@article{SmieliauskasBewleyGronewoldetal.2016, author = {Smieliauskas, Wally and Bewley, Kathryn and Gronewold, Ulfert and Menzefricke, Ulrich}, title = {Misleading Forecasts in Accounting Estimates}, series = {Journal of business ethics}, volume = {152}, journal = {Journal of business ethics}, number = {2}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Dordrecht}, issn = {0167-4544}, doi = {10.1007/s10551-016-3289-1}, pages = {437 -- 457}, year = {2016}, abstract = {The current financial reporting environment, with its increasing use of accounting estimates, including fair value estimates, suggests that unethical accounting estimates may be a growing concern. This paper provides explanations and empirical evidence for why some types of accounting estimates in financial reporting may promote a form of ethical blindness. These types of ethical blindness can have an escalating effect that corrupts not only an individual or organization but also the accounting profession and the public interest it serves. Ethical blindness in the standards of professional accountants may be a factor in the extent of misreporting, and may have taken on new urgency as a result of the proposals to change the conceptual framework for financial reporting using international standards. The social consequences for users of financial statements can be huge. The acquittal of former Nortel executives on fraud charges related to accounting manipulations is viewed by many as legitimizing accounting gamesmanship. This decision illustrates that the courts may not be the best place to deal with ethical reporting issues. The courts may be relied on for only the most egregious unethical conduct and, even then, the accounting profession is ill equipped to assist the legal system in prosecuting accounting fraud unless the standards have been clarified. We argue that the problem of unethical reporting should be addressed by the accounting profession itself, preferably as a key part of the conceptual framework that supports accounting and auditing standards, and the codes of ethical conduct that underpin the professionalism of accountants.}, language = {en} } @article{Seyfried2016, author = {Seyfried, Markus}, title = {Setting a fox to guard the henhouse? Determinants in elections for presidents of supreme audit institutions Evidence from the German federal states (1991-2011)}, series = {Managerial auditing journal}, volume = {31}, journal = {Managerial auditing journal}, publisher = {Emerald Group Publishing Limited}, address = {Bingley}, issn = {0268-6902}, doi = {10.1108/MAJ-03-2015-1168}, pages = {492 -- 511}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence regarding the selection procedures for and characteristics of senior officials in supreme audit institutions (SIAs). Design/methodology/approach - This study follows a quantitative approach using original data collected for presidential elections of SIAs in the 16 federal states in Germany. A fractional logit model is calculated to test different theoretical assumptions in relation to structural, political and individual factors. Findings - The descriptive results confirm the findings of prior research that presidential candidates are elected with very high approval rates. The main determinants are the vote share of the ruling coalition and the executive experience of the presidential candidate. Research limitations/implications - This study focuses on 16 federal states in Germany, but an international comparative perspective covering subnational levels would further augment analysis through the variance of selection procedures and electoral outcomes. Social implications - Independence of auditors is a fundamental issue for the control of the executive, but it seems that there are inevitable trade-offs therein, such as between knowledge of the auditing objects or the politicization of the election process and the independence of the auditor. Originality/value - This study provides novel empirical insights into the election and selection procedures for senior SIA officials at the subnational level, and shows that the executive exerts strong, but functionally reasonable, influence on candidate selection.}, language = {en} } @article{deGuevara2016, author = {de Guevara, Berit Bliesemann}, title = {visits in zones of conflict and intervention}, series = {Journal of intervention and statebuilding}, volume = {10}, journal = {Journal of intervention and statebuilding}, publisher = {Soil Science Society of America}, address = {Abingdon}, issn = {1750-2977}, doi = {10.1080/17502977.2015.1137394}, pages = {56 -- 76}, year = {2016}, abstract = {This article explores the practice and political significance of politicians' journeys to conflict zones. It focuses on the German example, looking at field trips to theatres of international intervention as a way of first-hand knowledge in policymaking. Paying tribute to Lisa Smirl and her work on humanitarian spaces, objects and imaginaries and on liminality in aid worker biographies, two connected arguments are developed. First, through the exploration of the routinized practices of politicians' field trips the article shows how these journeys not only remain confined to the 'auxiliary space' of aid/intervention, but that it is furthermore a staged reality of this auxiliary space that most politicians experience on their journeys. The question is then asked, second, what politicians actually experience on their journeys and how their experiences relate to their policy knowledge about conflict and intervention. It is shown that political field trips enable sensory/affectual, liminoid and liminal experiences, which have functions such as authority accumulation, agenda setting, community building, and civilizing domestic politics, while at the same time reinforcing, in most cases, pre-existing conflict and intervention imaginaries.