Past events
Past events
Do Financial Reports Adequately Disclose Extreme Wildfire Risk?
Date: 29 October 2020
Time: 5.30 pm
Venue: Rutherford House Lecture Theatre 1 (RHLT1)
Wildfires pose a significant risk that threatens firm value. That risk may have risen significantly in recent years in light of record-breaking wildfires in the United States and elsewhere. It is an open question, however, whether such increasing wildfire risk affects firms’ disclosures of wildfire-related information. We find that firms exposed to more wildfire days on average provide more textual 10-K disclosure of wildfire-related information in their filings compared to firms exposed to fewer wildfire days, but only for disclosures relating to past operations.
School of Accounting and Commercial Law PhD Colloquium 2019
Date: 27–28 February 2019
Time: 9.30 am
Venue: Rutherford House, Pipitea Campus.
This event continues the series of successful biennial colloquia since 2006 for New Zealand PhD candidates in accounting held at Victoria University, Wellington.
AIMS:
The aims are to facilitate a network amongst accounting PhD candidates in New Zealand and to help develop their individual research and careers.
FACULTY:
- Prof. Adrian Sawyer (University of Canterbury)
- Prof. Ellie Chapple (Queensland University of Technology)
- Prof. Jane Andrew (University of Sydney)
- Prof Millicent Chang (University of Woollongong)
- Prof. Trevor Hopper (Victoria University)
- Prof. Jesse Dillard (Victoria University)
PROGRAMME:
The detailed programme is subject to review when numbers and participants are better known. However, it will include plenary sessions on topics pertinent to each stage of successfully completing a PhD and its aftermath, with opportunities for individual participants to present their work to date and gain feedback in group sessions and/or tutorials. It is expected that participants will attend both days, though under exceptional circumstances, one day's attendance may be possible.
PARTICIPANTS:
PhD candidates at all stages ranging from consideration of registration to close to completion. Masters-level students undertaking thesis work are also encouraged to attend.
INSTRUCTIONS TO PARTICIPANTS:
Further details of the Colloquium will be posted as they become available.
Please indicate your interest in participating in the SACL PhD Colloquium by emailing campbell.orchard@vuw.ac.nz. Applicants are encouraged to register their interest as early as possible. Applications will be considered in order of receipt or when places are filled, whichever occurs first.
It is required that each participant will submit prior, and bring, to the Colloquium:
- A one page summary/outline of their PhD research and a maximum of two presentation slides detailing the key points in this outline; and
- One presentation slide detailing a significant retrospective, current or prospective problem associated with doing the PhD (or its aftermath). The problems may range from administrative to academic.
We look forward to seeing you in February 2019
Economic Integration Breeds Foreign Investment: Evidence from the Portfolio Allocation of Investment Funds around the World
Date: 28 July 2017
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: Rutherford House Room 102 (RH102)
We utilize investment funds’ equity holdings across 47 countries to study foreign portfolio investors’ allocation preferences within a target market. Exploiting variations across firms, investors, and time, we show that foreign funds increase their portfolio allocation in firms that establish closer operational ties with funds’ home countries. This relationship is robust to alternative identification strategies using homecountry tariff changes and new free-trade agreements. Our results help explain why, in the last two decades, foreign funds’ portfolios have become less concentrated as more firms expanded internationally. Firms’ cross-border economic linkages appear to propagate information that also drives their global financial integration.
"Public Audit - Assessing public value" - CAGTR Business Links Seminar
Date: 8 December 2016
Time: 7.15 am
The Public Audit Act 2001 requires New Zealand’s Controller and Auditor General to audit public sector entities. A similar requirement is replicated in most other countries. But, what public value does this exercise deliver? Does the purpose of a public audit differ from that of a private sector audit? This seminar presents research into the value of audit in the public sector. It examines issues using theory which is relevant to the private sector as well as the public sector. The research was undertaken on behalf of the Centre for Accounting, Governance and Taxation Research (CAGTR) for the Office of the Auditor-General.
Research presentations by:
Dr Carolyn Cordery, Associate Professor, School of Accounting and Commercial Law and member of the New Zealand Accounting Standards Board
David Hay, Professor of Auditing, University of Auckland
Slides
Commentary by:
Robert Buchanan, Chair of the New Zealand Auditing and Assurance Standards Board
Greg Schollum, Deputy Controller and Auditor-General
Please access the seminar flyer for further details about the speakers and the venue.
Challenges that Lay Ahead of the IASB - Professor Stephen A. Zeff (Rice University)
Date: 30 September 2016
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: RWW 129
IFRS Adoption and Compliance in the Asia Pacific Region: A Comparative Analysis of Corporate Disclosure Levels - Associate Professor Richard Morris (University of New South Wales)
Date: 23 September 2016
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: RWW129
We investigate whether adoption of, or convergence with, IFRS results in increased disclosure levels in the Asia Pacific region. Adoption of IFRS does not guarantee that all companies in the adopting country will fully comply with IFRS, because compliance levels are influenced by economic and cultural factors. Using a unique hand-collected dataset of company disclosures from eight Asia Pacific region countries in both 2002 and 2007, we examine whether the adoption of/convergence with IFRS in four of those countries i.e. Australia, China, Hong Kong and the Philippines, between 2002 and 2007 improved their disclosure levels more relative to four other Asia Pacific countries i.e. India, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore, which did not adopt IFRS. A 441 item IFRS-based checklist is used to measure disclosure. Disclosure levels not only significantly differ across countries but also on average improve over time in all eight countries. The four countries which adopted/converged with IFRS between 2002 and 2007 improve disclosure levels more than the four countries that did not. The result holds after controlling for country-level and firm-level variables known to influence disclosure practices. While country-level and firm-level factors do influence disclosure levels, IFRS adoption has also made a positive difference to disclosure levels in the region. Our paper contributes to the literature by showing that IFRS adoption improves corporate disclosure in the Asia Pacific region over and above the influence of country-level and firm-level factors and the generally upward trend in disclosure across time.
“Public Financial Management – Why should the public care?”
Date: 13 September 2016
Time: 7.30 am
Greece, Puerto Rico and Argentina may get all the press, but regrettably the quality of public financial management and government accounting in many other countries remains dismal. In many cases the basic tools, audited financial statements, are not produced and even when they are they frequently play little role in budgeting and performance management. This exposes citizens to a variety of risks, from ineffective services to financial stress and instability. In a globally connected world, government financial distress can be contagious, as Europe has so painfully discovered. Action to address these risks is needed from citizens, governments, international institutions and the accounting profession.
Presented by Rob Whiteman, Chief Executive, Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA)
Rob Whiteman joined CIPFA as Chief Executive in September 2013. Earlier he was Chief Executive of the UK Border Agency and had previously led the Improvement & Development Agency. In earlier years he worked in local government and in 2008 was named one of the ten most influential people in local government by the Local Government Chronicle. In 2007 and 2009 he carried out the Capability Reviews of the Department of Health for the Cabinet Office. Rob is a well-known commentator and writer on public service reform and modernisation on a wide range of areas such as leadership, partnership working across local and central government, and building community cohesion. An accountant by profession, he has held several local government finance advisory roles for the Local Government Association and CIPFA, and for many years served as Secretary to the Society of London Treasurers.
Board Gender Diversity and Risk Management: And a View of Their Financial, Investment and Liquidity Policies: Rubeena Tashfeen (PhD Candidate, School of Accounting and Commercial Law)
Date: 26 August 2016
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: RWW129
This is the first comprehensive study of board gender diversity and the implications of their policies on derivatives risk management, through an examination of the value, risk, and hedging effects on risk control. Applying a simultaneous equations model to address the endogenous effects of financial and derivatives hedging decisions, our findings suggest that women directors provide a monitoring impact on derivatives decisions that result in a hedging value premium and reduction in risk. Further, gender diversity influence on investment policies achieve a value premium, and its financial strategies provide both a value enhancing and risk reducing benefit through reduction in leverage, within firms that hedge with derivatives. While, in response to equity risk gender-diverse boards encourage the increase in cash reserves. Additional quantile analyses support the monotonic associations of gender diversity with firm value, and with firm risk. We find women directors on boards are effective risk managers and policy makers. Whether this may be attributed to risk aversion as proposed by some researchers, conservative attitude or just better risk acumen, it suggests that board gender diversity adds value to boards of directors in their risk management of financial derivatives and therefore board gender diversity should have a larger representation on boards of firms that use derivatives. |
“Educational copying: are the current exceptions fit for purpose?”
