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Environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks have the potential to negatively impact financial returns, yet few superannuation funds integrate these considerations into their investment selection. The Cooper Review (2010) identified a lack of member demand as a key impediment to ESG investing by superannuation funds. Given this problem, the aim of this study is to explore superannuation fund members’ perceptions of ESG investing by their funds in order to identify reasons for the lack of demand.

An on-line survey was developed and distributed to assess possible reasons why members do not select ESG investment options. In total, 549 Australian superannuation fund members responded to the survey.

Results indicate that the majority of superannuation fund members are interested in ESG investing. Members lack awareness of their fund’s approach to ESG investing, and they do not perceive there to be a financial penalty from ESG investing. Finally, members show a preference for consideration of governance issues over both social and environmental issues.

Respondents are well educated and the majority did not choose their superannuation fund. There was no measure of financial literacy included in the research instrument. There is also a general limitation in surveying superannuation fund members when they lack knowledge about superannuation.

The results indicate that superannuation members are interested in both superannuation and ESG investing. Given the low take-up of ESG investment options, this finding raises the question of how effectively funds are engaging their members.

The results should be of interest to superannuation funds and may lead to renewed interest in promoting ESG products.

This is the first study to examine superannuation members’ attitudes and behaviours towards ESG investing in the context of superannuation. The study also adds to our understanding of member decision-making in the $1.8 trillion superannuation industry.

Although superannuation planning has been examined within the context of individual choice, life course and cumulative advantage perspectives, little research has been contained within the theories of consumer behavior. This paper, therefore, aims to examine this important issue by delving into the perceptions of retirement planning from the perspectives of both male and female consumers.

A qualitative research design was adopted to gather in‐depth information within a real‐life context in order to build theory. In total, 21 exploratory semi‐structured interviews, to assist in identifying and describing the variety of thoughts and feelings that female and male consumers hold towards financial retirement planning, were conducted.

The findings from the in‐depth interviews indicate that males and females adopt different perspectives when it comes to retirement planning. Males tend to adopt an individual choice perspective, whereby it is assumed that retirement will be another stage in life which will provide for a lifestyle conducive with their current standard of living. Women, on the other hand, adopt very much a life course perspective, which makes no assumptions or predictions about future life stages, but one that views outcomes as contingent on the circumstances of one's life.

The value of this research lies in its methodology and analysis. Perceptions of males and females in relation to retirement planning have not before been mapped and, as such, the perpetual maps developed in the paper contribute new knowledge in relation to attitudes and behavior towards retirement financial planning.

The purpose of this paper is to examine public–private partnership (PPP) approaches for the construction of rental retirement villages in Australia and to allocate the investment proportions under a certain project return rate among three investors which are the government, private sectors and pension funds. The apportionment will achieve a minimum overall investment risk for the project.

Capital structure, particularly determination of investment apportionment proportions, is one of the key factors affecting the success of PPP rental retirement villages. Markowitz mean-variance model was applied to examine the investment allocations with minimum project investment risks under a certain projected return rate among the PPP partners for the construction of rental retirement villages.

The research findings validate the feasibility of the inclusion of pension funds in the construction of PPP rental retirement villages and demonstrate the existence of relationships between the project return rate and the investment allocation proportions.

This paper provides a quantitative approach for determination of the investment proportions among PPP partners to enrich the theory of PPP in relation to the construction of rental retirement villages. This has implications for PPP partners and can help these stakeholders make vital contributions in developing intellectual wealth in the PPP investment area while providing them with a detailed guide to decision making and negotiation in relation to investment in PPP rental retirement villages.

This paper seeks to compare the capitalisation rate offered by the Government Superannuation Fund (GSF) to retiring GSF members with the alternatives of borrowing and sale of the pension entitlements.

The paper uses standard discounted cash flow techniques.

The principal conclusions are as follows: first, while up to 50 per cent of a GSF member's pension claims can be effectively sold, the restriction that the buyer must be an individual implies a band of possible sale prices with an upper bound equal to that prevailing if sales were unrestricted (present value). Second, borrowing is increasingly favoured over capitalisation as the retirement age declines, and the critical retirement age below which borrowing dominates capitalisation is 64 for men and 66 for women if the GSF member has a spouse at the retirement date and otherwise about three years less. Third, the present value of the pension benefits is well in excess of both the capitalisation rate offered by the GSF and the capitalisation rate implicit in borrowing, implying sale prices even well below present value that are superior to the better of capitalisation and borrowing.

The analysis treats the retirement age of a GSF member as exogenously determined. However, the analysis also provides insights into the optimal retirement age and this issue is currently the subject of further research.

The paper should provide guidance to GSF members who are contemplating capitalisation of their entitlements.

This paper aims to determine the optimal date for an employee to initiate the pension payments from the New Zealand Government Superannuation Fund (GSF), through retirement or job shifting.

The paper uses discounted cash flow methods in conjunction with mortality tables, inflation estimates and a range of values for the yield on inflation-adjusted bonds in New Zealand.

