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This paper provides a review of research on financial derivatives, with an emphasis on and comprehensive coverage of research published in 15 top accounting journals from 1996 to 2017. We begin with some brief institutional details about derivatives and then summarize studies explaining when and why firms use derivatives. We then discuss the evolution of the accounting rules related to derivatives (and associated disclosure requirements) and studies that examine changes in these requirements over the years. Next, we review the literature that examines the consequences of firms’ derivative use to various capital market participants (i.e., managers, analysts, investors, boards of directors, etc.), with an emphasis on the role that the accounting and disclosure rules play in such consequences. Finally, we discuss the importance of industry affiliation on firms’ derivative use and the role that industry affiliation plays in derivatives research. Overall, our review suggests that, perhaps due to their inherent complexity and data limitations, derivatives are relatively understudied in accounting, and we highlight several areas where future research is needed.

A recent article described some of the work undertaken by GAMMA for the Federal Government of Canada concerning the prospects of adopting a ‘Conserver Society’ as a future policy goal. It stressed the present need for waste minimization in the public and private sectors and, concomitantly, the greater need for future consideration by private and public planners of the ecological and social costs of both production and consumption.

The publication of the British Standards Institute (BSI) Code of Practice for Legal Admissibility of Information Stored on Electronic Document Management Systems — PD 0008 has focused attention on how the courts may react when confronted with documents generated from document imaging systems. To judge by the large attendance at the recent series of conferences to discuss the Code of Practice, this is an area of increasing interest.

The lawyer‐proof Web site is, regrettably, either a contradiction in terms or an unachievable Platonic ideal. Whilst it may be possible to ensure that a Web site is reasonably safe under the laws of one country, or even a few major countries, the chances of doing so for every country from which it can be accessed are not great. The ideal of the lawyer‐proof Web site also embodies a hidden irony: to approach the ideal the site designer needs to involve a lawyer in the design of the Web site from an early stage, before irrevocable decisions about structure of the site and pathways through it have been taken and implemented.

No systematic models are being used in empirical research that provide assurance for the choice of proxies that are being used. The purpose of this paper is to examine the validity of the proxies being used in empirical research, and as a case study, it focuses on the area of financial derivatives.

First, the authors review results of proxies from the financial derivatives literature and follow with empirical tests to confirm the findings from the review.

The review shows that proxies provide mixed results. The findings are further supported by the results from empirical tests. It suggests that measures used in the studies related to financial derivatives theory may need to be refined and highlights that no solid bases or tests have been developed for the proxies used to measure the constructs.

As individual proxies are examined across studies, a meta-regression analysis cannot be used, and there is no other available model to capture this type of examination. The approach adopted has some limitations but provides a basis for examining the reasonableness of proxies as measures of constructs.

This is the first study that attempts to examine the strength of proxies in capturing related constructs. The methodology is unique to a review of past studies in financial derivatives. It supports the need for developing more rigorous models/bases for the measures being used, and this is an area that has been ignored in empirical research.

Suggests that with the increasing sophistication and complexity of Web sites, and the prospect of serious business being done through them, a review of the legal aspects of the site should be an integral part of the site design process. Discusses different ways of setting up a Web site, some of the legal consequences that attach to each and some ways of managing the risk of liability.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the interest rate risk management (IRRM) practices of UK companies. In particular, the study examines five theories that have been advanced in the literature to explain why companies hedge: tax and regulatory arbitrage; under‐investment, volatility of earnings and future planning; financial distress; managerial self‐interest; and economies of scale.

The paper uses a questionnaire survey to examine the importance of hedging theories and to look at the detailed risk management practices of companies.

The research findings confirm that all five theories of financial risk management have some support in practice. However, while the responses to some questions supported the theories, other information elicited from the questionnaires did not. This finding demonstrates that studies which employ large disaggregated datasets that result in generalised conclusions often miss the dynamic nature of corporate affairs and that, as such, more qualitative research is needed in this area.

The use of a questionnaire survey facilitates an investigation of the IRRM practices of companies on an individual basis rather than the aggregated analysis afforded by most quantitative studies in finance. In addition, the qualitative approach adopted here permits an examination of many factors that relate to risk management practices, rather than just a limited number of financial ratios or factors that are typically used in studies of large datasets.

In November 1974, GAMMA, an interuniversity futures studies group at the Université de Montréal and McGill, on the basis of an unsolicited proposal received a contract from the Canadian Department of Supply and Services, acting on behalf of fourteen federal government departments and agencies, “to provide a perspective on the implications for Canada and for Federal Government policies and programs of a future period of controlled, socially oriented growth generally described as the ‘Conserver Society.’

Struggling writers and students with disabilities tend to have difficulties with multiple aspects of the writing process. Therefore, in this chapter, we describe Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD; Harris, Graham, Mason, & Friedlander, 2008). SRSD is a writing intervention with extensive research demonstrating its effectiveness for improving the writing quality of struggling writers and students with disabilities when implemented by both teachers and researchers in a variety of educational settings. We also describe an ineffective writing practice, stand-alone grammar instruction. Although this type of grammar instruction is explicit, it is removed from an authentic writing context, and decades of research have demonstrated its negative effects on students’ writing quality. We close the chapter with recommendations for future research on SRSD as well as general suggestions for teachers who provide writing instruction to struggling writers and students with disabilities.