Patricia Janina Cybinski

Description, explanation, prediction – the evolution of bankruptcy studies?

This paper describes a number of models used in bankruptcy studies to date. They arise from two basic model designs used in studies of financial distress: cross-sectional studies that compare healthy and distressed firms, and time-series formulations that study the path to failure of (usually) distressed firms only. These two designs inherently foster different research objectives. Different instances of the most recent work taken from each of the above research groups, broadly categorized by design, are described here including new work by this author. It is argued that those that investigate the distress continuum with predominantly explanatory objectives are superior on a number of criteria to the studies that follow what is essentially a case-control structure and espouse prediction as their objective.

Interdisciplinary foundations: reflecting on interdisciplinarity and three decades of teaching and research at Griffith University, Australia

Interdisciplinarity is widely practised and theorised. However, relatively few studies have reflected on university‐wide attempts to foster the concept. This article examines interdisciplinary teaching and learning at Griffith University, Australia. It reflects on the foundations of interdisciplinarity at the university and situates them within the broader context of innovations in worldwide practice; it draws from the literature on interdisciplinarity to traverse the broad understandings of the term; it discusses the Griffith University innovations implemented in support of the concept; and, it reports on the likely outcomes of current methods designed to improve interdisciplinary practice. Whilst challenging barriers to interdisciplinarity continue to exist, compounded by varied conceptions of what interdisciplinarity entails, positive learning and research outcomes have been accomplished at the university from its interdisciplinary foundations, which also provide a platform to go forward.

Remuneration committee independence and CEO remuneration for firm financial performance

Purpose - – As a result of the Australian Government Productivity Commissions recommendation to mandate remuneration committee independence for ASX300 companies, this study aims to investigate whether voluntary remuneration committee independence aligns chief executive officer (CEO) total pay and bonuses with firm financial performance. Design/methodology/approach - – A series of hypotheses test the research question using multiple regressions for a sample of 143 ASX300 companies during 2001. This time was prior to strengthen corporate governance regulation, but after mandated executive remuneration disclosure, thus capturing varying levels of voluntary remuneration committee independence. Findings - – This study shows firm size is an influential factor in the relationship under investigation. ASX300 large firm remuneration committees link CEO total remuneration and bonuses to firm financial performance. Smaller ASX firm remuneration committees do not link either type of CEO remuneration to performance despite remuneration committee independence. Findings are mixed for medium-sized ASX300 firms. Research limitations/implications - – Limitations include the necessary time restriction to 2001 for sampling the ASX300 firms. The implication of this studys findings is that the proposed public policy for mandatory remuneration committee independence is not universally effective in linking CEO remuneration to firm financial performance for ASX300 firms. Originality/value - – This study contributes to the limited research on voluntary remuneration committee independence in relation to CEO remuneration and firm financial performance in the Australian context.

The effect of disability on the needs of caregivers

Purpose - The perception among carers and health professionals is that the health care system remains limited in its effectiveness and accessibility to non-institutionalized people with a mental illness. The purpose of this paper is to determine the effect of the care recipients main disabling condition (either physical or mental) on the carers perceived need for assistance in their role as carer. Design/methodology/approach - Based on the data collected from the Australian Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers, the investigation involves the non-institutionalized recipients of care with profound and severe disabilities, aged 15 years and over, residing in private dwellings and their primary informal carers. Findings - Regression analysis reveals that carers of those with a mental disability are 2.7 times more likely to report care needs unmet compared to carers of those with a physical disability. Further analysis using interactions shows that carers who are the adult children of mentally disabled parents report a comparatively very large amount of perceived unmet need. Originality/value - If equity is measured in terms of perceived need rather than finite resources a case is made that primary carers of people with a mental disability experience greater burdens in care.

Caring for People with a Mental Disability at Home: Australian Carers' Perceptions of Service Provision

This study investigates carer perceptions of the adequacy of assistance received by comparing two populations: those with a mental disability and those with a physical disability in Australia by using data representing 12.5% of the total population. This very large sample provides robust evidence for the study’s findings. Of those caring for individuals with severe core disabilities, 21.6% of those with a mental disability compared to only 8.3% of carers of those with a physical disability reported inadequate service assistance. Greater involvement of consumers and their families in health care service planning will provide opportunities to deliver more appropriate services and enhance equities within this sector.

The Efficacy of Auditors’ Going‐Concern Opinions Compared with a Temporal and an Atemporal Bankruptcy Risk Model: Analysing U.S Trade and Service Industry Failures 1974 ‐ 1988

Conflicting results have emerged from several past studies as to whether bankruptcy prediction models are able to forecast corporate failure more accurately than auditors’ going‐concern opinions. Nevertheless, the last decade has seen improved modelling of the path‐to‐failure of financially distressed firms over earlier static models of bankruptcy. In the light of the current crisis facing the auditing profession, this study evaluates the efficacy of auditors’ going‐concern opinions in comparison to two bankruptcy prediction models. Bankrupt firms in the U.S. service and trade industry sectors were used to compare model predictions against the auditors’ going‐concern opinion for two years prior to firm failure. The two models are the well‐known Altman (1968) Multiple Discriminant Analysis (MDA) model that includes only financial ratio variables in its formulation and the newer, temporal logit model of Cybinski (2000, 2003) that includes explicit factors of the business cycles in addition to variables internal to the firm. The results show overall better bankruptcy classification rates for the temporal model than for the Altman model or audit opinion.