Date: 23 August 2016
Time: 12.00 pm
Venue: Pipitea Campus, Rutherford House, Mezzanine Floor, (MZ05)
Should the Copyright Act 1994 be amended to replace the permitted exceptions’ for education with the broader fair use exception in United States’ copyright law?
Associate Professors Susan Corbett (VUW) and Alexandra Sims (University of Auckland) and Melanie Johnson (Copyright Officer, University of Auckland) explain why the permitted exceptions are inadequate for the educational requirements of net copyright importers, including New Zealand and several other Asian Pacific countries. They explain that a change to fair use will not necessarily impact on rights owners’ economic interests: universities spend millions on licence fees to ensure content is available for teaching and research and depend on rights owners to ensure the continued availability of the content needed for teaching and research.
IPO firm performance and its link with board office gender, family-ties and other demographics - Professor Paul McGuinness (The Chinese University of Hong Kong)
Date: 5 August 2016
Time: 9.30 am
Venue: RWW 129
Issues of social justice underlie the clamour for greater gender balance in top-management. The present study reveals that pursuit of such social justice is also value-enhancing in relation to the longer-run performance if IPO stocks, especially where female board members are unencumbered by family-connection with other directors. This study examines the economic benefits of board gender diversity for state- and privately-controlled firms in Hong King IPO market. While the overwhelming majority of non-state firms are family-controlled, clear distinction exists between those that accommodate family-connected board members and those that do not. This issue allows for a finer-grained assessment of family influence on firm performance. More resilient post-IPO stock returns arise in (1) privately-controlled firms without family-connected board members and in (2) state-run entities. Gender diversity serves as a positive, but only when female director presence is untrammelled by family-ties. Examination of financial performance (return-on-assets and sales-on-assets) offers further confirmation of this effect. In contrast, gender diversity bears little connection with IPO underpricing. My analysis also identifies important IPO firm board demographics and attributes. Gender board diversity appears far more common in non-state Chinese firms. In comparison with state-backed issuers, privately-controlled firms possess younger boards, accommodate a broader mix of nationalities but are more-inclined to unify CEO and chair positions. Board duality, the fraction of independent directors and directors’ age and nationality exhibit little to no association with initial and after-market stock returns. In prescriptive terms, minority investors gain from the inclusion of female directors, especially when IPO firm members are unencumbered by family-ties. The present study therefore adds to the clarion of calls for greater female board presence. |
“Latest developments in Financial Reporting” - presentation by Anthony Heffernan (XRB)
Date: 22 July 2016
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: Railway West Wing Rm 129
CAGTR Seminar
The new Accounting Standards Framework introduced two different suites of standards for For-Profit Entities and Public Benefit Entities (PBEs). The for-profit standards are based on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the PBE standards are primarily based on International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS).
A consequence of the new Framework is the continual development of both suites of New Zealand accounting standards which are primarily based on international standards then modified to ensure they are appropriate for the New Zealand environment. Accounting standards continue to evolve in response to an ever-changing world and the changing demands of users of financial statements.
This presentation provides an update on the latest developments in financial reporting, including:
- NZ IFRS and PBE Standards which have been recently issued by the New Zealand Accounting Standards Board (NZASB) but are not yet effective; and
- Current developments in international and domestic financial reporting.
Anthony will share his insights on the new IFRS Revenue and Leasing Standards and their expected impact. He will also comment on the Service Performance Reporting Exposure Draft for PBEs which helps entities to “tell their story”.
Stock market reaction to accounting misstatements: Australian evidence - Professor Kamran Ahmed (La Trobe University Business School)
Date: 27 May 2016
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: RWW129
We document the characteristics of accounting misstatements and examine the stock market reaction to their announcements for Australian listed firms for the period 2003 to 2013. About 4.1% of firm years have a misstatement with the peak of about 6.3% in 2009. About 58% of the misstatements change prior-period earnings or equity, and the mean (median) percentage change to earnings is about -44.7 (-5.6) and to equity it is about -8.4 (-1.5). More than 88% of these misstatement disclosures are ‘stealth’; that is disclosed in the financial statements only. We find no market reaction for the average misstatement announcement and reactions from about -1.0% to about -2.1% for announcements that reduce prior-period equity, depending on the return window. We find that the market reacts slowly and generally negatively to the accounting issues associated with misstatements, and that these reactions are strongest for non-stealth disclosures.
Improved Models to Detect Fraud in Financial Statements - Dr Adrian Gepp (Bond University)
Date: 20 May 2016
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: RWW129
Studies have estimated the median loss from a single financial statement fraud scheme to be at least one million US dollars and the annual cost of financial statement fraud could exceed 1.2 trillion US dollars worldwide. Many business decisions rely on the accuracy of financial statements, but resources are not available to comprehensively investigate all of them. Detection of this type of fraud is difficult. Consequently, there is a need for better decision aids such as those developed in this research.
Standard parametric regression-based techniques, particularly logistic regression, have been extensively studied for detecting financial statement fraud. More investigation is needed into non-parametric techniques such as decision trees and ensemble techniques that combine multiple models. Consequently, 34 different models have been compared over a range of ratios of the cost of failing to detect fraud relative to the cost of falsely alleging it, as these costs differ among stakeholders. Some models are the same as those used in prior studies, some are modifications of previously used models, and entirely new ones have also been developed. A large number of potential explanatory variables are also investigated in order to study which are the most useful to detection models. Empirical support has been found for both financial and non-financial explanatory variables, including new variables.
New models developed in this research outperform extant ones on holdout data. Using these models, financial statements can be automatically classified as either fraudulent or legitimate, as well as be ranked according to their likelihood of being fraudulent. This information can then be used to improve early detection, which would mitigate fraud’s cost and help deter its future occurrence.
The U.S Presidential Election, Taxes, and the Possibilities for Prosperity - Professor Neil Buchanan (The George Washington University)
Date: 13 May 2016
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: RWW129
The Obama era in the United States has been defined by unprecedented fiscal austerity in the face of ongoing economic weakness. Although the U.S. has been less extreme than Europe in this regard, economic growth and employment have been significantly hampered by politicians' obsessive belief that the public debt is too high. The next president will have an opportunity to make a significant break from those policies. Some candidates are proposing tax cuts that would increase both economic inequality and the public debt, while doing nothing to improve economic performance. Others propose more promising strategies to return the U.S. to some semblance of widespread prosperity. In this lecture, Professor Neil H. Buchanan will describe the various fiscal policy proposals that the leading presidential candidates have offered thus far, assess the likely effectiveness and unintended consequences of those policies, and analyse the impact that these policies will have on countries elsewhere in the world.
Regulatory Waves: Selected outcomes from the project on Comparative Perspectives on State Regulation and Self-Regulation Policies in the Non-profit Sector - Dr Oonagh Breen (University College Dublin)
Date: 29 April 2016
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: RWW129
The advent of the new millennium has led to a noticeable growth in non-profit regulation across the globe. Many common law countries have sought to introduce statutory definitions of charitable purposes and public benefit while both civil and common law countries have focused regulatory attention on how to better govern non-profits as a way to ensure greater accountability and transparency. At the same time, there is renewed interest in non-statutory regulation in the non-profit sector with self-regulatory regimes attempting to shore up better fundraising practices, improved governance, and greater accountability of charities.
Led by Drs Oonagh Breen and Alison Dunn and Professor Mark Sidel, and assisted by ten contributing academics, this project set out to explore and unravel the relationship between non-statutory and statutory regulation of non-profits. Seeking to understand better the narrative shifts in individual countries between alternatively state regulation and sector self-regulation, the authors investigated what factors influenced the ultimate choice of one regulatory form over the other. By comparing the stories of regulatory change across 16 jurisdictions, the project attempted to identify the common drivers – whether of historical, political, cultural, donor-led or other origin – and to analyse whether common trends and learnings emerged. The project examined the experiences of Australia, Brazil, China, Ecuador, England and Wales, Ethiopia, Ireland, Israel, Kenya, Malawi, Mexico, Uganda, Scotland, Tanzania, the United States and Vietnam.
