Benchmarking: An International Comparison

The study examines the impact of national research assessment exercises for the accounting and visual arts disciplines. Analysis is also made of the impact of a ‘national research quality assessment exercise’ of New Zealand and UK initiatives (Tertiary Education Commission. 2004; RAE, 2001) and well as the proposed Australian RQF (2005).   We find that whilst the definition of research is broad enough to include most of the activities of accounting and finance, and visual arts academia the actual measures of research performance may be problematic. The need to clearly demonstrate quality peer review is the largest hurdle especially for visual arts academics with their individualist and independent mindset.  Whilst visual arts and, accounting and finance academia research performance activity was ranked low in both the UK and NZ, we conclude that that the focus on output quality and peer assessment offers a potentially broader and more accurate depiction of activity.  Obtaining a balanced broader assessment of both traditional performance measures such as research publications of accounting and finance along with the more creative elements of visual arts such as exhibitions is paramount. We also make a call for more research training for both disciplines to assist them in the recognition of quality research productivity

University Performance Evaluation: The Business Of Research

The study examines the impact of national research assessment exercises for the visual arts discipline in a university structure.  It encompasses issues of evaluation, benchmarking, performance management, performance indicators and explanatory factors.  We find that whilst the definition of research is broad enough to include most of the activities of visual arts academia. The actual operationalisation of the measurement models may well exclude many current activities.  The need to clearly demonstrate quality peer review is the largest hurdle.  Analysis is also made of the impact of a ‘national research quality assessment exercise’ such as the New Zealand and UK initiatives (Tertiary Education Commission. 2004; RAE, 2001).  Whilst visual arts academia research performance activity was ranked low in both countries, we find that their position on the need for quality and peer assessment offers a potentially broader and more accurate depiction of activity.  Obtaining a balanced broader assessment of both traditional performance measures such as research publications along with the more creative elements of visual arts such as exhibitions is paramount. The national assessment exercises show that visual arts academics are struggling to compete with their academic brethren in other disciplines.  We argue the need for national assessment exercises engenders an acceptable peer review system to better assess their broad research activities for non-traditional areas. We also make calls for more research presentation training for the visual arts discipline to assist them in the recognition of quality research productivity.  The implementation of a national research assessment system which focuses more on quality output and outcome measures instead of input measures such as research income will engender this debate

Diversity in Risk Communication

This study analyses the communication of the five major categories of risk (business, strategy, market and credit risk disclosure) over the volatile 2007-2009 Global Financial Crisis (GFC) time period in key South East Asian countries’ manufacturing listed companies. This study is important as it contributes to the literature by providing insights into the voluntary risk disclosure practices using sample countries with different economic scenarios. Key findings are that business risk is the most disclosed category and strategy risk is the least disclosed. Business and credit risk disclosure consistently increase over the three year period, while operating, market and strategy risk disclosure increase in 2008, but then decrease slightly in 2009. Statistical analysis reveals that country of incorporation and size help predict risk disclosure levels. The overall low disclosure levels (26- 29%) highlight the potential for far higher communication of key risk factors

Risk disclosure during the global financial crisis

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine voluntary risk disclosures within annual reports in four key South-East Asian countries’ (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Australia) manufacturing listed companies over the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) 2007-2009 financial years. Design/methodology/approach – Longitudinal and cross-country analyses test the veracity of agency theory to predict the level of firms’ risk disclosures. A comprehensive risk disclosure index (RDI) checklist is created with key predictor variables (country, company size, managerial ownership and board independence) tested to explain the dissemination of CSR information over time. Findings – The findings show that the communication of risk data stays relatively consistent (26-29 per cent across the three GFC ‘‘crisis’’ years). This is arguably a low level of communication from a social responsibility corporate lens. Multiple regression analysis provides evidence that country, size and board independence are positively significantly associated and leverage is negatively significantly associated with the extent of voluntary risk disclosure. Interestingly, Indonesia, the least developed country with arguably the highest business risk factors, consistently has statistically lower levels of risk disclosure compared with their three neighbours. Research limitations/implications – The sample frame is selected from the stock exchange population of manufacturing companies in key South-East Asian countries. However, for complete generalization the findings should be tested in other countries and other industries. Practical implications – The study findings are useful for firm self-evaluation and benchmarking of risk communication by other corporations across countries. Social implications – The study shows relatively low levels of risk disclosure over the GFC crisis time period. Communication of these items are influenced by key firm characteristics and economic drivers. Arguably, higher risk disclosure leads to better understanding of a company’s social responsibility stance. Originality/value – This is a critically important time span to investigate risk disclosures as it encompasses those years most directly impacted by the global financial crisis (GFC)