}, language = {en} } @article{Borgnaes2016, author = {Borgn{\"a}s, Kajsa}, title = {The Policy Influence of Sustainability Indicators: Examining Use and Influence of Indicators in German Sustainability Policy Making}, series = {German politics}, volume = {25}, journal = {German politics}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Abingdon}, issn = {0964-4008}, doi = {10.1080/09644008.2016.1193160}, pages = {480 -- 499}, year = {2016}, abstract = {In 2002 Germany adopted an ambitious national sustainability strategy, covering all three sustainability spheres and circling around 21 key indicators. The strategy stands out because of its relative stability over five consecutive government constellations, its high status and increasingly coercive nature. This article analyses the strategy's role in the policy process, focusing on the use and influence of indicators as a central steering tool. Contrasting rationalist and constructivist perspectives on the role of knowledge in policy, two factors, namely the level of consensus about policy goals and the institutional setting of the indicators, are found to explain differences in use and influence both across indicators and over time. Moreover, the study argues that the indicators have been part of a continuous process of 'structuring' in which conceptual and instrumental use together help structure the sustainability challenge in such a way that it becomes more manageable for government policy.}, language = {en} } @article{HustedtSeyfried2016, author = {Hustedt, Thurid and Seyfried, Markus}, title = {Co-ordination across internal organizational boundaries: how the EU Commission co-ordinates climate policies}, series = {Journal of European public policy}, volume = {23}, journal = {Journal of European public policy}, publisher = {Springer Publishing Company}, address = {Abingdon}, issn = {1350-1763}, doi = {10.1080/13501763.2015.1074605}, pages = {888 -- 905}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Through an analysis of climate policy-making in the European Commission (EU), this article argues that co-ordination in the Commission displays the same characteristics as the co-ordination across ministries in central governments, i.e., the properties of negative co-ordination. The article is based on a survey among Commission officials. Overall, the article reveals that a public administration perspective on the Commission proves invaluable to gain insights on how decisions are made at the European Union level. The article contributes to the emerging literature viewing the Commission as an ordinary bureaucracy - as opposed to a unique supranational organization.}, language = {en} } @article{PossamaiTurnerRooseetal.2016, author = {Possamai, Adam and Turner, Bryan S. and Roose, Joshua M. and Dagistanli, Selda and Voyce, Malcolm}, title = {"Shari'a" in Cyberspace. A Case Study from Australia}, series = {Sociologica : Italian Journal of Sociology online}, volume = {63}, journal = {Sociologica : Italian Journal of Sociology online}, publisher = {Societ{\~A}  editrice il Mulino}, address = {Bologna}, issn = {1971-8853}, doi = {10.2383/83882}, pages = {143 -- 159}, year = {2016}, abstract = {New forms of communication and greater accessibility of Islamic texts on-line allow Muslims to shape their own religiosity, to become less dependent on established sources of authority, and thereby to become more aware of their own cultural diversity as a community. New practices of transnational Islam, and the growth of new concepts of Muslim identities currently emerging in the on-line community, are relatively free from immediate constraints. This article provides the result of a sociological analysis of three Internet sites in Sydney which deliver on-line fatwas. Even if cyberspace has allowed the Muslim world to be de-territorialised and provides a way for people to distance themselves from traditional communities if they wish, this research points out a variety of approaches, including one case which is aiming at re-localising an Australian Muslim system of values. This case highlights ways in which first generation Muslims are re-territorialising Shari'a in a specific western country.}, language = {en} } @article{SprinzdeMesquitaKallbekkenetal.2016, author = {Sprinz, Detlef F. and de Mesquita, Bruce Bueno and Kallbekken, Steffen and Stokman, Frans and Saelen, Hakon and Thomson, Robert}, title = {Predicting Paris: Multi-Method Approaches to Forecast the Outcomes of Global Climate Negotiations}, series = {Politics and Governance}, volume = {4}, journal = {Politics and Governance}, publisher = {Cogitatio Press}, address = {Lisbon}, issn = {2183-2463}, doi = {10.17645/pag.v4i3.654}, pages = {172 -- 187}, year = {2016}, abstract = {We examine the negotiations held under the auspices of the United Nations Framework Convention of Climate Change in Paris, December 2015. Prior to these negotiations, there was considerable uncertainty about whether an agreement would be reached, particularly given that the world's leaders failed to do so in the 2009 negotiations held in Copenhagen. Amid this uncertainty, we applied three different methods to predict the outcomes: an expert survey and two negotiation simulation models, namely the Exchange Model and the Predictioneer's Game. After the event, these predictions were assessed against the coded texts that were agreed in Paris. The evidence suggests that combining experts' predictions to reach a collective expert prediction makes for significantly more accurate predictions than individual experts' predictions. The differences in the performance between the two different negotiation simulation models were not statistically significant.