Understanding and Developing Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility
Peter A. Heslin
University of New South Wales
Jenna D. Ochoa
University of New South Wales
Abstract:
Over the last decade, there has been considerable debate over whether organizations have a corporate social responsibility (CSR), as well as whether socially responsible initiatives predict subsequent financial performance. Business leaders are increasingly concerned with how their organizations can grow and thrive from addressing societal challenges. Strategic CSR can benefit organizations through growth in market share and organizational learning, as well as more committed and engaged employees, supportive external stakeholders, and positive investor relations. We discuss how organizations around the world are prospering by proactively engaging with social and environmental challenges. Seven strategic CSR principles, illustrated by 21 exemplars of strategic CSR initiatives, are outlined. These principles should not be interpreted as a checklist of best practices, but rather as a stimulus for designing financially viable and prudent CSR initiatives, given each organization's combination of mission, resources, challenges, and opportunities.
Number of Pages in PDF File: 20
Investment Management and Technology: Past, Present, and Future
Zvi Bodie
Boston University - Department of Finance & Economics
Abstract:
This paper analyzes how the practice of investment management has been affected over the past 45 years by technological progress, market innovations, and advances in finance theory. Over the next few decades, as retirement-income systems around the world make the transition from "pay-as-you-go" social security to self-directed retirement accounts, the investment-management business is likely to undergo a radical transformation. There will be a growing demand for customized, integrated investment and insurance products. Financial engineering will play a major role in this transformation.
Number of Pages in PDF File: 31
On the Balance-Sheet Based Model of Financial Reporting
Ilia D. Dichev
Emory University - Goizueta Business School
Abstract:
The FASB adopted a balance sheet-based model of financial reporting about 30 years ago, and this model has been gradually expanded and solidified to become the required norm around the world today. This article argues that the balance sheet orientation of accounting standard-setting is flawed for the following reasons. First, accounting is supposed to reflect business reality, and thus the essential features of the financial reporting model need to reflect the essential features of the underlying business model. However, the balance sheet orientation of financial reporting is at odds with the economic process of advancing expenses to earn revenues, which governs how most businesses create value, and which represents how managers and investors view most firms. Second, the adoption of the balance sheet approach was driven by conceptual considerations; standard setters argued that the concept of assets is more fundamental and logically prior to the concept of income. However, this article argues that the concept of income is clearer and practically more useful than the concept of assets, especially with the recent proliferation of intangible assets. Third, earnings is the single most important output of the accounting system. Thus, intuitively, improved financial reporting should lead to improved usefulness of earnings. However, the continual expansion of the balance sheet approach is gradually destroying the forward-looking usefulness of earnings, mainly through the effect of various asset re-valuations, which manifest as noise in the process of generating normal operating earnings. During the last 40 years, the volatility of reported earnings has doubled and the persistence of earnings is down by about a third, while there is little change in the properties of the underlying business fundamentals.
Number of Pages in PDF File: 36
Keywords: financial reporting, conceptual framework, FASB