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This chapter describes a project used in an entity tax class to engage students in developing several competencies that are valued by academics and the professional accounting community. Instructors provide students with a single set of data from which to prepare tax returns based on three separate assumptions about the entity: it is (1) a partnership, (2) a C corporation, or (3) an S corporation. Instructors play the role of a tax supervisor in a professional firm and students play the role of junior tax professionals. The student must communicate with the instructor to obtain necessary information (beyond the facts listed in the project description) to complete the tax engagement. Completed manually at first, the project reinforces material learned in class, encourages professional communication, and deepens the students’ understanding of how the choice of entity affects business taxation. Once the manual preparation is completed, students prepare the same returns using a computerized tax preparation tool to enhance their learning with technology.

The purpose of this study is to develop a governance typology which identifies governance issues and outcomes. Multi-owned properties (MOPs) are a unique property type due to the incorporation of a private governance association. Although there are jurisdictional differences, these associations are generally responsible for the management, maintenance and control of the commonly owned property; determining the contributions payable by each lot owner to the operation of the association; enforcing the rules of the association; and ensuring that records meet legislative requirements. Legislation for MOP schemes was enacted in different jurisdictions to guide the governance and management of these matters. However, challenges relating to the governance of MOPs have continued to be a problem as identified in the literature and practice.

The study first reviewed the legislation in three Australian states to identify specific governance categories and the legislative requirements related to those categories. To gain group opinion about the specific governance issues and outcomes, the Delphi method was utilised whereby industry experts participated in a two-round survey questionnaire.

A typology was developed as a result of consensus found between participants. The findings identified key governance issues and outcomes for MOPs.

The governance typology forms the basis for the development of a more comprehensive audit tool for the assessment of governance quality in individual schemes.

This paper is the first of its kind to collate issues impacting upon effective owners’ corporation governance and the potential outcomes associated with poor governance practices in MOPs.

This paper aims to adopt a comparative method using case law, statutes and secondary literature across both jurisdictions. This paper also draws on various theories of property ownership.

This paper conceptualises the legal relations embedded within condominium housing and the various theories of property ownership to ascertain how children’s interest fit within this framework. The laws of two jurisdictions, New South Wales and Singapore, are examined to determine how their strata law responds when children’s safety is at stake.

Drawing on pluralist moral theories of property law, the thesis advanced is that children’s issues within condominiums should not be subject to majoritarian rule especially when their safety is at stake. The paramount guiding value should be ensuring their safety within multi-owned housing communities. Using the law of two jurisdictions, New South Wales and Singapore, the central argument of this paper is that the law in these jurisdictions has rightfully adopted a protective approach towards children in multi-owned properties where their safety is at stake.

The literature on the law of multi-owned housing has largely focused on governance issues such as mediating between the majority owners’ interest with that of the minority owners’ interest. Children in multi-owned developments remain an under investigated area as children’s interests do not fit within the paradigm of majority versus minority interests. The paper advances the argument that children’s interest should be viewed through either a rights-based theory or pluralists’ theories of property law. Lessons from the New South Wales and Singapore experience are also drawn which might prove useful to other jurisdictions.

The objective is to address the major issues and suggest solutions to solve the water seepage and health related problems in residential buildings.

The methodology relies on a literature review on water damage in residential buildings with references to the vertical spread of SARS in a housing estate in Hong Kong. Working procedures for handling seepage complaints by Hong Kong government departments and their performance are examined.

The study found that individual departments have difficulties in identifying: the cause and source of seepage, and resolutions to the problem given the limited powers and legal constraints that exist. A holistic approach by individual departments is needed to address the issue. The proposed formation of Owners' Corporations, third party insurance and repair and maintenance sinking fund for old buildings would help solve the building defect and health related problems.

The suggestions in the study would help reduce and partly prevent the environmental nuisance and, more importantly, health risk. Residents are better prepared in the future for a possible return of SARS or other infectious disease.

Research on water damage is very scarce in Hong Kong. And perhaps this is the first of its kind. The study identifies the broader issue of maintaining and managing a high‐rise residential building. The building management and health related problems identified in the study should be noted in any policy addressing housing and health issues.

The purpose of this paper is to contrast consumer laws in England and Australia in relation to residential building projects, and considers how the laws of England may be improved in light of the Australian laws.

The paper reviews consumer laws in both England and Australia, and examines the measures that are in place (or not) to protect consumers who engage builders or purchase a home that contains latent defects.

After comparing the laws of the two countries, the conclusion is made that English law could be improved by imposing regulations on builders, including by mandating the use of written contracts for building work which are required to contain particular terms, requiring builders to be licensed and insured, and by introducing a consumer‐friendly form of dispute resolution for home building disputes.