}, language = {en} } @article{Terhalle2016, author = {Terhalle, Maximilian}, title = {Transnational Actors and Great Powers during Order Transition}, series = {International studies perspectives}, volume = {17}, journal = {International studies perspectives}, publisher = {Oxford Univ. Press}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {1528-3577}, doi = {10.1111/insp.12077}, pages = {287 -- 306}, year = {2016}, abstract = {This article rests on the assumption of the "complexity, messiness, power relations, and contested character of the contemporary dualistic system," which comprises great powers and "superimposed, functionally differentiated global subsystems of world society" (Cohen 2012:5). The article argues that this framework is being shaped by the current transition of global order. In turn, this raises the question how the state-led negotiation of today's order transition can be understood against the backdrop of a post-Westphalian environment. The article challenges the widespread argument pertaining to the "autonomy of transnational actors" by suggesting that the influence of nonstate actors is dependent on a particular institutional context in which the key political questions framing a social order are settled. Whereas research on international institutions and their design simply assumes that this is the case, here it is argued that unless these framing patterns are agreed upon by major powers, the respective order and its elements, that is, institutions and regimes, remain contested or deadlocked. When this happens, the political impact of non-state actors is largely neutralized or strongly weakened and their effective autonomy from great powers is minimized.}, language = {en} } @article{ReusswigBraunHegeretal.2016, author = {Reusswig, Fritz and Braun, Florian and Heger, Ines and Ludewig, Thomas and Eichenauer, Eva and Lass, Wiebke}, title = {Against the wind: Local opposition to the German Energiewende}, series = {Utilities Policy}, volume = {41}, journal = {Utilities Policy}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {0957-1787}, doi = {10.1016/j.jup.2016.02.006}, pages = {214 -- 227}, year = {2016}, abstract = {A growing number of local energy conflicts around wind power and power-grid extensions are slowing down the deployment of the German Energiewende. In this paper, a local conflict on wind energy in the state of Baden-W{\"u}rttemberg is analysed in detail. In the little community of Engelsbrand, local opposition against a planned wind park was able to turn around a set of favourable a priori conditions, such as a supporting state government planning process, a local supporter group, a transparent planning process, including a majority vote pro wind energy, and a round table discussion. Distancing itself from the NIMBY-explanation ('Not In My Back Yard'), the paper applies insights from discourse network analysis and micro-sociology in order to study the local conflict dynamics. Special attention is given to the resource mobilisation strategies of the opponents, including social networks, mass and social media use. The paper ends by drawing some general conclusions for the German Energiewende.}, language = {en} } @article{EbingerRichter2016, author = {Ebinger, Falk and Richter, Philipp}, title = {Decentralizing for performance? A quantitative assessment of functional reforms in the German Lander}, series = {International review of administrative sciences : an international journal of comparative public administration}, volume = {82}, journal = {International review of administrative sciences : an international journal of comparative public administration}, publisher = {Sage Publ.}, address = {London}, issn = {0020-8523}, doi = {10.1177/0020852315586916}, pages = {291 -- 314}, year = {2016}, abstract = {In the last 10 years, the governments of most of the German L{\"a}nder initiated administrative reforms. All of these ventures included the municipalization of substantial sets of tasks. As elsewhere, governments argue that service delivery by communes is more cost-efficient, effective and responsive. Empirical evidence to back these claims is inconsistent at best: a considerable number of case studies cast doubt on unconditionally positive appraisals. Decentralization effects seem to vary depending on the performance dimension and task considered. However, questions of generalizability arise as these findings have not yet been backed by more 'objective' archival data. We provide empirical evidence on decentralization effects for two different policy fields based on two studies. Thereby, the article presents alternative avenues for research on decentralization effects and matches the theoretical expectations on decentralization effects with more robust results. The analysis confirms that overly positive assertions concerning decentralization effects are only partially warranted. As previous case studies suggested, effects have to be looked at in a much more differentiated way, including starting conditions and distinguishing between the various relevant performance dimensions and policy fields.}, language = {en} }