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In this chapter we provide analytical and Monte Carlo evidence that Chow and Predictive tests can be consistent against alternatives that allow structural change to occur at either end of the sample. Attention is restricted to linear regression models that may have a break in the intercept. The results are based on a novel reparameterization of the actual and potential break point locations. Standard methods parameterize both of these locations as fixed fractions of the sample size. We parameterize these locations as more general integer-valued functions. Power at the ends of the sample is evaluated by letting both locations, as a percentage of the sample size, converge to 0 or 1. We find that for a potential break point function, the tests are consistent against alternatives that converge to 0 or 1 at sufficiently slow rates and are inconsistent against alternatives that converge sufficiently quickly. Monte Carlo evidence supports the theory though large samples are sometimes needed for reasonable power.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the nutritional effects in Wistar rats of supplementation with stand-alone saturated fatty acid (SFA) or monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA), the replacement of SFA by MUFA and the combination of both (SFA + MUFA) over a long period of time (13 weeks).

In total, 30 Wistar rats were used and randomly assigned to receive (n = 6): control – lab chow; lard (L20%) – lab chow with added lard (20%); olive oil (O20%) – lab chow with added olive oil (20%); lard replacement with olive oil (L20% –O20%) – during six weeks lab chow with added lard (20%) replaced by lab chow with added olive oil (20%) given during the past seven weeks of the trial; lard combination with olive oil (L10% + O10%) – lab chow with added lard (10%) and olive oil (10%). Food and caloric intake, weight gain, food and energy efficiency, body mass index, bone mineral composition and blood biochemistry were evaluated.

All diets with added fatty acids showed higher energy intake (p < 0.001), weight gain (p = 0.01), accumulation of adipose tissue (p = 0.02) and food and energy efficiency (p = 0.01) compared to the control group. All groups exhibited higher levels of blood triglycerides compared to the control group (p = 0.02). In addition, the L10% + O10% group developed hyperglycemia (p < 0.001); the L group showed higher amounts of non- high density lipoprotein (HDL-c) (p = 0.04); and the L20%−O20% group exhibited high levels of the triglyceride/HDL-c ratio (p = 0.04) in relation to the control.

These results indicate that regardless of the fatty acid type, consumption in large quantities of fatty acids for long periods of time can cause obesity and dyslipidemia.

Consequent to an arson fire killing 17 persons in a Hong Kong karaoke in 1997, fire safety provisions in karaokes has raised public concern. Government officers and the services industry have agreed to upgrade fire safety provisions. But before deciding what to do, facilities for the existing karaokes are the subject of a review. A simple fire safety ranking system was proposed in 1999 for existing karaokes. They were grouped on the basis of their fire facilities and management system. The system was criticized for being inapplicable to local industry, as a result of failing to solicit views from the services industry. That system has since been revised. Trial runs in 19 existing karaokes were carried out in 2000. Now, the system is more suited for local use as it is simple. Hence advocates the use of the system to the Hong Kong Fire Authority for assessing fire safety of existing karaokes.

This study extends the budgetary participation–performance/cultural effects literature by isolating and examining the moderating effect of one cultural dimension, power distance, on the budgetary participation–performance relationship. Isolating the impact of power distance is important to this literature because of the fact that participative budgeting remains a possibly underutilized management tool in high power distance countries.

We regroup our multinational sample of managers by power distance level, and employ multigroup structural equation modeling (SEM) and a set of nonparametric bootstrap tests to triangulate our findings.

We find that the majority of our managers from three high power distance countries (Mexico, Korea, and China) score in the lower half of the power distance scale, that there is significant correlation between participation and performance in both the high and low power distance subsamples, but that the mechanisms connecting participation to performance are quite different. While job satisfaction plays a role in connecting budgetary participation and performance among low power distance managers, job relevant information alone connects budgetary participation and performance among their high power distance counterparts.

