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This paper aims to examine the applicability of real options methodology with respect to developing internal transfer pricing mechanisms. A pervasive theme in existing models is their inability to handle the dynamic and volatile nature of today’s business environment, as well as their lack of objective managerial flexibility. The authors address these and other issues and develop a transfer pricing mechanism based on Black–Scholes and the binomial options pricing methodology, which is better suited in today’s dynamic business environment.

The authors use a conceptual approach in developing theoretical justifications and show, practically, how a transfer price can be developed using two different real options pricing models.

The authors find that real options transfer price mechanism (real options framework [ROF]) can effectively deal with many of the issues that permeate a modern organization with complex multi-dimensional operations. The authors argue that uncertainty and behavioral issues commonly associated with setting transfer prices are better handled using a transfer pricing mechanism that preserves flexibility at the business unit level, the managerial level and the firm level. The approach allows for different managerial styles in both centralized and decentralized sub-units within the same organization. The authors argue that an open multi-dimensional framework using real options is suitable under conditions of uncertainty and managerial opportunism.

ROF-based transfer pricing may be significant in that firms can use it as a tool to manage an organization by setting the prices centrally and at the same time allowing managers to select the transfer price that best suits their specific situation and operating conditions. This may result in a more efficient and more profitable organization.

The contribution of the paper is the melding of the ROF from the finance literature with the accounting problem of setting a transfer price for items lacking a competitive market price. The authors also contribute to existing research by explicitly developing a framework that values managerial flexibility, takes into account uncertainty and considers the behavioral aspects of the transfer pricing process. The authors establish the conditions under which a generic real options model is a feasible alternative in determining a transfer price.

This article investigates the impact of auditing on the commission of financial reporting irregularities by managers. We also examine whether the deterrent effect of auditing is affected by individual demographics. An experiment, using three case scenarios, was employed. Our findings indicated that auditing had a strong deterrent effect when the following conditions were present: material dollar amounts, irregularities involving asset overstatements, unambiguous violations of accounting principles, and low incentive for misstating income. While age, experience, and contact with auditors did not influence the deterrent effect of auditing, we found evidence that respondents with accounting and finance specializations perceived auditing as a greater deterrent than other respondents.

This paper views the outputs of the accounting information system as elements of a control system. These outputs may be of a financial accounting nature as well as a managerial accounting nature. Rewards for management are often based on measures typically found in the annual reports. Managers have an interest in making sure these measures are favorable. This paper presents ways for management to deal with situations where what is good (bad) for the manager may be bad (good) for the company.

Outside influences affect the progression of research in any discipline, including accounting. These influences offer one explanation for problems of replicability or comparability to previous studies, a common concern today. This article examines “who” participates in behavioral experiments and surveys involving accountants. This issue is important because of nontrivial differences in the composition of those in the accounting profession (and thus, participants in subject pools) over approximately 50 years of behavioral accounting research. Based on the theory of individual differences, we explore whether differences in the population of accounting research participants through the years could impact the replication or comparability of current-day research to earlier studies.

Our reading of available literature suggests that our profession has become more diverse in terms of gender and country of origin and that the oft-referenced characteristics of the millennial generation may also represent a distinct difference from previous generations of accountants. We discuss instances in which this changing nature of our profession, and thus our research population, could have implications for current-day behavioral accounting research.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of financial information and valuation methods among private equity funds in Europe and India. The authors analyze differences in the choice of valuation methods and how the use of financial information differs among funds in the UK, Pan Europe and India.

A survey approach was utilized in collecting proprietary data from European and Indian private equity funds. The data were classified according to fund type, country grouping, size, risk profile, labor cost and industry structure and analyzed using MANOVA and ANOVA.

The results show that the use of valuation models is relatively homogeneous across countries and that the use of financial information appears to be driven to a large extent by fund type and fund focus. The use of audited financial statements appears to increase as firms mature. Significant differences were found in standard financial adjustments between the two fund types and between the country groupings. Results based on labor cost are weakly significant whereas industry structure does not appear to have an impact on how fund managers evaluate investments.

The results indicate that fund managers adapt their decision‐making behavior according to investment type and risk. The authors argue that understanding asymmetrical and structural issues may potentially improve investment decision‐making processes. The main conclusion for researchers is that buy‐out and venture capital funds should not be combined as one asset class. Since a survey approach was used, the study is subject to the belief that fund managers do not internalize decisions well, which could reduce the effectiveness of the research design.

There are few studies in the areas covered by this paper due to the proprietary nature of the private equity industry. The results are important because they help in understanding how fund managers use decision aids such as financial statements and valuation techniques. A better understanding of current practices will help fund managers and fund sponsors in devising improved decision aids and processes, which ultimately may lead to fewer non‐performing investments. This is especially important in private equity since investment decisions are often irreversible and binary.

The MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region is in a critical moment in its information and news ecology, exhibiting signs of pretruth and posttruth syndromes. Between the “pretruth” and “posttruth” there is a gap that circumvented “truth.” The state of information in the MENA region brings back the dystopian Orwellian notion of the “Ministry of Truth.” A poetic term in anticipation of this moment of the crisis of truth. Sharing the latter with the rest of the world, the pretruth moment is engraved in the region's history of precarious political and religious authoritarian control and manipulation of information and news and low press freedom. In the region, truth is told, hidden, distorted, and manufactured by a blend of humans and bots, where both artificial intelligence and social humans are involved in this process of multipolarized disinformation operations with multifarious sponsors, actors, and beneficiaries that have distinct and often clashing agendas and interests. To understand the ecology of truth, facts, news, and information in the Middle East, studies ought to be situated within the ecosystem of information and media technologies in the globalized national and transnational societies of the region and consider both the role of the regionally oriented neoauthoritarian regimes and that of interested rising and established global powers. Central to this ecosystem is the dynamic interaction among three actors: communication technologies (the focus here is on the Internet); media, public, and activists' use of these technologies to mobilize, inform, and present alternative narratives, and to resist or confirm state narratives; and the authoritarian political regimes and their containment strategies for legacy media (particularly television) and the Internet.

Investigates the differences in protocols between arbitral tribunals and courts, with particular emphasis on US, Greek and English law. Gives examples of each country and its way of using the law in specific circumstances, and shows the variations therein. Sums up that arbitration is much the better way to gok as it avoids delays and expenses, plus the vexation/frustration of normal litigation. Concludes that the US and Greek constitutions and common law tradition in England appear to allow involved parties to choose their own judge, who can thus be an arbitrator. Discusses e‐commerce and speculates on this for the future.

Understanding the context surrounding a brand's role is paramount to knowing what drives consumers to want what they want. The purpose of this paper is to highlight eight mega‐trends that are currently influencing the consumers' world and, in turn, how marketers deliver brand messages.

The integrated brand development and marketing firm, Hiebing, conducted secondary research to help define and identify the eight mega‐trends referenced in this paper. Since 1981, Hiebing has helped hundreds of clients find, design and deliver powerful communications that have increased brands' impact and profits.

Consumers drive the universe. Not brands. Not products. Not businesses. And today's consumers are more sophisticated than ever at tuning out messages that do not resonate immediately with their own desires or needs. Relevancy – the role that a particular brand plays in consumers' lives – is what it is all about. Unless your brand plays a role that consumers value, you are wasting your time.

This paper identifies and elaborates on eight mega‐trends that are critical for marketers to understand. Staying current with them is the first step toward creating powerful communications between your targets and a brand that will withstand the test of time.