Digital Commons Network^™

The International Labour Organisation And The Australian Contribution To The International Labour Standards Debate, Chris Nyland, Robert Castle

Robert G. Castle

Summarizes the debate between those who are urging the World Trade Organization to adopt a social clause that links the right to engage in international trade with basic labour rights, and those who believe that this would harm the ability of developing countries to compete with the advanced economies because it would prevent them paying lower wages to their workers. Sets out the background to this debate, before examining how it has been carried forward in Australia, looking at the submissions made to the Duffy Report, published in 1996, and the subsequent debate. Analyses the positions taken by the Australian …

Iso 26000: Bridging The Public/Private Divide In Transnational Business Governance Interactions, Kernaghan Webb

Transnational Business Governance Interactions Working Papers

This paper explores the proposition that the ISO 26000 social responsibility guidance standard represents an innovative form of global social responsibility (SR) rule instrument that performs five key distinctive bridging functions in addressing public and private transnational business governance interactions: (1) top down transpositions of key concepts from inter-­‐governmental instruments directed at first instance at states into a non-­‐state global SR rule instrument applying directly to transnational corporations (TNCs) and other organizations; (2) bottom up transpositions of key concepts from non-­‐state SR instruments of narrow focus to apply more broadly to all SR activities; (3) innovations in the standards development …

The Value Of Government Mandated Location-Based Services In Emergencies In Australia, Anas Aloudat, Katina Michael, Roba Abbas, Mutaz M. Al-Debei

Dr. Mutaz M. Al-Debei

The adoption of mobile technologies for emergency management has the capacity to save lives. In Australia in February 2009, the Victorian Bushfires claimed 173 lives, the worst peace-time disaster in the nation’s history. The Australian government responded swiftly to the tragedy by going to tender for mobile applications that could be used during emergencies, such as mobile alerts and location services. These applications, which are becoming increasingly accurate with the evolution of positioning techniques, have the ability to deliver personalized information direct to the citizen during crises, complementing traditional broadcasting mediums like television and radio. Indeed governments have a responsibility …

Goodwill Non-Impairments, Dennis Chambers, Catherine Finger

Faculty and Research Publications

The article discusses the use of goodwill non-impairment by companies to manage their earnings. The effect of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) 142 on goodwill-related earnings management is described. A table shows the results of related the working papers "Earnings Management By Avoiding or Reducing Goodwill Impairments," by Dennis Chambers, "Evidence on the Use of Unverifiable Estimates in Required Goodwill Impairment," by Karthik Ramanna and Ross L. Watts, and "Has Goodwill Accounting Gone Bad?," by Kevin K. Li and Richard G. Sloan.

International Labor Rights And The Sovereignty Question: Nafta And Guatemala, Two Case Studies, Lance A. Compa

Lance A Compa

[Excerpt] Labor rights advocates in the United States and allied organizations abroad attempting to establish international fair labor standards run up against traditional notions of sovereignty in formulating national labor policies and development strategies. In the same way that entrenched sovereignty principles gradually yielded to international human rights claims after World War E, sovereignty is now being challenged by claims of international laborrights in the field of employment standards and industrial relations. This Article seeks to illuminate this challenge to sovereignty in two case studies of labor rights advocacy. Part I sets the stage with an overview of the growing …

Comparing The Naalc And The European Union Social Charter (Transcript), Lance A. Compa

Lance A Compa

This is a transcript of Professor Lance Compa’s presentation to the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation Conference held in Washington, DC on November 12, 1996 and published in the American University Journal of International Law and Policy. [Excerpt] After all of the excellent comments this morning and so far this afternoon, both from the panelists and from the floor, I am not sure that I can say anything new about the NAALC. So, what I want to do in this intervention is add some comparative discussion with respect to the European Union and the social charter of the European …

Slides: Assessing Opportunities And Barriers To Reducing The Environmental Footprint Of Oil And Gas Development In Utah, Douglas Jackson-Smith, Lorien Belton, Brian Gentry, Gene Theodori

Opportunities and Obstacles to Reducing the Environmental Footprint of Natural Gas Development in Uintah Basin (October 14)

