This study analyses the correlation between Board attributes and company performance in a sample of 100 Australian and 100 Sri Lankan firms. The analysed Board attributes include size; gender ratio; fraction of nonindependent members; and experience. The level of economic development considered to have a potential confounding effect on the outcomes. The analysis of the data suggest that: Boards in Australia are much larger than Boards in Sri Lanka; Boards are male dominated in both nations; and while Board structure provides predictive insight into firm performance, only a few individual attributes are significant. Important finding of this research is that the larger Boards of Australia have a significantly stronger influence on firm performance than the relatively smaller Boards of Sri Lanka. Future research should extend the review of the effects of Board size on corporate performance.

Non-emergency foreign aid can flow for any reason (starting from addressing humanitarian need to seeking political support of the recipient country) however; economically it makes more sense if it flows for trade, which can make a country strong economically. Bangladesh being one of the countries with low per capita GDP is trying hard to increase its output and in that process trade can be quite helpful. In fact, in last two decades the country has registered a huge increase in GDP per capita led by export (of both goods and services). This current paper using data between 2003 and 2013 tries to explore the role of foreign aid in developing trade capacity for Bangladesh. Based on the model proposed by Cali and Te Velde (2011) we found that AfT has a positive impact on export of Bangladesh. All three sub types of trade aid namely, AfT for trade policy and regulations, aid for improving economic infrastructure and aid for building productive capacity affect growth of export positively.

This study investigates financial reporting during 2000– 2010 for unlisted, 75 Japanese subsidiary companies and 189 Australian peer companies. The results show that the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards was not always effective in reducing financial reporting diversity.

The main objective of this paper is to determine the effect of the oil and natural gas price volatility on the equity market of an energy producing country under uncertainty. Our study was conducted on Egypt, a main producer and supplier of energy, and a country facing political uncertainty. We aimed at highlighting the effect that the Arab spring had on the Egyptian equities market by dividing our initial period that spanned from June 2005 to May 2014 into two distinct periods. The results showed that prior to the start of the Arab spring the Egyptian stock market exhibited the same reaction as the US equity market in case of an oil shock. During post December 2010, the Egyptian stock market exhibits an irregular reaction. On the other hand, prior to December 2010, the natural gas price shock had a prolonged positive effect on the Egypt stock market whereas, during post December 2010, it left the Egyptian stock market shadowed.

Previous studies have reached varying conclusions regarding the implications of earnings management using conventional measurements. Addressing these inconsistencies, this study examines 8,723 firm-years from 2004-2010 and develops a measure of earnings management from book-tax differences that reflects both accruals management and taxable income related earnings manipulations. The new measurement is shown to be more comprehensive than conventional earnings management measures focusing on accruals management alone. We use the new measure to study stock price manipulation and find companies can manipulate share prices because investors do not react instantaneously to earnings management accruals and respond with a positive bias in the current year.

This research examined the relationships between antecedences (audit risk management effectiveness: ARM) and consequences (audit firm value: AFV) of audit firm performance (AFP). The 427 completed data were collected from Non-Big 4 in Thailand by questionnaire. Regression statistic technique is chosen for analyzing. A result shows that audit firm risk management effectiveness overall significant positively relationships with audit firm value and audit firm performance. Besides, audit firm performance also significant positively relationships with and audit firm value. Therefore, all hypotheses are supported. A discussion is effectively implemented of the theoretical contributions, practical implications, and future research is also presented.