Click here for slides
The Phoenix Rises: the Australian Accounting Standards Board and IFRS Adoption - Associate Professor Bryan Howieson (The University of Adelaide)
Date: 8 April 2016
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: RWW129
The Australian experience of adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) is used to explore the impact of IFRS adoption on the sphere of authority (SOA) of a national accounting standard-setter (NASS). Changes in a standard-setter’s SOA have direct impacts on its role and agenda and the Australian experience is relevant to other national accounting standard-setters (NASSs) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). Relevant data were gathered from interviews with AASB technical staff and retired IASB members. The study demonstrates how changes in the social order between the IASB and NASSs impact on domestic and international standards and how power is exercised and shared in the IASB/NASSs relationship. It was found that a standard-setter’s technical agenda is influenced by that entity’s strategic agenda. The paper reveals methods adopted by standard-setters to expand their SOA and it shows the significant influence of individual persons such as the standard-setter entity’s chairperson on the development and implementation of the strategic agenda. In addition, individual technical staff members help drive this agenda by promoting a regional epistemic community of NASSs that shared values and objectives. The behaviour of standard-setting organisations can be considerably deepened by studying the characteristics and motivations of the individuals within those organisations rather than simply treating standard-setting organisations as though they were a ‘black box’, ignoring the complex sub-systems that drive their internal functioning. Such an understanding would help researchers explain and predict the patterns of standard-setting behaviour rather than rely on ex post analyses of past behaviour. The findings are useful to NASSs by, for example, demonstrating the importance of employing individuals with both strong technical and political skills. If NASSs wish to have influence at the global level, then they must be proactive in driving change through networks and alliances with other NASSs.
Twitter Based Investor Recognition of Corporate Announcements - Professor Roger Debrecency (University of Hawaii)
Date: 18 March 2016
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: RWW129
This paper builds on Merton’s Investor Recognition Hypothesis (IRH) and employs user-generated Twitter interactions related to 8-K disclosures of unanticipated events by S&P 1500 companies to test the effects of investor recognition on market returns and liquidity of stocks. The Twitter-based IRH proxies are abnormal levels of tweets and abnormal sentiment. Abnormal levels of tweets are positively associated with both absolute value of cumulative abnormal returns and cumulative abnormal trading volume while abnormal sentiment plays a different role in affecting stock price or trading volume reactions. Effects of sentiment on cumulative abnormal returns and cumulative abnormal trading volume are accentuated when abnormal sentiment is negative. This study provides evidence of the investor recognition processes and shows how such processes relate to market reactions to company announcements.
Unexplained Audit Fees and Accounting Quality- Professor Stephen Taylor (University of Technology Sydney)
Date: 11 March 2016
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: RWW129
We provide evidence that distinguishes between competing production cost-based explanations of how to interpret unusually high (or low) audit fees. In contrast to prior research where audit fees are assumed to be independent from one year to the next, we argue that the inherent “stickiness” in audit fees also means that measures of unexpected fees will similarly be serially correlated. Our results strongly support this view, and suggest that unexpected audit fees reflect model misspecification in the “standard” audit fee model, attributable to aspects of risk that are not well captured at the client-firm level. Using an estimate of the extent to which unexpected fees differ from the recent past, we are able to distinguish between competing explanations of what unexpected audit fees capture. We show that a “jump” in unexpected fees is strongly associated with lower accounting quality, and this effect is stronger than for the recent level of unexpected fees. We then show that long run unexpected fees are also negatively associated with subsequent accounting quality, a result which contradicts the argument that higher unexpected audit fees capture increased effort and therefore reflect “investments in auditing”. Overall, our results suggest that risk, rather than effort, is a better explanation for higher audit production costs, and researchers should take great care in interpreting correlations between annual measures of unexpected audit fees and annual measures of accounting quality.
Why study problematisations? Introducing a 'What's the Problem Represented to be?' (WPR) approach - Emeritus Professor Carol Bacchi (The University of Adelaide)
Date: 4 March 2016
Time: 10.30 am
Venue: RWW129
The seminar aims to disrupt the privileged place accorded ‘problems’ in public policy and in social and political analysis generally. It offers a way to reflect on how ‘problems’ are constituted, or brought into existence as particular sorts of problems, within policies and policy proposals. The goal is to open up governing practices to critical scrutiny by interrogating the problematizations in policies, programs and other governmental technologies, including ‘counting’ technologies. To this end Bacchi introduces an analytic strategy called ‘What’s the Problem Represented to be?’ (or WPR approach).
The WPR approach involves seven interrelated forms of questioning and analysis. It consists of six questions and an undertaking to apply those questions to one’s own proposals or proposed solutions. Originally developed for policy analysis, the approach is being applied across a range of disciplines and in relation to a wide array of topics, including childhood obesity, violence against women, child care, social inclusion, drug and alcohol use, immigration policy, transport policy and parental leave policy (among many others). Participants will be invited to reflect on the possible usefulness of the approach in their particular field or area of interest.
Paid Parental Leave: Policy and Politics in Australia - Dr Marian Baird (The University of Sydney)
Date: 11 December 2015
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: RWW129
The legacy of a strong and effective male breadwinner
paradigm in Australian industrial relations has affected the way in which
women’s interests are represented and responded to in the policy arena. This
paper begins with the proposition that the Australian industrial relations
system has an uncomfortably ambivalent relationship with women - especially
women workers as mothers and carers - and that the ongoing tension between
women and work and family is problematic for policy making. The ‘system’ has
tended to cast women as either ‘ungendered’ workers (or equivalent to the male
worker ideal type), or the ‘other’ type of worker (encumbered with care
responsibilities outside of work). As a result, in policy terms there is
uncertainty about where women’s work and family interests should be settled –
that is, through workplace entitlements or through welfare measures. This
quandary is further complicated by the legacy of a social assistance system
rather than a social insurance system. The most recent and obvious contest
illustrating the policy dilemma is that which revolves around paid parental
leave.
Australia introduced the Paid Parental Leave Act in
2010, eight years later than New Zealand.[1] This belated
introduction followed years of public debate and political controversy,
culminating in a Productivity Commission Enquiry (2008-09) commissioned by the
Rudd-Macklin Labor Government. The architecture of the current scheme closely
follows the recommendations of the Productivity Commission’s report. The
scheme is funded from general revenue and provides 18 weeks’ pay to eligible
parents at the national minimum weekly wage, currently set at $656.90.[2]
Eligibility is broad, covering full-time, part-time and casual employees and
the self-employed with approximately one day of work per week for the ten
months preceding the birth. Another important feature of the scheme is the
employer role. Employers pay the government parental leave pay through their
own payroll, as per regular pay receipts. This feature was included to
encourage workforce and employer attachment. In addition, employers may
top-up the scheme through extra wages to replacement levels or extended leave.
The stated objective of this approach was to increase the duration of paid
parental leave mothers had access to, and to encourage employer participation
with the scheme.
The independent evaluation of the government’s scheme
demonstrates the success of the scheme to date. Working mothers have been able
to stay off work for longer but are also returning to work in slightly higher
propositions. Employers have not reported undue disruption as a result of their
pay administrator role and some employers have increased their own paid
parental leave entitlements.
Complicating the policy picture however, the previous
Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, campaigned on a considerably more generous scheme.
His party offered working women 26 weeks’ pay at full income replacement wages,
up to $50,000 (equal to an annual salary of $100,000) plus superannuation.[3]
Then in a surprise announcement on Mother’s Day this year, the Government
announced they were cutting the current scheme by disallowing parents from
receiving government parental leave pay and their employer entitlements.
Estimates show that approximately 50 per cent of recipients will lose up to
$11,500 as a result of the change. These parental leave policy tensions have
occurred against a backdrop of another set of related policy debates: the first
being the explicit goal to increase female workforce participation rates; and
the second to restructure the child care system in Australia. The compatibility
of these three policy areas must therefore be questioned.
The paper uses the paid parental leave policy debates
to highlight the tensions between industrial relations polices and welfare
policies as they impact on women. It begins with an overview of the labour
market changes in the past 40 years, explaining
the labour market context in which work and family issues have risen on the
policy agenda and why moving policy formulation away from the male breadwinner
paradigm is necessary. The paper then moves to policy developments, with a
focus on the paid parental leave policy debates, including commentary on the
positions of the three main industrial relations actors: government, employers
and unions. The paper concludes with some options and speculation about future
policy development in relation to women and work, in particular the option of
making paid parental leave a National Employment Standard of the Fair Work Act
rather than a welfare benefit in the social security portfolio.
Income Shifting and the Implied Cost of Equity Capital: Evidence from U.S. Multinational Firms - Dr Grant Richardson (The University of Adelaide)
Date: 27 November 2015
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: RWW129
This study examines the influence of income shifting arrangements on the implied cost of equity capital. Based on a sample of 282 publicly listed U.S. multinational firms over the 2006–2012 period (1,974 firm-years), our regression results show that income shifting is significantly negatively associated with the implied cost of equity capital. In terms of economic significance, we observe that, on average, a one-unit increase in income shifting results in a decrease in the implied cost of equity capital for our sample firms by approximately 2.2% or 220 basis points. Our regression results are robust to a number of additional checks. Overall, this study provides important evidence on the role that income shifting plays in a firm’s capital structure policy.
