The privatisation of the British railway industry was a unique political and economic event. An integrated industry was broken-up into numerous component parts and sold off to private sector interests. The result was a highly fragmented industry that was structurally unsound and operationally dysfunctional. This authoritative volume presents an enlightening portrait of an industry that is less efficient, more costly and still more dependent on state subsidy today than its nationalised predecessor. The nine chapters in this work present a comprehensive and rigorous evaluation of how and why the industry has become so dysfunctional and costly, supported by detailed financial analysis and industry examples. Seven chapters comprise a series of peer-reviewed academic papers by Professor McCartney and Dr Stittle and published in leading international journals over the period 2004–2017 which analyse selected key segments of the privatised industry: where appropriate, updates are provided at the end of these chapters outlining developments since initial publication relevant to the analysis therein. Two chapters are published here for the first time: Chapter 7 reviews the performance of the freight sector, while Chapter 1 ‘bookends’ the volume by providing first, an account of how rail privatisation was conceived and implemented in the 1980s/90s, and then reviews the impact of the pandemic and the proposals of the Williams-Shapps White Paper of 2021 which, if enacted, will effectively end the Major government’s experiment. Going far beyond the usual superficial analysis of the topic, this volume will be of significant interest to researchers and advanced students of accounting, economics, business history, transport studies, as well as industry and specialised business interests in transport and privatisation.

Taxation and Inequality in Latin America takes a heterodox political economy approach, focusing on Latin America, where current problems of taxation have existed for a century and great wealth contrasts with abject poverty. The book analyzes the relation of natural resource wealth, allocational politics and the limited role of taxation for redistribution, and progressive resource mobilization. By drawing on the political economy of tax regimes, the book considers the specific conditions of taxation in Latin America, which apply to a large part of the Global South and more than 100 countries specializing in the extraction and export of raw materials. This book will cover: taxation and the dominance of raw material export sectors; taxation and allocational politics; new perspectives on political economy and tax regimes. Scholars and advanced students of political economy, political science, development studies, and fiscal sociology will find several key issues in tax research from a novel angle. The book provides an analytical orientation that relates central questions of taxation to patterns of regional political economy, thereby opening up the debate with tax scholars from other world regions of the Global South.

Environmental finance and green banking are central drivers of the transition to a sustainable economy and essential components in solutions to climate change. This book presents the latest research on theory and practices in these interdisciplinary fields, incorporating both public and corporate finance. It introduces three parts - environmental investing and financing, green banking and environmental policies in the public sector. The book explores the current trends, dynamics and ways forward for environmental finance and green banking, including fundamental theories (e.g., environmental Kuznets curve) and comparisons between traditional and green bond efficiency, corporate governance practices and disclosure, green central banking, climate finance, sustainable strategies, green Islamic banking, and public climate fund management in multi-country context. The contributors to this book highlight significant challenges ahead while recognizing potential opportunities, such as the revolution in green investments and trading in green bonds. This book is a welcome addition to the literature on environmental economics and finance and the economics of sustainability and climate change.

This book weaves together current understanding around financial literacy and ageing, arguing for the relevance of financial literacy for old age security. Building upon on the experiences of ten developing Asian economies with a focus on India, the book enters new territory by developing frameworks that identify predictors of financial literacy and a mechanism for its internalization, as well as recognising the need for specialized training programs for the older population in order to establish a link between financial literacy and old age security. It thus makes a case about the centrality of financial literacy in creating an environment conducive to a dignified ageing experience in this world of shouldering one's own responsibility. Going forward, the book comprehends financial literacy for India as a skill which enables an individual to decide the suitable avenues to invest savings, utilize monetary resources and shape financial decisions aligned with their financial goals, in accordance with the dynamic financial & economic environment. This original volume is a first-time attempt to provide an in-depth account of financial literacy and its association with savings behavior, old age planning, wealth accumulation, healthcare and wellbeing in older age. It also provides a detailed account of various measurement tools used and policy initiatives undertaken across the globe for financial literacy. It is an indispensable reference guide for scholars and researchers, cutting across multiple disciplines particularly financial and development economics, gerontology, demography, social work, psychology and public policy.

