Search results

This article analyses the recent inverse transition from goodwill impairment to goodwill amortisation implemented in Spain in 2016. The authors contribute to the existing literature by describing their differing impact over goodwill and impairment figures and testing the impact of goodwill on balances over stock prices.

First, using a database with all Spanish non-financial firms with positive goodwill on their balance sheets, the authors describe the impact of the regulatory change over goodwill and impairment figures. Second, focussing on listed firms only, the authors study the impact of financial reporting of goodwill and impairment on stock prices.

Average goodwill per company and the share of goodwill over total assets significantly reduced after 2016, but the results cannot be easily extrapolated to listed firms due to lack of data. When testing the impact of potentially inflated goodwill balances on prices, the authors find that investors kept overvaluing firms with inflated goodwill balances also with the amortisation method.

The lack of data for listed firms with goodwill in Spain makes it difficult to obtain statistically sound evidence, the results could be biased by the cultural traits of the country and related to the intensity of enforcement and monitoring.

This might suggest that the effects of the impairment method linger, so the authors conform to the interpretation that the systematic amortisation paired with a periodic impairment test may lead to accounting that better reflects the underlying economics of goodwill.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, there are no recent articles that analyse this new “turn-around” requiring again the systematic amortisation of goodwill.

The efficient market hypothesis (EMH) states that asset prices in financial markets always reflect all available information about economic fundamentals. The purpose of this paper is to provide a guide as to which predictions of the EMH seem to be borne out by empirical evidence.

Rather than following the classic three groups of tests for the different forms of EMH that are common in the literature, the authors consider how the two alternative definitions of the EMH and the joint hypothesis problem impact on the tests and leave the controversy unsolved. The authors briefly report the antecedents, the main theoretical and empirical contributions and recent literature on each type of tests.

Eventually, as a summary for each type of tests, the authors provide a critical view on the main sources of acrimony between the alternative schools of thought in understanding asset price formation.

The paper may be seen as an up-to-date introductory review for researchers on the different tests of the EMH performed, and for newcomers to understand the key sources of acrimony between rationalists and behaviorists.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse a key research hypothesis: Do firms ruled by managers have a greater rationale to implement a mergers and acquisitions (M&A) than (family) firms managed by their owners?

This paper uses an organizational-delegation-quantity oligopoly game to examine the profitability of M&As for firms that strategically delegate production decisions to managers versus family firms with no strategic delegation. This paper delimits the condition for delegation as aimed at increasing merger profitability: non-family CEOs will implement mergers more frequently than family CEOs and more so for inefficient firms because these require fewer synergies. The paper tests the main propositions with data on all M&As by small and medium firms in Spain in 2017 and 2018.

The greater the average operating margin of a firm, the more likely a merger, which is also more likely between non-family firms. The evidence of higher ex post synergies by firms is not statistically significant due to large variability, suggesting that some family firms did not obtain the expected ex ante synergies. The lesson is that family firms competing in an environment of high marginal costs (e.g. industries in the early stage of the life cycle) seeking to grow through inorganic means such as M&As have an incentive to professionalize management.

This paper models competition in a Cournot fashion, representative of industries where firms compete in terms of sales growth and increased market share. Other results might hold in industries where firms are oriented to price competition or to service differentiation. The empirical research uses proxies for key variables such as the form of firm governance and unit costs, while hypotheses on ex ante synergies driving merger decisions had to be tested through ex post synergies.

M&As by small firms and family firms remain largely unexplored in the literature. This paper contributes with both a theoretical model and empirical research that highlight the implications of strategic delegation contracts for M&A deals.

This paper aims to examine the informational efficiency in retail credit markets to test whether behavioral biases (excessive optimism) by some participants in the banking industry might explain how credit booms are fueled by the banking sector.

This paper analyzes the conditions for the efficient market hypothesis approach to be extended to bank-based systems. A simple model of herding and limits of arbitrage that follows a three-step behavioral approach is presented (Shleifer, 2000). The model is based on duopolistic Cournot competition, where one bank is unbiased and the other is boundedly rational in terms of excessive optimism.

The paper shows why solely behavioral biases by participants in the banking industry explain how it feeds a credit bubble. According to the presented model, optimistic banks would lead the industry, while it would be rational for unbiased banks to herd under conditions that the authors derive. An important finding is the role of limits of arbitrage in the banking sector: there would be no incentives for rational banks to correct the misallocations of their biased competitors.

It might be a valid contribution to the current debate on macroprudential regulation. Should tests of rationality and correlated behavior provide evidence on the pervasiveness of behavioral biases in the banking industry suggested by our model, then banking regulation should account for it.

