This paper examines the response of the water and electricity group companies to regulatory press... more This paper examines the response of the water and electricity group companies to regulatory pressure and in particular, the first regulatory price review after privatisation. The sample period incorporates industry-specific regulatory price reviews in both the water and electricity sectors and provides an interesting case study to examine the political cost hypothesis. The results obtained in this study confirm that the regulatory process has an impact on the group company's financial reporting decisions: there is evidence of income-decreasing earnings management in the year of regulatory price review in both sectors. However there is little evidence to support the premise of income-decreasing earnings management in the electricity sector, following the regulator's decision to reopen the distribution price review in 1995.
Encouraging students to participate during class time is important to facilitate the learning pro... more Encouraging students to participate during class time is important to facilitate the learning process and encourage deep learning to take place. However, students with certain cultural and education backgrounds are often reluctant to participate in class discussion. This article provides some initial insight into the use of the Personal Response System (PRS) to encourage class participation at the postgraduate level. I found that students' participation levels were increased when using the PRS, and further class discussion and debate was stimulated as a result.
The International Journal of Management Education, Apr 1, 2008
PDP is defined as a "structured and supported process undertaken by an individual to reflect upon... more PDP is defined as a "structured and supported process undertaken by an individual to reflect upon their own learning, performance and/or achievement and to plan for their personal, education and career development" (Quality Assurance Agency, 2008). The idea of PDP is to create a record for students to plan what they would like to achieve and track their progress towards these goals. PDP is also intended to encourage students to take a reflective approach to their learning and overall university experience. This was a personal matter until the recommendations of the National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education (the 'Dearing Report', NCIHE,
This study investigates how hierarchical level and line of service affect the behavioural effects... more This study investigates how hierarchical level and line of service affect the behavioural effects of performance management systems (PMS) features such as performance evaluative style and goal difficulty, as well as the effects of organisational commitment. Our study provides empirical evidence of the incidence of dysfunctional behaviour in a UK accounting firm, and also show that hierarchical levels impact on the behavioural effects of PMS. We find a high incidence of dysfunctional behaviour among accounting firm staff relative to prior studies, but no evidence to suggest a difference in the incidence of dysfunctional behaviour across hierarchical levels or lines of service. We find that high organisational commitment generally tends to result in lower dysfunctional behaviour, while both target-focused evaluative style and goal difficulty generally induces more of such behaviour. However, the strength of these effects differs significantly across hierarchical levels. On one hand, where a target-focused evaluative style is used, dysfunctional behaviour only increases significantly at low hierarchical levels, while difficult performance targets only results in significant increases in dysfunctional behaviour at mid hierarchical levels. On the other hand, strong organisational commitment leads to significantly lower dysfunctional behaviour only at low and high hierarchical levels. Thus hierarchical level is an important context affecting the use of PMS. Organisations need to fit the use of PMS to the organisation's hierarchical levels.
This paper investigates the association between auditor quality and the level of conservatism in ... more This paper investigates the association between auditor quality and the level of conservatism in reported earnings. Prior work has suggested auditor conservatism is influenced by auditors' desire to prevent litigation and/or incurring reputational costs. To tease out the relative importance of the litigation versus reputational concerns of large audit firms as reasons for greater auditor conservatism, we conduct a comparative study for UK and US firms. In contrast to the US, the UK is a comparatively low litigation environment. Our results show that (1) large auditors are not associated with greater conservatism after the clients' level of financial distress has been taken into account in the two countries; (2) the client profiles of large and small audit firms differ in key dimensions and these play a significant role in determining the incremental influence of audit firm size on the earnings conservatism of their clients. Therefore, rather than auditor quality driving the level of earnings conservatism, it appears to be the case that it is the underlying client characteristics which dictate the level of auditor conservatism. Failure to allow for such differences can result in misleading inferences being drawn about the effects of audit firm size on earnings conservatism.
We examine the association between financial integration and capital market transparency of emerg... more We examine the association between financial integration and capital market transparency of emerging-market firms. We use four intra-year price timeliness measures derived from the Beekes and Brown (2006, 2007) methods as indicators of the firm's transparency. The sample comprises 57,465 firm-year observations on listed companies in 24 emerging economies over the period 1995-2010. As expected, we find that greater financial integration is associated with greater transparency, and that the effect is more pronounced when the news about the firm is bad. Using structural equation modelling (SEM), we find evidence of a mechanism through which financial integration enhances the information environment: improved corporate governance.
This study examines the relation between management forecasts and analysts' forecasts to determin... more This study examines the relation between management forecasts and analysts' forecasts to determine whether a moderating role exists for credibility. Management credibility is evaluated by management's prior forecasting ability and the firm's underlying corporate governance structure. Analyst credibility on the other hand is assessed using their prior forecasting ability only. Using Structural Equation Modelling, we find management credibility affects how much reliance analysts place upon information contained in management initial earnings forecasts when making their own forecasts. We also show a moderating role for analyst credibility in the relation between analysts' consensus initial forecasts and management forecast revisions. Our findings highlight the importance of reputation in the dissemination of earnings information.