Presenter: Dr. Douglas Jackson-Smith, Utah State University--Logan Campus

37 slides

Does Trade Weaken Product Quality Standards, Katia Berti, Rodney E. Falvey

Rodney Falvey

In this paper we investigate the effects of trade on the national minimum quality standards applied by two trading partners. We employ a simple partial equilibrium model in which national regulators set a minimum quality standard for a product whose quality is unobservable to consumers prior to purchase. Both producers and consumers can benefit from a minimum standard, but the former prefer a lower standard to the latter. Because producers are organised and consumers are not, the standards set by national regulators will tend to unduly favour producer interests. As always, trade changes the balance of consumer and producer interests …

Ability, Gender, And Performance Standards: Evidence From Academic Probation, Jason M. Lindo, Nicholas J. Sanders, Philip Oreopoulos

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

We use a regression discontinuity design to examine students' responses to being placed on academic probation. Consistent with a model of introducing performance standards, we find that being placed on probation at the end of the first year discourages some students from returning to school while improving the GPAs of those who do. We find heterogeneous responses across prior academic performance, gender, and native language, and discuss these results within the context of the model. We also find negative effects on graduation rates, particularly for students with the highest high school grades.

At A Crossroads: The Impact Of International Financial Reporting Standards In The U.S., Cindy K. Harris

Business and Economics Faculty Publications

Public companies in the United States face a new challenge. As set forth in its roadmap for implementation, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) is considering the potential use of financial statements prepared in accordance with international financial reporting standards (“IFRS”.) The chief goal of these global standards is to establish a uniform system to improve comparability of companies’ financial positions. For decades, Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (“GAAP”) have been the framework of financial statement preparation for public companies in the U.S. The movement to IFRS represents an unprecedented change in the basis of financial reporting, since IFRS would supersede …

Assessing Impact Of Iso 9000 Certification On International Trade, Ha Le

All Theses

Introduced by the International Organization for Standardization in 1987, the ISO 9000 family of standards is a `generic quality management standard' that has been claimed to have a great impact on company performance and upon a company's ability to satisfy customers' expectations (ISO, 2009). In addition, ISO 9000 standards also help to create consensus on requirements and standards all around the world and in doing so can facilitate trade. While many studies have examined claims about the impact of ISO 9000 standards as a trade facilitation tool results, thus far, are ambiguous. ISO 9000 standards also have different impacts across …

Asian Corporate Governance Or Corporate Governance In Asia?, Shaomin Li, Anil Nair

Management Faculty Publications

Corporate governance has become an important issue for Chinese and Indian firms as they increasingly interact with regulators and investors from developed markets. For instance, tapping into global capital markets to raise funds to finance their domestic and international growth requires firms from China and India to demonstrate strong corporate governance credentials, so that investors do not discount their stock (LaPorta, Lopez-de-Silanes, Shleifer, & Vishny, 2000). The swift action of Chinese and Indian authorities in response to recent corporate scandals – such as the one at Satyam Computers – reveals that even governments in emerging countries such as China and …

Links Are Not Enough: Using Originality Reports To Improve Academic Standards, Compliance And Learning Outcomes Among Postgraduate Students, Grace Mccarthy, Ann M. Rogerson

Sydney Business School - Papers

Training students on the interpretation of originality reports generated by an electronic evaluation tool can assist with the reduction of unintentional plagiarism. An initial trial by the Sydney Business School, a postgraduate faculty of the University of Wollongong, has demonstrated that a proactive approach, based on pedagogical principles, can have a positive impact on the improvement of student writing skills when compared to a retributive justice approach reliant on a student’s ability and initiative in accessing internet support resources. This paper argues that higher education should not rely on links to internet based information, policies, and systems, to educate students …

Quality Control Defects Revealed In Smaller Firms' Pcaob Inspection Reports, Dana R. Hermanson, Richard W. Houston

Faculty and Research Publications

The article reports the study of Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) on the quality control (QC) defects of small audit firms. Topics including the accounting lapses of small auditing firms, tips on complying QC standards and importance of inspection on the auditing industry are discussed. Study reveals that smaller firms have deficient processes in conducting audit quality. The article notes that PCAOB is expected to increase campaign in assisting audit firms while small audit firms are encouraged to address their QC deficiencies.