The contribution of behavioral finance in the investor’s world cannot be fully justified without the existence and use of technical indicators which are all clear indications of investors’ representativeness and availability bias.  Existing literature on technical analysis based trading systems are abundant where some studies have concluded the use of technical analysis and fundamental analysis techniques in stock trading strategies, with a preference over the former in predicting turning points. This study aims to answer whether an optimized moving average crossover strategy based on daily data outperforms a buy and hold strategy. The paper investigates the use of an optimized moving average crossover strategy for the S&P500, by using the SPDR S&P500 Exchange Traded Fund as a proxy for the US market index. The optimized strategy is evaluated against a buy and hold strategy over the five distinct waves which were witnessed during the 1993-2014 period. The annualized returns, annualized risk and the Sharpe performance measure are used as indicators to compare between the two strategies.  Findings tend to support higher absolute returns and risk for the buy-and-hold strategy, particularly during correction waves.  When compared to the buy-and-hold strategy over the post financial crisis period, the optimized double cross over strategy resulted in a relatively lower risk and returns.  The market timing strategy still outperformed the naïve buy-and-hold strategy, with a relatively higher Sharpe performance measure.  Alternatively stated, the rather simple moving average strategy which fits easily in the investor’s world due to his or her availability and representativeness bias, is preferred over the buy and hold strategy where the latter requires more effort when bearing the two correction waves witnessed during the 1993-2014 period.

The purpose of this research is to determine whether a difference exists in the tax paid, in relation to revenue differentials between domestic oil companies in Saudi Arabia compared to foreign-owned oil companies operating in the country due to transfer pricing policies.  The sample of companies to be used are 13 domestic companies and 8 foreign companies. The research conducted by Borvornboonrutai (2001) utilized various linear regression formulas in order to understand the variables that are associated with transfer pricing and the level of taxes paid between domestically-owned companies and foreign companies operating in Thailand. The results of the analyses clearly show that there is a differential in the amount of taxes paid by the oil companies that were investigated in this research based on their origin. The companies that were domestic to Saudi Arabia paid less in taxes, in relation to their revenues, than the companies that were foreign-owned. The actual level of difference in the tax rate was about 4.5% statistical tests confirmed that this rate difference was statistically significant.

The main purpose of this paper is to examine the validity of purchasing power parity between a group of countries based on macroeconomics variables namely, high/low income and the highest GDP per capita over the period 2005Q1-2015Q4. Four types of panel unit root methods, namely Levin, Lin and Chu (LLC), ADF-Fisher, PP-Fisher and Im, Pesaran and Shin (IPS) had been used to test the unit root in real exchange rates. The results of common unit root test LLC found evidence in favor of the validity of PPP. But the results of Im, Pesaran and Shin, ADF-Fisher and PP-Fisher unit root tests results failed to find evidence in the favor of validity of PPP for high/low income and GDP. Hence, this study fails to find evidence for both characteristics. Therefore, the debate of PPP remains elusive and the puzzle will continue.

Socially responsible investment (SRI) has become increasingly popular in recent years, as there is strong evidence showing SRI is less volatile and generates higher returns than traditional investments. This paper examines how volatility is spilled over from stocks and bond markets into the Australian SRI market. We employ TGARCH model from 1994 to 2015 and find that the Australian SRI market is positively influenced by domestic stock market. Furthermore, we find that the Australian SRI market is less correlated with other markets, hence, there is potential for diversification. Our findings indicate performance persistence and asymmetric effect in the volatilities of the Australian SRI market.

Materiality matrices are a relatively new tool largely developed by professional bodies to identify the economic, social and environmental issues that matter to stakeholders. Through a preliminary empirical study, this paper aims to examine whether firms use these matrices as a new impression management technique to project a more favorable image of their social and environmental performance. Our findings indicate conspicuous incidences of impression management from a high materiality convergence level to issue selection bias.

The objective of this study is to explore the factors influencing the decision of the students on two-year College education to accept the offer of accounting as a major. The study examines the influence of variables such as career opportunities, family members and friends, and earnings potential on students’ decision to accept the offer of accounting major. A survey was conducted among all students majoring in accounting at the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training College. The findings reveal that career opportunities, prestige, and interesting subject have a significant influence on the students’ decision to opt for accounting as a major. The results also show no impact of gender, or the type of high school education, on the decision of students major in accounting.

Field of Research: Accounting education, College of Business Studies, accounting major, accounting students' career choice, Kuwait.