We investigate the effect of corporate governance on corporate transparency in Japan, as indicate... more We investigate the effect of corporate governance on corporate transparency in Japan, as indicated by the richness of the information environment for Japanese companies. We focus on firms' disclosure frequency, properties of analysts' forecasts and the speed of price discovery as indicators of corporate transparency. We find corporate governance in Japan is associated with increased disclosure and greater analyst following, but not more timely price discovery. In further analysis, we confirm board structure and composition are important factors influencing the firm's level of disclosure and its analyst following, as in Western countries. However, analysts appear to be more optimistic about Japanese firms with better board structures when forecasting future performance. Compensation structures and the level of directors' share ownership are other factors influencing the accuracy of analysts' earnings forecasts. In contrast, outside ownership by foreign investors has little influence. Our results are consistent with the view that traditional Japanese corporate groupings and cross-shareholdings provide a strong motivation for disclosure through monitoring and enforcement. Our results show Western style corporate governance has a large role to play in disclosure by Japanese firms, but traditional Japanese structures are still important to corporate transparency.
We investigate the link between the informativeness of corporate disclosures and firms' corporate... more We investigate the link between the informativeness of corporate disclosures and firms' corporate governance structures. Using a Canadian sample of firms rated in the November 2004 Board Shareholder Confidence Index, we examine whether corporate governance is a significant influence on the frequency of a firm's disclosures, on analyst behaviour and on the timeliness of price discovery. We find Canadian firms with better governance structures release more documents to the stock market. These firms also attract a larger following of analysts, and their share prices integrate valuerelevant information more rapidly. Overall our results confirm other evidence suggesting corporate governance can play a significant role in determining the efficiency of a country's equity market.
Corporate Governance: An International Review, 2004
This paper examines the links between accounting quality, proxied by earnings timeliness and cons... more This paper examines the links between accounting quality, proxied by earnings timeliness and conservatism, and the composition of the board of directors. Results indicate that firms with a higher proportion of outside board members are more likely to recognise bad news in earnings on a timely basis. However, firms whose boards comprise a relatively high proportion of outsiders do not display greater reporting conservatism with regard to the recognition of good news. These findings suggest that board composition is an important factor in determining the quality of UK firms' reported earnings with respect to incorporating bad news on a timely basis.
Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Apr 1, 2006
We investigate whether and if so, how, corporate governance 'quality' 1 is related to the informa... more We investigate whether and if so, how, corporate governance 'quality' 1 is related to the information flows from a company and how the share market and its agents respond. Specifically, we study links between the 'quality' of a firm's corporate governance (CGQ) and the informativeness of its disclosures. We employ six indicators of informativeness. They include document counts, properties of analysts' forecasts and a 'timeliness' metric, in the spirit of Ball and Brown (1968), that reflects the average speed of price discovery throughout the year. Our results suggest the answer to our question is 'Yes': better-governed firms do make more informative disclosures.
method for encouraging participation W E N DY B E E K E S Lancaster University, UK A B S T R AC T... more method for encouraging participation W E N DY B E E K E S Lancaster University, UK A B S T R AC T Encouraging students to participate during class time is important to facilitate the learning process and encourage deep learning to take place. However, students with certain cultural and education backgrounds are often reluctant to participate in class discussion. This article provides some initial insight into the use of the Personal Response System (PRS) to encourage class participation at the postgraduate level. I found that students ’ participation levels were increased when using the PRS, and further class discussion and debate was stimulated as a result. K E Y WO R D S: Per sona l Re spon s e Sy s t em, s tuden t pa r t i c i pat i on Introduction and background Innovative methods to provide effective learning and teaching are under investigation in most universities in the UK. Some have focused upon the potential benefits of virtual learning environments (for example, Crawford
We investigate the determinants of employee dysfunctional behaviour, focusing on how functional a... more We investigate the determinants of employee dysfunctional behaviour, focusing on how functional area and hierarchical level affect behavioural outcomes. This is an empirical study based upon results obtained from a company based web survey in a Big Four accounting firm in the UK. Our results show dysfunctional behaviour increases when performance evaluation focuses on the achievement of pre-set targets. However such behaviours are reduced as organizational commitment, perceptions of fairness and interactions with superiors increase. Our results show that the strength of these effects differs across hierarchical levels. We also provide some preliminary evidence of differences in behavioural responses in the non-audit section of the firm. Our results confirm hierarchical level is an important contextual factor affecting the use of performance management systems.
