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This paper examines the relationship between a prime contractor's financial health and its mergers and acquisitions (M&A) spending in the defense industry. It aims to provide models that give the United States Department of Defense (DoD) indications of future M&A activity, informing decision-makers and contributing to ensuring competitive markets that benefit the consumer.

The study uses panel data regression models on 40 companies between 1985 and 2021. The company's financial health is assessed using industry-standard financial ratios (i.e. measures of profitability, efficiency, solvency and liquidity) while controlling for economic factors such as national productivity, defense budgets and firm size.

The results show a significant relationship between efficiency and M&A spending, indicating that companies with lower efficiency tend to spend more on M&As. However, there was no significant relationship between M&A spending and a company's profitability or solvency. These results were consistent with previous research and the study's hypotheses for profitability and solvency. However, the effect of liquidity was the opposite of the expected result, possibly due to the defense industry's different view on liquidity compared to previous research.

The paper provides insights into the relationship between a prime contractor's financial health and its M&A spending, a topic with limited research. The findings can inform policymakers and regulators on the industrial base's future M&A activity, ensuring competitive markets that benefit the consumer.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between company reputation and dividend policy.

In this study, sample of 98,809 firm-year observations from 22 countries covering 2005–2016 were used.

Firm reputation concerns are associated with higher propensities to pay dividends and payout ratios. Further, this positive effect is more pronounced for firms with high free cash flows, high information asymmetry and low institutional monitoring. The results are robust to an instrumental variable approach, propensity score matching and the Heckman two-stage correction approach while addressing endogeneity concerns.

These findings have significant implications for various stakeholders, such as existing and potential investors, managers, policymakers and regulators, by providing insights into the relationship between corporate reputation and firm dividend payout decisions. Corporate reputation is highlighted as crucial for accessing finance, emphasizing the role of national regulators and policymakers in facilitating firms' efforts to improve their reputation. The study highlights the dynamics of corporate reputation and dividend payout, calling for proactive engagement from regulators and policymakers. Crafting policies conducive to reputation-building can enhance firms' financial prospects, indicating the need for strategic interventions at managerial, regulatory and policy levels. Understanding the influence of economic context is crucial for firms to tailor reputation management strategies and optimize funding opportunities in different economic environments.

Overall, results suggest that reputation serves as a disciplining mechanism, where firms will pay dividends to maintain their reputations.

This article details the process used at the Florida Gulf Coast University library to plan and implement a collection deaccessioning project as part of a larger building master plan.

The authors conducted a brief literature review, a historic usage analysis of the collection and the multi-phase deaccessioning project. The phases included a standard inclusion query, manual list inspection and department feedback. Discard rate was measured at each phase.

Different challenges were found at each phase. Although teaching faculty were skeptical, the authors involved them early to their benefit. Each collection presented interesting challenges; notable was that although the reference collection was almost completely deaccessioned, the retained items presented unique accessibility challenges. The main stacks required a new deaccessioning workflow due to the volume of materials. The findings include final retention rates per call number range. Although the authors were able to meet the plan’s goal, they discovered the need for further collection curation: there is no substitute for traversing the stacks in person.

We present a successful methodology with a high efficacy, high community engagement and low controversy, which can function as a model at other regional academic institutions.

This paper is a comprehensive review of one successful rightsizing effort set in the context of a new strategic plan and can function as a model at other regional academic institutions.

The aim of this paper, which analyses the use of sports celebrities in advertising discourse, is to understand the strategic use to which brands put them in their commercial and corporate communication on Instagram.

To this end, a content analysis was performed on the Instagram posts of the brands Santander, Movistar, Red Bull and Iberdrola during the period 2021-2022.

The results indicate that, strategically speaking, these brands use the celebrity endorsement strategy to pursue emotional objectives and to adopt a position depending on the type of user. Likewise, these findings show that they single out uniqueness as the principal celebrity characteristic, while also mainly leveraging sports values, especially competence. These values represented by sports celebrities are markedly social in nature, which implies that they enjoy a degree of public recognition that is transferred to the brand to which they lend their image.

The conclusions connect celebrity endorsers with strategic branding issues and aspects of sports.

An empirical approach is followed here to study the representation of sports celebrities in the advertising of well-known brands linked to the sports world.

An advanced graduate-level financial accounting theory course should provide integral content for all accounting programs. However, we are aware that such courses are not always required at either the undergraduate or graduate level. We taught the accounting theory class at three institutions for many years, and as a result, we provide our views about the opportunities and challenges of placing the class at the undergraduate level while supporting our belief that the best placement is at the graduate level. As well, we strongly support a theoretical approach over a more short-term functional approach that stresses preparation for the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) examination. We offer our views supporting these perspectives along with a general framework for a theory class.

This chapter reflects on a media studies project exploring Sylvia Plath poetry on Tumblr. The project ultimately resulted in excess digital data, with no conventional publications or research outputs. Now writing 10 years after data collection, I take a storying approach to explore the original research concerns and the research process, thereby locating a reconfigured ‘research event’ that draws together various biographical, social, political and historical factors. I reflect on my evolving understanding of ‘research’, discussing early teaching experiences and postgraduate pathways that partly structured a particular relationship to research. This serves to bridge a discussion about the challenges of the initial process over a decade ago, including the uncomfortable pairing of inexperience among aspiring researchers and institutional pressures to publish. I then discuss the theoretical perspectives that inspire and, in retrospect, offer clarity for the project, given the amount of time passed since data collection and the synergistic relationship between the storying approach, poststructuralist thought and story-focused methodologies. I argue that Tumblr provides unique opportunities for identity negotiation, aesthetic appreciation, data extraction and commodification, which highlights both the creative agency of digital aesthetic curation and self-work, as well as the importance of algorithmic transparency. I also contend that engaging with excess data led to methodologically and theoretically useful insights, challenging assumptions about the temporality of usable data and the ever-changing relationship between art, technology and freedom.