A View On The Process Of Accounting Standard Setting In The People’S Republic Of China, Y. Zhang, J. Andrew, H. W. Collier

Henry Collier

This paper is a discussion of how the People’s Republic of China is attempting to revise accounting standards. Historically, China’s accounting standards were dominated by ‘management’ accounting and compliance and achievement of goals and objectives established by central planning authority. As China seeks Foreign Direct Investment in formerly State Owned Enterprises, competitive pressures demand a change of emphasis in financial reporting. Much of the Western world is adapting IFRS for financial reporting. IFRS seems to privilege western dialogue in the adoption and acceptance of standards if PRC wishes to access the world wide capital markets. Consistency and comparability of financial …

Norms, Standards, And Failures In Accounting And Auditing: Rethinking Practice, Research, And Education, Shyam Sunder

Shyam Sunder

No abstract provided.

Global Body Of Project Management And Knowledge, Lynn Crawford

Lynn Crawford

Extract: This chapter presents an overview of the current principal project management standards and guides for project management knowledge and performance, including a comparison of their content and coverage and an indication of their use in assessment and as a basis for qualifications. Current developments and potential future directions are also reviewed. © Copyright John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2007

How Standard Are Standards: An Examination Of Language Emphasis In Project Management Standards, Lynn Crawford, Julien Pollack, David England

Lynn Crawford

In light of current work toward the development of global standards for project management, this paper analyzes differences between a selection of various countries’ existing project management standards. The analysis is conducted using computational corpus linguistics techniques, resulting in the identification of similarities and differences between the standards of five countries. © Copyright Project Management Institute, 2007

Norms, Standards And Failures In Accounting And Auditing: Rethinking Practice, Research And Education, Shyam Sunder

Shyam Sunder

No abstract provided.

An Exploratory Study Of Iso 9001:2000 Quality Management Systems Using The Iso/Iec 15504 Architecture, Paul Richard Shimp

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this paper is to provide an exploratory study on the implementation and issues regarding Quality Management Systems as defined by ISO 9001 :2000 using the architecture of ISO/IEC 15504. The recently published ISO/IEC 15504 series of standards provides a framework to assess processes and determine levels of capability. With the use of this framework, the study will focus on the assessment and identification of problem areas requiring focus for continual improvement within an ISO 9001 :2000 quality management system.

The structure of this paper is as follows: Section 1 provides a background discussion of ISO 9001 :2000. …

How Generic Are Project Management Knowledge And Practice?, Lynn Crawford, Julien Pollack

Lynn Crawford

At the heart of managing projects is a complex paradox: Projects are widely considered unique endeavors, yet the effort to implement a project usually involves using a generic set of standardized practices. This article examines the complexity involved in relying on standardized practices to manage projects, focusing on conflict of using generalized processes to realize unique endeavors. In doing so, it identifies three types of standards and overviews the literature on the benefits and the problems involved in standardizing project management practices and in implementing these practices to manage projects. It then outlines the responses to a survey that the …

International Convergence Towards Principles-Based Accounting Standards, Estelle Cramer

Honors College Theses

The accounting profession is a field that functions through a set of complex and contradictory standards. As a result of the ever-increasing complexities brought on by a rules-based standard approach, several countries and regions including Japan, China, Hong Kong, the European Union, and the United States have all begun to converge their respective generally accepted accounting standards towards more principles-based accounting standards. The research conducted examines through a comparison of various nations and regions generally accepted accounting principles for important issues to determine which, if any, are deemed to have an objective-oriented standard; also, if the comparison does not result …

Big Gaap-Little Gaap Does One-Size-Fits-All Still Work?, Paula Morris, Jane E. Campbell

Faculty and Research Publications

Initiatives for developing Generally Accepted Accounting Principles for private/smaller businesses have surfaced in the United States and internationally. This paper explores those initiatives and identifies common elements and problems in these efforts.