The paper finds that, if job shifting is costless, then the optimal exit date is between 60 and 65. If job switching is costly, then this paper determines the effective salary reduction arising from continuing to work at the GSF-associated job beyond the optimal job switching age under costless job switching, arising from the adverse impact on the present value of the pension benefits, so as to assist in deciding when to switch jobs or retire. These effective salary reductions are small below 65 but rapidly rise after that, thereby significantly discouraging work much beyond age 65.

This paper assists GSF members to determine when to switch jobs or retire.

Changes in the economy, workforce, technology, population and family structures have implications for women’s working futures. Longer life expectancy and an increasing proportion of older people in the community are expected to influence fiscal, economic and social policy and put pressure on government income support systems. These pressures will be exacerbated by older workers leaving the workforce. With an increasing proportion of older people in the population and increasing health and longevity, paid work after the age of 65 years may become an option or a necessity in the future. The focus of this paper is on women of the baby boom generation, their working futures and the issues that will influence their work‐retirement transition. This is explored from the viewpoint of Australian women and from a social policy perspective.

To explore the demand and supply of private capital for successful women entrepreneurs in New Zealand. To obtain and interpret fine‐grained information in order to mitigate the research gap on growth finance for women‐led businesses in New Zealand.

Multiple approaches for data collection and analysis. Includes interviews with key decision makers in the private capital industry and an e‐mail survey of venture capitalists (supply‐side) and the narrated experiences of women entrepreneurs (demand‐side).

Quantifies the degree of women's current participation in the venture capital (VC) industry and delineates key considerations in the private capital investment decision‐making process. Confirms the absence of overt gender discrimination in the VC market but draws attention to the presence of other – some of which are more hidden – considerations which affect mobilisation of private capital by women entrepreneurs.

Highlights that a combination of supply‐side (private capital) and demand‐side (entrepreneurs) influences, as well as country‐specific structural and policy factors, needs to be considered when seeking explanations for the lower incidence of private capital to women business owners.

Mitigates the large research gap on women's entrepreneurship in New Zealand and supplements the literature on the private capital and women's business nexus. Signals the importance of policy considerations in growing the role of private capital.

This paper aims to analyse the extent to which undergraduate courses in New Zealand contain content on issues from the public and not‐for‐profit sectors, in addition to a for‐profit business focus.

The research is based on the premise that contextually‐appropriate accounting is required within the public services sphere where transactions are complex and ambiguous, have a long‐term focus, and where the government often performs a regulatory role. It is informed by a survey of educators, document reviews and semi‐structured interviews.

This research finds that profit‐oriented financial accounting education in New Zealand crowds out the teaching of public services content, especially when the same accounting concepts can be applied to all sectors. The imposition of sector‐specific accounting standards offers an opportunity to highlight public services, but its inclusion in a crowded curriculum may require coercion from the profession.

This paper offers a contemporary analysis of the focus of teaching in New Zealand at a time when accounting standards and auditing regulation is on the brink of change.

Purpose – To study the allocation in equity markets of sovereign wealth funds’ (SWF) investments with respect to other institutional investors. To analyze the role of political regimes in the sending and recipient countries as a determinant of the allocation of SWF investments.

Methodology/approach – We use mutual funds’ investments as a benchmark for SWF investment allocations. We collect data of SWF and mutual fund equity investments at the firm level and analyse them on a geographical and sector basis. We compare target investments for these two groups by looking at the political regime in the sending and recipient country, using different political indicators (Polity IV, Bertelsmann). We provide a comparison of SWFs and pension funds based on governance features related to investment.

Findings – We find that the fear that sovereigns with political motivations use their financial power to secure large stakes in OECD countries is not confirmed by the data. SWF investment decisions do not differ greatly from those of other wealth managers. Although there can be differences in the allocation, political regimes in the recipient countries do not play a role in explaining the allocation of sovereign wealth funds.

Social implications – Investment from public institutions, such as sovereign wealth funds, can have significant implications at the economic and social level. Sovereign funds are potential sources of capital for emerging economies, and therefore can enchance economic growth. It is important to understand to what extent public institutional investors behave differently from private investors. The “political bias” is not a relevant factor for sovereign funds, or for other institutional investors, for allocating their capital. More often than not, their asset allocation strategies converge with other large investors, these being driven by financial and not political bias.

Originality/value of the chapter – The chapter is an original contribution providing a firm-level analysis of equity holdings for two groups of institutional investors. Moreover, it emphasizes the political dimension of institutional investments, highlighting the priorities and constraints of public investors participating in financial markets. The chapter suggests that SWFs do not discriminate by the political regime of the recipient country in their asset allocation.

This paper analyses the use of big data techniques in auditing, and finds that the practice is not as widespread as it is in other related fields. We first introduce contemporary big data techniques to promote understanding of their potential application. Next, we review existing research on big data in accounting and finance. In addition to auditing, our analysis shows that existing research extends across three other genealogies: financial distress modelling, financial fraud modelling, and stock market prediction and quantitative modelling. Auditing is lagging behind the other research streams in the use of valuable big data techniques. A possible explanation is that auditors are reluctant to use techniques that are far ahead of those adopted by their clients, but we refute this argument. We call for more research and a greater alignment to practice. We also outline future opportunities for auditing in the context of real-time information and in collaborative platforms and peer-to-peer marketplaces.