This paper investigates the accounting and reporting of government interventions during the most recent global financial crisis. It shows that governments do not report all their…
Abstract
This paper investigates the accounting and reporting of government interventions during the most recent global financial crisis. It shows that governments do not report all their interventions as required by accounting standards. The incompleteness of information may systematically lead to erroneous decisions and therefore jeopardize financial sustainability. Particularly relevant are shortcomings in the field of consolidation and the presentation of financial guarantees.
The purpose of this article is to contribute to an ongoing dialogue between practitioners and academics. This article describes the International Public Sector Accounting…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to contribute to an ongoing dialogue between practitioners and academics. This article describes the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) recent strategies and highlights the IPSASB's increasing outreach to academics.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a practitioner's viewpoint which reflects the IPSASB's publicly available documents, and the opinions of a practitioner directly involved in the IPSASB's work and International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) development.
Findings
The findings are that the IPSASB has increased its outreach to academics and now academics have more opportunities to engage with the IPSASB and IPSAS developments. The IPSASB's strategy has remained relatively constant over time, focusing on IPSAS to address public sector-specific issues, alignment with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and reduction of differences between IPSAS and Government Finance Statistics (GFS) reporting guidelines.
Research limitations/implications
The limitations of this article (which are also its strength in terms of fitness for purpose) are that as a practitioner's viewpoint it provides a brief overview and personal judgments, rather than an empirical analysis of developments applying a theoretical framework.
Practical implications
The practical implications were IPSASB's increased outreach to the research community providing opportunities for academics to have increased input into IPSAS development, with likely benefits to researchers and the IPSASB.
Social implications
Practitioners’ engagement with academics supports increased understanding of the respective views leading to better outcomes for practitioners and academics working in the area of public sector financial reporting and its regulation.
Originality/value
This article is the first to (a) describe the IPSASB's increasing outreach to academics during 2019–2020 and (b) compare the IPSASB's strategies for the period of 2019–2023, with its strategies since the beginning of IPSAS developments in 1996–1997.
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Gabriela Molina Frisancho, Ricardo Rocha de Azevedo, Angélica Arroyo Morales and Patricia Siqueira Varela
This research analyzes accountants’ perception of the normative legitimacy of accounting reforms in local governments across Latin America.
Abstract
Purpose
This research analyzes accountants’ perception of the normative legitimacy of accounting reforms in local governments across Latin America.
Design/methodology/approach
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 19 accountants from seven Latin American countries. This qualitative, inductive and interpretive study employs a comparative thematic analysis.
Findings
The results show that accountants in the analyzed Latin American countries have different perceptions about convergence to IPSAS and accounting standards legitimacy, which may affect IPSAS implementation and application in the countries.
Originality/value
The research focuses on the accountant’s perception as one of the agents of change in accounting reform. It offers an in-depth analysis of the IPSAS adoption process and highlights factors to consider in the development of the accounting reform.
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Andreas Kuckertz, Elisabeth S.C. Berger and Alicia Prochotta
This study aims to investigate how Germans' misperceptions of the nature of entrepreneurship influence their attitudes towards entrepreneurial failure.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate how Germans' misperceptions of the nature of entrepreneurship influence their attitudes towards entrepreneurial failure.
Design/methodology/approach
Adopting a multivariate regression analysis, the study used data collected from a commercial online market research panel (N = 2,027) reflecting the overall German working population. Attitudinal items on business failure were used to measure the study variables. The study controlled for age, education, employment status, gender, income, whether the respondent knows a failed entrepreneur and the German federal state in which the respondent resides.
Findings
The findings suggest that reservations about failed entrepreneurs become stronger as misperceptions of the nature of entrepreneurship worsen. The results also show that failure reservations vary regionally over the 16 German federal states.
Practical implications
Nationwide efforts regarding the stimulation of entrepreneurship and the acceptance of entrepreneurial failure are insufficient for removing failure reservations, as they neglect regional cultural differences. The results suggest that it is not enough just to invest in efforts to create a failure-friendly culture, and that a better general education about the realities of entrepreneurship is a prerequisite.
Originality/value
The study generates insights into how the overall population in an innovation-driven economy perceives entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial failure. Moreover, the work delves into the reasons why parts of German society reject failed entrepreneurs. Hence, this study can aid the drafting of effective policy initiatives at the regional and national levels.
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Dennis Bergmann, Declan O’Connor and Andreas Thümmel
The purpose of this paper is to analyze how the German, Irish and average EU farm gate milk prices have changed after the common agricultural policy (CAP) reform in 2003. In…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze how the German, Irish and average EU farm gate milk prices have changed after the common agricultural policy (CAP) reform in 2003. In addition the dynamics of these prices are compared to a US farm gate price.
Design/methodology/approach
These milk price time series are divided into two time periods, pre and post the CAP 2003 reform, and decomposed into their trend, seasonal and cyclical components. For the decomposition a state space model is used following the approach of Harvey (1989).
Findings
The results show that the dynamics of the EU, German and Irish series converged after the CAP 2003 reform were implemented and that a three-year cycle is underlying the European milk prices which is comparable with the cycle length of the US milk price. In addition it is shown that most of the observed price variation in recent times is attributed to the cyclical component.
Research limitations/implications
The division of the milk price time series into periods pre and post the CAP 2003 reform is somewhat subjective because not all measures were immediately applied after the reform. It is also possible that other factors may have contributed to the changed dynamics which have been observed. In addition this leads to a short data sample.
