Corporate effective tax rates and tax reform: evidence from Australia

The Ralph Review of Business Taxation, which submitted its recommendations to the Australian Government on 30 July 1999, represented an important event in the corporate tax reform process in Australia (Cooper et al., 2002, p. 20; Gilders et al., 2004, p. 16). Some of its key recommendations were designed to promote equity in the corporate tax system by removing several major tax incentives (Ralph, 1999, p. 15). For example, accelerated depreciation, which favors capital intensive firms, was recommended for removal. The Ralph Review also recommended a phased-in reduction of the corporate tax rate as trade-off to firms for the removal of accelerated depreciation. The Australian Government implemented these key Ralph Review recommendations, and they came into law in the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, applying from the 1999/2000 tax year

An Analysis of Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure by Advertising Agencies

The corporate annual report has become more than a mandatory financial report for public companies, with many companies also using it as an important marketing communication tool. As corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an issue of growing interest in the business world, many publicly listed companies, including advertising agencies, are voluntarily disclosing information regarding their CSR activities in their annual report. This descriptive study analyses the annual reports of the top six holding companies in the global advertising industry, in order to observe which advertising companies disclose their CSR activities and what activities they undertake, and the development of a CSR disclosure index for advertising agencies. The results indicate that some advertising companies do engage in CSR activities and disclose them in the annual report, but the level of these CSR disclosures is different between the organisations

The impact of tax reform on corporate capital investment: Evidence from Australian panel data

We examine the impact of tax reform on corporate capital investment in Australia spanning the Ralph Review of Business Taxation reform. Based on panel data, our results indicate that corporate capital investment reduced because of the tax reform. The negative effects of the removal of accelerated depreciation exceeded the positive effects of the decrease in the corporate tax rate, hence corporate capital investment declined. Moreover, the decline was broad-based as it occurred across all major industry sectors. These findings remain robust to an alternate measure of corporate capital investment

The impact incentive types on organisational performance in anglo cultures: a reply to Drake, Haka and Ravenscroft (1999)

Experimental research suffers from biases introduced by experiment design choices, such as the choice of alternative incentive and reward structures. We propose that framing rewards in a broader typology when researchers make decision about which reward structures to use in an experiment will minimise the potential for a false choice bias. To highlight this problem we replicate Drake, Haka and Ravenscrofts (1999) incentive structure experiment using a simpler, more theory driven design. Drake et al (1999) propose that organisational performance maybe be better if group compensation is given in preference to individualistic compensation, within the context of an information rich environment (using activity based costing). In particular, Drake et al (1999) apply an experimental research design to test that proposition using U.S. MBA students. Their results suggest that, ceteris paribus, given a group in preference to an individualistic incentive scheme, innovation, efficiency and profitability may improve. We argue that this conclusion is inconsistent with the incentive structure choices faced by managers, the societal values of the U.S., culture and agency theories in general. A possible explanation for Drake et als (1999) result is the use of a tournament incentive scheme as the basis for individual compensation. As such, we replicate the Drake et al (1999) experiment using Australian university students and an individual profit incentive scheme as the basis for individual compensation. Our results, in contrast to Drake et al. (1999), indicate that given an individual in preference to group incentive scheme, task performance improves in an information rich environment. This experiment highlights the false choice bias that reduces the generalizability of experimental research in general and highlights the value of propositions couched in a broader reward typology

The impact of dividend imputation on corporate tax avoidance: The case of shareholder value

© 2017 Elsevier B.V. The objective of this paper is to evaluate whether dividend imputation, whereby tax credits may be passed on to shareholders for corporate tax paid, impacts corporate tax avoidance. This is undertaken with a pooled cross-sectional research design evaluating differences in tax avoidance across firms where there are significant differences in corporate tax avoidance incentives. Specifically, potential differences arise between firms paying dividends with tax credits, paying dividends without tax credits, and not paying dividends. Results suggest that firms paying dividends with tax credits attached are less likely to engage in tax avoidance with an average cash effective tax rate up to 16.9 percentage points higher than firms that pay dividends without tax credits, and up to 14.7 percentage points higher than firms that do not pay dividends at all. Accordingly, this provides insights into the effectiveness of dividend imputation in mitigating corporate tax avoidance, as well as providing support for the continuance of dividend imputation in Australia. Additionally, a positive association is found to exist between outside directors and corporate tax avoidance, extending to firms paying dividends with tax credits where dividend imputation is expected to mitigate such a relation. In combination, these results suggest heterogeneity of costs and benefits of tax avoidance and this is a challenge in evaluating corporate tax aggressiveness generally, and the impact of corporate governance on corporate tax avoidance in particular

The contribution of financial entities to the sustainable development through the reporting of corporate social responsibility information

