Identification of Existing Surface Water Quality Monitoring Programs, Upper Illinois River Basin

published or submitted for publicationis peer reviewedOpe

State pension funds and corporate social responsibility: do beneficiaries’ political values influence funds’ investment decisions?

This study explores the underlying drivers of US public pension funds’ tendency to tilt their portfolios towards companies with stronger corporate social responsibility (CSR). Studying the equity holdings of large, internally-managed US state pension funds, we find evidence that the political leaning of their beneficiaries and political pressures by state politicians affect funds’ investment decisions. State pension funds from states with Democratic-leaning beneficiaries tilt their portfolios more strongly towards companies that perform well on CSR issues, and this tendency is intensified when the state government is dominated by Democratic state politicians. Moreover, we find that funds which tilt their portfolios towards companies with superior CSR scores generate a slightly higher return compared with their counterparts. Overall, our findings indicate that funds align their investment choices with the financial and non-financial interests of their beneficiaries when deciding whether to incorporate CSR into their equity allocations

Globalisation, accounting and developing countries

Accounting is an instrument and an object in globalisation but its impact and manifestation is not uniform across Northern developed countries and Southern developing countries (DCs). This paper reviews contributions on globalisation and its influence on accounting in DCs, and identifies important research gaps. It examines the role of accounting in changing development policies, from state capitalism through neo-liberal market-based to good-governance policies. It then considers specific accounting issues, namely the diffusion of International Accounting Standards (now International Financial Reporting Standards) and how they promote global neo-liberalism; the development of the accounting profession in DCs in the face of competition from Northern global accounting firms and professional associations; accounting issues in state-owned organisations, and privatised and multinational corporations; government accounting reforms and the resurrection of the state in DCs; social and environmental accounting issues; and the rise of non-governmental organisations and their accounting and accountability. The discussion and conclusions reflect on achievements to date and important areas requiring further development

Accounting for pensions

Bibliography: p. 141-15

Accounting and Chilean pension reform

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to shed light on accounting's role in bringing about a pension reform project in Chile under the authoritarian regime of Augusto Pinochet. The paper aims to reveal the specific role that the pension reform played in the regime's broader ideological goals, thus highlighting the need to reflect upon its origins when considering the reform as a template for pension change in other parts of the world. Design/methodology/approach – The study brings together archival research showing accounting in its relation to broader structural and institutional structures, to present an alternative history of the development and implementation of the pension reform. Findings – The pension reform was not merely a rationally chosen economic reform project. It was part of a vast modernization and institutionalization programme to change Chilean society and the mindset of its citizens. Accounting played a significant role in both the administration and functioning of the project, and in enabling the broader modernizations to take hold. Practical implications – The Chilean pension model is held up as a fully-exportable template to other jurisdictions. The study reveals how reflection is required to determine its suitability and potential for success in other situations, given the very specific role it was intended to play in its original setting. Originality/value – This paper represents an under-researched geographic setting, and also questions this much-lauded pension model's appropriateness for other settings.Accounting, Chile, Pensions, Privatization

Accounting Ethics and the Fragmentation of Value

This study investigates how one important accounting professional authority—CPA Canada—discusses accounting ethics and exhorts its members to think about ethics-related issues. To do this, we rely on empirical evidence of the types of arguments used by CPA Canada to describe what they consider acceptable moral justifications in a variety of practical situations that accountants may encounter. We argue that the articles contained in the profession’s primary publication for all members, CPA Magazine, offer a wealth of such evidence. We analyze 237 articles about accounting ethics that were published in CPA Magazine from January 2000 to December 2017, and find evidence of moral pluralism (Nagel in Mortal questions. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1979). Six categories of justifications dominate: private commitments, utility, perfectionist ends, general duties, and specific obligations, plus self-interest. Of these categories, the specific obligations logic is the most widely used. We offer a tentative explanation, and discuss the implications of our findings for a better grasp of the complexities of accountants’ practical conflicts and a rethink of the ongoing tension between professionalism and commercialism