Bugeja, M 2005, 'Effect of Independent Expert Reports in Australian Takeovers', Accounting and Finance, vol. 45, no. 4, pp. 519-536.
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The Corporations Law 2001 mandates the preparation of an expert report in circumstances where the bidder is perceived to have a superior bargaining position. The present study tests whether the findings in Eddey (1993) can be extrapolated to all bids, irrespective of payment method. Inconsistent with Eddey, the results indicate that target premiums are lower where an expert report is required. The results confirm a higher frequency of price revisions where an expert indicates that the offer is 'not fair'. However, this increased offer is insufficient to raise the price to the level in takeovers without expert reports.
Bugeja, M 2005, 'The 'Independence' of expert opinions in corporate takeovers: Agreeing with directors' recommendations', JOURNAL OF BUSINESS FINANCE & ACCOUNTING, vol. 32, no. 9-10, pp. 1861-1885.
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The impact of non-audit services on auditor independence has been the recent focus of regulators worldwide. Using expert reports provided in Australian takeovers, this study investigates a context where the audit independence issue is reversed. As approximately a quarter of expert reports are prepared by the target firm's auditor, concerns have been expressed over the independence of the opinion provided. This paper finds that, relative to other experts, there is no difference in the rate at which experts with other business dealings with the target, including the target's auditor, provide an opinion that agrees with that of directors. However, the capital market reaction around the release of the report indicates that reports produced by auditors are viewed as non-independent.
Bugeja, M, Rosa, RD & Walter, T 2005, 'Expert reports in Australian takeovers: Fees and quality', ABACUS-A JOURNAL OF ACCOUNTING FINANCE AND BUSINESS STUDIES, vol. 41, no. 3, pp. 307-322.
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Target firms in Australian takeovers are required to commission the preparation of an independent expert report in circumstances where there is a perceived conflict of interest with the bidder. As approximately half of these reports are prepared by firms with which the target has other business dealings, concern has been expressed over the quality of these reports due to the suggestion that such reports are provided at lower fees. We examine the 191 independent expert reports provided in all 649 Australian takeover bids initiated in the period 1990 to 2000 inclusive. Using an expert-fee model, we find that the fees for reports by experts with other business dealings with the target are not lower than those of unrelated experts. In addition, the results indicate that experts with other dealings with the target provide reports with a significantly smaller valuation range, consistent with these reports being of higher, rather than lower, quality. Our findings are inconsistent with the U.S. and New Zealand experience of prohibiting audit firms from providing valuation advice in takeovers.
Coulton, J, Taylor, SJ & Taylor, SL 2005, 'Is 'Benchmark Beating' by Australian Firms Evidence of Earnings Management?', Accounting and Finance, vol. 45, no. 4, pp. 553-576.
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We investigate the extent to which Australian firms that report small profits and/or small increases in earnings (i.e. benchmark beaters) have done so by the upward manipulation of these earnings. Although evidence of an unusually large number of firms managing to just beat such earnings benchmarks has been interpreted as evidence of earnings management, this approach fails to identify those firms that are the manipulators from those where unbiased earnings fall naturally into the benchmark beating group. Our results suggest that caution is required in interpreting benchmark beating as an indicator of the extent of earnings management. Using several methods for estimating the unexpected accrual component of earnings, we show that although benchmark beaters have larger positive unexpected accruals than other firms, a similar result holds when firms with small losses or earnings declines (i.e. 'just miss' firms) are compared with other firms. Moreover, there is no statistically significant difference between unexpected accruals for the benchmark beating and just miss groups. At a minimum, we reject the joint hypothesis that unexpected accruals capture earnings management and that an unusual kink around zero in the distribution of earnings levels or earnings changes is caused by earnings management.
Ferguson, A 2005, 'A Review of Australian Audit Pricing Literature', Accounting Research Journal, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 54-62.
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This paper provides a review of the extensive contributions made to the audit pricing literature by researchers utilizing Australian data. Recent United States [hereafter US] regulatory requirements under the Sarbanes Oxley Act (Section 102) have mandated disclosure of audit fees. As such this is a useful occasion to review the existing Australian audit pricing research, since the audit fee disclosure advantage once enjoyed by Australian researchers has now effectively dissipated. Beginning with the origins and genesis of audit pricing research in Australia, this review then discusses the key contributions to the literature over time. It concludes with some brief discussion of potential research directions.