This paper aims at examining the relationship between board composition and corporate social responsibility (CSR) of a sample of listed financial entities, discussing the driving reasons of these entities to disclose CSR information. We hypothesize that there is a positive association between outside (institutional and independent directors) and female directors and CSR disclosure and a negative relationship between inside directors and CSR reporting. Our findings provide evidence that the proportions of independent directors and female directors on boards encourage CSR disclosure. Moreover, the results also show that the proportions of inside directors and institutional directors on boards do not have influence on CSR reporting. Thus, our evidence suggests that board attributes such as independent and female directors encourage financial entities to report CSR matters, showing the effectiveness of these two corporate governance mechanisms. The paper shed light on the influence of board structure of financial entities on CSR disclosure. Therefore, this study contributes to past research by providing an index to measure CSR disclosure of financial entities and the importance of the distinction between outside and inside directors

Susceptibility of hamsters to clostridium difficile isolates of differing toxinotype

Clostridium difficile is the most commonly associated cause of antibiotic associated disease (AAD), which caused ~21,000 cases of AAD in 2011 in the U.K. alone. The golden Syrian hamster model of CDI is an acute model displaying many of the clinical features of C. difficile disease. Using this model we characterised three clinical strains of C. difficile, all differing in toxinotype; CD1342 (PaLoc negative), M68 (toxinotype VIII) and BI-7 (toxinotype III). The naturally occurring non-toxic strain colonised all hamsters within 1-day post challenge (d.p.c.) with high-levels of spores being shed in the faeces of animals that appeared well throughout the entire experiment. However, some changes including increased neutrophil influx and unclotted red blood cells were observed at early time points despite the fact that the known C. difficile toxins (TcdA, TcdB and CDT) are absent from the genome. In contrast, hamsters challenged with strain M68 resulted in a 45% mortality rate, with those that survived challenge remaining highly colonised. It is currently unclear why some hamsters survive infection, as bacterial and toxin levels and histology scores were similar to those culled at a similar time-point. Hamsters challenged with strain BI-7 resulted in a rapid fatal infection in 100% of the hamsters approximately 26 hr post challenge. Severe caecal pathology, including transmural neutrophil infiltrates and extensive submucosal damage correlated with high levels of toxin measured in gut filtrates ex vivo. These data describes the infection kinetics and disease outcomes of 3 clinical C. difficile isolates differing in toxin carriage and provides additional insights to the role of each toxin in disease progression

Corporate tax: what do stakeholders expect?

Motivated by the ongoing controversy surrounding corporate tax, this article presents a study that explores stakeholder expectations of corporate tax in the context of UK business. We conduct a qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews with representatives of community groups (NGOs/think tanks and special interest groups), as well as interviews with those representing business groups (business leaders and industry representatives). We then identify eight themes that together describe “what” companies need to do, “how” they need to do it, and “why” they need to do it, if they wish to appeal to a wide group of interested parties. We discuss our findings based on the corporate social responsibility literature and propose novel ways for community groups and business groups to connect on the topic of corporate tax, suggesting opportunities and themes for dialogue and potential steps to co-create solutions in a stakeholder society

All for Him: Articles About Sex in American Lad Magazines

Research on sources of information about sex indicates that independent reading is a primary source of information for many young people. For young men, such reading is likely to involve lad magazines, a relatively new but very popular genre of lifestyle magazines targeted at young men. In the present study, a systematic representative sample of articles about sex from American lad magazines was subjected to content analysis. Results suggest that, although many articles focus on what women want sexually, the overall message of these articles privileges a fairly narrow male sexuality oriented toward sexual variety. At the same time, the normative relational context of sex is depicted as serious dating relationships. These results are consistent with predominant gender stereotypes about sex.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45640/1/11199_2005_Article_1291.pd

Clostridium difficile infection.

Infection of the colon with the Gram-positive bacterium Clostridium difficile is potentially life threatening, especially in elderly people and in patients who have dysbiosis of the gut microbiota following antimicrobial drug exposure. C. difficile is the leading cause of health-care-associated infective diarrhoea. The life cycle of C. difficile is influenced by antimicrobial agents, the host immune system, and the host microbiota and its associated metabolites. The primary mediators of inflammation in C. difficile infection (CDI) are large clostridial toxins, toxin A (TcdA) and toxin B (TcdB), and, in some bacterial strains, the binary toxin CDT. The toxins trigger a complex cascade of host cellular responses to cause diarrhoea, inflammation and tissue necrosis - the major symptoms of CDI. The factors responsible for the epidemic of some C. difficile strains are poorly understood. Recurrent infections are common and can be debilitating. Toxin detection for diagnosis is important for accurate epidemiological study, and for optimal management and prevention strategies. Infections are commonly treated with specific antimicrobial agents, but faecal microbiota transplants have shown promise for recurrent infections. Future biotherapies for C. difficile infections are likely to involve defined combinations of key gut microbiota