The study examines the changes in audit market concentration, auditor choice and audit quality in Russia following International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption. Scholars have called for further examination of the effects of IFRS adoption on auditors, with an emphasis on the importance of analyzing emerging markets that are characterized by enforcement challenges and lack of proper infrastructure. It focuses on a unique feature of Russian companies – dual audits under Russian Accounting Standards (RAS) and IFRS – and investigates changes in audit concentration and audit quality for the two audit markets.

The authors rely on the audited financial statements of Russian public companies and perform pre-/post-IFRS adoption estimation using a logit regression to ascertain whether public firms change auditors from local firms with limited IFRS expertise to those with global reputation, namely Big 4 audit firms. Further, they examine whether the change in audit market concentration post-2012 affects audit quality as proxied by companies' propensity to receive a modified audit opinion and discretionary accruals. Auditor attributes were hand-collected from audited financial statements and matched with financial variables from Datastream.

The IFRS audit market was dominated by the Big 4 audit firms prior to 2012, and there is strong evidence that audit market share (concentration) increases for IFRS reports but not for RAS reports. In addition, companies are more likely to choose a Big 4 audit firm for an RAS audit, conditional upon a Big 4 firm conducting the IFRS audit. The authors do not find evidence of decrease in the probability of audit firms issuing a modified audit opinion under either RAS or IFRS, indicating that, in the Russian setting, increased auditor concentration post-IFRS adoption does not lead to enhanced risk or decline in audit quality. Moreover, they find that discretionary accruals decline post-2012. Overall, the findings indicate that the concern of global regulators regarding audit market concentration is not justified.

The Russian reporting environment is unique and generally characterized by significant agency problems, and the study’s estimation sample is not large, compared to prior studies conducted predominantly in Western jurisdictions. Nevertheless, the authors shed light on the audit concentration phenomenon within emerging markets, for which empirical evidence is scarce. Future research could explore the impact of other capital market events and exogenous shocks, not limited to IFRS adoption, on the characteristics of Russia's audit market.

The IFRS reporting regime is commonly associated with enhanced reporting quality and improved information transparency among public companies. Yet, impairment of audit quality as a result of IFRS-driven increase in audit market share of Big 4 can potentially negate these capital market effects. This study shows that the concerns of global regulators are not valid and that audit quality does not change with increased share of Big 4 post-IFRS adoption.

Dual audits, whereby companies must prepare two sets of financial statements per the IFRS mandate, are not unique to Russia, and the evidence of IFRS reporting on the structural changes in the audit market and implications for audit quality under a dual regime is scarce. Accordingly, the study's findings are important and timely and are expected to aid regulators of countries that have announced or are contemplating the adoption of IFRS for public reporting purposes.

This study aims to examine the effects of payment methods used in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) conducted by UK companies spanning the period from 2007 to 2019.

The study used the estimated expected returns method to identify abnormal returns during the deal announcement period, applying event study analysis with both univariate and multivariate regression models to detect cumulative abnormal returns around the announcement timeframe.

The results show a short-term positive return increase for acquiring firms, controlling for deal-specific characteristics like target firm location and payment methods. The authors observed a preference for cash financing across domestic and cross-border transactions. Multivariate analysis revealed insignificance between payment methods and deal characteristics like cross-border acquisitions and diversification.

The study’s focus on publicly traded firms in the UK and the absence of a comparative analysis across different regions and markets limits the sample size and may impact the generalizability of findings.

The study proposes three practical implications. Firstly, firms should tailor payment methods to each transaction, aligning with strategic goals to optimize value and mitigate risks. Secondly, decision-makers must prioritize comprehensive due diligence and strategic alignment throughout M&A processes to enhance success and maximize synergies. Finally, analysing broader strategic contexts and regulatory landscapes when structuring transactions enables goal attainment, such as market expansion or value creation.

The study’s findings can promote transparency and accountability among corporate decision-makers in M&A transactions. Stakeholders can advocate for transparent decision-making processes, enhancing trust in corporate governance.

This study provides valuable insights into the impact of payment methods on shareholder value in M&A transactions involving UK companies, informing strategic decision-making and contributing to the understanding of corporate finance dynamics.

This paper aims to assess retail shopping avenues for young consumers based on the type of guidance and assistance they pursue (social media vs professional service provider) in purchasing situations judged to be important. Young consumers consider themselves pet parents and pets represent an extension of self. Thus, pet-related products, by their importance, represent an excellent area of analysis for this inquiry.

Data collection was completed in a way that is contextually relevant and gives the results ecological validity with the assistance of a major supplier of pet food. A total of 470 Gen Z owners of small companion animals were obtained. The partial least squares structural equation modeling testing method is considered appropriate for the model analysis due to the structure and homogeneity of the sample and due to the precision of the method.

Results indicate that, in accordance with social media engagement (SME) theory, high SME elevated social commerce purchase intentions while professional advice seekers reported increased brick-and-mortar shopping. Thus, context-dependent, young consumers may purchase from brick-and-mortar sites.

This paper draws on SME and Advice Response Theory and proposes an original model explaining channel selection preferences for young consumers based on the type of advice sought for important purchasing decisions. The model represents a steppingstone to investigate the mechanism that translates information search sources into buying through different channels.