Financial reporting? - It simply doesn't work. Views on 'Corporate Reporting Revisited' by J. Hegarty, C. Beckers and E. De Keleneer.

Management; Financial reporting;

Boundary tastes at work: the gendered effect of authority positions in the workplace on taste in clothing and food

In this article, we test three hypotheses about the gendered effect of authority positions in the workplace on tastes in the areas of food and clothing. We use the micro-interactionist model of Randall Collins to formulate new hypotheses on the development of aesthetic and practical taste patterns, as described by Pierre Bourdieu. This leads to the following hypotheses: (1) people in superordinate positions will develop more aesthetic tastes; (2) men in subordinate positions will develop more practical tastes; and (3) women in subordinate positions will develop more aesthetic tastes. Our results show that there is a significant effect of being in a superordinate position on food preferences but not on clothing preferences. Among people in subordinate positions, women score higher than men on a fashion taste in clothing, lower on practical taste in clothing, and lower on a conventional taste in food

Pricing and supplier concentration in the private client segment of the audit market : market power or competition ?.

This study differs from prior audit pricing-studies as 1) it focuses on the issue of price competition in the (small) private client segment of the audit market, and 2) addresses the question whether and how the audit-pricing model changed in that market between 1989-1997. Given the significant increases in market concentration and two big audit-firm mergers in that period, we try to assess whether price competition (market power) has increased (decreased) or decreased (increased). We use Belgian data on privately owned companies from 1989 and 1997 for our analyses. We find that audit fees are significantly associated with the incumbent auditor's market share both in 1989 and 1997. Our results are in line with prior studies on public client samples and hence do not support prior assumptions (see, for example, Simunic 1980) that there are no price premia charged by large auditors in the small-client segment of the audit market. It is however not clear whether the reported price premium is due to market power or differentiated audit quality. As to the evolution of audit pricing in the private client segment of the Belgian audit market between 1989 and 1997, we find that the impact of various audit-fee determinants changed significantly and report evidence supportive of increased price competition.Management; Companies; Pricing; Competition;

The global economic crisis and international migration: An uncertain outlook

This article investigates the impact of the global economic crisis on international migration. Empirical evidence is scarce and mainly captures short-term consequences. The study covers (1) international migration theory, (2) the impact of past financial crises on international migration, and (3) published expert opinions, studies and discussions. The impact varies by reason for migration and by migrants’ employment status. Labour migration is affected most, in particular migration of low-skilled persons. Political and environmental refugees, marriage migration and family reunion will not be much affected. Remittances are affected less than predicted. The management of migration during periods of economic downturns should be guided by short- and long-term perspectives on the role of migration in development.

Corporate images of audit firms in a multilingual society.

The paper investigates the corporate images of the leading auditing firms in Belgium, focussing on the perceptions of the two language groupings in Belgium, the Dutch speaking Flemings and the French speaking Walloons. Our major objective is to assess whether there are differences in the corporate images of a company's audit firm that can be attributed to the differing self-images of Flemings and Walloons. The corporate image of the audit firms was ascertained by using a semantic differential measuring instrument, which contained a number of anthropomorphic dimensions. Based on a review of the literature concerning the images and cultures of the two language groupings, we develop hypotheses of an association between these anthropomorphic dimensions of corporate image and the images and culture of the two language groupings. We obtained an assessment of the dimensions of corporate image via a postal questionnaire to financial executives of leading Belgium companies. Our analysis of the data shows that there is a relationship between the images and culture of the two language groupings, but that the relationship is an inverse one, whereby an attribute that is associated more with one of the two language groups is assessed by a respondent from that language group to be less in his or her audit firm. The paper also shows that the Big Five are perceived differently to each other by the two language groupings and that the Walloons perceive bigger differences amongst the Big Five than do the Flemings.Image;

The role of risk management and governance in determining audit demand.

Most prior research into audit fees has been based on a theoretical model which treats audit fees as the by-product of a production function (Simunic, 1980) hereby ignoring potential demand forces that may drive the level of the audit fee. In such a production-oriented view of auditing, alternative control mechanisms (such as internal auditing and corporate governance) are hypothesized to be substitutes for external auditing, and hence more of one control mechanism is expected to be negatively associated with the level of external auditing, and hence the audit fee. In this paper we examine the impact of risks and controls in the determination of audit fees. Inspired by prior 'anomalous' results, we take a different perspective by focusing on some omitted demand factors that may affect the level of the audit fee. Based on Hay and Knechel (2004), we argue that when multiple stakeholders are included in the analysis a positive association between various risk management / control mechanisms and external audit demand is a very likely outcome, which is attributable to sharing of control costs between stakeholders and positive control externalities amongst stakeholders. Using data collected from a sample of listed companies in Belgium, we consider both disclosures about risk and risk management and actual decisions about corporate governance to examine whether audit fees are higher when hypothesized demand forces exist. Consistent with our expectations, our results indicate that audit fees are higher when a company has an audit committee, discloses a relatively high level of financial risk management, and has a larger proportion of independent Board Members. Audit fees are lower when a company discloses a relatively high level of compliance risk management. The latter result indicates that controls are only complementary as long as they are voluntary, as mandated controls act as substitutes for non-mandated controls.Auditing; Belgium; Companies; Cost; Decision; Stakeholders;

The simultaneous relation between audit report type and business termination : evidence for non-listed companies in a non-litigious audit environment.

This study provides evidence on the relationship between audit report type and subsequent business termination in an environment where firms are closely held and the audit environment is non-litigious. The results show that an endogenous relationship exists between bankruptcy and audit report type, and between voluntary liquidation and audit report type. A non-clean opinion is typically given to firms with financial difficulties, which in turn become more severe after the receipt of a non-clean audit opinion. We find evidence that, even without a litigation deterrent in Belgium, financial performance has a similar impact on audit report type as in litigious environments, that is, the worse the financial condition the higher the likelihood of receiving a non-clean audit report. We also find that the self-fulfilling prophecy holds for bankruptcy, that is that a non-clean audit report triggers bankruptcy. Our paper investigated the relationship between audit report type and business termination for various types of business terminations including bankruptcy, voluntary liquidation and merger. The results reveal significant differences across the forementioned types of business terminations. One difference is that the self-fulfilling prophecy only holds when the audited firm has no decision power as to termination of is operations, that is for bankruptcy. It does not hold for voluntary liquidation nor merger. Another important difference relates to business termination through merger. No significant difference in performance exists between surviving and merging firms and no endogenous relationship exists between mergers and audit report type. For merging firms audit report qualifications are triggered by the weakness of the auditee's internal control system and not by substandard financial performance. Finally, our study provides some evidence on quality differentiation between Big Six and non Big Six auditors in the Belgian audit market. When financial difficulties are obvious, as is the case when a company is about to go bankrupt, both Big Six and non big Six auditors are as competent and/or independent to assess and report going concern problems. However, when financial difficulties are less apparent, as is the case for firms which are about to go into liquidation, our results indicate that Big Six auditors are more likely to issue a qualified audit opinion.Management; Companies;

Nematodes as suitable indicators for soil health

During the Greenresilient project, nematode communities will be characterized at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of the field trials to identify shifts in their community. These shifts will be analysed to determine whether the chosen ‘innovative’ methods tested in the project are beneficial for soil health, causing an increased resilience to pests and diseases and a more balanced nutrient supply, for more sustainable and high-quality crop production. This leaflet explains why nematodes can be excellent indicators for soil health