Accounting Students and the Work-Study Balance - Dr Kate Wynn-Williams (University of Otago)
Date: 20 November 2015
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: RWW129
The background to this paper reflects student claims about increasing pressure to seek some level of paid employment during their undergraduate degrees, some to support their educational costs and some to gain work experience. Financial constraints may be playing an increasingly significant part on student life-styles, with more than 700,000 students carrying debt from outstanding student loans (Student Loan Scheme, 2013). While some students indicate they seek employment only during the summer holidays, or of an occasional nature, others describe the challenges of balancing nearly full-time jobs with nearly full-time study programmes. It is also the case that students are often busy with other extra-curricular activities, often requiring absence or special consideration with respect to study commitments.
A limited range of prior research has been found in the field of accounting education that relates academic performance to non-academic influences. This empirical study does just that, providing insights into the learning environment due to time pressure from outside commitments. The research question investigates the impact of a range of extra-curricular commitments on academic success (as measured by course grades) and student perceptions regarding the degree to which work commitments interfere with their studies.
The lesser of two evils: Double tax treaty override or treaty abuse? - Professor Craig Elliffe (University of Auckland)
Date: 13 November 2015
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: RWW129
"All in the Mind?" The Metaphysics of Intellectual Property Law"
Date: 23 October 2015
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: RWW129
Speaker: Dr Alexandra George, University of New South Wales
Abstract
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that deals with what something is and the nature of its existence. It helps to explain the world in which humans live, and it helps to underpin human interpretations and applications of knowledge. In his famous 19th Century reference to the seeming evanescence found in some of intellectual property law’s prominent doctrines, Justice Story signalled the importance of metaphysics to an understanding of this area of law. That is, without a philosophical appreciation of how the law is constructed and what it consists of, the law of patents and copyright — and also of trademarks, designs and other intellectual property doctrines — can be very difficult to understand or use effectively. Without mindfulness of its metaphysics, the law risks incoherence and internal inconsistencies.
Applied to intellectual property law, metaphysics considers the nature and form of intellectual property and the essence of its constituent parts. It looks at how intellectual property exists, the shape it takes, and the constitutive properties of intellectual property laws. In a sense, metaphysics asks "what is special about intellectual property law?” or “what gives intellectual property law a distinct identity?" Particular discussions about how to answer these sorts of metaphysical or ontological questions may include reference to the imaginary nature of intellectual property objects, the way in which intellectual property objects are constructed by legal concepts, the typical structure of intellectual property doctrines, and familial characteristics of intellectual property laws. Metaphysics’ concern with what ‘intellectual property’ is contrasts with other philosophical methods found in the jurisprudence of intellectual property, such as epistemological explorations of the justifiability of beliefs about intellectual property; political philosophy explorations of the role of intellectual property law — and its concomitant rights — in mediating between the individual and society; or normative explorations of how intellectual property laws can be implemented to reflect underlying moral or political values.
In outlining a metaphysical approach to the study of intellectual property law, this paper considers the nature of intellectual property from various perspectives. First, it surveys common approaches to the definition of ‘intellectual property’, and explains why they are metaphysically unsatisfactory. Second, it examines the ‘imaginary’, legally-constructed nature of both intellectual property laws and the objects they regulate. Third, it takes a structural approach to examine the constituent properties that are typically used by the law to build intellectual property doctrines. Fourth, it suggests that — as the term ‘intellectual property’ is used in ways that tend to embrace legal doctrines falling outside the typical structural framework — a useful method of exploring the metaphysics of this area of law may be to adopt a contextual approach or a ‘family resemblance’ approach to explain what intellectual property is and the nature of its existence. Finally, it closes with an exploration of challenges to the intellectual property law framework that are emerging in the face of advances such as the advent of 3D printing, cyborgs and other disruptive technologies.
Bio
Dr Alexandra George joined the UNSW Law Faculty in 2007, having had earlier academic appointments at Queen Mary, University of London, the University of Wales, Swansea and the University of Exeter in the UK. She has also worked at the European University Institute, Florence, Italy and at the University of Sydney, has practised as an intellectual property and media lawyer, was Associate to Justice MF Moore in the Federal Court of Australia and the Industrial Relations Court of Australia, and worked in journalism at Reuters.
Alexandra is particularly interested in the philosophy of intellectual property law, and globalisation and intellectual property. Her publications examine issues such as the metaphysics and structure of intellectual property law, ‘property’ in and the commodification of intangible objects, and the communicative effects of intellectual property law. She also writes on the role of intellectual property in the globalisation process, and practical issues in intellectual property enforcement.
Her book Constructing Intellectual Property (Cambridge University Press, 2012) examines the ways in which the legal system defines into existence and regulates intellectual property. By analyzing the metaphysical structure of intellectual property law and the concepts the legal system uses to construct 'intellectual property', the book helps to explain the role of intellectual property from a structural — rather than the traditional normative -- perspective. Alexandra has received the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence at UNSW.
This seminar will be preceded by morning tea at 10.30am; RSVP to Lee.Vassiliadis@vuw.ac.nz for catering purposes.
A Principled Framework for Assessing General Anti-Avoidance Regimes - Professor Kerrie Sadiq (Queensland University of Technology)
Date: 9 October 2015
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: RWW129
The enactment of general anti-avoidance regimes (GAARs) in domestic legislation, along with the analysis of those regimes, is well documented. Academic studies generally focus on an analysis of the introduction and subsequent interpretation and application of GAARs in jurisdictions such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, the United Kingdom, China and India. However, a review of current literature reveals that different academics evaluate GAARs based on different sets of criteria. This results in an absence of a common theoretical framework to assess the effectiveness of existing and proposed GAARs. Further, it is difficult to undertake a comparative analysis of GAARs as a lack of a common normative framework decreases the ability and robustness of a comparison of findings. This article develops a normative framework to assess GAARs by adopting a systematic analysis of relevant academic articles published since 2000. Thirty-eight articles were included in the study with each coded to ascertain common themes. This allowed categories of quotations to be determined and a structured theoretical framework to be developed. The article concludes that the resulting framework highlights five principles relating to the structure and evaluation of GAARs: purposive and objective interpretation, a proactive stance, discretion, certainty, and the ability to alter liability. Each of these principles is discussed and, in doing so, this article fills a gap in the current literature by developing a principled framework to help ensure that future studies evaluate GAARs from a single point of view.
Is Information Uncertainty Diversifiable? A short Bayesian Answer - Professor David Johnstone (University of Sydney Business School)
Date: 25 September 2015
Time: 2.30 pm
Venue: RWW129
The properties of information, including "information uncertainty", can be understood only Bayesianly. Common formulations that define information uncertainty in terms of just statistical "precision" (i.e. sampling variance), or any one estimator characteristic (e.g. bias), are inadequate for generalized Bayesian analysis. Methods that deny information a Bayesian characterization are bound to yield Bayesianly incorrect generalizations. In the Bayesian way of thinking, information risk impacts the likelihood function f(x|φ,⋅), which captures the subjective strengths and weaknesses of signal x with respect to unknown φ. By affecting f(x|φ,⋅), information uncertainty alters posterior beliefs f(φ|x,⋅), and therefore also asset prices and expected rates of return. Less obviously, formal Bayesian allowance for information uncertainty can lead to unexpected reinterpretations of information, which can reduce (or increase) the cost of capital. A striking example is shown based on Simpson's paradox.Imagining Intelligible Accounting for the Future: A Critical Examination of (dis)placement in the Pacific Islands - Dr Stephanie Perkiss (Macquarie University)
Date: 18 September 2015
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: RWW129
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine contemporary accountability relationships for challenging and future issues of displacement and to imagine broader ways of being accountable. Design/methodology/approach: The paper explores the meaning and understanding of place and displacement and, with sociology of worth, provides discussion for greater accountability. A SOW framework is anchored to the ‘local’ Pacific Island case/situation to give critical examination of forward-looking displacement.Findings: There is need to challenge both current modes of economic and sustainability accounting and accountability to give better consideration to complex social phenomena. Intelligible accounts are examined as a way of providing greater moral accountability and drive to a just society. These accounts, tested in the Pacific Island SOW case study analyses produce a narrative of complex and conflicting states of worth and accountability relationships in relation to forward-looking issues of displacement. They also provide hope for accounting for future generations through critical accounting research.
Research implications/limitations: The findings of the Pacific Island case provide a normative guide to inform other complex cases that are bound by multiple values of place and ideals of worth Further, the new tool – intelligible accounts – in SOW provides an image and progress toward greater nuanced accountability for current and future vulnerable communities.
