSO Governance : A Paradox Perspective on Board Behavior

How can governance of civil society organizations be conceptualized more adequately by accounting for the dual and simultaneous requirements of controlling and coaching in board behavior? Empirically, we seem to agree that effective governance of a civil society organization is crucial to its sustained viability. Conceptually, however, we observe a lack of consensus on how to best conceptualize CSO governance. By critically juxtaposing two major theoretical lenses to conceptualize governance, namely agency and stewardship theory, we identify a number of challenges conceptualizing board-management relations that deserve our attention. While agency theory privileges controlling behavior, stewardship theory emphasizes the coaching behavior of boards. The purpose of this paper is to offer a concept of governance that is informed by a paradox perspective advancing a subtler, more adequate conceptualization of board governance that accounts for the often conflicting demands on CSO governance. Drawing on a longitudinal interpretive case study, we exemplify our propositions empirically. The paper concludes with discussing the implications of our argument for CSO governance research and practice.

Risk management at board level: a practical guide for board members

isk Management today has moved from being the topic of top level conferences and media discussions to being a permanent issue in the board and top management agenda. Several new directives and regulations in Switzerland, Germany and EU make it obligatory for the firms to have a risk management strategy and transparently disclose the risk management process to their stakeholders. Shareholders, insurance providers, banks, media, analysts, employees, suppliers and other stakeholders expect the board members to be pro-active in knowing the critical risks facing their organization and provide them with a reasonable assurance vis-à-vis the management of those risks. In this environment however, the lack of standards and training opportunities makes this task difficult for board members. This book with the help of real life examples, analysis of drivers, interpretation of the Swiss legal requirements, and information based on international benchmarks tries to reach out to the forward looking leaders of today's businesses. The authors have collectively brought their years of scientific and practical experience in risk management, Swiss law and board memberships together to provide the board members practical solutions in risk management. The desire is that this book will clear the fear regarding risk management from the minds of the company leadership and help them in making risk savvy decisions in quest to achieve their strategic objectives.

Accounting for Athletics: A Balanced Scorecard Approach

The Balanced Scorecard is a managerial accounting system designed for internal use in order to align four different facets of a business with its overall vision and strategy. It emphasizes that an organization should not be judged on financial performance alone, but also on a variety of non-financial metrics. Using the Balanced Scorecard, the Athletic Department at the University of Connecticut has been analyzed as to which metrics are the most important in terms of fulfilling their mission statement.

Financial permeation as a role of microfinance : has microfinance actually been helpful to the poor?

This article is distinct in its application of the logit transformation to the poverty ratio for the purpose of empirically examining whether the financial sector helps improve standards of living for low-income people. We propose the term financial permeation to describe how financial networks expand to spread money among the poor. We measure financial permeation by three indicators related to microfinance institutions (MFIs) and then examine its effect on poverty reduction at the macro level using panel data for 90 developing countries from 1995 to 2008. We find that financial permeation has a statistically significant and robust effect on decreasing the poverty ratio.

The asset/liability structure of the Philippine banks and non-bank financial institutions in 2000s : a preliminary study for financial access analyses

Based on the consolidated statements data of the universal/commercial banks (UKbank) and non-bank financial institutions with quasi-banking licenses, this paper presents a keen necessity of obtaining data in detail on both sides (assets and liabilities) of their financial conditions and further analyses. Those would bring more adequate assessments on the Philippine financial system, especially with regard to each financial subsector's financing/lending preferences and behavior. The paper also presents a possibility that the skewed locational and operational distribution exists in the non-UKbank financial subsectors. It suggests there may be a significant deviation from the authorities' (the BSP, SEC and others) intended/anticipated financial system in the banking/non-bank financial institutions' real operations.

Activity based costing, time-driven activity based costing and lean accounting: differences among three accounting systems' approach to manufacturing

Choosing an appropriate accounting system for manufacturing has always been a challenge for managers. In this article we try to compare three accounting systems designed since 1980 to address problems of traditional accounting system. In the first place we are going to present a short overview on background and definition of three accounting systems: Activity Based costing, Time-Driven Activity Based Costing and Lean Accounting. Comparisons are made based on the three basic roles of information generated by accounting systems: financial reporting, decision making, and operational control and improvement. The analysis in this paper reveals how decisions are made over the value stream in the companies using Lean Accounting while decisions under the ABC Accounting system are taken at individual product level, and finally we will show how TD-ABC covers both product and process levels for decision making. In addition, this paper shows the importance of nonfinancial measures for operational control and improvement under the Lean Accounting and TD-ABC methods whereas ABC relies mostly on financial measures in this context.