This paper examines the response of the water and electricity group companies to regulatory press... more This paper examines the response of the water and electricity group companies to regulatory pressure and in particular, the first regulatory price review after privatisation. The sample period incorporates industry-specific regulatory price reviews in both the water and electricity sectors and provides an interesting case study to examine the political cost hypothesis. The results obtained in this study confirm that the regulatory process has an impact on the group company's financial reporting decisions: there is evidence of income-decreasing earnings management in the year of regulatory price review in both sectors. However there is little evidence to support the premise of income-decreasing earnings management in the electricity sector, following the regulator's decision to reopen the distribution price review in 1995.
Encouraging students to participate during class time is important to facilitate the learning pro... more Encouraging students to participate during class time is important to facilitate the learning process and encourage deep learning to take place. However, students with certain cultural and education backgrounds are often reluctant to participate in class discussion. This article provides some initial insight into the use of the Personal Response System (PRS) to encourage class participation at the postgraduate level. I found that students' participation levels were increased when using the PRS, and further class discussion and debate was stimulated as a result.
The International Journal of Management Education, Apr 1, 2008
PDP is defined as a "structured and supported process undertaken by an individual to reflect upon... more PDP is defined as a "structured and supported process undertaken by an individual to reflect upon their own learning, performance and/or achievement and to plan for their personal, education and career development" (Quality Assurance Agency, 2008). The idea of PDP is to create a record for students to plan what they would like to achieve and track their progress towards these goals. PDP is also intended to encourage students to take a reflective approach to their learning and overall university experience. This was a personal matter until the recommendations of the National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education (the 'Dearing Report', NCIHE,
This study investigates how hierarchical level and line of service affect the behavioural effects... more This study investigates how hierarchical level and line of service affect the behavioural effects of performance management systems (PMS) features such as performance evaluative style and goal difficulty, as well as the effects of organisational commitment. Our study provides empirical evidence of the incidence of dysfunctional behaviour in a UK accounting firm, and also show that hierarchical levels impact on the behavioural effects of PMS. We find a high incidence of dysfunctional behaviour among accounting firm staff relative to prior studies, but no evidence to suggest a difference in the incidence of dysfunctional behaviour across hierarchical levels or lines of service. We find that high organisational commitment generally tends to result in lower dysfunctional behaviour, while both target-focused evaluative style and goal difficulty generally induces more of such behaviour. However, the strength of these effects differs significantly across hierarchical levels. On one hand, where a target-focused evaluative style is used, dysfunctional behaviour only increases significantly at low hierarchical levels, while difficult performance targets only results in significant increases in dysfunctional behaviour at mid hierarchical levels. On the other hand, strong organisational commitment leads to significantly lower dysfunctional behaviour only at low and high hierarchical levels. Thus hierarchical level is an important context affecting the use of PMS. Organisations need to fit the use of PMS to the organisation's hierarchical levels.
This paper investigates the association between auditor quality and the level of conservatism in ... more This paper investigates the association between auditor quality and the level of conservatism in reported earnings. Prior work has suggested auditor conservatism is influenced by auditors' desire to prevent litigation and/or incurring reputational costs. To tease out the relative importance of the litigation versus reputational concerns of large audit firms as reasons for greater auditor conservatism, we conduct a comparative study for UK and US firms. In contrast to the US, the UK is a comparatively low litigation environment. Our results show that (1) large auditors are not associated with greater conservatism after the clients' level of financial distress has been taken into account in the two countries; (2) the client profiles of large and small audit firms differ in key dimensions and these play a significant role in determining the incremental influence of audit firm size on the earnings conservatism of their clients. Therefore, rather than auditor quality driving the level of earnings conservatism, it appears to be the case that it is the underlying client characteristics which dictate the level of auditor conservatism. Failure to allow for such differences can result in misleading inferences being drawn about the effects of audit firm size on earnings conservatism.
We examine the association between financial integration and capital market transparency of emerg... more We examine the association between financial integration and capital market transparency of emerging-market firms. We use four intra-year price timeliness measures derived from the Beekes and Brown (2006, 2007) methods as indicators of the firm's transparency. The sample comprises 57,465 firm-year observations on listed companies in 24 emerging economies over the period 1995-2010. As expected, we find that greater financial integration is associated with greater transparency, and that the effect is more pronounced when the news about the firm is bad. Using structural equation modelling (SEM), we find evidence of a mechanism through which financial integration enhances the information environment: improved corporate governance.
This study examines the relation between management forecasts and analysts' forecasts to determin... more This study examines the relation between management forecasts and analysts' forecasts to determine whether a moderating role exists for credibility. Management credibility is evaluated by management's prior forecasting ability and the firm's underlying corporate governance structure. Analyst credibility on the other hand is assessed using their prior forecasting ability only. Using Structural Equation Modelling, we find management credibility affects how much reliance analysts place upon information contained in management initial earnings forecasts when making their own forecasts. We also show a moderating role for analyst credibility in the relation between analysts' consensus initial forecasts and management forecast revisions. Our findings highlight the importance of reputation in the dissemination of earnings information.