Practical and social implications: Baker (2014) indicates that disasters have the potential to break down accountability, and that the potential exists prior to the disaster, but is exacerbated following the event. Therefore, we analyse the future issue of environmental migration in the Pacific Islands as a product of current conditions as the antecedents of disaster. In doing so, the issue of intelligible accounts to inform actions that support a more holistic moral accountability are examined, and have the power to influence economic and public policy and give greater awareness to global/modern social and environmental challenges.
Originality/value: The paper contributes to SOW and critical case study research by introducing new methods of ‘being accountable’ and introducing the future crisis of migration due to sea level rise in the accounting literature.
Positive and negative CEO personality traits and firm communication: Overconfidence, Narcissism or Self-Esteem? - Assistant Professor Encarna Guillamon-Saorin (University Carlos III de Madrid, Spain)
Date: 11 September 2015
Time: 2.30 pm
Venue: RWW129
We propose a novel approach based on graphology
analysis to identify self-esteem and narcissism and investigate how these
Director Networks and Accruals Quality in Malaysia - Dr Effiezal Aswadi Abdul Wahab (Curtin University, Western Australia)
Date: 21 August 2015
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: RWW129
This presentation investigates the relationship between director networks and accruals quality in Malaysia. Using data on 4,416 unique directors who served on the boards of 745 firms listed on Bursa Malaysia during 2011, we mapped the entire network of directors and generated measures to reflect the importance of such network. We find negative and significant relationships between directors overall network and accruals quality. Extended analysis on network measures based on ethnicity suggests that non-Bumiputras directors created connections that increase accruals quality, but not for Bumiputras directors. We argue that that the negative effect on accruals quality is due to the importance of social stature, and thus harm shareholders value. Further, we find politically connected directors networks detrimental to accruals quality.Moving towards IPSAS: Balance sheet developments and its impact on decision making? - Sandro Fuchs (Zurich University of Applied Sciences)
Date: 14 August 2015
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: RWW129
The ‘investment approach’ provides a helpful new tool for public spending policy and evaluation
Date: 22 June 2015
Time: 4.00 pm
Venue: Groundfloor, MBIE, 15 Stout Street
The Chair in Public Finance and Government economics Network present the final of three debates in the 2015 Public Finance Series.
The ‘investment approach to welfare,’ advocated and implemented by the National government as a basis for redesigning social welfare policy, has been the subject of various economic critiques. Most notably, that traditional social cost-benefit analysis provides a superior approach to evaluating policy outcomes or making policy choices. So, is the widening of the investment approach to a broader range of public spending and policies flawed for the same reasons? Or does an investment approach provide a better basis for future Budget spending decisions? At this debate speakers will outline the arguments for and against each of these views. This debate will be followed by refreshments.
Further information and registration.
Executive overconfidence and securities class actions (Assistant Professsor Mark Humphery-Jenner - UNSW Business School, UNSW Australia)
Date: 19 June 2015
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: RWW129
Securities class actions (SCAs) harm the subject firm's product market position and often result in disciplinary actions against the CEO. If CEOs (and other senior-executives) trade-off benefits from, say, withholding negative information versus likelihood of detection and SCAs - we expect their choice to be influenced by beliefs regardingfuture firm prospects and likelihood they might rectify the period of poor performance. We hypothesize that overconfident executives, with rosier views of future firm performance, are more likely to engage in reckless or intentional actions that give rise to SCAs. We find strong evidence that executive-overconfidence increases SCA-likelihood, which is ameliorated by improved governance (following SOX) and reduction in risk-taking incentives (following SFAS-123R). Post-SCA, consistent with being regarded as more blame-worthy, there isgreater likelihood of overconfident-CEO turnover. Overconfident CEOs also learn from prior SCAs, with SCAs attenuating the impact of CEO overconfidence on future litigation risk.Liability for Paying Pensions Under the 2001 New Zealand-Australian Social Security Agreement: Uneven Burdens? (Associate Professor Andrew Smith - Victoria University)
Date: 12 June 2015
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: RWW129
Shortly after Australia and New Zealand introduced social security programmes in their respective countries, the two countries entered into a treaty (know as a "social security agreement" or "SSA") to coordinate and harmonise the payment of social securitiy benefits to individuals who had split their working lives between the two countries. The first of these SSAs was negotiated in 1943 but was subsequently replaced by a number of revised SSAs, the latest of which was negotiated in 2001.
Apart from this latest SSA, all of the earlier SSAs were based on the principle that the country where the claimant resided would assume responsibility for paying their pension even though part or all of the claimant’s working life hadbeen spent in the other country. Such an arrangement was sustainable when the flow of migrants between the two countries were roughly similar and pension levels approximately the same.
As migration from New Zealand to Australia became significantly greater than migration in the opposite direction, pressure arose for New Zealand to assume liability for at least some of the costs of paying pensions to its migrants who had retired in Australia. Initially this was met by direct government to government reimbursements, but these later became a point of disagreement between the two governments ultimately leading to the negotiation of a new SSA in 2001. The 2001 SSA incorporates a fractional pension model whereby each country pays a part pension basedon the time the claimant has spent working in each country. This model is intended to produce a fairer allocation of pension costs between the two countries reflecting the tax that would have been collected by each country from a claimant during their working life.
The allocation of pension costs under this model is complicated by two factors. Firstly, the total pension payable to the claimant is determined solely by the domestic pension rules of the country where they have retired. Secondly, the amount the other state must contribute to that pension is determined by the domestic pension rules of that country, not the state where the claimant has retired. As a consequence, the actual burdens for each country of meetingthe pension costs of a migrant will not be necessarily proportional to the time the claimant has spent in each country during their working life.
This paper will examine how pension costs will be allocated in practice between Australia and New Zealand under the 2001 SSA through the use of a model. Results from the model suggests that the 2001 SSA will not necessarily producean appropriate allocation of pension costs and that one state may be left with a disproportionate burden. This raises questions whether the basis for allocating pension costs under the 2001 SSA is sustainable in the longer term and alsowhether divergent domestic pension policies can be maintained in an open migration environment.
Economic evidence should play a greater role in health policy evaluation
Date: 20 May 2015
Time: 3.00 pm
Venue: Groundfloor, MBIE, 15 Stout Street
One view is that economic evidence should play a greater role in health policy evaluation. Such evidence could, for example, help decide which interventions should be prioritised for funding within limited budgets. There is another view, however, that the difficulty in measuring the outputs, let alone outcomes, of the health system means that economic measures are limited, and so rather than economic evaluation, health policy should place greater weight on clinical measures and judgements. At this debate speakers will outline the arguments for and against each of these views.
Further information and registration.
Family firms, firm performance and political connections: Evidence from Bangladesh - Associate Professor Reza Monem (Griffith University)
Date: 24 April 2015
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: RWW129
Today’s policy settings unfairly favour the baby boomer generation
Date: 20 April 2015
Time: 3.00 pm
Venue: Ground Floor, MBIE, 15 Stout Street
THE GOVERNMENT ECONOMICS NETWORK AND CHAIR IN PUBLIC FINANCE PRESENT THE 2015 PUBLIC FINANCE DEBATE SERIES
Government decisions impact on different age groups in different ways.
Income taxes play a large role in shaping the tax burden of people of working age while consumption taxes are more important for retired people. More generally, in a pay-as-you-go system, the people who directly benefit from spending promises in areas like pensions and health are often not the same people who pay the taxes that fund them. There is a risk that when this latter group of people reach the age of eligibility these spending promises will no longer be sustainable. Conversely, younger cohorts not only inherit spending commitments but also the fruits of innovation and capital build-up of earlier generations. At this debate speakers will outline the arguments for and against each of these views.
Registration and further infromation.
Microfinance and women's empowerment in bangladesh: A study of "Competing Logics" and their implications for accounting and accountability systems - Farzana Tanima (PhD Candidate, School of Accounting and Commercial Law)
Date: 27 March 2015
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: RWW129
Critical Realist Accounting Research: Whence and Whither? - Professor Sven Modell (Manchester Business School & Norwegian School of Economics)
Date: 20 March 2015
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: RWW129
Non-Linear Equity Valuation: An Empirical Analysis - Professor Mark Tippett (Honorary Professor, University of Sydney; Former Adjunct Professor at Victoria University)
Date: 6 March 2015
Time: 9.00 am
Venue: RWW129
Legacy COMPUSTAT Data pertaining to 226,165 firm-year observations covering a 57 year period (1950-2006) across all industrial groups are used to empirically assess the likely form and magnitude of the biases that arise from linear equity valuation models. Linear equity valuation models dominate the empirical analysis of the literature but ignore a firm’s growth and adaptation options which by default, are nonlinear in their determining variables. Given this, an orthogonal polynomial fitting procedure as summarized in Ataullah, et al. (2009), which does take account of the growth and adaptation options available to firms, is used to obtain a power series expansion for the relationship between equity prices and their determining variables. Our purpose is to assess whether the inclusion of the non-linear terms associated with the growth and adaptation options available to firms can provide a more complete description of the relationship between equity prices and their determining variables when compared to the simple linear models which characterise the empirical research of this area of the literature. Our empirical analysis classifies firms into negative efficiency, low efficiency and high efficiency levels and then for each efficiency level, estimates the parameters implied by the Ataullah, et al. (2009) orthogonal polynomial fitting procedure. Our results show that there is a very strong non-linear relationship between equity value and its determining variables although the nature of the relationship varies according to the efficiency level considered.
