Reviews the book 'The Learning Curve: A Management Accounting Tool,' by Ahmed Belkaoui.

This paper examines the marginal contribution of scores on the AICPA level I achievement test and aptitude test for predicting the performance of students in upper division courses. Three performance measures were studied: grades in all upper division courses, grades In upper division accounting courses, and a binary variable reflecting whether a student made a C or below on an upper division accounting course. Results for each of these measures indicated that the AICPA scores did not improve significantly the predictive ability of models that included lower division grades. Several limitations of the study are described.

This paper reports on voluntary financial disclosure practices of Mexican corporations and relates the extent of disclosure to firm size, financial leverage, and proportion of assets in place. Studying the voluntary disclosure of Mexican firms yields additional insights into factors behind voluntary disclosure choices, and enhances our understanding of the accounting institutions and practices of non-Anglo-American nations. Voluntary disclosure varies widely within a sample of 52 Mexican Stock Exchange-listed firms, and the extent of disclosure is significantly and positively related to firm size but not to financial leverage and assets in place.

Reviews the book 'FCS: A Decision Support System.'

Certain U.S. Government securities, known as flower bonds, can be redeemed at par plus accrued interest for the purpose of paying estate taxes, if held at the time of death. Thus, a flower bond, selling at a discount, is like a straight bond plus a life insurance policy. An equilibrium derived from a rational flower bond pricing model implies the existence of clienteles: individuals with the highest death probabilities hold the deepest discount flower bonds. The empirical implication, that bonds with the deepest discount should be redeemed at the fastest rate, is tested and the results support the proposition.

On introduit et on etudie une condition comportementale significative sur les fonctions d'utilite pour les richesses qui signifie qu'une loterie indesirable ne peut jamais etre rendue desirable par la presence d'une loterie indesirable independante

Solomon W. Polachek, Bong Joon Yoon, A Two-Tiered Earnings Frontier Estimation of Employer and Employee Information in the Labor Market, The Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 69, No. 2 (May, 1987), pp. 296-302

The neutrality and equity aspects of the Accelerated Cost Recovery System (ACRS), which became part of the U.S. tax law in 1981, are examined using a Monte Carlo simulation. ACRS depreciation is found to be equivalent to general price-level adjusted (GPL) depreciation only at inflation rates of between nine and 13 percent. To the extent that corporations alter their production, investment, and financing activities as a result of Inflationary misstatement, the post-1980 law is nonneutral during times of inflation. Further, ACRS will result in a substantial, disproportionate relative capital shift among Industries during Inflationary periods, which indicates the horizontal Inequity of the post-1980 law. This capital shift will be largest for capital-intensive industries having long-lived assets, such as transportation, utilities, and real estate. Both nonneutrality and horizontal Inequity lead to decreased economic efficiency and a deadweight loss to the economy.