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The purpose of this paper is to examine links between environmental design of high-rise housing communities and residents’ perceptions about antisocial behaviour (ASB).

A conceptual framework was proposed to investigate correlations between architectural design parameters and perceived severity of ASB activity. A questionnaire was administered to test the relationships. Residents of 14 public rental housing estates in Hong Kong participated, and 422 complete responses were analysed.

Strong correlation was discovered between elements of residential design and residents’ perceptions of ASB severity. Block layout, building height and number of flats per floor affected residents’ feelings about ASB threat. Access to outside air in communal corridors also significantly reduced residents’ complaints about ASB.

This study offers insights into how architectural design of high-rise residences might reduce residents’ perception of ASB severity. Findings impact current ASB research, but also architects’ and developers’ designs. Better planned built environments will enhance residents’ security and satisfaction, reinforcing communities.

Previous studies have ignored whether architectural design of high-rises could directly influence residents’ perception of ASB severity. This study is the first to focus on the relationship.

Traditionally in the UK, accountants and their concepts of value have held little interest for those involved with the technical aspects of property management. Indeed, property valuers and accountants have traditionally adopted differing professional approaches towards the concept of valuation, despite nominally agreed valuing practices dating back to 1974. Most particularly, notwithstanding these agreements, the accounting profession has regarded the theory of property valuation for company accounts as a monopoly of its professional domination of the creation and implementation of accounting standards. Because of the lack of a codified conceptual framework, property assets were regarded identically to other assets. Equally, property managers attended to technical, infrastructural and legal aspects of managing properties. Examined in this paper, the development process behind Financial Reporting Standard 15: Tangible Fixed Assets (FRS 15) provided a realistic and fundamental shift of attitude. Not only were the opinions of valuers actively sought over the issue, but also the final standard adopted the definitions of value created by The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). Moreover, property assets now figure prominently in financial statements and so impinge directly on the net asset value and borrowing capability of the firm. Property management and modes of holding property have become central to running the business. This paper examines some of the arguments presented within the discussion process undertaken in the creation of FRS 15, highlighting the different approaches to the issue, and noting the likely negotiations to the standard to follow.

The Private Finance Initiative (PFI) is designed to introduce new resources into the national infrastructure. It introduces the idea that the public sector can provide services by purchasing them from the private sector rather than by direct provision. There have been considerable disagreements about how to account for these transactions. Key in this has been differences of view as to whether PFI transactions involve purchase of assets and thus whether the transaction should appear on the balance‐sheets of the public sector. This seemingly technical question has generated considerable debate and disagreements between the UK government and the Accounting Standards Board (ASB). Closer investigation into this disagreement demonstrates a range of alternative views and tensions. Describes and analyses these different views and the inter‐ and intra‐relationships and tensions between these parties using an interests‐based, political framework for this contextual analysis. Demonstrates how accounting standard setting, in cases such as accounting for PFI, if only analysed at the technical level, misses a range of social dynamics that are central to understanding the role of accounting in the development of society.

This paper aims to develop a framework for Chinese telecommunication network companies on how to implement eco‐design by benchmarking its parent foreign company.

A case study approach is used to study key aspects for eco‐design planning in Alcatel Shanghai‐Bell Co. Ltd (ASB). Challenges and possible solutions are discussed.

It is reasonable and effective for Chinese joint ventures to develop their eco‐design planning by benchmarking their parent companies. Key aspects for such eco‐planning include top management commitments, awareness of employees, and training of eco‐design tools.

Eco‐design is still an emerging environmental tool among Chinese telecommunication network companies. As a result, quantified data about eco‐design practices and performance improvements are not available. How to record such data still requires further study and data acquisition.

This paper provides ideas for Chinese (and other) telecommunication companies to develop their eco‐design planning. The proposed solutions can guide Chinese telecommunication network companies to overcome challenges for their eco‐design planning and implementation.

This paper puts forward a framework for Chinese telecommunication companies to initiate their eco‐design practices by benchmarking their leading parent companies. The framework can be applied to Chinese and other telecommunication network companies with few environmental experiences and practices.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the anti-social behaviour (ASB) measures for under-18s contained in the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill, examining how they differ from the current ASB framework and their likely implications for young people and society.