Micro- and Macro- Accounting for PPPs and the Gerrman Debt Ceiling - Professor Dorothea Greiling (Johannes Kepler University, Austria)
Date: 27 February 2015
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: RWW 129
The analysis shows that there is still room to keep PPP unjustified off the balance sheet of the public partner. This is where ESA 2010 offers the largest discretionary freedom. Within the IPSAS standards, IPSAS 32 goes in the right direction but the drawback is that it is only applicable for service concession agreements. These findings are reflected against the reasoning of political economy and the academic literature on impression management. It is argued that there are strong incentives to minimize the reporting of public debts on the side of the public partners. A need arises to enlarge the scope of IPSAS 32, to take a more differentiated approach towards the property rights of PPP and to increase the incentives for honest accounting of public debts.
PhD Colloquium 2015
Date: 18 February - 19 February
Time: 8.00 am
Hosted by the School of Accounting and Commercial Law and Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand
Professor Mike Bradbury (Massey University)
Professor Steven Cahan (University of Auckland)
Professor Wai Fong Chua (University of New South Wales)
Professor Jesse Dillard (Adjunct Professor at VUW)
Professor Trevor Hopper (Adjunct Professor at VUW)
Professor Robyn Moroney (Monash University)
Public Finance Great Festive Debate
Date: 11 December 2014
Time: 3.00 pm
Venue: Ground Floor MBIE, 15 Stout Street, Wellington
The Government Economics Network and Chair in Public Finance present:
THIS HOUSE BELIEVES THE CHRISTMAS EXTRAVAGANZA IS A WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY
The Victoria University of Wellington Chair in Public Finance and the Government Economics Network invite you to join them at a light-hearted Christmas debate. This will be followed by refreshments.
Andy Williams reckoned “Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year.” Yet while a fine singer he was no economist and so at this event two teams will debate the lessons that economics provides on this season. Given research published in the American Economic Review (Waldfogel, 1993) showing the deadweight losses of Christmas gifts, should people simply give cash instead? What rights should people who don’t enjoy Christmas (like the Grinch) have to negotiate this season away? And, more generally, is the Christmas extravaganza a waste of time and money?
See our flyer for further information. RSVP by 4 December.
The use of customer accounting practices to support a customer-focused strategy: A case study in an Australasian bank - Ken Bates (Victoria University)
Date: 10 October 2014
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: RWW315
An analysis of the relevant literature highlights a potential information gap for the numerous for-profit firms following a customer-focused strategy. Such firms are likely to require customer accounting (CA) practices and yet the accounting literature on CA is described as “little more than fledgling” (McManus and Guilding, 2008, p. 783). As “management accounting must serve the strategic objectives of the firm” (Kaplan, 1984) some form of CA, preferably including a forward-looking metric, is surely necessary to enable such firms to maximise shareholder value. However, there is limited knowledge about what CA metrics are used in practice and to date no substantive theory has been developed to explain how CA measures may be used to manage and monitor a customer-focused strategy. This paper describes case study research into the use of CA in an Australasian bank with a clearly customer-focused strategy and describes different CA approaches in the bank’s personal banking and business banking strategic business units (SBUs). Both SBUs have employed activity-based costing methodology to develop full cost CA information. Personal banking use a novel customer lifetime value measure, which incorporates ‘customer needs met’ as a key variable, to justify investment in young, initially unprofitable customers. The smaller, business banking unit currently use only historical customer profitability analysis but intend to develop forward-looking CA measures in the future. Tensions between finance and operational managers about the nature, accuracy and verifiability of CA metrics are evident and may be hindering more widespread use of CA metrics.
Explanations for not having an audit committee in a 'comply or explain' regime - Dr Tom Scott (The University of Auckland Business School)
Date: 26 September 2014
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: RWW315
We
utilise the Australian ‘comply or explain’ corporate governance regime to
examine the explanations given for not having an audit committee. The common explanations are that the full
board performs the role of the audit committee, that firm or board size is too
small or that the firm is insufficiently complex to justify an audit
committee. The common explanations are that
the full board performs the role of the audit committee that firm or board size
is too small or that the firm is insufficiently complex to justify an audit
committee. These explanations are associated
with firm development, performance, board size, and Big 4 auditor use. Furthermore, the number of explanation types
provided is associated with firm development and performance. The explanations are mostly consistent with
supply side variables and suggest the ‘comply or explain’ regime is working as
desired. The results should be of
interest to regulators.
The impact of a firm's carbon risk profile on the cost of dept capital: Evidence from Australian firms - Professor Peter Clarkson (UQ Business School, The University of Queensland and Beedie School of Business, Simon Fraser University)
Date: 12 September 2014
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: RWW 315
In this study,
we investigate the association between a firm’s exposure to carbon-related risk
and its cost of debt. Specifically, we predict and test the following two
propositions: (1) firms with higher carbon-related risk exposure face a higher
cost of debt and (2) firms can mitigate this ‘carbon risk’ penalty to their
cost of debt by providing evidence regarding its awareness of the
carbon-related risks that it faces.
We conduct our
investigation using a sample of 255 firm-year observations for 78 Australian
companies from eight different industries over the period 2009-2013. We measure
carbon-related risk exposure as the firm’s recent (historical) carbon emissions
and carbon risk awareness based on the firm’s willingness to respond to the CDP
survey questionnaire. Our results provide uniform support for both of our
predictions. We consistently document a positive and significant association
between the cost of debt and our carbon risk measure for firms that fail to
respond to the CDP survey. Further, this association is economically
meaningful, with a one standard deviation increase in the carbon risk measure
mapping into a 73 basis point increase in the cost of debt for these firms.
Equally, we find that this penalty is effectively negated for firms that
respond to the CDP survey.
Taken together,
we interpret these results as indicative that lenders not only consider a
firm’s recent (historical) carbon emissions but additionally, forward-looking
indicators when assessing its carbon-related risk exposure and its mapping into
the cost of debt.
The Effect of the US-Chile Free Trade Agreement on the Earnings Quality of Chilean Firms - Mariela Gallardo (PhD candidate in Accounting, University of Auckland Business School)
Date: 29 August 2014
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: RWW315
This paper examines whether a change in a government trade policy that significantly increases the interaction of domestic firms with a foreign product market can affect the financial reporting quality of those domestic firms. I focus on Chile where the US-Chile Free Trade Agreement (FTA) came into effect on January 1, 2004. The FTA resulted in significant increases in US exports and imports for Chilean firms. Khanna et al. (2004) find that greater interaction with US product markets can improve the disclosure quality of non-US firms from countries with low accounting quality. Using a sample of 208 Chilean companies, discretionary accruals as measure of earnings quality and a variety of product market interaction proxies, results show that the FTA lead to improvements in the accounting quality for Chilean firms, particularly for those that had the largest increases in interaction with US product markets.
Mariela
is a Ph.D. candidate in Accounting at the University of Auckland Business
School and her doctoral dissertation is conducted under the supervision of
Professor Steven Cahan. She previously
studied a Bachelor degree in Accounting and a Master degree in Finance at the
University of Chile. She worked as a researcher and lecturer in financial
accounting at the same university for several years.
Not for Profit Seminar 3 - Accounting, governance and charities' registration issues
Date: 27 August 2014
Time: 8.15 am
Venue: VUW, Government Buildings, Lecture Theatre 1, 15 Lambton Quay, Wellington
Registered Charities must comply with the new reporting requirements under the Charities Act from 1 April 2015. Many organisations are reviewing their governance structures and the form of their charity registration in light of the new reporting requirements in order to ensure that these structures and arrangements fit well with their mission and that the ensuing reporting is relevant to all their stakeholders. In this seminar you will be given an update on the new requirements and hear from representatives of three organisations who are responding to the change in different ways.
