Reviews the book "Dictionary of Finance and Investment Terms," by John Downes and Jordan E. Goodman.

Reviews the book "The Accounting Wars," by Mark Stevens.

Wi Saeng Kim, Eric H. Sorensen, Evidence on the Impact of the Agency Costs of Debt on Corporate Debt Policy, The Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Vol. 21, No. 2 (Jun., 1986), pp. 131-144

Overlapping generations models with or without production or a portfolio demand for money display a fundamental indeterminacy. Expectations matter; and they are not, in the short run, constrained by the hypotheses of agent optimization, rational expectations, and market clearing. No short run policy analysis is possible without some explicit understanding of how agents expect the economy to respond to the policy. In this framework of perfect foresight and market clearing prices, it is possible to make Keynesian assumptions about the rigidity of money wages and the exogeneity of “animal spirits” of investors, to use the standard IS-LM apparatus, and to derive Keynesian conclusions about the short run effectiveness of policy. Alternatively, starting from different but no less rational expectations, one can derive the “new classical” neutrality propositions.

Although recent research suggests that intergenerational transfers play an important role in aggregate capital accumulation, our understanding of bequest motives remains incomplete. We develop a simple model of strategic bequests in which a testator influences the decisions of his beneficiaries by holding wealth in bequeathable forms and by conditioning the division of bequests on the beneficiaries' actions. The model generates falsifiable empirical predictions that are inconsistent with other theories of intergenerational transfers. We present econometric and other evidence that strongly suggests that bequests are often used as compensation for services rendered by beneficiaries.

This study examines the stock price effects of security offerings and investigates the nature of information inferred by investors from offering announcements. Changes in share price are unrelated to characteristics of offerings such as the net amount of new financing, relative offering size, and the quality rating of debt issues. The type of security is the only significant determinant of the price response. The opposite patterns of abnormal stock returns following the announcement of completed versus cancelled offerings suggest that managers issue common stock or convertible debt when in managers' view shares are overpriced.

Authoritarianism has been the most widely studied personality variable in management accounting research. One important line of research has been the role of authoritarianism as a moderating variable in studies which examine the effectiveness of budgetary participation. Results from these studies have been equivocal. In this paper it is argued that the lack of consensus in this research may be a consequence of examining the personality of only one member of the group involved in the participative process, usually the subordinate. It is claimed that Improved understanding of the influence of authoritarianism on subordinate attitudes to the job and budgets can be expected if both subordinate and superior authoritarianism are considered together. The results indicate that budgetary participation is important in its own right and the homogeneous authoritarian dyads are positively associated with subordinate outcomes. Moreover, participation is more strongly associated with subordinate job satisfaction and budgetary .attitudes in the homogeneous than in the heterogeneous dyad.

[Authoritarianism has been the most widely studied personality variable in management accounting research. One important line of research has been the role of authoritarianism as a moderating variable in studies which examine the effectiveness of budgetary participation. Results from these studies have been equivocal. In this paper it is argued that the lack of consensus in this research may be a consequence of examining the personality of only one member of the group involved in the participative process, usually the subordinate. It is claimed that improved understanding of the influence of authoritarianism on subordinate attitudes to the job and budgets can be expected if both subordinate and superior authoritarianism are considered together. The results indicate that budgetary participation is important in its own right and the homogeneous authoritarian dyads are positively associated with subordinate outcomes. Moreover, participation is more strongly associated with subordinate job satisfaction and budgetary attitudes in the homogeneous than in the heterogeneous dyad.]