The new global climate of free enterprise has brought with it a proliferation of offshore financial centers that presumably have important roles to play in the emergent global economy. The air of secrecy that appears to pervade the activities of offshore financial centers may well slant or obscure any real understanding of the functions of such centers. The authors investigate the role of major international accounting firms and their services in the processes of business facilitation in the locations that host these centers. By focusing the investigation upon the role of the accounting firms in offshore financial centers, the authors gain a better grasp of the real or potential impacts of the firms in the global economy and in the jurisdictions that host them. Not only do the authors provide a detailed assessment of what the major accounting firms are actually doing in the centers, but they point out what attributes are needed by jurisdictions hoping to succeed as offshore financial centers. The centers included are Antigua, Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, Gibraltar, Malta, Cyprus, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Mauritius, the Seychelles, Singapore, and Vanuatu.

The authors describe the legal and institutional environments facing business operations in general and the accounting firms in particular in offshore financial centers. By studying these operations, it should show what they are doing in terms of facilitating the international activities that flow through such centers. It should also add to the understanding of the potential that offshore activities have as vehicles for development in small emerging economies. This study should be of interest to a wide range of business disciplines, as well as governmental agencies in advanced and emerging nations, international agencies such as regional development banks, and accountants and the international financial community.

This book provides an exhaustive overview of China's accounting standards and makes a clear comparison between Chinese and international accounting systems. It offers an essential guide to dealing with new accounting standards for business enterprises in China. The guide provides valuable support to accountants and professionals when comparing the new standards adopted in China with the corresponding principles under IAS/IFRS and appraising potential outcomes. The comparative approach together with comments and easy-to-use numerical examples allow readers to quickly grasp these accounting systems.

Exam board: Cambridge Assessment International Education Level: IGCSE Subject: Business Studies First teaching: September 2018 First exams: Summer 2020 This title is endorsed by Cambridge Assessment International Education for learner support. Reinforce learning and deepen understanding of the key concepts covered in the latest syllabus; an ideal course companion or homework book for use throughout the course. - Develop and strengthen skills and knowledge with a wealth of additional exercises that perfectly supplement the Student's Book. - Build confidence with extra practice for each lesson to ensure that a topic is thoroughly understood before moving on. - Fully explore and analyse international businesses through exercises based on authentic case studies. - Keep track of students' work with ready-to-go write-in exercises. - Save time with all answers available in the Boost Subscription Available in this series: Student Textbook Fifth edition (ISBN 9781510421233) Student Book Boost eBook (ISBN 9781398333826) Boost Subscription (ISBN 9781398341036) Workbook (ISBN 9781510421257) Study and Revision Guide (ISBN 9781510421264)

This book appeals to a wide segment of the academic and professional market. It will appeal to accounting and finance professors and students because the main theme of the book deals with accounting and financial system reform. It will appeal to economists in the subfields of transition economics and development economics because it addresses current issues in their field. It will also appeal to scholars in the field of Russian and East European Studies and Asian Studies because the book is about several East European and Asian countries. Policy analysts and consultants who deal with accounting, finance, transition economics or Eastern Europe or Asia will also find this book to be a valuable reference and source of current information.

Much of the information included in this book was gathered from dozens of interviews conducted with accountants, executives, educators and corporate governance specialists in several cities. Topics include problems of implementing International Financial Reporting Standards, recent developments in corporate governance, taxation and public finance, accounting education and accounting and finance certification.

Control of an impartial balance between risks and returns has become important for investors, and having a combination of financial instruments within a portfolio is an advantage. Portfolio management has thus become very important for reaching a resolution in high-risk investment opportunities and addressing the risk-reward tradeoff by maximizing returns and minimizing risks within a given investment period for a variety of assets. Metaheuristic Approaches to Portfolio Optimization is an essential reference source that examines the proper selection of financial instruments in a financial portfolio management scenario in terms of metaheuristic approaches. It also explores common measures used for the evaluation of risks/returns of portfolios in real-life situations. Featuring research on topics such as closed-end funds, asset allocation, and risk-return paradigm, this book is ideally designed for investors, financial professionals, money managers, accountants, students, professionals, and researchers.