This seminar will cover:
- The options, merits and drawbacks of single and group registrations with DIA Charities
- Challenges in developing an appropriate structure that meets members’ needs – and tips on how to overcome these
- Getting ready for the expected audit requirements as part of the structural and registration reconsiderations
- Evaluating discretionary and non-discretionary costs and options in developing costing systems to meet the structure of your organisation
A copy of the Programme is available here.
To register (cost $60 excl GST) please do so here
Keynote Speakers:
Carolyn Cordery, Member, NZ Accounting Standards Board
Carolyn Fowler, Senior Lecturer, School of Accounting and Commercial Law, VBS
Marlies Frew, Business Services Manager, Scouts NZ
Dave Henderson, Coordinator, ANGOA
Lesa Kalapu, General Manager, Charities, Department of Internal Affairs
Peter van Hout, Financial Services Manager, Methodist Church of New Zealand
The British Domination of Accounting Education in a French Colony: The Case of Cambodia - Associate Professor Prem Yapa (School of Accounting RMIT University, Melbourne)
Date: 15 August 2014
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: RWW315
In examining Cambodian accounting education,
we analyse programs offered by Cambodian universities and the local accounting
body, under the sponsorship of the state. With the availability of local
accounting degree programs, one might expect that there are adequate numbers of
suitably qualified accountants to meet Cambodian needs. Our findings indicate
it is not necessarily the case. Over recent decades, the changing nature of the
economy, the state and the interests of the business sector (including the ‘Big
Four’) have led to the wider adoption of the UK’s Association of Chartered
Certified Accountants (ACCA) qualifications. This has occurred as a result of
technical, pedagogic and operational problems in indigenous accounting
education. Drawing upon a theoretical framework of professional accounting
education, we use the results of interviews to describe the development of
accounting education in Cambodia. Our conclusion is that the ACCA is seeking to
dominate and control the supply of professionally qualified accountants in
Cambodia.
Are Chinese ADRs Tainted by the Poor Audit Quality of Reverse Mergers? The Role of Depositary Banks - Professor Al Ghosh (Baruch College, City University of New York)
Date: 8 August 2014
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: RWW315
The controversy over Chinese reverse mergers, which are directly listed on U.S. stock exchanges, has led to concerns about the audit quality of all U.S. listed Chinese companies. Because a sizeable number of foreign firms cross list their shares as American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) issued by U.S. depositary banks (as opposed to directly listed), we study the audit quality of Chinese ADRs.There are several explanations why ADRs may be associated with high audit quality including the positive role of depositary banks and the stringent reporting requirements for ADRs. We find that relative to other ADRs, Chinese ADRs are: (1) less likely to restate prior period financial statements, (2) more likely to be associated with a Big 4 auditor, (3) expected to pay more for their external audits, and (4) likely to have longer audit report lag (proxy for audit investments). When we include Chinese reverse mergers, which are non-ADR companies, we find that the audit quality problems are only confined to Chinese reverse mergers. Our results highlight the beneficial role of depositary banks in guarding U.S. shareholder interests and that the audit quality concerns of Chinese reverse merger companies, or other directly U.S.listed Chinese companies, do not extend to Chinese ADRs.
Measuring and Reporting Service Performance of New Zealand Local Governments - Dr Prae Keeransuntonpong (Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand)
Date: 25 July 2014
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: RWW315
In the public sector, financial results are only one aspect of demonstrating accountability with non-financial performance information being an integral part (Barton, 1999; Gray, Owen, & Adams, 1996; Hyndman & Anderson, 1995). Regulators in various jurisdictions have introduced non-financial performance reporting for public sector entities to fulfil their accountability purpose (Governmental Accounting Standards Board, 2010; International Public Sector Accounting Standard Board, 2014; NZICA, 2007). Nevertheless, public sector organisations' reporting of non-financial performance information appears to be substandard (Keerasuntonpong, 2011). Even in New Zealand, where formal non-financial or service performance reporting has been early mandated for two decades, practices have been observed to be poor (Office of the Auditor-General, 2008). To address the problem, some major initiatives have been introduced in New Zealand in addition to the existing legislative requirement.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of these initiatives – the criticisms of the Office of the Auditor-General (Office of the Auditor-General, 2007) and the examples of better reporting practice (Office of the Auditor-General, 2010a) – on service performance reporting of New Zealand local governments.
Integrated Reporting: The Albert Luthuli Centre for Responsible Leadership - Professor Derick de Jongh (University of Pretoria)
Date: 1 July 2014
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: RWW 315
The Albert Luthuli Centre for Responsible Leadership has as one of its core focus areas the emerging field of Integrated Reporting. South Africa though its King Report on Corporate Governance has played a significant role in driving the Integrated Reporting agenda internationally. The Centre developed the first ever Post Grad Diploma in Integrated Reporting (PGDIR) which was offered for the first time in 2013. The PGDIR is one of the flagship programmes of the Albert Luthuli Centre for Responsible Leadership. The PGDIR firstly aims to develop the managerial and leadership skills that will be required to develop sustainable strategies within the organisation in the new emerging paradigm of embedding sustainability imperatives into business practice. A whole range of new frameworks has recently been developed to assist organisations in the process of integrating the legitimate interests of all stakeholder groups. The PGDIR will apply these frameworks through case study methodology to ensure practical understanding and knowledge transfer. The secondary aim of the diploma will be to focus on developing an understanding of how to best apply these frameworks in the process of producing an integrated report. The final aim of the diploma will be to introduce students to best practice that is currently being applied to provide assurance on integrated reports, and to gain an understanding of the major challenges that the assurance function is confronted with.
During this public lecture, Prof Derick de Jongh will offer some theoretical background to the Post Grad Diploma by sharing research findings on a research project that was conducted towards the end of 2013. These findings as well as some theory will be included in his presentation.
"Media Sentiment, Investor Sentiment, and Stock Price Sensitivity to Earnings" - Dr Chen Chen (University of Auckland)
Date: 28 March 2014
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: RWW315
While prior research has focused on investor sentiment at the market level, we propose and test a measure of firm-specific investor sentiment. Specifically, we focus on the optimism and pessimism embedded in news items about the firm. Using data from Thomson Reuters News Analytics which uses a linguistic analysing engine to rate news items in real-time, we create a firm-specific measure of investor sentiment - i.e., media sentiment - by stripping out the portion of the news rating that is related to firm fundamentals. After controlling for market-wide investor sentiment, we find that when firm-specific media sentiment is positive (negative), investors overreact to positive (negative) earnings surprises. Further, we find that this effect is concentrated in hard to value firms and cannot be explained by information contained in our sentiment measure. Our results suggest that the tone of news items can contribute to the misvaluation of stocks, and this effect is incremental to market-wide investor sentiment.
"A Comparison of Tax Professionals' Perception of Large and Mid-Size Business Tax Law Complexity" - Dr Stewart Karlinsky (San Jose State University)
Date: 14 March 2014
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: RWW315
Tax Complexity represents one of the most insidious problems facing taxpayers. For example, the U.S. tax law and regulations contains more than 17,000 pages. The effect of this complexity has a significant cost to both taxpayers and the government by creating annual compliance costs. As the tax code becomes more complex, these cost rise as well. In addition, the complexity may distort taxpayer planning and actions. Maybe the most important cost that complexity engenders is the frequent errors by the IRS and taxpayers, and the tangentially related non-compliance (‘tax gap’) with the tax law.
Based on prior research, the impact of tax law complexity should not be overlooked. The current study concentrates on issues related to large and mid-sized businesses. We surveyed both tax directors for large corporations as well as managers and partners of international accounting and law firms to gauge their perception of tax law complexity for 40 different issues. The results show that five of the top ten most complex issues involved the international tax arena. Interestingly, issues perceived as very complex in prior studies, such as Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) and depreciation, were not found to be very complex in the context of large companies. This study also tested the differences in perceptions of two groups of participants based on both number of years in practice and whether they worked as outside consultants or within the internal tax department. There were significant differences for some of the tax issues, but for a majority of issues, there were not significant differences.
Hermeneutic Tensions in Critical Thinking: The Play of Affirmation and Doubt - Professor Ed Arrington (University of Wollongong)
Date: 21 February 2014
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: RWW315
Critical accounting research seeks to interpret and explain accounting in a range of ways, all of which embed doubts about accounting and its practices and all of which seek to warrant that doubting through affirmation of some theory (e.g., Marxist thought; ), some moral stance (eg, distributive justice), or some episteme or intellectual and discursive style (e.g., constructivism, genealogy, deconstruction). The doubts in critical research run much deeper than the functionalistic doubts of “mainstream” accounting, a body of research which affirms accounting’s service to capital and thus enjoys an interpretive simplicity focussed on how well or poorly accounting carries out its conventional functions. This essay seeks to explore ways in which critical researchers might better interpret and understand the intellectual and practical force of their work as engaged with a “critical hermeneutic” practice of research and scholarship.