A Laboratory Investigation Of Compliance Behavior Under Tradable Emissions Rights: Implications For Targeted Enforcement, John K. Stranlund, James J. Murphy

John K. Stranlund

This paper uses laboratory experiments to test the theoretical observations that both the violations of competitive risk-neutral firms and the marginal effectiveness of increased enforcement across firms are independent of differences in their abatement costs and their initial allocations of permits. This conclusion has important implications for enforcing emissions trading programs because it suggests that regulators have no justification for targeting their enforcement effort based on firm-level characteristics. Consistent with the theory, we find that subjects’ violations were independent of parametric differences in their abatement costs. However, those subjects that were predicted to buy permits tended to have higher violation …

International Harmonisation Of Accounting Standards And The Rhetoric Of Globalisation, Kellie M. Mccombie

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper looks at the growing trend of calls for reform, under the guise of globalisation. Such calls are/have been made by the current Australian Federal Government (AFG) in their national policy setting role. What is relevant to this paper is the AFG’s involvement in accounting standard setting, and their push for International Harmonisation (IH) of Australian Accounting Standards (AAS), through full adoption of international accounting standards set by an international standard setting body. A chronology of Australia’s IH program will be explored, with particular emphasis on the AFG’s involvement. The intensity of their involvement will be shown to emerge …

Senior Management Perceptions Of Project Management Competence, Lynn Crawford

Lynn Crawford

As more organisations adopt project management approaches and the demand for project managers grows, there is increasing interest in the competence of project managers and in standards for development and assessment of project management competence. Project management standards are being used extensively throughout the world in training and development, professional certification programmes and corporate project management methodologies on the assumption that there is a positive relationship between standards and effective workplace performance. However, there has been no empirical research reported that supports or indeed questions this assumption. This paper reports on research that explores the relationship between performance against standards …

Medical Students' Personality Characteristics And Academic Performance: A Five-Factor Model Perspective, Filip Lievens, Pol Coetsier, Filip De Fruyt, Jan De Maeseneer

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Objectives: This study investigates: (1) which personality traits are typical of medical students as compared to other students, and (2) which personality traits predict medical student performance in pre-clinical years. Design: This paper reports a cross-sectional inventory study of students in nine academic majors and a prospective longitudinal study of one cohort of medical students assessed by inventory during their first pre-clinical year and by university examination at the end of each pre-clinical year. Subjects and methods: In 1997, a combined total of 785 students entered medical studies courses in five Flemish universities. Of these, 631 (80.4%) completed the NEO-PI-R …

Templates - Instruments For Standardizing Erp Systems, Thomas Huber, Rainer Alt, Hubert Oesterle

Hubert Oesterle

Today’s large companies face significant challenges in the integration of differently configured ERPsystems which have evolved within the last decade. These systems impede the flow of informationalong the value chain which is vital for supply chain management and holistic controlling processes.They also create implementation inefficiencies since learning and scale effects are not takenadvantage of. Therefore, establishing standards for the harmonization of independent and distributedsystems would have a profound positive competitive impact. This article describes the TemplateHandbook, a standardization approach which was developed and implemented in a project with amultinational company, the Robert Bosch Group. ERP templates establish interoperability byidentically configuring …

A View On The Process Of Accounting Standard Setting In The People’S Republic Of China, Y. Zhang, J. Andrew, H. W. Collier

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper is a discussion of how the People’s Republic of China is attempting to revise accounting standards. Historically, China’s accounting standards were dominated by ‘management’ accounting and compliance and achievement of goals and objectives established by central planning authority. As China seeks Foreign Direct Investment in formerly State Owned Enterprises, competitive pressures demand a change of emphasis in financial reporting. Much of the Western world is adapting IFRS for financial reporting. IFRS seems to privilege western dialogue in the adoption and acceptance of standards if PRC wishes to access the world wide capital markets. Consistency and comparability of financial …

Benchmarking: Comparing Discounted Business Rates Among Lodging Companies, Carl A. Boger, Liping A. Cai, Li-Chun Lin

Department of Hospitality and Tourism Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Yield management systems focus on the appropriate amount and depth of rate categories to maximize revenue for lodging properties. However, it is the interaction between reservationists and consumers that determines the room price. This study identified and compared different levels of discounting among various lodging companies. The findings should assist managers in benchmarking the current discounting practices in lodging companies.