Mutual-fund superstar Peter Lynch and author John Rothchild explain the basic principles of investing and business in a primer that will enlighten and entertain anyone who is high-school age or older.

Many investors, including some with substantial portfolios, have only the sketchiest idea of how the stock market works. The reason, say Lynch and Rothchild, is that the basics of investing -- the fundamentals of our economic system and what they have to do with the stock market -- aren't taught in school. At a time when individuals have to make important decisions about saving for college and 401(k) retirement funds, this failure to provide a basic education in investing can have tragic consequences.

For those who know what to look for, investment opportunities are everywhere. The average high-school student is familiar with Nike, Reebok, McDonald's, the Gap, and the Body Shop. Nearly every teenager in America drinks Coke or Pepsi, but only a very few own shares in either company or even understand how to buy them. Every student studies American history, but few realize that our country was settled by European colonists financed by public companies in England and Holland -- and the basic principles behind public companies haven't changed in more than 300 years.

In Learn to Earn, Lynch and Rothchild explain in a style accessible to anyone who is high-school age or older how to read a stock table in the daily newspaper, how to understand a company annual report, and why everyone should pay attention to the stock market. They explain not only how to invest, but also how to think like an investor.

In the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis, corporate collapses, accounting scandals and concerns around competition and auditor choice, the European Commission (EC) promoted the preparation of various reports on audit policy to support a harmonisation process of European auditing regulation. Consequently, the European Union Audit Regulation and Directive was implemented from 2016. This book provides a timely picture of the audit sector and how it responds to regulatory and technological challenges. It analyses the impact of EU reforms on audit practices by comparing the U.K. and Italy, which, representing two very different regulatory and cultural contexts, will offer insight into how the efforts at standardising audit regulation may lead to very different organisational firm responses within Europe. It addresses issues relating to public policy work and the concerns faced by the market for audit and assurance services, in promoting audit quality, better communication about the role of the auditor, capital market stability and confidence, and auditor independence. Moreover, it highlights what the future of auditing might look like in the EU particularly after the U.K. has left, and how meeting public expectations will continue to be a struggle for the accounting profession given the many problems ahead. The book encourages a deeper awareness of the challenges faced by those that monitor and certify the financial statements of the world's largest public companies and contributes to the general understanding of this controversial industry. It will serve as a useful guide to the recent EU audit reforms, not only for academics, and research students but also to regulators, policymakers, standard setters, industry professionals, and business executives worldwide.

This book explores the potential for public banks to help finance the expansion, democratization and sustainability of public water services in Europe, with implications for public water financing elsewhere in the world. Financing the UN's Sustainable Development Goal 6 for water and sanitation will be enormously expensive and will also depend largely on public water operators. Where will this money to fund public water services come from? One option is public banks. These state-owned institutions constitute just under 20% of global banking assets, holding close to $50 trillion in assets. Many public banks have explicit mandates to finance public water management and related public goods, and they have been doing so for decades. And yet, despite a resurgence of interest in public banks, their roles and potential in funding public water services have been largely ignored by researchers and policy makers. This book aims to measure the scale and nature of interactions between public banks and public water operators in the European region; identify challenges and opportunities for deeper engagement between public banks and public water operators; recognize promising practices and how these might be transferred elsewhere in the world; and assess possibilities for more democratic forms of public bank and public water interactions. This volume will be of great use to students and researchers interested in political ecology and economy, development and cooperation, public policy as well as water governance and management. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Water International.

Economic development depends heavily on the growth of social sectors like education, healthcare, gender equality, as well as factors like income, consumption, investment and trade. This book examines the interlinkages between development, good governance and spending on social growth. The book focuses on different areas of social growth, public welfare and poverty reduction including managing human resource, corruption in public institutions, public spaces as well as health and welfare measures. The chapters in the volume highlight the role of government interventions in boosting human development - particularly in developing countries in Asia and Africa and many developed countries in the post-COVID scenario. The book also examines the foundations of government spending on development and effective governance while underlining the impact which social growth has on the economy. Rich in theoretical and empirical perspectives, this book will be useful for students and researchers of economics, sociology, political studies, public finance, development studies as well as for policy makers and think tanks working in the areas of human development.