Tips and tricks about financial ratios: how to anticipate unpleasant surprises

Following recent accounting and ethical scandals within the Telecom Industry like Gowex case, old cards are laid on the table: what kind of management and control are we doing on our businesses and what use do we give to the specific tools we have at our disposition? There are indicators, that on a very specific, concise and accurate manner, aside from brief, allow us to analyze and capture the complexity of a business and also they constitute an important support when making optimal decisions. These instruments or indicators show, a priori, all relevant data from a purely economic perspective, while there also exist, the possibility of including factors that are not of this nature strictly. For instance, there are indicators that take into account the customer?s satisfaction, the corporate reputation among others. Both kind of performance indicators form, together, an integral dashboard while the pure economic side of it could be considered as a basic dashboard. Based on DuPont?s methodology, we will be able to calculate the ROI (Return on Investment) of a company from the disaggregation of very useful and much needed indicators like the ROE (Return on Equity) or the ROA (Return on Assets); thereby, we will be able to get to know, to control and, hence, to optimize the company?s leverage level, its liquidity ratio or its solvency ratio, among others; as well as the yield we will be able to obtain if our decisions and management are optimal related to the bodies of assets. Bear in mind and make the most of the abovementioned management tools and indicators that we have at our disposition, allow us to act knowing our path and taking full responsibility, as well as, to obtain the maximum planned benefits, instead of leaving them to be casual. We will be able to avoid errors that can lead the company to an unfortunate and non-desirable situation and, of course, we will detect, way in advance, the actual needs of the business in terms of accounting and financial sanitation before irreversible situations are reached.

PADRÕES DE PRODUTIVIDADE EM PESQUISA NA LITERATURA DE FINANÇAS: UM ESTUDO BIBLIOMÉTRICO NOS PRINCIPAIS PERIÓDICOS CIENTÍFICOS NACIONAIS NO PERÍODO DE 2005 A 2014

A Administração Financeira surge no início do século XIX juntamente com o movimento de consolidação das grandes empresas e a formação dos mercados nacionais americano enquanto que no Brasil os primeiros estudos ocorrem a partir da segunda metade do século XX. Desde entãoo país conseguiu consolidar alguns centros de excelência em pesquisa, formar grupo significativo de pesquisadores seniores e expandir as áreas de pesquisa no campo, contudo, ainda são poucos os trabalhos que buscam retratar as características da produtividade científica em Finanças. Buscando contribuir para a melhor compreensão do comportamento produtivo dessa área a presente pesquisa estuda sua produção científica, materializada na forma de artigos digitais, publicados em 24 conceituados periódicos nacionais classificados nos estratos Qualis/CAPES A2, B1 e B2 da Área de Administração, Ciências Contábeis e Turismo. Para tanto são aplicadas a Lei de Bradford, Lei do Elitismo de Price e Lei de Lotka. Pela Lei de Bradford são identificadas três zonas de produtividade sendo o núcleo formado por três revistas, estando uma delas classificada no estrato Qualis/CAPES B2, o que evidencia a limitação de um recorte tendo como único critério a classificação Qualis/CAPES. Para a Lei do Elitismo de Price, seja pela contagem direta ou completa, não identificamos comportamento de uma elite semelhante ao apontado pela teoria e que conta com grande número de autores com apenas uma publicação.Aplicando-se o modelo do Poder Inverso Generalizado, calculado por Mínimos Quadrados Ordinários (MQO), verificamos que produtividade dos pesquisadores, quando feita pela contagem direta, se adequa àquela definida pela Lei de Lotka ao nível de α = 0,01 de significância, contudo, pela contagem completa não podemos confirmar a hipótese de homogeneidade das distribuições, além do fato de que nas duas contagens a produtividade analisada pelo parâmetro n é maior que 2 e, portanto, a produtividade do pesquisadores de finanças é menor que a defendida pela teoria.

Discursive constructions of social and environmental accounting in Brazil: the case of Petrobras.

