Support for graphicacy: a review of textbooks available to accounting students

This Teaching Note reports on the support available in textbooks for graphicacy that will help students understand the complexities of graphical displays. Graphical displays play a significant role in financial reporting, and studies have found evidence of measurement distortion and selection bias. To understand the complexities of graphical displays, students need a sound understanding of graphicacy and support from the textbooks available to them to develop that understanding. The Teaching Note reports on a survey that examined the textbooks available to students attending two Scottish universities. The support of critical graphicacy skills was examined in conjunction with textbook characteristics. The survey, which was not restricted to textbooks designated as required reading, examined the textbooks for content on data measurement and graphical displays. The findings highlight a lack of support for graphicacy in the textbooks selected. The study concludes that accounting educators need to scrutinize more closely the selection of textbooks and calls for more extensive research into textbooks as a pedagogic tool

Corporate financing decisions: UK survey evidence

Despite theoretical developments in recent years, our understanding of corporate capital structure remains incomplete. Prior empirical research has been dominated by archival regression studies which are limited in their ability to fully reflect the diversity found in practice. The present paper reports on a comprehensive survey of corporate financing decision-making in UK listed companies. A key finding is that firms are heterogeneous in their capital structure policies. About half of the firms seek to maintain a target debt level, consistent with trade-off theory, but 60 per cent claim to follow a financing hierarchy, consistent with pecking order theory. These two theories are not viewed by respondents as either mutually exclusive or exhaustive. Many of the theoretical determinants of debt levels are widely accepted by respondents, in particular the importance of interest tax shield, financial distress, agency costs and also, at least implicitly, information asymmetry. Results also indicate that cross-country institutional differences have a significant impact on financial decisions

Impression management and retrospective sense-making in corporate annual reports: banks' graphical reporting during the global financial crisis

This study investigates two potentially complementary reporting scenarios in annual reports: reactive impression management and retrospective sense-making. It examines stock market performance graphs in European listed banks? annual reports before and during the global financial crisis. Our results indicate that banks reacted to the global financial crisis by omitting stock market performance graphs from the annual report and from its most prominent sections. On the other hand, banks reduced favorable distortions and favorable performance comparisons. No significant evidence of retrospective sense-making is found. Overall, the findings are consistent with impression management incorporating human cognitive biases, with companies preferring misrepresentation by omission over misrepresentation by commission. Under high public scrutiny, banks appear to seek to provide a more favorable view by concealing negative information rather than by favorable distortions or comparisons. The study contributes to the development of impression management theories. It uses a psychological interpretation that incorporates human cognitive biases, rather than adopting a purely economically based perspective

CE0704

Use the URI link below to search the Marine Institute Data Discovery Catalogue for datasets relevant to this report.Acoustic surveys on the blue whiting (Micromesistius poutassou) stock in the north east Atlantic have been carried out since the early 1970s by the Institute of Marine Research (IMR), Norway. In the early 1980s a coordinated acoustic survey approach was adopted, with both Russia and Norway participating to estimate the size of this migratory stock within its key spawning grounds. Since 2004, the coordinated survey program has expanded and now includes vessels from the Netherlands, Faroes and Ireland in addition to those from the Russian Federation and Norway. Due to the highly migratory nature of the stock, a large geographical area has to be surveyed. Spawning takes place from January through to April, with a peak time between mid-March and early April. Consequently acoustic surveys are routinely carried out during the peak spawning period within known geographic confines. To facilitate a more coordinated spatiotemporal approach to this spawning stock survey, participating countries meet annually to discuss survey methods and define target areas at the ICES led Planning Group of Northern Pelagic Ecosystem Surveys (PGNAPES). Data from the annual spawning stock abundance survey (March/April), juvenile surveys (May) and commercial landings data are presented annually at the ICES led Northern Pelagic and Blue Whiting Fisheries Working Group (WGNPBW). Ultimately, combined data inputs into the management and catch advice for this cross boundary stock. The 2007 survey was part of an International collaborative survey using the vessels RV “Celtic Explorer” (Marine Institute, Ireland), RV “Atlantida” (AtlantNIRO, Russian Federation), RV “Tridens” (IMARES, Netherlands) and the RV “Magnus Heinason” (FRS, Faroes) and the FV “Eros” (IMR commercial charter). The total combined area coverage in 2007 extended from the Faroe Islands in the north (61.30°N) to south of Ireland (50.30°N), with east –west extension from 5°-19° W. Combined area coverage included shelf break areas (>200m) and large bathymetric features including the Porcupine, Rockall and Hatton Banks. The Irish component of the survey was made up of transects covering 2,624 nmi (nautical miles) covering the north Porcupine area, the eastern and western fringes of the Rockall Bank and the western slopes of the Hatton Bank. This survey represents the 4th survey in the Irish time series