Corporate Governance in Islamic Countries - Professor Christine Helliar (University of South Australia)
Date: 12 February 2014
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: RWW315
Corporate Governance from a Western perspective is usually about the principal/agent relationship and aligning the incentives of managers with those of shareholders. However in many Islamic countries there are under developed capital markets and most businesses are either family owned or government owned, either directly by the state or through government investment arms. Thus the institutional context of firms in Islamic countries is very different from that of the west and, as such, the governance of these firms should relate to their political, social, historical and legal context.
Conferences
Copyright Law and Policy in the Asia Pacific
Date: 27–28 November 2015
Time: 8.30 am
Venue: Level 4, 50 Kitchener Street, Auckland
Image supplied by Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development Limited
The Asian Pacific Copyright Association (APCA), in conjunction with the Centre for Accounting, Governance and Taxation Research at Victoria University of Wellington and the Department of Commercial Law at the University of Auckland Business School, invites you to its inaugural Copyright Law and Policy in the Asia Pacific Conference.
The theme for the Copyright Law and Policy in the Asia Pacific Conference is deliberately broad in scope to encourage presentations addressing the diverse interests of copyright users, owners and policymakers in the region.
Confirmed keynote speakers include:
- Professor Peter Yu, Co-Director at the Centre for Law and Intellectual Property, Texas A&M University School of Law
- Professor Susy Frankel, Chair of the Copyright Tribunal (NZ), Victoria University Faculty of Law
- Professor Adrian Sterling, Patron and founder member APCA, Queen Mary University of London
Further information about registration and presentations
Go to the Copyright Law and Policy in the Asia Pacific Conference website for more information, including:
Public Lectures
National and Labour Outline Their Economic Visions for New Zealand
Date: 1–2 September 2014
Time: 3.00 pm
Venue: Old Government Building, Lecture Theatre 1 (GBLT1)
In the run up to the 2014 General Election on 20 September, the Chair in Public Finance is pleased to host two Pre-election Public Lectures on the state of the Government's finances after the election.
What Will the Economy Look Like Under a National-led Government?
Hon Bill English, Minister of Finance and National's Deputy Prime Minister, on the future of the Government’s finances after the 2014 general election.
- When: Monday 1 September, 3.00-4.00pm
- Where: Old Government Buildings, Lecture Theatre 1, (Stout Street entrance)
- RSVP: Libby.Wight@vuw.ac.nz (quoting the lecture title in the subject line), or call 04 463 9656
What Will the Economy Look Like Under a Labour-led Government?
Hon David Parker, Labour Finance spokesperson and Deputy Leader, on the future of the Government’s finances after the 2014 general election
- When: Tuesday 2 September, 3.00-4.00pm
- Where: Old Government Buildings, Lecture Theatre 1, (Stout Street entrance)
- RSVP: Libby.Wight@vuw.ac.nz (quoting the lecture title in the subject line), or call 04 463 9656
Are prices high in New Zealand? And, if so, why?
Date: 21 May 2014
Time: 4.00 pm
Venue: Rutherford House, Lecture Theatre 3
An invitation from the Chair in Public Finance at Victoria University of Wellington, and the New Zealand Productivity Commission, to a public lecture by Professor Norman Gemmell.
Are prices high in New Zealand? And, if so, why?
At this lecture Professor Norman Gemmell will discuss his research on how prices in New Zealand compare internationally and potential reasons for any price differences between New Zealand and other countries. This will include discussion of how the prices for tradables and non-tradables in New Zealand compare internationally and the role of factors like population sizes, factor endowments (agricultural land, labour, capital, mineral wealth) and trade policies and trade balances. This work was commissioned by the New Zealand Productivity Commission.
- Speaker: Professor Norman Gemmell, Chair in Public Finance
- Date: 4.00-5.00pm, Wednesday 21 May
- Venue: Lecture Theatre 3, Rutherford House, Pipitea Campus
All welcome, no RSVP or registrations required. Limited to 60 seats
About Professor Norman Gemmell
Professor Norman Gemmell joined the School of Accounting and Commercial Law in November 2011, as the first Chair in Public Finance. Established by Victoria University, with sponsorship from the three New Zealand government departments (Inland Revenue, Ministry for Social Development and Treasury) and PricewaterhouseCoopers, the Chair aims to bring together academic research on public finance with applications to tax policy in practice.
Norman came to the role having previously been Chief Economist and Principal Adviser (Tax) at The New Zealand Treasury (2007-11), an Assistant Director of the UK Inland Revenue’s Research Department (2003-06), and Professorial Research Fellow (1999-2007) and Professor of Development Economics (1996-99) at the University of Nottingham, UK. Norman also helped set up, and participated in, the VUW Tax Working Group which advised the Minister of Finance on the major tax reforms included in his 2010 Budget.
His research interests cover a range of topics across economics and political economy but mainly in the areas of public finance (taxation, public expenditure and public debt) and economic growth. He has authored several books and numerous journal articles in these areas and articles in peer-reviewed journals. In 2012, Norman was awarded the "Economist of the Year" by an independent panel of economists sponsored by the New Zealand Institute for Economic Research, and was appointed to the New Zealand Treasury’s External Panel of independent experts advising Treasury on its 2013 Long-Term Fiscal Statement.
Seminars
Business Links Breakfast Seminar: Should Wellington become a Super City?
Date: 17 February 2015
Time: 7.00 am
Venue: Old Government Building, Lecture Theatre 1 (GBLT1)
The Centre for Accounting Governance and Taxation Research and the Institute for Governance and Policy Studies are pleased to invite you to a breakfast seminar:
Should Wellington become a Super City?
The Local Government Commission has presented its draft proposal for one council for the whole of the Wellington region (with eight Local Boards). The draft proposal for amalgamation is available online and submissions to the Commission close on 2 March 2015.
At this seminar Graham Sansom will present the background and key issues relevant to the proposal, while John Shewan will present the case for the proposal and Philip Barry the case against.
The presentations will be followed by opportunity for discussion.
- Download the Breakfast Seminar flyer (PDF, 460 KB)
- Download a Pipitea Campus map (PDF, 400 KB)
This is a free seminar. For catering purposes kindly RSVP (acceptances only) by Thursday, 12 February to vanessa.borg@vuw.ac.nz or telephone 04 463 5550
Intellectual Capital Disclosures in an Ethical Bank in Bangladesh: A Longitudinal Case Study (1983-2010)
Date: 13 June 2014
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: RWW 315 (Railway Room 315), Pipitea Campus
You are cordially invited to attend the following research seminar in our 2014 seminar series presented by Dr Mohobbot Ali (University of Canberra). In the last few decades Islamic Banking (IB) has emerged as an alternative form of banking system to the capitalistic traditional financial institution with strong growth potential. Drawn on Islamic ethical values IB offers competitive advantages to its customers. One of the concerns from accounting researchers is how these ethical values are transformed into intellectual capital metrics and practiced by an Islamic bank. Therefore the purpose of the study is to examine the patterns and trends of Intellectual Capital Disclosures (ICD) over time in an Islamic bank. This observation is drawn from a longitudinal single case study on Islami Bank Bangladesh limited (IBBL) through a content analysis of the ICD within the annual reports of IBBL from 1983 to 2010. It is found that in contrast to the findings of many prior studies in this area which suggest that external capital as the most popular category of ICD, this study demonstrates that internal capital is the most dominant category of ICD in IBBL. We argue this phenomenon is due to the strong ethical organisational culture, unique knowledge base (Sharia) and effective corporate governance regime adopted in IBBL. Moreover, adversaries in the secular ruling regime may have influenced IBBL for disclosing more IC related information, particularly internal capital information at an increasing rate since 1996 to legitimise its operation. This study contributes to the literature by providing insights relating to the actual practice of religious based ethical financial industry from a major Islamic nation.
Short bio
Mohobbot is an Assistant Professor of Accounting, currently working with University of Canberra. He has completed his PhD from Okayama University, Japan. His research interest includes corporate risk reporting, climate change reporting, intellectual capital disclosure and strategic management accounting practices in emerging economies. He has teaching experience in other Asian countries including Bangladesh, Hong Kong and Japan. He previously worked with British American Tobacco and New Zealand Milk (BD) Ltd. He is engaged in various research collaborations.
The seminar is preceded by morning tea at 10.30am.
Please RSVP to Lee.Vassiliadis@vuw.ac.nz for catering purposed by mid-day, 12th June 2014.