The primary contribution of our work is that we not only demonstrate that budget participation can improve the performance of subordinate managers in high power distance cultures, but also provide evidence of how and why this is plausible. First managers may not share the same high power distance tendencies of their countrymen, and second, the communication aspect of budget participation appears to be more important for increased performance among those with high power distance tendencies.

In response to increasing pressures for public sector efficiency and effectiveness, many countries have switched from cash-based governmental accounting to accrual-based approaches. But other countries have rejected this change, suggesting that its costs and benefits may vary with country-specific factors. To gain insights into the desirability and feasibility of changing China’s governmental accounting from the current cash-based system to one based on the accrual approach, we survey 608 Chinese government staff and officials who either prepare or use such reports. These respondents identify a number of specific inadequacies in the current system and express widespread support for converting towards an accrual-based approach. They also assess the severity of potential impediments to change and the most workable arrangement and timetable for such a change.

There exists an association between Supply Chain Quality Management (SCQM) and supply chain competence. To verify such claims, data was collected from Hong Kong based firms. The data showed in most cases an association could be established between SCQM initiatives and the supply chain competence. Some fi rms with SCQM initiatives tend to perform better in terms of customer service or product quality. Supply chains managers may therefore, perform better when their managerial foci are consistent with recognized dimensions of supply chain quality and excellence. In today’s global economy supply chain management is crucial in achieving organizational effectiveness.

The study aims at reviewing a synthesis of disclosure, transparency, and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) implementation in an attempt to provide directions for future research. Prior research overwhelmingly supports that the IFRS adoption or effective implementation of IFRS will enhance high-quality financial reporting, transparency, enhance the country’s investment environment, and foreign direct investment (FDI) (Dayanandan, Donker, Ivanof, & Karahan, 2016; Gláserová, 2013; Muniandy & Ali, 2012). However, some researchers provide conflicting evidence that developing countries implementing IFRS are probably not going to encounter higher FDI inflows (Gheorghe, 2009; Lasmin, 2012). It has also been argued that the IFRS adoption decreases the management earnings in countries with high levels of financial disclosure. In general, the study indicates that the adoption of IFRS has improved the financial reporting quality. The common law countries have strong rules to protect investors, strict legal enforcement, and high levels of transparency of financial information. From the extensive structured review of literature using the Scopus database tool, the study reviewed 105 articles, and in particular, the topic-related 94 articles were analysed. All 94 articles were retrieved from a range of 59 journals. Most of the articles (77 of 94) were published 2010–2018. The top five journals based on the citations are Journal of Accounting Research (187 citations), Abacus (125 citations), European Accounting Review (107 citations), Journal of Accounting and Economics (78 citations), and Accounting and Business Research (66 citations). The most-cited authors are Daske, Hail, Leuz, and Verdi (2013); Daske and Gebhardt (2006); and Brüggemann, Hitz, and Sellhorn (2013). Surprisingly, 65 of 94 articles did not utilise the theory. In particular, four theories have been used frequently: agency theory (15), economic theory (5), signalling theory (2), and accounting theory (2). The study calls for future research on the theoretical implications and policy-related research on disclosure and transparency which may inform the local and international standard setters.

This paper aims to give a brief review on behavioral economics and behavioral finance and discusses some of the previous research on agents' utility functions, applicable risk measures, diversification strategies and portfolio optimization.

The authors also cover related disciplines such as trading rules, contagion and various econometric aspects.

While scholars could first develop theoretical models in behavioral economics and behavioral finance, they subsequently may develop corresponding statistical and econometric models, this finally includes simulation studies to examine whether the estimators or statistics have good power and size. This all helps us to better understand financial and economic decision-making from a descriptive standpoint.

The research paper is original.

This paper uses a laboratory experiment to examine the effect of accountability pressure as a monitoring control tool to mitigate subordinates' propensity to create budgetary slack. The results suggest that budgetary slack is (lowest) highest when accountability pressure is (present) absent under a private information situation. The results further reveal that accountability pressure is positively associated with subordinates' perceived levels of honesty, which in turn is negatively associated with budgetary slack creation. The findings of this paper have important theoretical and practical implications for budgetary control systems design.