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This paper examines the lobbying behaviour of UK managers who commented on Accounting Standard Board proposals to re‐introduce full provision deferred taxation accounting. Although there were no direct cash‐flow implications associated with these proposals, they had the potential to affect a company’s reported net income and revenue reserves. Using published comments and financial statements data, the paper tests: (a) the conventional positive accounting theory gearing hypothesis, using debt/equity ratios and (b) a new dividend hypothesis that is presented in the paper. The findings did not provide support for the gearing hypothesis and are therefore consistent with recent work of various other authors. However, the new dividend hypothesis was supported and the paper therefore suggests that the potential impact that an accounting treatment has on the revenue reserves of a company, and thus its dividend paying capacity, is a plausible reason for observed lobbying behaviour in the UK.

In recent years, Egypt has been developing rapidly from a socialist to a fully developed market‐based economy. One may expect that this economic transition towards a more capitalist orientation will influence the country’s cultural and socio‐economic environment, and consequently the behaviour of its corporate managers. The increasing separation of ownership and control of capital could be expected to increase agency problems associated with managerial decisions. In these circumstances, it should be interesting to identify whether ‘positive accounting’ hypotheses would apply in such an environment. Therefore, this paper examines the relevance to financial reporting in Egypt of some established positive accounting theory hypotheses in addition to a new hypothesis related to taxation. The evidence of the study is consistent with the validity of the conventional ‘bonus’ and ‘debt’ hypotheses and the new ‘taxation’ hypothesis. These conclusions are also consistent with recent empirical studies of cultural and socio‐economic change in Egypt.

This paper aims to complement a more conventional positive accounting theory (PAT)‐based study of accounting method choice in Egyptian firms by examining three alternative computational reasons for depreciation method choice: simplicity; compatibility with industry norm; and suitability for class of asset.

The paper draws on a questionnaire survey, sent to Egyptian companies, in which managers were asked to indicate their reasons for choosing depreciation methods as well as the actual depreciation methods used.

The paper finds that technical reasons were frequently given in survey responses from managers. However, the available evidence on the actual depreciation methods used by their firms and industries is in fact more consistent with PAT‐based theories of accounting choice than with such alternatives. This suggests that the responses to the survey reflected managers' rationalisations of decisions made for self‐interested purposes.

Most recent work on managerial decisions concerning accounting choices utilises data gathered from databases of published financial information and is undertaken within a PAT context. This study extends that approach by utilising the results of a questionnaire distributed in Egypt to test some additional hypotheses that reflect possible technical accounting reasons for justifying depreciation methods.

This paper aims to pay tribute to Rob Gray’s achievements at the University of Dundee in the 1990s – a significant period in the development of the field of social and environmental accounting research.

Memories and reflections.

A personal perception of Rob’s drive, motivations and generosity of spirit.

A portrayal of someone who deserves to be remembered for what he accomplished, and for the collegiate and supportive example he set for others in pursuing social and environmental awareness and responsibility.

Most mature organizations face a major decline in performance at some time during their existence. For more than three decades, it has been suggested that the management practices that could cure a troubled company could have also kept it well. Inspired by this concept, this paper is proposing a preventive approach to early implementation of turnaround strategies as an alternative for otherwise traumatic rescue efforts, further along the downward spiral.

Corporate turnaround strategies and associated risks are integrated with a risk-based approach, along with a proactive decision-making process. The link between turnaround research, resource-based view, the sources of organizational decline, and the governance of organizational-decline-related risks – is explained.

The integrated model streamlines a preventive organizational process for considering the suitability of commonly used turnaround practices – for the non-crisis business routine of a mature company. By considering and adjusting the risks associated with such practices, it addresses risk aversion at the early stages of decline and determines the optimal sequence and timing of retrenchment and recovery activities. As such, it encourages mature companies to take actions for reducing their exposure to organizational decline. Accordingly, the model is named the “Anti-Aging” framework.

Empirical testing of the suitability of turnaround strategies for non-crisis situations is proposed as a direction for future research.

The Anti-Aging framework opens an opportunity for the senior management of a mature organization to respond earlier to organizational decline and avoid the trauma associated with otherwise more challenging conditions, for the benefit of all stakeholders.

The Anti-Aging framework proposes an innovative way of bridging the gap between the benefits of early implementation of turnaround strategies, and major obstacles faced by willing, traditional management teams of mature organizations.

The paper aims to assess the impact of corporate strategy on shareholder value in decline and turnaround situations.