This paper introduces an alternative approach to analyze informational efficiency in the banking industry that, to the best of our knowledge, had not been raised so far. The model shows how behavioral biases might guide retail credit markets and why limits of arbitrage would be more pervasive in bank-based financial systems than in market-based ones.

The purpose of this paper is to explain why Singapore has succeeded in curbing the problem of police corruption and to identify the six lessons which other Asian countries can learn from Singapore's experience.

The paper analyzes the causes of police corruption in Singapore during the British colonial period and describes the measures adopted by the People's Action Party government after assuming office in June 1959 to curb police corruption. The effectiveness of these measures is assessed by referring to Singapore's perceived extent of corruption according to three international indicators and the reported cases of police corruption from 1965 to 2011.

The Singapore Police Force has succeeded in minimizing police corruption by improving salaries and working conditions, cooperating with the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau, enhancing its recruitment and selection procedures, providing training and values education for its members, and adopting administrative measures to reduce the opportunities for corruption. Other Asian countries afflicted with rampant police corruption can learn six lessons from Singapore's success.

This paper will be of interest to those policy makers, scholars, and anti-corruption practitioners, who are interested in learning how Singapore has succeeded in curbing police corruption.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the experiences of the six Asian countries covered in this special issue and explain their different levels of effectiveness in combating corruption.

This paper analyses the policy contexts in these countries, their perceived extent and causes of corruption, and evaluates the effectiveness of their anti-corruption agencies (ACAs).

Brunei Darussalam is less corrupt because it is the smallest, least populated and richest country, without being embroiled in conflict compared to the other five larger countries, which are more populous but poorer and adversely affected by conflict. The Sultan’s political will in combating corruption is reflected in the better staffed and funded Anti-Corruption Bureau, which has prosecuted and convicted more corrupt offenders. By contrast, the lack of political will of the governments in the other five countries is manifested in their ineffective ACAs, which are not independent, lack capacity and resources, and are used against political opponents.

This paper will be useful for those scholars, policy-makers and anti-corruption practitioners interested in how effective these six Asian countries are in combating corruption and the reasons for their different levels of effectiveness.

The British East India Company (EIC) made connections between the Malay Archipelago and Bengal and established a penal settlement at Bencoolen, followed by the Straits Settlements for the Indian convicts. The convicts from different parts of South Asia today were generally described as “Indian”, such generalisation often hides the identity of specific convicts from South Asia. Among the Indian convicts, the Bengalis were transported to Bencoolen and the Straits Settlements. However, the generic term has made it difficult to reconstruct the history of Bengali convicts’ experiences and pathos. Therefore, this paper attempts to “rediscover” the afterlife of transportation of Bengali felons in the Malay Peninsula.

By examining a range of archival records and current scholarships, this article shows the inclusivity, diversity and accessibility of convict labourers with mainstream society. This study will open up a new avenue of convict histories and subaltern studies on Asia.

The Bengali convicts in the Straits Settlements, one of the oldest migrant sections, have largely been ignored in historical literature. Though the Bengalis, among other South Asian convicts, constituted a significant portion, they were categorised under the generic term “Indian” (Rai, 2014). Their manual labour was invaluable for the colonial economy and the development of the Straits Settlements.

Researcher faced difficulties to get the descendant of Bengali convicts.

This article is a research paper based on mostly archival records; therefore, it is an original contribution to the existing knowledge on the convict history.

Learning styles have gained awareness in managerial circles. The learning styles of accountancy students in tertiary institutions cannot be overlooked as they can enable educators to structure their accountancy curricula and teaching methods to maximise learning. A survey on the learning styles of 71 accountancy students in the Nanyang Technological University was conducted. The students were found to be convergent and analytical in thinking, kinesthetic, and reflective in problem solving. The implications of the results will be discussed.

The origins of the SCS can be traced to the civil service established by the English East India Company (EIC) in 1786, when the EIC began its operations in Malaya with the acquisition of Penang as a settlement from the Sultan of Kedah (Tilman, 1964, p. 40; Jones, 1953, p. 7). The EIC used the term “civil service” to distinguish its civilian employees from those working in the military, maritime, and ecclesiastical organizations. There were three types of civil servants then: those who were covenanted, i.e., occupying senior positions requiring a bond of 500 British pounds as security to ensure the performance of their duties; those who were uncovenanted; and extra-covenanted officers who were granted covenants locally because of their exceptional administrative capabilities (Blunt, 1937, pp. 1–2).