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The purpose of this paper is to analyze the hurdles, compared with that in the United States, for the implementation of Continuous Auditing in China. As a timely, cost-saving and efficient auditing method, continuous auditing is being increasingly adopted throughout the world. However, while it is increasingly applied in the USA, continuous auditing is still in its infancy in China.

This paper compares and contrasts China and the USA in three important dimensions that determine the “economic architecture” of assurance: the business environment, the audit profession and technology.

The authors find that excessive government intervention in business, the lack of competition, independence of auditors, the support from management and the continuous auditing-specific regulations, as well as the technology gap between these two countries, are the main barriers for the implementation of continuous auditing in China.

The findings of this paper provide better understanding of the drivers of continuous auditing adoption in the USA and the barriers toward doing so in China.

The term “continuous auditing” has never been formally introduced until the release of the draft of the Internal Control Audit Guide in 2011.

The paper highlights how technology by itself is not deterministic, but given the extraordinary rise in the Chinese economy in both its size and its sophistication, it has be to assumed that its “leapfrog” into parity if not outright leadership in continuous assurance is still a matter of “when” and not of “if”.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of agritourism as a development model which enables the diversification of agriculture and targets the utilization of endogenous approaches in an effective manner to distribute benefits for the majority of the community. The logistics hub is a channel by which sustainability of this model can be achieved.

This explorative study used survey methodology to gather data from a cross-section of stakeholders: an influential group consisting of 20 directors and senior directors, and 146 farmers, extension and assistant extension officers from rural agriculture development agency (RADA). The study was explored in terms of six proposed sustainability indicators as demonstrated by the Mandel Model for sustainable rural poultry farming.

The presence of the logistics hub made possible environmentally friendly infrastructural development, quality control of agritourism services, availability of financial resources and improved publicity and promotion of services. Arising from this, economics, socio-cultural and environmental benefits are likely to be achieved.

Although the research has achieved its aims, there are some limitations. First, this research was conducted in seven of the fourteen parishes of Jamaica. Second, a broader-based longitudinal study is best suited to research of this nature.

Participating rural communities are likely to experience increased economic activity and development and ultimately a better standard of living. This must be seen in the context of the need for citizens in rural Jamaica to achieve cultural and educational change.

This study has implications for the development and maintenance of public services and for local customs and cultures.

It is estimated that more than 100,000 Jamaicans could improve their standard of living and ultimately this would benefit all Jamaicans.

Given the growing interest in the topic, both in practice and academia, it is timely and important to examine the concept of continuous assurance (CA) and the possible paths along which such services will evolve. There has been a tendency to see CA purely from the point of view of its technological enablers. As such, it has virtually been taken for granted that CA will follow as a matter of course. What has been less thought through is the business architecture that must underlie CA. In particular, we show that the key driver of CA is the demand for it. While there may be many economic transactions between the company and its stakeholders that could benefit from the provision of CA, there is no guarantee that CA is either cost effective—the only way of enhancing efficiency—or actually has to be continuous. Other factors that will affect the development of CA are the need for a new infrastructure to pay for it, as well as concerns about the independence of the assurors. We also identify some important research issues.

Argues that while an expenditure tax would increase the complexity and administrative burdens of taxation, these problems are not overwhelming. The problems which have led others to conclude that an expenditure tax is infeasible, or would result in gross inequities, are not insuperable. At worst they can be handled with a little ingenuity and a suitable transition scheme. The case for or against an expenditure tax must rest on whether the economic benefits of adopting such a tax exceed the minor administrative costs of the tax. The expenditure tax cannot be rejected as infeasible merely because of practical or administrative problems.

The purpose of this paper is to present a novel application of cluster theory and cluster methodology to evaluate large infrastructure investments. The complementing clusters approach, which builds on the notion of infrastructure as connecting isolated “economic islands”, is able to assess the potential for value creation effects of new infrastructure investment.