In recent years, nonprofit and voluntary organisations have faced challenges and unanticipated pressures as a result of increased competition for funding, technological advancements, the need to comply with government regulations, and increased social and community expectations regarding greater accountability and transparency. Cost accounting and cost management tools are considered to be a means of providing adequate and quality information for management control for all sorts of organisations, including nonprofits. Using empirical evidence from the Australian nonprofit sector, this research monograph offers insight into how nonprofit and voluntary organisations control and manage the costs of their operations and projects through cost accounting and cost management tools. The book will be of benefit to a range of stakeholders in the sector, including financial and management accountants, professional accounting bodies, the government, policymakers, academics, consultants and operational managers.

This work outlines a state-of-the-art project control and trending programme, focusing on advanced applied-cost and schedule-control skills for all phases of a project at both owner and contractor level. It contains information on the three major aspects of the total project programme: the techniques and procedures utilized for a project; the experience and analytical ability of project personnel; and the commitment and teamwork of a project group.

Risk consideration is central to more accurate post-crisis valuation Corporate Valuation presents the most up-to-date tools and techniques for more accurate valuation in a highly volatile, globalized, and risky business environment. This insightful guide takes a multidisciplinary approach, considering both accounting and financial principles, with a practical focus that uses case studies and numerical examples to illustrate major concepts. Readers are walked through a map of the valuation approaches proven most effective post-crisis, with explicit guidance toward implementation and enhancement using advanced tools, while exploring new models, techniques, and perspectives on the new meaning of value. Risk centrality and scenario analysis are major themes among the techniques covered, and the companion website provides relevant spreadsheets, models, and instructor materials. Business is now done in a faster, more diverse, more interconnected environment, making valuation an increasingly more complex endeavor. New types of risks and competition are shaping operations and finance, redefining the importance of managing uncertainty as the key to success. This book brings that perspective to bear in valuation, providing new insight, new models, and practical techniques for the modern finance industry. * Gain a new understanding of the idea of "value," from both accounting and financial perspectives * Learn new valuation models and techniques, including scenario-based valuation, the Monte Carlo analysis, and other advanced tools * Understand valuation multiples as adjusted for risk and cycle, and the decomposition of deal multiples * Examine the approach to valuation for rights issues and hybrid securities, and more Traditional valuation models are inaccurate in that they hinge on the idea of ensured success and only minor adjustments to forecasts. These rules no longer apply, and accurate valuation demands a shift in the paradigm. Corporate Valuation describes that shift, and how it translates to more accurate methods.

Recent megatrends such as increasing complexity, volatility, internationalization and increased demand for transparency and compliance have changed the expectations towards the controlling function. During his professional experience, the author observed the increased expectations towards the controlling function. If controlling is to maintain its influence in a company, it needs to adapt to the changes in management expectations. To outline "how to increase the value added by the controlling function in multinational production companies", four research questions were addressed and answered. The questions which were answered were "what does controlling involve and which factors influence the set-up of the controlling function in a company", "how are the expectations towards the controlling function changing over time and what is its value contribution", "how can the controlling function add value to standard reporting and budgeting activities" and "how can the controlling function add value to reorganization activities".

This book demonstrates what kind of problems, originating in a management accounting setting, may be solved with game theoretic models. Game theory has experienced growing interest and numerous applications in the field of management accounting. The main focus traditionally has been on the field of non-cooperative behaviour, but the area of cooperative game theory has developed rapidly and has received increasing attention. Intensive research, in combination with the changing culture of publishing, has produced a nearly unmanageable number of publications in the areas concerned. Therefore, one main purpose of this volume is providing an intensive analysis of the intersection of these areas. In addition, the book strengthens the relationship between the theory and the practical applications and it illustrates the two-sided relationship between game theory and management accounting: new game theoretic models offer new fields of applications and these applications raise new questions for the theory.