Beam Asymmetry Σ for the Photoproduction of η and ή Mesons at Eγ = 8.8GeV

We report on the measurement of the beam asymmetry Σ for the reactions →γp→pη and →γp→pη′ from the GlueX experiment using an 8.2–8.8-GeV linearly polarized tagged photon beam incident on a liquid hydrogen target in Hall D at Jefferson Laboratory. These measurements are made as a function of momentum transfer −t with significantly higher statistical precision than our earlier η measurements and are the first measurements of η′ in this energy range. We compare the results to theoretical predictions based on t-channel quasiparticle exchange. We also compare the ratio of Ση to Ση′ to these models as this ratio is predicted to be sensitive to the amount of s¯s exchange in the production. We find that photoproduction of both η and η′ is dominated by natural parity exchange with little dependence on −t

The Importance of Audit Firm Characteristics and the Drivers of Auditor Change in UK Listed Companies

This paper explores the importance of audit firm characteristics and the factors motivating auditor change based on questionnaire responses from 210 listed UK companies (a response rate of 70%). Twenty-nine potentially desirable auditor characteristics are identified from the extant literature and their importance elicited. Exploratory factor analysis reduces these variables to eight uncorrelated underlying dimensions: reputation/quality; acceptability to third parties; value for money; ability to provide non-audit services; small audit firm; specialist industry knowledge; non-Big Six large audit firm; and geographical proximity. Insights into the nature of 'the Big Six factor' emerge. Two thirds of companies had recently considered changing auditors; the main reasons cited being audit fee level, dissatisfaction with audit quality and changes in top management. Of those companies that considered change, 73% did not actually do so, the main reasons cited being fee reduction by the incumbent and avoidance of disruption. Thus audit fee levels are both a key precipitator of change and a key factor in retaining the status quo

Corporate governance compliance and disclosure in the banking sector: using data from Japan

Using regression model this study investigates which characteristics of a bank is associated with the extent of corporate governance disclosure in Japan. The findings suggest that on average 8 banks out of a sample of 46 disclose optimal corporate governance information. The regression model results reveal in general that non-executive directors, cross-ownership, capital adequacy ratio and type of auditors are associated with the extent of corporate governance disclosure. Of these four variables, non-executive directors have a more significant impact on the extent of disclosure contrary to total assets and audit firms of banks in the context of Japan. The findings of this paper are relevant for corporate regulators, professional associations and developers of corporate governance code when designing or updating corporate governance code

Measurement of the J/ Photoproduction Cross Section Over the Full Near-Threshold Kinematic Region

We report the total and differential cross sections for J/ψ photoproduction with the large acceptance GlueX spectrometer for photon beam energies from the threshold at 8.2 GeV up to 11.44 GeV and over the full kinematic range of momentum transfer squared, t. Such coverage facilitates the extrapolation of the differential cross sections to the forward (t=0) point beyond the physical region. The forward cross section is used by many theoretical models and plays an important role in understanding J/ψ photoproduction and its relation to the J/ψ-proton interaction. These measurements of J/ψ photoproduction near threshold are also crucial inputs to theoretical models that are used to study important aspects of the gluon structure of the proton, such as the gluon generalized parton distribution of the proton, the mass radius of the proton, and the trace anomaly contribution to the proton mass. We observe possible structures in the total cross section energy dependence and find evidence for contributions beyond gluon exchange in the differential cross section close to threshold, both of which are consistent with contributions from open-charm intermediate states

Publication Records of Faculty Promoted to Professor: Evidence from the UK Accounting and Finance Academic Community

This study investigates the publication profiles of 140 accounting and finance faculty promoted to the senior rank of professor at UK and Irish universities during the period 1992 to 2007. On average, approximately 9 papers in Association of Business Schools (ABS) (2008)-listed journals, with 5 at the highest 3*/4* quality levels in a portfolio of 20 outputs are required for promotion to professor. Multivariate analysis provides evidence that publication requirements in terms of ABS ranked journal papers have increased over time, an effect attributed to the government research assessment exercise. There is no evidence that requirements differ for: internal versus external promotion, male versus female candidates; accounting versus finance professors, research intensity of institution peer group; or government research ranking of unit. There is also no evidence of a substitution effect in relation to increased recent publication history, quantity of non-ABS outputs or sole-authorship, all of which show a significant complementary effect. It is noted that there is very limited overlap in the UK and US publication journal sets, suggesting underlying geographically-based paradigm differences. The benchmarks provided in this study are informative in a range of decision settings: recruitment; those considering making an application for promotion to a chair and those involved in promotion panels; cross-disciplinary comparisons; and resource allocation. The evidence presented also contributes to the emerging policy debates concerning the aging demographic profile of accounting faculty, the management of academic labour and the Research Excellence Framework