Value based performance reporting : a study of the information used by Australasian analysts in their assessment of long-term firm performance (value) : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Studies in Accounting, Massey University

Public company shareholders and potential investors rely on statutory and voluntary disclosures to enable an informed assessment of company performance and value. It is widely acknowledged that traditional historic accrual accounting measures do not offer a complete picture of firm performance, and that there is demand for an expanded set of performance indicators to service the needs of concerned stakeholders. The reliance on voluntary disclosure of company specific non-financial information is of particular concern to this thesis as the examination of existing literature displays evidence that such areas of performance are under-reported externally. With reference to a range of performance indicators that New Zealand and Australian Chartered Financial Analysts identify as relevant in their assessment of performance and value, this study identifies areas of performance that are under-reported by management and where information asymmetry is proposed to exist. The issue of under-reporting is assessed through gap analysis comparing the surveyed analysts ratings for the 'predictive value' (PV) measure of each performance item/indicator to the respective ratings for 'ease of acquisition' (EA). The study finds that analysts rely on a broad range of financial and non-financial information in their assessment of firm performance. More specifically the reporting of traditional financial information remains relevant and the extent of its provision is adequate, however the study finds that in many cases information not forming part of traditionally reported financial information has 'predictive value' relevance but is relatively more difficult to acquire. The thesis research findings therefore indicate that information reporting reliant on voluntary disclosure is at greater risk of being under-reported (externally). Such under-reporting has been found to be associated with non-financial information that relies on management identifying relevant company specific measures and subsequent voluntary disclosure. In an attempt to emphasise the importance of restoring the information balance between management and interested external parties (for performance assessment and valuation purposes), the thesis will include an exploration and discuss of literature on the benefits associated with full disclosure, along with potential means of identifying relevant measures for external reporting

On “Liberation”

When the editor asked me along with other ex-editors to offer some thoughts on the occasion of The China Quarterly's 50th anniversary, I was at a loss. At the celebration which David Shambaugh held for the 35th anniversary in 1995, I wrote fairly extensively about the founding and early development of the journal (No.143, pp. 692–96) and did not have much to add. So I made the suggestion that I should reprise a special feature of the first China Quarterly. For that founding issue, I solicited a number of senior Sinologues to give their appraisal of the PRC on the occasion of its tenth anniversary. Could I, now senior, be given a similar opportunity to look back at the founding of the PRC on the occasion of its 60th anniversary? This article is the consequence of the editor's kind agreement.Governmen

Inheriting a Grant Portfolio: A Case on Grantmaking in Water Management

This case study is meant to stimulate problem solving and serve as a springboard for conversation for grantmakers on the subject of beginning a new programme area at a foundation. This short book is based on an actual experience of a programme officer at the Ford Foundation working with water management. The case study is one in a series by GrantCraft on basics for grantmakers and is sponsored by the Ford Foundation

Extending political participation in China: new opportunities for citizens in the policy process

Authoritarian political systems are portrayed as offering few opportunities for citizens to participate in politics – particularly in the policy process. This paper’s contribution is to set out new mechanisms that enable Authoritarian political systems are portrayed as offering few opportunities for citizens to participate in politics – particularly in the policy process. This paper’s contribution is to set out new mechanisms that enable Chinese citizens to evaluate government performance, contribute to decision-making, shape policy agendas and feed back on implementation. Based on fieldwork in the city of Hangzhou, we argue that the local party-state orchestrates citizen participation in the policy process, but members of the public nevertheless do have influence. Political participation is widening in China, but it is still controlled. It is not yet clearly part of a process of democratization, but it does establish the principle of citizen rights to oversee the government

MS 054 Guide to Murdina MacFarquhar Desmond, MD Papers (1948-1986)

The Murdina MacFarquhar Desmond, MD papers contains photographs of Dr. Desmond as a medical student, Naval officer, and a faculty member of Baylor College of Medicine. The main portion of her papers deal with her work at Jefferson Davis Hospital, including grants she received from the John A. Hartford Foundation, and at Texas Children\u27s Hospital. See more at MS 054

A Late Maoist Industrial Revolution? Economic Growth in Jiangsu Province, 1966-1978

According to the conventional wisdom, the promise of the Chinese revolution of 1949 went unfulfilled in the Maoist era. Instead of taking-off, the economy grew slowly and widespread rural poverty persisted. The economic turning point was instead the famous political climacteric of 1976-78. But this metric of aggregates is the wrong criterion by which to judge China’s economic record because industrial revolutions have regional beginnings. They invariably take place against a backcloth of slow aggregate growth and stagnant material living standards. Accordingly, we should dwell neither on China’s slow overall growth nor its widespread poverty before 1978, but look instead for evidence of an emerging regional growth pole. This article argues that Jiangsu was such a growth pole in the late Maoist era, and that its record bears comparison with that of Lancashire and Yorkshire during the early years of Britain's industrial revolution. This holds out the intriguing possibility that a Chinese economic take-off, diffusing out of the Yangzi delta, would have occurred even without post-1978 policy changes

Hospital clusters of invasive Group B Streptococcal disease: A systematic review.

OBJECTIVES: To characterize outbreaks of invasive Group B Streptococcal (iGBS) disease in hospitals. METHODS: Systematic review using electronic databases to identify studies describing iGBS outbreaks/clusters or cross-infection/acquisition in healthcare settings where 'cluster' was defined as ≥2 linked cases. PROSPERO CRD42018096297. RESULTS: Twenty-five references were included describing 30 hospital clusters (26 neonatal, 4 adult) in 11 countries from 1966 to 2019. Cross-infection between unrelated neonates was reported in 19 clusters involving an early-onset (<7 days of life; n = 3), late-onset (7-90 days; n = 13) index case or colonized infant (n = 3) followed by one or more late-onset cases (median serial interval 9 days (IQR 3-17, range 0-50 days, n = 45)); linkage was determined by phage typing in 3 clusters, PFGE/MLST/PCR in 8, WGS in 4, non-molecular methods in 4. Postulated routes of transmission in neonatal clusters were via clinical personnel and equipment, particularly during periods of crowding and high patient-to-nurse ratio. Of 4 adult clusters, one was attributed to droplet spread between respiratory cases, one to handling of haemodialysis catheters and two unspecified. CONCLUSIONS: Long intervals between cases were identified in most of the clusters, a characteristic which potentially hinders detection of GBS hospital outbreaks without enhanced surveillance supported by genomics

'Kitchen Knowledge', Desperate Foods, and Ritual Healing in Everyday Survival Strategies during the Great Famine in China, 1958-62

AbstractFamine is a social and economic crisis that is commonly accompanied by widespread of malnutrition, starvation, epidemic disease, and increased mortality. This paper focuses on the period of the Great Leap Famine in China between 1958 and 1962. Based on newly-collected oral interviews and archival evidence, it gives voices to ordinary villagers from different parts of China?from various counties in one of China?s biggest and most populated Sichuan province in the southwest to Shandong in the east and Hunan in central China and examines their experiences and their survival strategies in times of hunger, illness, and death. It shows that an integral part of everyday famine culture, particularly in rural China, which was worst hit, concerns the kitchen knowledge and practice of healing and nutrition. Many traditional recipes that were used in previous times were rediscovered and used as everyday hunger-coping techniques. Some are dated back to the Ming dynasty?a few were recorded in Materia Medica for Famine Relief (Qiuhuang bencao ????, c. 1406). Using the methodology of oral history set against the historical background of traditional materia medica, this paper elicits how ordinary people in rural China devised complex and plural strategies to cope with fundamental biological crises