The Masters' Control: How Ownership Structure Influences the Communication of Financial Ratios

This study analyses the effect of the attributes of ownership structure and corporate governance on financial ratios disclosure in Malaysian listed firms’ annual reports over two key periods, 2001 and 2006. Overall, the extent of financial ratios disclosure has significantly increased from 12.2 per cent to 15.0 per cent. The highest level of financial ratios disclosure is for the sub-categories of Profitability, Cash Flow and Share Market Measures, whereas there is less information reported for Capital Structure and Liquidity ratios. Further, the analysis shows that the institutional ownership negatively influences the financial ratios disclosure for 2001; and foreign ownership is positively associated with financial ratios disclosure in 2006. Interestingly, family ownership appears to have no significant influence on the disclosure in either period. Ownership concentration, on the other hand has a positive association with financial ratios disclosure in 2001; this is the opposite direction than hypothesised. In addition, the corporate governance attributes have also influenced the financial ratios disclosure in 2001. As for control variables, firm size and profitability are found to have a positive relationship with financial ratios disclosure for both years. These findings provide evidence that the attributes of ownership structure and the implementation of sound corporate governance reduce the information asymmetry between management and stakeholders and therefore, further enhance transparency

Corporate governance, ownership structure and voluntary disclosure: Evidence from listed firms in Malaysia

This paper examines the impact of corporate governance and ownership structure on voluntary disclosure practices of Malaysian listed firms. The extent of voluntary disclosure is determined for a matched-sample of 100listed firms in three different disclosure regimes during 1996, 2001 and 2006.The findings suggest that regulatory reforms over the 1996 to 2006 period resulted in enhanced corporate transparency and accountability as reflected in more extensive voluntary disclosures. We provide empirical evidence that the extent of voluntary disclosures is significantly associated with the strength of corporate governance structure in 2001 and 2006 and with ownership structure in 1996, 2001 and 1996. The findings of this study are of use to regulators in terms of guiding policy development regarding corporate transparency of publicly listed firms

The Indonesian government’s coercive pressure on labour disclosures: conflicting interests or government ambivalence?

Purpose: This paper aims to focus on corporate social responsibility and workplace well-being by examining Indonesian Stock Exchange (IDX)-listed companies’ labour disclosures. Design/methodology/approach: Year-ending 2007 and 2010 annual report disclosures of 31 IDX-listed companies are analysed. The widely acknowledged Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines are used as the disclosure index checklist. Findings: The results reveal that the overall labour disclosure level increases from 21.84 per cent in 2007 to 30.52 per cent in 2010. The levels of four of the five specific labour disclosures also increase with employment being the exception. The results further show that the Indonesian Government does not influence the increase in the levels of the overall labour disclosure or the four categories showing increased disclosure but, surprisingly, does significantly affect the decrease in the level of the employment category. Research limitations/implications: It is implied that the government is at best ambiguous given that, on one side, the government regulates all corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities and reporting but appears to coercively pressure companies to hide employment-specific issues. Practical implications: It is implied that Indonesian companies need to have “strong and influential” independent commissioners on the boards to counter any possible pressures from the government resulting in lower disclosure levels. Originality/value: This paper provides insights into the “journey” of labour-related CSR disclosure practices in Indonesia and contributes to the literature by testing one specific variant of isomorphic institutional theory, namely, coercive isomorphism

User Views On The Complex Accounting For Financial Instruments

This paper examines Australian and Singaporean users’ views on fair value accounting for all financial instruments in financial institutions via a survey on various aspects of contention in this debate. Overall, users showed general support for fair value accounting for all financial instruments. In addition, the findings revealed that users will support fair value accounting so long as there is no perceived difference between the banking and trading books, fair values of non-traded financial instruments are reliable and volatility in earnings will not be misunderstood. It was also found that user experience increases the level of support for the proposed fair value accounting model. These results highlight actual user preferences with noticeable support for arguments from both sides of the debate (JWG and JWGBA) in this highly contentious and topical area of accounting for financial instruments