School of Accounting, Economics and Finance
Faculty of Business and Law
Title: Accounting for Ethical, Social, Environmental and Economic Issues
Team: Carol Adams
Funding body: Chartered Institute of Management Accountants
Description: This project involves an analysis of the sustainability reporting practices of corporations in Australia and the UK. An examination of the choice and selection of KPIs for reporting purposes and their relationship to stakeholder interests is a particular focus, together with an identification of good reporting practices. Beyond this the project seeks to examine how corporations are determining the relevant KPIs for the measurement of management performance, and how such information on ethical, social, environmental and economic performance is integrated into internal decision-making, strategic management and risk management.
Title: Corporate Governance and Corporate Performance: A Simultaneous Equations Analysis of Australia's Top 100 Firms
Team: Chris Doucouliagos, and Saaed Askary
Funding body: AFAANZ
Description: The project explores the links between several aspects of corporate governance and corporate performance. A number of dimensions of performance are investigated, including market valuation (stock prices and Tobin's q), profitability, accounting measures of performance, as well as several dimensions of economic efficiency (scale, scope, technical and allocative efficiency). A panel dataset will be constructed for the top 100 publicly listed Australian firms, for the period 1992-2003. OLS estimates will be supplemented by a model of nine equations allowing for the endogeneity between corporate governance, executive remuneration, dividends, stock prices, profitability and economic performance.
Title: Pay and Career Progression in the Victorian Public Sector
Team: Chris Doucouliagos, Phillip Hone, Mehmet Ulubasoglu and Mark Buchanek
Funding body: Office of Public Employment
Description: This study uses data from the Victorian Public Sector Census 2004 to identify the extent of equity in pay and career progression (promotion). A system of three equations is developed to capture the endogeneity between human capital and promotion and the interdependence between promotion, pay and human capital. Pay and career progression equity is investigated for public sector employees in different Equal Employment Opportunity groups (females, employees with a disability and employees from cultural diverse backgrounds).
Title: Determinants of Food Choice in Fiji: An extension to Project 1998/095
Team: Phillip Hone
Funding body: Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research
Description: The project will provide policy makers with information on the nature of the factors determining food choice and obesity in Fiji. Data will be analyzed to show the determinants of obesity and what factors drive consumer choice. The implications of this research for food policy in Fiji will be assessed. The project will provide food consumption data that can be used to validate the proposed national nutrition survey in Fiji.The data from this project will also explain the behavioral factors driving the national nutrition survey results. A model of least cost food choice will be developed to support nutrition education programs in Fiji. This model is an optimization model that will enable nutritionist to select meals that meet nutrition standards subject to constraints on householders budgets and time.
Title: Financial Planners in Australia A critical evaluation of competency gaps
Team: Bev Jackling, and Colin Sullivan with technical assistance from Tom McDonald
Funding body: AFAANZ
Description: The project analyses the skills of financial planners in meeting the needs of their clients. The objective of the research is to measure the skill sets of financial planners relative to the competency standards developed for the profession by Birkett (1996). The research will be conducted in two phases with a qualitative assessment of planner/client interviews, and a quantitative approach to surveying clients post plan preparation By assessing the financial planner competencies, this project aims to assist in developing, where appropriate, amendments to training programs, ensuring that the profession more adequately meets the needs and demands of clients.
Title: Ethics Education Research Project
Team: Philomena Leung
Funding body: International Federation of Accountants Education Committee
Description: The project aims to assist in the development, and form a part of a complete program, comprising pre-qualification and post-qualification education and professional development activities. Pre-qualification competence training and continuous post-qualification development will also be included in the output. Two streams are used: Stream 1 represents pre-qualification education and development and Stream 2 covers post-qualification education and development. The project is based on a concept model that defines, broadly, the objectives and outcomes in the form of application matters for pre- and post- qualification education and development programs. These matters include specific application issues and the supporting institutional strategic issues.
Title: The Relationship Between The Stock Index Future And Stock Index Market. An Indian Experience
Team: Harminder Singh
Funding body: Indian Council of Social Sciences Research
Description: In perfectly frictionless and rational markets, the prices of securities and security derivatives must simultaneously reflect new information. Otherwise costless arbitrage profits would be possible. In practice, however, more or less frictions exist. To date most of the literature on the impact of futures trading on the cash market has focused on changes in spot price volatility because of the initiation or cessation of futures trading. A common conclusion of studies like these is that the futures market has a smoothing effect on the cash market, stabilizing the spot price. The purpose of the study is to check the relationship between the future market and cash market. Empirically it is to be tested whether future market is a determinant of cash market or not.