A sample of 45 turnaround firms was selected and matched against a control sample which did not face continuous decline over the time period studied. The impact of corporate strategy on shareholder value was tested using cumulative beta excess return measures to capture the long‐term basis of corporate strategy.

The paper finds that the beta excess return measures captured the hypothesized relationships between strategy and shareholder value for the sample firms studied.

Beta excess return measures are superior to case studies or event studies for identifying the long‐term effects of corporate strategy.

Relatively few studies have compared the strategies of turnaround firms with a matched sample of non‐declining firms. The use of cumulative beta excess returns to assess long‐term valuation of corporate strategy is original.

The paper aims to develop the survey utilized in this research as a data collection tool for the study of organizational responsiveness.

Drawing from the operations and strategic management literature, measurement scales were developed in order to empirically test five proposed enablers of organizational responsiveness: environmental scanning, strategic planning, flexible manufacturing infrastructures, supply chain governance mechanisms, and multi‐skilled workers.

The survey produced a total of 66 responses from 59 companies in three industries: automotive suppliers, instrumentation equipment, and semiconductor components. Three of the five enablers were found to be bi‐dimensional, which produced a survey instrument with eight separate measurement scales. Coefficient alpha was observed to be within the acceptable range for all construct scales and factor analysis confirmed unidimensionality for each construct.

The survey instrument presented in this paper provides a better understanding of the processes that enable organizational responsiveness. This measurement scale will serve as a tool that will allow future researchers to more accurately operationalize the enablers of organizational responsiveness.

The ability of firms to quickly respond to changes in their external environment is a primary determinant of firm performance. This research provides important practical implications for firms wishing to maximize their levels of agility and flexibility in responding to changing environmental conditions.

Few measurement scales currently exist that can be utilized to measure and predict rates of organizational responsiveness. The survey instrument developed as part of this research provides important insights into various organizational factors that enable organizational responsiveness.

Global strategic marketing planning has become increasingly important with the advent of worldwide competition and the growing rapidity of change in the international marketplace. In this article, research and commentaries from the strategic management and international marketing planning literatures are brought together in a model examining what factors influence global strategic marketing planning formality, and whether competitive and organizational benefits accrue from the process. Responses from 90 multinational corporations were subjected to a LISREL analysis. Corporate culture, supply chain elements, foreign regulations and competition were identified as key determinants of planning formality. Considerable non‐financial benefits also accrue as planning formality increases.

Current practice, reified through typical IRB guidelines, has its roots in traditional positivist frameworks about research. The positivist research paradigm is traceable back to Enlightenment epistemologies, which emphasized the fact-based, value-free nature of knowledge (Christians, 2000; Cunningham & Fitzgerald, 1996; Howe & Moses, 1999; Muchmore, 2000). Christians (2000) suggests that researchers who were grounded in positivist approaches used utilitarian perspectives on research ethics. The utilitarian approach suggested that a single set of moral considerations could guide all inquiry; these considerations were outlined in a generally accepted code of ethics that emphasized informed consent, privacy/confidentiality, and accuracy, and that opposed deception in research. Many of these conventions were codified in national legislation in the USA beginning in 1974, in response to several experiments that had mistreated research participants (Hecht, 1995; UCRIHS, 2004). According to Christians (2000), ‘Three principles, published in what became known as the Belmont Report, were said to constitute the moral standards for research involving human subjects: respect for persons, beneficence, and justice’ (p. 140). These principles were intended to ensure that people participated in research voluntarily and anonymously; that researchers protected the well-being of their participants; and that both the benefits and the burdens of research be distributed equitably (Christians, 2000). This legislation established requirements for IRBs that would review and monitor federally funded research conducted by universities and other institutions. Most universities and other research-conducting institutions have since expanded the purview of their IRBs to monitor all institutional research – not just that which is federally funded (Hecht, 1995).

Aims to review accounting practice with regard to the calculation and attribution of technology costs (i.e. depreciation) to products, to evaluate the impact of expected depreciation charges on FCIM system investment, and to propose an alternative depreciation method that is congruent with FCIM resource consumption patterns and better enables rational managerial analysis of the FCIM system investment decision.

Reviews and extends existing models to propose a new model of cost accounting for rational FCIM investment analysis.

The proposed model better enables rational analysis of FCIM system investment options, resulting in a more accurate prediction of income and product line profitability attributable to FCIM system investment.

The logic embodied in this paper should be employed to further the development of more refined models of technology cost attribution. Simulations of machine use and maintenance by engineers, analogous to that presented in this paper, could provide a useful estimate of FCIM system exhaustion.