We investigate the effect of corporate governance on corporate transparency in Japan, as indicate... more We investigate the effect of corporate governance on corporate transparency in Japan, as indicated by the richness of the information environment for Japanese companies. We focus on firms' disclosure frequency, properties of analysts' forecasts and the speed of price discovery as indicators of corporate transparency. We find corporate governance in Japan is associated with increased disclosure and greater analyst following, but not more timely price discovery. In further analysis, we confirm board structure and composition are important factors influencing the firm's level of disclosure and its analyst following, as in Western countries. However, analysts appear to be more optimistic about Japanese firms with better board structures when forecasting future performance. Compensation structures and the level of directors' share ownership are other factors influencing the accuracy of analysts' earnings forecasts. In contrast, outside ownership by foreign investors has little influence. Our results are consistent with the view that traditional Japanese corporate groupings and cross-shareholdings provide a strong motivation for disclosure through monitoring and enforcement. Our results show Western style corporate governance has a large role to play in disclosure by Japanese firms, but traditional Japanese structures are still important to corporate transparency.
We investigate the link between the informativeness of corporate disclosures and firms' corporate... more We investigate the link between the informativeness of corporate disclosures and firms' corporate governance structures. Using a Canadian sample of firms rated in the November 2004 Board Shareholder Confidence Index, we examine whether corporate governance is a significant influence on the frequency of a firm's disclosures, on analyst behaviour and on the timeliness of price discovery. We find Canadian firms with better governance structures release more documents to the stock market. These firms also attract a larger following of analysts, and their share prices integrate valuerelevant information more rapidly. Overall our results confirm other evidence suggesting corporate governance can play a significant role in determining the efficiency of a country's equity market.
Corporate Governance: An International Review, 2004
This paper examines the links between accounting quality, proxied by earnings timeliness and cons... more This paper examines the links between accounting quality, proxied by earnings timeliness and conservatism, and the composition of the board of directors. Results indicate that firms with a higher proportion of outside board members are more likely to recognise bad news in earnings on a timely basis. However, firms whose boards comprise a relatively high proportion of outsiders do not display greater reporting conservatism with regard to the recognition of good news. These findings suggest that board composition is an important factor in determining the quality of UK firms' reported earnings with respect to incorporating bad news on a timely basis.
Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Apr 1, 2006
We investigate whether and if so, how, corporate governance 'quality' 1 is related to the informa... more We investigate whether and if so, how, corporate governance 'quality' 1 is related to the information flows from a company and how the share market and its agents respond. Specifically, we study links between the 'quality' of a firm's corporate governance (CGQ) and the informativeness of its disclosures. We employ six indicators of informativeness. They include document counts, properties of analysts' forecasts and a 'timeliness' metric, in the spirit of Ball and Brown (1968), that reflects the average speed of price discovery throughout the year. Our results suggest the answer to our question is 'Yes': better-governed firms do make more informative disclosures.
method for encouraging participation W E N DY B E E K E S Lancaster University, UK A B S T R AC T... more method for encouraging participation W E N DY B E E K E S Lancaster University, UK A B S T R AC T Encouraging students to participate during class time is important to facilitate the learning process and encourage deep learning to take place. However, students with certain cultural and education backgrounds are often reluctant to participate in class discussion. This article provides some initial insight into the use of the Personal Response System (PRS) to encourage class participation at the postgraduate level. I found that students ’ participation levels were increased when using the PRS, and further class discussion and debate was stimulated as a result. K E Y WO R D S: Per sona l Re spon s e Sy s t em, s tuden t pa r t i c i pat i on Introduction and background Innovative methods to provide effective learning and teaching are under investigation in most universities in the UK. Some have focused upon the potential benefits of virtual learning environments (for example, Crawford
We investigate the determinants of employee dysfunctional behaviour, focusing on how functional a... more We investigate the determinants of employee dysfunctional behaviour, focusing on how functional area and hierarchical level affect behavioural outcomes. This is an empirical study based upon results obtained from a company based web survey in a Big Four accounting firm in the UK. Our results show dysfunctional behaviour increases when performance evaluation focuses on the achievement of pre-set targets. However such behaviours are reduced as organizational commitment, perceptions of fairness and interactions with superiors increase. Our results show that the strength of these effects differs across hierarchical levels. We also provide some preliminary evidence of differences in behavioural responses in the non-audit section of the firm. Our results confirm hierarchical level is an important contextual factor affecting the use of performance management systems.
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Papers by Wendy Beekes