The author uses simulation analysis based on a unique data set encompassing all employees and employers, as well as cluster mapping, for every pair of “economic islands” being connected by the examined infrastructure investments. The empirical setting is of large fjord crossings in Western Norway, the so-called E39 project.

The empirical findings show that productivity gains are higher when an integrated labor market hosting complementary clusters is formed. Limitations remain regarding the economic integration path.

The authors provide an ex-ante analysis using information over the past 10 years. Following the expected infrastructure investments, future research should examine the extent to which productivity gains materialized and the reasons underlying the achieved materialization levels.

Current evaluation of large infrastructure investments focuses on transportation economics effects, technical feasibility and environmental consequences. The authors complement this current practice by advancing a theoretically grounded value creation perspective that can affect future evaluation practices.

Cluster complementarity-based evaluation is a novel methodology that is applicable to investment decisions which are central for economic development. Cluster analysis of infrastructure investments provides new and valuable data for making such investments decisions.

This paper proposes an integrated methodology for process design to guide decision making under uncertainty by combining life cycle assessment (LCA) with multi‐criteria decision‐making tools.

Cleaner and greener technologies for process and product selection and design have gained popularity in recent years. The LCA is a systematic approach that enables selection of cleaner and greener products and processes. Recently, significant progress has been made for the use of LCA for product/process evaluation and selection. However, its use in process design and environmental decision making has not been fully exploited. The proposed methodology GreenPro‐I is a systematic approach to estimate environmental risks/impacts associated with life cycle of products, processes and services. It evaluates environmental burdens by quantifying energy and materials used and waste released into the environment. It identifies and evaluates opportunities, which affect environmental improvements. The assessment includes the extraction/excavation and processing of raw materials, manufacturing, transportation and distribution, use, recycle, and final disposal.

GreenPro‐I overcomes many of the problems faced in the conventional approaches and establishes a link between the environmental risks/impacts, cost, and technical feasibility of processes.

GreenPro‐I provides a comprehensive decision‐making tool for designers, regulatory agencies, business organizations and other stakeholders.

This study compares traditional, neoclassical economics with two religiously‐based economic paradigms. The first relies on an application of the teachings of Buddhism. The second, of more recent vintage, is based on Christian principles, and is grounded in the social justice teachings of the Catholic Church of the past 100 years. The exercise of comparing neoclassical economics with these two religiously‐based paradigms is not meant to replace the former with one of the latter, but to provide a pair of prisms through which neoclassical economics can be viewed and fine tuned.

The purpose of this paper is to expand on the development of university and college sustainability metrics by implementing an adaptable metric target strategy.

A combined qualitative and quantitative methodology is derived that both defines what a sustainable metric target might be and describes the path a university might take to get there. Local to global spatial scales and short to long‐term time scales are accounted for. Four popular metrics are developed: carbon emissions, water use, recycling rate, and energy use. Sustainability metric data available from Yale University are utilized to show the applicability of this metric target strategy.

Targets for sustainability metrics may be set at short, medium, and long‐term time scales. While quantitative targets may be set for sustainability metrics, these are often long‐term ideals that offer no information on the path to achieve them. If a path to achieving these targets is outlined, it is often arbitrary quantitatively, if not also qualitatively. This paper finds that sustainability metric targets can be founded upon clearly delineated, rigorously quantified targets. At the same time, the process framework for developing sustainability metric targets is adaptable to the unique situation of a particular university. This adaptable metric target strategy reflects the ideals of sustainability to be at one time both local and global in scope. The metric target strategy is globally applicably, but the sustainability metric targets produced will be unique to each institution.

The process framework for developing sustainable metric targets is only outlined for four popular metrics. Achieving these four targets alone will certainly not define a university as sustainable. Further development of other sustainability metrics utilizing the framework presented would be helpful.

The application to real metric data shows the feasibility of this approach for use at other universities and colleges. They can define their own sustainability targets using the approach outlined.

This paper highlights how sustainability metrics being collected by universities may be used to define a target path towards sustainability. The process framework presented has the potential to provide unique solutions for each institution while remaining a universal methodological approach.