How prepared was Australia for international financial reporting standards? The case of listed firms

We measure the preparedness of listed firms for international financial reporting standards (IFRS) by changes in explanations from Australian GAAP to IFRS between the half-year and annual accounts. About one-third of sample firms changed their explanations for earnings, cashflows or equity by averages of about −7%, 67% and 3% respectively. Most changes are less than 5% for earnings and equity, and tax is the item most commonly revised. More profitable firms and firms with more reconciling items are most likely to change an explanation. In a telephone survey of chief financial officers, 70% revealed that the change followed an incorrect application of an accounting rule in the half-year accounts.

Modelling regulatory change V's volume of trading effects in HSIF and HSI volatility

In an earlier paper, we adopted a bi-variate BEKK–GARCH framework and employed a systematic approach to examine structural breaks in the Hang Seng Index and Index Futures market volatility. Switching dummy variables were included and tested in the variance equations to check for any structural changes in the autoregressive volatility structure due to the events that have taken place in the Hong Kong market surrounding the Asian markets crisis. In this paper, we include measures of daily trading volume from both markets in the estimation. Likelihood ratio tests indicate the switching dummy variables become insignificant and the GARCH effects diminish but remain significant. There is some evidence that the Sequential Arrival of Information Model (SIM) provides a platform to explain these market induced effects when volume of trade is accounted for.

A pseudosymmetric cell adhesion regulatory domain in the β7 tail of the integrin α4β7 that interacts with focal adhesion kinase and src

The β7 integrins α4β7 and Eβ7 play key roles in forming the gut-associated lymphoid tissue, and contribute to chronic inflammation. The α4β7 integrin-mediated adhesion of activated lymphocytes is largely due to a transient increase in avidity from ligand-induced clustering of α4β7 at the cell-surface. Here, we report that L and D enantiomers of a cell-permeable peptide YDRREY encompassing residues 735-740 of the cytoplasmic tail of the β7 subunit inhibit the adhesion of T cells to β7 integrin ligands. The YDRREY peptide abrogated mucosal addressin cell adhesion molecule-1-induced clustering of α4β7 on the surface of activated T cells. A mutated form of the YDRREY peptide carrying either single or double conservative mutations at Tyr⁷³⁵Phe and Tyr⁷⁴⁰Phe was unable to inhibit T cell adhesion, suggesting that both tandem tyrosines are critical for activity. The YDRREY peptide was bound and phosphorylated by focal adhesion kinase and src, which may serve to sequester cytoskeletal proteins to the cytoplasmic domain of 4β7. The quasi-palindromic sequence YDRREY within the β7 cytoplasmic tail constitutes a cell adhesion regulatory domain that modulates the interaction of β7-expressing leukocytes with their endothelial and epithelial ligands. Cell-permeable peptidomimetics based on this motif have utility as anti-inflammatory reagents for the treatment of chronic inflammatory disease.

The politics of developing reference standards for nutrient intakes : the case of Australia and New Zealand

Objective Nutrient Reference Values (NRV) are evidence-based benchmarks for assessing the dietary adequacy of individuals and population groups as well as informing public health nutrition policies and programmes. The present paper presents the findings of an analysis of the views of submitters to a draft document associated with the development of the 2006 NRV for Australia and New Zealand. The aim of the study was to explore how these views were reflected in the policy-making process and final policy document.

Design The information necessary to fulfil this aim required access to stakeholder submissions to the NRV development process and this necessitated exploiting the provisions of the Commonwealth of Australia’s Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 1982. We understand that the present research represents the first time that an FOI request seeking information about a National Health and Medical Research Council food and nutrition policy process has been made and therefore is novel in its approach to public health nutrition policy analysis.

Results The analysis of stakeholder submissions identified that stakeholders had particular concerns about the conduct of the review process and the future application of the nutrient values to policy and programmes. There is a lack of evidence that the majority of stakeholder comments were addressed in the final NRV document.

Conclusion Although these findings cannot be interpreted to assess the validity or otherwise of the set nutrient values, they do raise questions about the process for their development and the adequacy of the final document to reflect the views of key stakeholders.

Procedural justice and affect intensity : understanding reactions to regulatory authorities

Why is it that some people respond in a more negative way to procedural injustice than do others, and why is it that some people go on to defy authority while others in the same situation do not? Personality theorists suggest that the psychological effect of a situation depends on how a person interprets the situation and that such differences in interpretation can vary as a function of individual difference factors. For example, affect intensity—one’s predisposition to react more or less emotionally to an event—is one such individual difference factor that has been shown to influence people’s reactions to events. Cross-sectional survey data collected from (a) 652 tax offenders who have been through a serious law enforcement experience (Study 1), and (b) 672 citizens with recent personal contact with a police officer (Study 2), showed that individual differences in ‘affect intensity’ moderate the effect of procedural justice on both affective reactions and compliance behavior. Specifically, perceptions of procedural justice had a greater effect in reducing anger and reports of non-compliance among those lower in affect intensity than those higher in affect intensity. Both methodological and theoretical explanations are offered to explain the results, including the suggestion that emotions of shame may play a role in the observed interaction.

Nurturing regulatory compliance: Is procedural justice effective when people question the legitimacy of the law?

Procedural justice generally enhances an authority's legitimacy and encourages people to comply with an authority's decisions and rules. We argue, however, that previous research on procedural justice and legitimacy has examined legitimacy in a limited way by focusing solely on the perceived legitimacy of authorities and ignoring how people may perceive the legitimacy of the laws and rules they enforce. In addition, no research to date has examined how such perceptions of legitimacy may moderate the effect of procedural justice on compliance behavior. Using survey data collected across three different regulatory contexts – taxation (Study 1), social security (Study 2), and law enforcement (Study 3) – the findings suggest that one's perceptions of the legitimacy of the law moderates the effect of procedural justice on compliance behaviors; procedural justice is more important for shaping compliance behaviors when people question the legitimacy of the laws than when they accept them as legitimate. An explanation of these findings using a social distancing framework is offered, along with a discussion of the implications the findings have on enforcement.

Narrative and portfolio approaches to teacher professional standards

This paper analyses various uses of narrative in the exploration of teacher identity. It highlights the way many contemporary education writers use terminology such as ‘storying lives’ and ‘storied landscapes’ to describe teacher processes of reflection on practice. In this paper the authors discuss some recent approaches to narrative that incorporate or suggest systematic uses of narrative theory (Conle 2003, Kamler, 2001, Richardson, 2003). Consideration is also given to the links between critical ethnography and narrative in order to critique the use of teacher portfolios, as in a recent Australian initiative for the appraisal of beginning teachers. The authors conclude with an argument for the rehabilitation and refinement of narrative theory in the ‘writing’ of teacher identity.

Impact of a fragmented regulatory environment on sustainable urban development design management

The building project development approval proces is increasingly complex and farught with conflict due to the rise of the sustainable urban development movement and inclusive decision making.  Coupled with this, government decision-making decentralisation has resulted in a fragmented and over-regulated compliance sytem.  Problems arising from the process include wated resources, excessive time delays, increased holding and litigation costs, inadequate planning coorindation, high lelves of advocacy costs and a divisive a politicised approval prcess.