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Points out that the decline in international economic differentials makes country effects less important and sector effects more important in managing equity funds; but that there is little research on sector and sub‐sector specific risks. Presents a study of sector and sub‐sector volatility in the UK 1967‐2000, explains the methodology, plots the lagged 12‐month moving average of the annualized standard deviation for market, sector and sub‐sector returns; and relates it to economic events and the US pattern. Analyses further and finds that most of the time series variation in total variance is due to changes in market and sub‐sector variance. Compares the volatility of individual sectors and discusses the implications for portfolio risk and diversification. Considers consistency with other research, the underlying reasons for the findings and opportunities for further research.

Purpose of paper: A growing number of studies of the issues of budget process and budget participation have recently emerged in management accounting literature. This paper extends this literature by explaining budget process and budget participation. This research explores the budget process in JPUs, studies the level of budget participation in these universities, and highlights the views and perceptions of budget preparers about the government budget format.

Design/methodology/approach: Nineteen interviews were conducted in 11 universities in Jordan and in the Ministry of Higher Education during 2008.

Findings: The data suggest that the budget usage varies between JPUs, and budget participation in some universities is not consistent where management is centralized. Although respondents understand the importance of budget usage, most of them are dissatisfied with the ministry budget format.

Research implications: The influence of budget participation on the university's overall performance and on performance of head of department may consider one of the important topics to be researched in the future. While, studying the impact of the ministry budget format on the university performance, the reverse impact and relation might be of vital interest to verify the government's expectation about the universities’ compliance and to highlight the importance of implementing a unique standard for all Jordanian universities.

Originality/value of paper: This study contributes to the literature as prior studies have researched budget process and participation in commercial companies in developed countries; this study combines the budget process, participation level while researching the governmental budget format in HEIs in a developing country.

The purpose of this paper is to make an empirical contribution by investigating the boundaries between external financial reporting and decision making through assessing the degree of differences among practitioners’ perspectives of financial reporting measurement attributes across two countries, and the impact of the “domestic” practice through cultural factors on the implementation of financial accounting and regulation.

The authors employ the method of triangulation by employing two research instruments, namely interviews and a questionnaire. Triangulation cuts across and within research strategies, as one of its features as a processual technique is to cross‐check results deriving from both quantitative and qualitative research. Cross‐national studies is a very useful tool that can provide a basis for competing explanations, identifying the importance of regional factors across a universally‐changing environment or discriminating between explanations that are country‐specific and those that are universally applicable.

This study provides evidence for a diverging perceived effectiveness and acceptance of IAS39 in two different banking markets (Greece and the UK), suggesting that culture and domestic configurations play an important part in shaping management perceptions and that given these differences, the choice of a measurement system can potentially also affect the (re)liability of managers that sign a firm's financial reports.

Topical settings can potentially influence the preferences and perceptions of managers with regards to particular measurement bases as part of the wider accounting framework instituted by international authorities, as well as raise significant barriers to harmonisation efforts.

This paper seeks to examine the chasm between regulation and accounting through the lens of topical/domestic configurations of accounting practice and its application. The reason for doing so is also because of the recent structural developments in the international finance arena, namely signs of creation of markets for impaired assets.

This paper aims to draw on the potential behavioural implications of the new (economic) measurement attributes initiated recently by the International Accounting Standard Board (IASB) in their efforts to reflect more relevant, “true” underlying economic values as opposed to historical.

Owing to lack of readily observable market prices (market values) for loans (retail and commercial operations) for statistical testing and initial conservatism on the part of banks for a survey to be conducted, 15 interviews were employed (from October 2005 to November 2006) with major bankers (CEOs and CFOs of major banks) and standard setters. The paper analyses the perceived benefits and costs associated with the application of two diametrically opposite measurement methodologies for banks. These can also have important implications for the “perceived” value/measurement profile of a bank – as argued in the concluding section – for bankers and their regulators, on the one hand, and accounting standard setters and investors, on the other.

The propositions constitute a significant departure from current accounting practices in that all financial assets and liabilities should uniformly be recognised and reported under a universally accepted “economistic” measurement framework.

The paper captures perceptions and attitudes as to the future “behavioural” direction of banks and provides a balanced argument between the rigours of historical cost accounting and fair value accounting.

Music and dance are art forms that involve a full mind-body experience, integrating the cognitive, affective and kinaesthetic domains. To engage in creating music and dance is to use information to express oneself and communicate. In this chapter I explore the information experience of two distinct groups: those who compose music for an audience and those who dance socially with a partner.

For the composer, information sources can be a stimulus for creation. Sounds, feelings, moods, images, ideas and life experiences can trigger a creative idea. These ideas are shaped by existing musical styles and structures, and by the composer’s personal aesthetic. The intention of the composer is to communicate their expressive ideas to an audience.

For the social dancer, information sources are those used to communicate with a partner. There is no intention to perform for an audience. A social dancer aims to express the music and style of the dance while creating a strong connection with their partner. Information sources include the music, the partner’s body, the emotions generated by the dance, the position of other couples on the floor and the feeling of the floor.

Use of information in the arts is an under-researched experience. Most information studies are based on the assumption that information is documentary and codified. Subjective and affective information is rarely recognised and legitimised. Information-as-it-is-experienced through creative practice such as music and dance is holistic in acknowledging mind, body and spirit as well as traditional documentary forms of information. This chapter draws on empirical research to illustrate experiencing information as creating and expressing.

This paper focuses on the need to revise the conceptualisation and measurement of evaluative style in future Reliance on Accounting Performance Measures (RAPM) research. Based on a review of the existing literature, we identify a number of issues in the conceptualisation and measurement of evaluative style and conclude that none of the existing measures is ideal for use in future research. We see two general dimensions of evaluative style that need specific attention in future research. The first dimension addresses the evaluative focus of the superior (e.g. budgets, other quantitative targets, short or long‐term targets, etc.). The second dimension addresses the superior’s way of handling the evaluation process (e.g. rigid or flexible, fixing blame, using it as a learning opportunity, etc.). Building on these two dimensions, there i a need for studies that assess how specific performance measures are used in different way within a particular organisational context, enabling a distinction between the design and the use of control tools. These conclusions suggest a need for qualitative indepth field studies within single organisations rather than quantitative survey research across organisations in future research on evaluative style and its behavioural consequences.