Friedrich, C, Stokes, D & Taylor, SL 2004, 'Applications of corporate governance technology to accounting and audit quality surveillance.' in Skeete, H (ed), The Handbook of World Stock, Derivative and Commodity Exchanges., Mondo Visione, Datchworth, UK, pp. 127-131.
Balatbat, MCA, Taylor, SL & Walter, TS 2004, 'Corporate governance, insider ownership and operating performance of Australian initial public offerings', Accounting & Finance, vol. 44, no. 3, pp. 299-328.
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AbstractWe examine ownership structures and corporate governance attributes of 313 Australian initial public offerings (IPOs) between 1976 and 1993 and their relation with up to 5 years of post‐listing operating performance, adjusted for similar (non‐IPO) firms. Consistent with prior share price‐based evidence, we find that the operating performance of Australian IPOs typically deteriorates over the first 4 post‐listing years. Any evidence of a positive association between insider ownership and firm performance is confined to the fourth and fifth years after the IPO. Evidence of a positive relation between institutional ownership and performance is restricted to the latter part of our 5‐year post‐listing window. Board composition (i.e. outsider versus insider control) is not associated with operating performance, although there is some evidence that independent board leadership is associated with better operating performance.
Brown, DA, Booth, P & Giacobbe, F 2004, 'Technological and Organizational Influences on the Adoption of Activity-based Costing in Australia', Accounting and Finance, vol. 44, no. 3, pp. 329-356.
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The present paper examines one set of potential reasons for the paradox as to why so few firms have adopted activity-based costing (ABC) despite the demonstrated benefits of this costing system. A cross-sectional survey of Australian firms is used to examine the influence of seven technological and organizational factors on firms' initial interest in ABC and their decision to adopt it or not. The organizational factors of top management support, the support of an internal champion, and organizational size were shown to be associated with initial interest in ABC. The decision to adopt or reject ABC had one organizational factor associated with it, the support of an internal champion. © AFAANZ, 2004.
Coulton, J & Taylor, S 2004, 'Directors' Duties and Corporate Governance: Have We Gone Too Far?', Australian Accounting Review, vol. 14, no. 32, pp. 17-24.
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We review recent policy initiatives in Australia, such as corporate governance reporting requirements and innovations in defining directors' roles and responsibilities, and argue that such initiatives are often premised on overly simplistic models of the role played by directors. The role and effectiveness of directors vary according to the economic activity of the firm; hence, uniform guidelines for board composition, for example, are unlikely to be economically desirable. Likewise, statutory definitions of directors' duties are unlikely to be effective unless they allow for directors' roles to vary according to circumstance. Conversely, broad legal definitions will be problematic because of uncertainties in judicial interpretation.
Fan, L & Shan, Y 2004, 'Trading volume, ratio a-shares to total shares, momentum effect and three-factor model', Journal of Management Sciences in China, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 13-22.
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With the China stock market data from July 1997 to December 2000, and making use of Fama-French regression and dynamic portfolio approach, obvious effects of trading volume, ratio of A-shares to total shares, size, and book-to-market value ratio etc, are found in China stock market. The effects have close relations, and can't be explained by the market beta value. But if two other factors, size factor and book-to-market value factor are added, the three-factor model of Fama-French can explain all these effects quite well.
Ferguson, A & Matolcsy, Z 2004, 'Audit quality and post earnings announcement drift', Asia-Pacific Journal of Accounting & Economics, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 121-137.
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This study examines the value of audit quality in the capital markets setting. We argue that higher quality auditors are associated with lower post-earnings announcement drift (PEAD). Results show that clients of brand name auditors exhibit lower PEAD than small auditors, but only weak auditor industry specialist effects are identified. PEAD also differs for clients of individual Big 6/5 auditors, with clients of the smaller Arthur Andersen and Deloittes exhibiting greater PEAD, consistent with the DeAngelo (1981) size hypothesis. Finally, PWC exhibits higher PEAD in 1998, suggesting market uncertainty about quality implications of audit market structural change.
Groen, B & Lanis, R 2004, 'The Saga of a Disallowed Accounting Standard', Australian Accounting Review, vol. 14, no. 34, pp. 56-63.
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In 2000, the Australian Senate disallowed two paragraphs of the accounting standard AASB 1015 Acquisition of Assets, an unprecedented action that sent shockwaves through the business community. As a consequence, a legal dispute erupted between ASIC and MYOB Limited in relation to the application of the disallowed paragraphs, culminating in a recent decision in the Victorian Supreme Court. This paper describes the circumstances surrounding the Senate's decision and the ensuing legal action taken by ASIC against MYOB. It discusses the implications for accounting standard‐setting in Australia, and the process by which an accounting standard is made by the AASB and may be disallowed in whole or in part by parliament.
Hu, T, Shan, Y & Chen, L 2004, 'Evaluating performance of close-end funds in China', Statistics and Decisions, vol. 180, no. 12, pp. 40-41.
Ruddock, CMS, Taylor, SJ & Taylor, SL 2004, 'Non-Audit Services and Earnings Conservatism: Is Auditor Independence Impaired?', Contemporary Accounting Research, vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 701-746.
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We examine whether the provision of nonaudit services (NAS) by incumbent auditors is associated with a reduction in the extent to which earnings reflect bad news on a timely basis (that is, news-based conservatism). Reduced conservatism is expected to occur if relatively high levels of NAS result in reduced auditor independence and ultimately, lower-quality auditing. Because client-specific demand for NAS is expected to vary, our proxy for the auditor-client economic bond is the extent to which NAS purchases (relative to audit fees) are greater or less than expected. Using several different methods for identifying news-based conservatism, we consistently find that higher than expected levels of NAS are not associated with reduced conservatism. This result is robust to allowing for endogenous NAS demand, as well as several explicit factors that may be associated with differences in conservatism. Similar conclusions arise from tests that use alternative measures of the economic bond between auditors and their clients, as well as in tests confined to either The Big 6 or non-Big 6 audit firms. Our results are consistent with factors such as market-based incentives, the threat of litigation, and alternative governance mechanisms offsetting any expected benefits to the audit firm from reducing its independence. We therefore conclude that recent legislative intervention aimed at restricting the supply of NAS is unlikely to result in increased independence in fact, although independence in appearance may be improved
Shan, Y & Xu, J 2004, 'On stock selectivity of Chinese close-end funds', Systems Engineering, vol. 22, no. 5, pp. 66-69.
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W e examine the performance of Chinese close-end funds during 2000-2002. Using PPW and GT, two benchmark portfolios and three-factor model, we find CAPM lacks efficiency and its more proper t0 use multifactor models. The funds havent exhibited significant selectivity ability in the whole sample period. But they exhibit superior securities selectivity in a bullish which may attribute to the excess return of policy.
Katselas, D & Lanis, R 1970, 'A comparative study into the effectiveness of corporate reporting governance dimensions in reducing inter-company disclosure variation: the challenges facing international accounting standards-setters', 2004 International Accounting Conference: 'Emerging Issues in International Accounting & Business', International Accounting Conference, University of Padova, Padova, Italy, pp. 1-33.
Wieder, B, Booth, PJ, Matolcsy, ZP & Ossimitz, M 1970, 'A new approach towards measuring the performance of enterprise systems', International Conference on Enterprise Systems and Accounting (ICESA '04), Technological Educational Institute of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece, pp. 19-43.