In the 29 years following \"Our Common Future\" by the United Nations, there is considerable debate among governments, civil society, interest groups and business organisations about what constitutes sustainable development, which constitutes evidence for a contested discourse concerning sustainability. The purpose of this study is to understand this debate in the developing economic context of Brazil, and in particular, to understand and critique the social and environmental accounting [SEA] discursive constructions relating to the State-owned, Petrobras as well as to understand the Brazilian literature on SEA. The discourse theory [DT]-based analysis employs rhetorical redescription to analyse twenty-two reports from Petrobras from 2004-2013. I investigate the political notions by employing the methodological framework of the Logics of Critical Explanation [LCE]. LCE engenders five methodological steps: problematisation, retroduction, logics (social, political and fantasmatic), articulation and critique. The empirical discussion suggests that the hegemony of economic development operates to obfuscate, rhetorically, the development of sustainability, so as to maintain the core business of Petrobras conceived as capital accumulation. Equally, these articulations also illustrate how the constructions of SEA operate to serve the company\'s purpose with few (none) profound changes in integration of sustainability. The Brazilian literature on SEA sustains the status quo of neo-liberal market policies that operate to protect the dominant business case approach to maintain an agenda of wealth-creation in relation to social and environmental needs. The articulations of the case manifested in policies regarding, for example, corruption, which involved over-payments for contracts and unsustainable practices relating to the use of fossil fuels and demonstrated that there was antagonism between action and disclosure. The corruption scandal that emerged after SEA disclosures highlighted the rhetorical nature of disclosure when financial resources were subtracted from the company for political parties and engineering contractors hid facts through incomplete disclosures. The articulations of SEA misrepresent a broader context of the meanings associated with sustainability, which restricted the constructions of SEA to principally serve and represent the intention of the most powerful groups. The significance of SEA, then is narrowed to represent particular interests. The study argues for more critical studies as limited Brazilian literature concerning SEA kept a \'safe distance\' from substantively critiquing the constructions of SEA and its articulations in the Brazilian context. The literature review and the Petrobras\' case illustrate a variety of naming, instituting and articulatory practices that endeavour to maintain the current hegemony of development in an emerging economy, which allows Petrobras to continue to exercise significant profit at the expense of the social and environmental. The constructed idea of development in Petrobras\' discourses emphasises a rhetoric of wider development, but, in reality, these discourses were the antithesis of political, social and ethical developmental issues. These constructions aim to hide struggles between social inequalities and exploitation of natural resources and constitute excuses about a fanciful notion of rhetorical and hegemonic neo-liberal development. In summary, this thesis contributes to the prior literature in five ways: (i) the addition of DT to the analysis of SEA enhances the discussion of political elements such as hegemony, antagonism, logic of equivalence/difference, ideology and articulation; (ii) the analysis of an emerging economy such as Brazil incorporates a new perspective of the discussion of the discourses of SEA and development; (iii) this thesis includes a focus on rhetoric to discuss the maintenance of the status quo; (iv) the holistic structure of the LCE approach enlarges the understanding of the social, political and fantasmatic logics of SEA studies and; (v) this thesis combines an analysis of the literature and the case of Petrobras to characterise and critique the state of the Brazilian academy and its impacts and reflections on the significance of SEA. This thesis, therefore, argues for more critical studies in the Brazilian academy due to the persistence of idea of SEA and development that takes-for-granted deep exclusions and contradictions and provide little space for critiques.

A divulgação de provisões e passivos contingentes ambientais pelas empresas do setor de energia elétrica em comparação ao desenvolvimento da normatização da evidenciação contábil

O pressuposto desta pesquisa é de que a divulgação de informações ambientais, no âmbito das provisões e passivos contingentes, reagiu aos avanços na normatização contábil. A normatização contábil genérica sobre evidenciação de obrigações incertas era restrita, em meados de 1976, à Lei no 6.404, e assim permaneceu ao longo de pelo menos uma década e meia, quando começou a ser desenvolvida. Ao longo dos anos foram criados padrões obrigatórios de divulgação, com critérios de julgamento mais detalhados para a classificação da obrigação incerta em provável, possível ou remota. Embora ainda apresente algum grau de subjetividade, o desenvolvimento destes critérios pode ter contribuído para a diminuição da assimetria informacional: a empresa passou a contar com um conjunto de orientações mais claras e, portanto, com melhores condições de averiguar e divulgar suas obrigações incertas. Esse avanço contribuiu para que as obrigações ambientais passassem a ter maior exposição, principalmente no âmbito das empresas potencialmente poluidoras, como as do setor de energia elétrica, que utilizam recursos naturais e modificam o meio ambiente. Neste contexto, o objetivo deste estudo foi analisar as evidências de passivo ambiental divulgadas pelas empresas do setor de energia elétrica, de 1997 a 2014. Para tanto, foi desenvolvido um estudo qualitativo, descritivo e longitudinal, por meio da análise de conteúdo de 941 notas explicativas, de uma população de 64 empresas do setor de energia elétrica, de acordo com listagem na BM&FBovespa, em maio de 2015. A amostra foi constituída de 26 empresas, que divulgaram o total de 468 notas explicativas no site da CVM, de 1997 a 2014. Ao longo destes 18 anos, 14 empresas da amostra (53,85%) evidenciaram passivos ambientais ao menos uma vez e 12 instituições (46,15%) não o fizeram e, do total de 468 notas explicativas, 100 (21,37%) evidenciaram passivo ambiental. O número de evidências de passivos ambientais era pequeno em meados de 1997, mas ascendeu, com um aumento mais consistente a partir de 2006, ano que coincide com a aprovação da Norma e Procedimento de Contabilidade 22 - Provisões, Passivos, Contingências Passivas e Contingências Ativas, emitida pelo IBRACON. Adicionalmente, a materialidade quantitativa estava na média de 0,61% para provisões ambientais e 0,89% para os passivos contingentes ambientais, desconsiderando-se os outliers. A dimensão das notas explicativas, em termos de quantidade de palavras, foi crescente e diversificada. Em conclusão, a evidenciação contábil pode, em adição à evidenciação voluntária, ser um meio plausível para a divulgação de questões ambientais e redução da assimetria informacional, principalmente quando a normatização contábil se faz mais clara e detalhada.