Practical implications
The results show that policy makers should consider counter cyclical policy measures given the importance of the cyclical component. Also most models used to evaluate policies do not account for cycles which may lead to wrong conclusions. In addition farmer should be aware of the cyclical nature of milk prices as they budget and plan for the future.
Originality/value
No previous decomposition studies of European milk prices exist.
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Hagen Wäsche, Richard Beecroft, Helena Trenks, Andreas Seebacher and Oliver Parodi
The aim of this paper is to present a research approach that can contribute to a sustainable development of urban spaces for sports and physical activity, comprising theoretical…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to present a research approach that can contribute to a sustainable development of urban spaces for sports and physical activity, comprising theoretical reflections and directions for applied research.
Design/methodology/approach
This research builds on an urban real-world lab in a city district. It is based on principles of transdisciplinary research and intense processes of participation.
Findings
Five projects with regard to sport and physical activity development were implemented. The projects resulted in exchange and learning of citizens and other stakeholders as well as transformations of the social and built environment.
Research limitations/implications
Instead of top-down research and planning this approach enables bottom-up processes in which affected citizens and stakeholders can contribute to sport and physical activity development.
Practical implications
The approach can help to integrate sport and physical activity development and transformative processes of sustainable development in urban areas.
Social implications
Through participation and involvement, citizens can be empowered and social capital can be generated.
Originality/value
Urban real-world labs are a new approach for sport and physical activity development. This approach opens up the possibility to include sport and physical activity development in processes of city development. Hence, urban real-world labs are able to address an integrated urban and sport development process and can be used for city marketing purposes.
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Lorena del Carmen Álvarez-Castañón and Pilar Arroyo
The chapter aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the entrepreneurship training programmes implemented in public and private universities in the entity of Guanajuato, located in…
Abstract
The chapter aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the entrepreneurship training programmes implemented in public and private universities in the entity of Guanajuato, located in the central part of Mexico. A simple random sample of 449 students who participated in these programmes was collected. The survey data were statistically analysed to determine if the participants’ capability of agency and the influence of their closest social groups – university, family and regional socioenvironmental – increase the entrepreneurial intentions of university students. Results showed that the capability of agency was directly improved after participation in the programme, while entrepreneurial intentions were indirectly influenced by the institutional and business environment.
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Erica S. Jablonski, Chris R. Surfus and Megan Henly
This study compared different types of full-time caregiver (e.g., children, older adults, COVID-19 patients) and subgroups (e.g., disability, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation…
Abstract
Purpose
This study compared different types of full-time caregiver (e.g., children, older adults, COVID-19 patients) and subgroups (e.g., disability, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation) in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic for potentially meaningful distinctions.
Methodology/Approach
Data from the 9,854 full-time caregivers identified in Phase 3.2 (July 21–October 11, 2021) of the US Census Household Pulse Survey (HPS) were analyzed in this study using multinomial logistic regression to examine relationships between caregiver types, marginalized subgroups, generation, and vaccination status.
Findings
The prevalence of caregiving was low, but the type of full-time caregiving performed varied by demographic group (i.e., disability, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, generation, and vaccination status). The relative risk of being a COVID-19 caregiver remained significant for being a member of each of the marginalized groups examined after all adjustments.
Limitations/Implications
To date, the HPS has not been analyzed to predict the type of full-time informal caregiving performed during the COVID-19 pandemic or their characteristics. Research limitations of this analysis include the cross-sectional, experimental dataset employed, as well as some variable measurement issues.
Originality/Value of Paper
Prior informal caregiver research has often focused on the experiences of those caring for older adults or children with special healthcare needs. It may be instructive to learn whether and how informal caregivers excluded from paid employment during infectious disease outbreaks vary in meaningful ways from those engaged in other full-time caregiving. Because COVID-19 magnified equity concerns, examining demographic differences may also facilitate customization of pathways to post-caregiving workforce integration.
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Sophia M. Schwoy, Andreas Dutzi and Juliane Messing
The aim of this study is to critically examine the transparency and reporting practice of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) controversies within the pharmaceutical and…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study is to critically examine the transparency and reporting practice of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) controversies within the pharmaceutical and textile industry. Based on the four core dimensions of transparency, we explore which reporting medium is most frequently chosen for the disclosure of negative ESG contributions, the nature and information content of the disclosed incidents and how voluntary adherence to sustainability reporting standards and independent assurances affect the reporting.
Design/methodology/approach
We use conceptual content analysis and employ a counter-accounting approach to analyse the disclosure of 190 ESG controversies in 104 corporate reports from the pharmaceutical and textile industries, covering a three-year period from 2018–2020.
Findings
The very large majority of controversies are reported only once in the legal proceedings section of the annual report, but not again in the sustainability report, where it would be necessary to provide a balanced picture. Moreover, companies tend to disclose only those controversies that are either associated with high media attention or are expected to be related to litigation, resulting in 26 per cent of controversies not being disclosed at all. The overall quality of disclosure is unsatisfactory and in need of improvement, but comparably higher in the pharmaceutical industry than in the textile industry. Interestingly, neither the application of sustainability reporting standards nor independent assurance seems to positively impact the disclosure behaviour.
Originality/value
Our paper provides new insights into the shortcomings of current ESG controversy disclosures by revealing patterns of selective reporting practices and the strategic framing of issues. In addition, it contributes to the debates on corporate cherry-picking in the adoption of sustainability reporting guidelines and on the effectiveness of external assurance of sustainability reports. Based on the findings, it offers important implications for practitioners, in particular management, policy makers, rating agencies and assurance providers.