The paper is based on desk-based research of the proposed and existing ASB measures. It also draws on the author's experience as a parliamentary campaigner on the Bill for the Standing Committee for Youth Justice.

The paper finds that there is little difference in the substance of the proposed and existing ASB measures for under-18s. The key change of note is that the new powers will be easier and quicker to obtain, which is likely to be particularly counterproductive for children and young people.

This paper will be valuable to practitioners seeking to understand the new ASB proposals and their likely implications for practice and society.

This paper seeks to develop a clearer understanding of the operations and decisions made by Australian advertising standards bodies, the Advertising Standards Council and its successor, the Advertising Standards Board. It also seeks to identify whose interests have been served by these advertising standards organisations – those of the public or those of the advertising industry.

Using annual reports and reports in mainstream press outlets, this paper compares the two advertising standards bodies, their respective organisational structures, and their decisions, in order to identify the key issues that have confronted Australia's advertising regulation bodies.

In addition to demonstrating the fundamental similarities between the Advertising Standards Council and the Advertising Standards Board, this paper raises serious questions about self‐regulation and the way that it serves the advertising industry's interests ahead of the public interest.

This is the first long‐term comparative survey of the operations, activities and decisions of the Advertising Standards Council and the Advertising Standards Board that also reveals the fundamental shortcomings of the current advertising standards codes.

An episode in the development of accounting for Private Finance Initiative (PFI) scheme transactions is explored from a social constructionist perspective. The “carrying” of meanings between sub‐worlds of the financial accounting world through social processes, principally by means of the standard‐setting body’s conceptual framework, is shown to be implicated in the social construction, maintenance and modification of accounting meanings. The social constructionist model is developed in several ways, some of which respond to particular characteristics of the financial accounting world.

The consensus‐based approach to setting accounting standards, which incorporates a formal consultation process, leads to questions about the lobbying process with regard to the nature of the argument, the characteristics of lobbying groups and the responsiveness of the standard setters. FRS 3, as the first standard initiated by the UK Accounting Standards Board (ASB), provides the context for considering these questions in relation to the nature of responses and respondents to the prior exposure draft, and the extent of comment integration, leading to a conclusion that the relative lack of change between the exposure draft and the standard is not explained by the pluralist concept of the standard‐setter in bilateral interactions with the independent respondents. It may, however, be rationalised in terms of a community of business interests collectively permitting the ASB to demonstrate its effectiveness through the apparent legitimisation afforded by an overt position of accommodating users as a special interest group and a market force. The formal consultation process served the purpose of a symbolic ritual to establish the acceptance and acceptability of a newly‐established regulatory agency.

Part V analyzes the details of how to assess materiality. It first tackles qualitative versus quantitative criteria and the role of professional judgment. It then analyzes the selection of quantitative threshold, to expand to the choice of benchmarks. It contrasts the whole financial statements with subaggregates, line items, and components.

Specific sections contrast IASB, FASB, SEC, and other guidance on materiality applied to comparative information, interim reporting, and segment reporting.

The section on estimates mingles complex guidance coming from accounting, auditing, and internal control over financial reporting to explain how the management can improve its assessment of materiality concerning estimates.

After explaining the techniques to move from individual to cumulative misstatements, the part tackles verification ex post, and finally summarizes the intricacies of whether immaterial misstatements are permissible and their consequences.

With a storytelling tone, this chapter narrates different examples of service-learning programs at The American School of Barcelona. The opportunities for international schools to develop experiential/learning programs through partnerships with a variety of institutions from the local community such as hospitals, multinational corporations, local and international NGOs, business schools, and regional or national governments are described. Establishing these partnerships not only provides students with valuable opportunities for experiential learning and service-learning, but it also has a very positive impact on partner institutions and their constituents, enhancing the school’s image in the community. Processes, as well as problems and solutions, that arise when developing service-learning programs are examined. By reading this chapter, it is hoped that readers will be inspired and, if they are practitioners of service-learning, will be able to replicate some of these programs in their own contexts. The reader will be able to see the positive benefits both for those who are serving and those who are served.