Gwillim, D, Dovey, K & Wieder, B 2005, 'The politics of post-implementation reviews', INFORMATION SYSTEMS JOURNAL, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 307-319.
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The post-implementation review (PIR) literature emphasizes the benefits of ex post evaluations of information technology (IT) projects. However, empirical studies of actual practice show that few organizations undertake any substantive form of ex post ev
Hoque, Z 2005, 'Securing institutional legitimacy or organizational effectiveness?', International Journal of Public Sector Management, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 367-382.
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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to consider the impact of a major initiative (the National Competition Policy) and pieces of legislation (the Local Government Act and the Local Government Finance Standards) on the internal practices of a large Australian local authority.Design/methodology/approachA theoretical framework is developed using new public management (NPM) and neo‐institutional theory literatures to explain the findings. A case study approach was applied to collect the data for the research.FindingsThe findings reveal that the National Competition Policy 1993, the Local Government Act 1993 and the Local Government Finance Standards 1994 mainly have brought about significant changes to the organisation's internal management control processes, such as financial reporting, budgeting and performance appraisal. The changes brought in appeared to be coincidentally similar to NPM ideals. Furthermore, senior managers (such as the chief executive and divisional heads) played a major role in implementing new accounting technologies (activity‐based costing and the balanced scorecard type performance measurement system).Research limitations/implicationsFuture research on public sector financial management from the outset of organisational contexts could considerably further the stock of knowledge in this area, especially given the rapid changes occurring within the public sector throughout the world. Future research may wish to extend this study by assessing how external legitimating functions become internal reality, the perceptions of reality of the organisational members, and how these perceptio...
Matolcsy, ZP, Booth, P & Wieder, B 2005, 'Economic Benefits of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems: Some Empirical Evidence', Accounting and Finance, vol. 45, no. 3, pp. 439-456.
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Rawlings-Way, O 2005, 'Friends on the path - Living spiritual communities.', JOURNAL OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 206-207.
Xu, L & Shan, Y 2005, 'The cost of equity of tradable shares: Empirical evidence from China listing companies', Shanghai Management Science, vol. 2005, no. 2, pp. 17-19.
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With Fama and French (1999)methods, we estimate the internal rate of return on value and cost for the listed companies in China during period of 1990-2002. We find that on aggregate,the benchmark return provided by the listed companies for the tradable stockholders continues to decline over the sample period. This implies that the effective discount rate which can be observed by managers decline. The going-down hurdle rate is the main reason for the destroy of the tradable shareholders wealth.
Farook, SZ & Lanis, R 1970, 'Banking on Islam? Determinants of corporate social responsibility disclosure', Islamic Economics and Banking in the 21st Century - International Conference on Islamic Economics and Finance, International Conference on Islamic Economics and Finance, Bank Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia, pp. 1-34.
Farook, SZ & Lanis, R 1970, 'Banking on Islam? Determinants of corporate social responsibility disclosure', 2005 AFAANZ Conference Proceedings, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand Conference, AFAANZ, Melbourne, Australia, pp. 1-45.
Hamilton, JM, Ruddock, C, Stokes, D & Taylor, SL 1970, 'Audit partner rotation and earnings quality', International Symposium on Audit Research, International Symposium on Audit Research, -, Singapore.
Sivabalan, P, Malmi, T, Brown, DA & Matolcsy, ZP 1970, 'An exploratory study of Australian operations budget practice', 2005 AFAANZ Conference Proceedings, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand Conference, AFAANZ, Melbourne, Australia, pp. 1-26.
Teo, ST, Lakhani, BS, Brown, DA & Malmi, T 1970, 'Structure, culture, and HRM in professional service firms', Engaging the Multiple Contexts of Management: Convergence and Divergence of Management Theory and Practice - Proceedings of the 19th ANZAM Conference, Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management Conference, ANZAM, Canberra, Australia, pp. 1-15.
Wieder, B 1970, 'Discussion of 'impact of ERP systems on managerial roles - a case study' by Ravi Seethamraju', 1st Asia/Pacific Research Symposium on Accounting Information Systems, 1st Asia/Pacific Research Symposium on Accounting Information Systems, -, Melbourne, Australia, pp. 1-5.
Wieder, B 1970, 'SAP skills and graduate destination: student expectations vs employer perspective', 25th SAUG Plenary, 25th SAUG Plenary, SAP Australia User Group, Brisbane, Australia, pp. 1-31.