The paper recommends that there be law reform in England.

The paper provides (so far as the authors are aware) the first comparison of English and Australian consumer laws in relation to residential building work.

We argue that claims of an entrepreneurial miracle as a description of private sector development in post-communist Europe conflates entrepreneurship with self-employment. The difference between the two hinges on the Weberian distinction between enterprise- and household-centered businesses. We then present two paradigms, the entrepreneurial that emphasizes the first and the post-Fordist that stresses the importance of the second business type, and provide data on businesses and individual motivation of business owners. We find more support for the post-Fordist approach. Then we show that business forms, primarily associated with self-employment have different recruitment patterns and rewards than other, more entrepreneurial forms. We end with a plea to disaggregate the various forms of independent, private sector activity in future research.

The purpose of the paper is to investigate the following issues. Investors traditionally prioritised tangible outcomes (money, land, machinery) in order to protect their financial assets. However, the intangible economy (trust, human resources, information, reputation) that co‐exists draws attention to new expectations that request the continuous, active and within the public sphere involvement of investors in order to protect their assets by prioritising intangible resources.

In this paper the case of non‐profit‐business partnerships is employed in order to demonstrate how change can be achieved.

The paper finds that investors in intangible outcomes who aim to achieve change in corporations share the same limitations within the financial and non‐financial field.

The paper highlights investment in the intangible economy as a mechanism of co‐determining the priority of responsibilities in the context of corporate social responsibility. The role of investors is crucial in facilitating the shift from the tangible to the intangible economy.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the current legal framework on money laundering control in the insurance sector. Essentially, this examination is premised on the interrogation of whether it is still appropriate for Mauritius to apply such stringent, opaque and unyielding Anti-Money Laundering/Combating Financing of Terrorism norms and rules on general insurance when developed nations such as the UK and Singapore have done away with them for a more effective combat against money laundering. It would also be assessed why the financial services commission (FSC) is not able to draw inspiration from its British and Singaporean counterparts in fighting money laundering more effectively.

This paper uses the doctrinal legal research methodology which is colloquially described as “black-letter law” approach. It is backed up by a contextual legal analysis that is based on an analysis of relevant legal provisions. It relies ground experience from the insurance industry through the experience of the authors. A comparative approach is used with Singapore and the UK as case studies given that there are significant commonalities to the Mauritian jurisdiction as well as useful differences.

It is observed that a move towards a de-regulation of the legal framework on money laundering in the insurance sector with a more relaxed approach is more effective for the Mauritian insurance sector. Evidence is drawn from the Singaporean and British models. A re-structuring of the FSC of Mauritius is also warranted for such an approach to be adopted.

This paper is among the first academic contribution that proposes a de-regulation and the adoption of a relaxed approach of and by the Mauritian Insurance Industry for a more effective combat against money laundering. It serves as a legal foundational basis for further research in this direction.

This paper seeks to examine the contributions of rehabilitation and redevelopment projects to the labour force of the construction industry in Hong Kong. Major projects from the private and public sectors were critically examined and the manpower requirements and the tangible benefits in terms of wages arising from urban renewal were forecast.

The forecast of the expected persons to be engaged in the construction industry is based on trend regression model. Time series data of construction sites, both private and public, and persons engaged in the past ten years were forecasted for linear trend process for the next three years. From this, a reasonable estimate of man‐days to be engaged and wages to be incurred in the construction industry in the future can be obtained.

The results provide evidence that the impacts are positive. About 19.4 million man‐days and an income of HK$16.4 billion (3.8 per cent of the nominal GDP of Hong Kong in 2008) are anticipated in the short run. To meet urban regeneration needs, the Government should develop various vocational skills and enhance motivation and job search.

There are potential risks of error arising from the use of assumptions, limited sample size and data from the secondary resources.

Urban renewal works can generate more jobs. The ratio of development projects to rehabilitation works in terms of producing job opportunity by the same amount of budget is about 1 to 4.7. To meet urban regeneration needs, the Government should develop various vocational skills and enhance motivation and job search for renewal works.

Urban renewal attracts and stimulates investment, creates employment opportunities and improves the built environment of cities. Also, public rehabilitation works can play a moderate role in stabilizing the economy and the labour market.

The major contributions of this paper are: the estimated labour and financial resources to undertake such renewal works; and the more significant impact of rehabilitation work identified.

This paper seeks to consider a significant market misconception and related errors commonly made by valuers, financial decision makers, and other users of valuation services. Its purpose is to focus on the importance of relating the explicit requirements of market value and fair value definitions to the evidence required for a supportable opinion of either.

The paper provides conceptual foundations for the terms “market value” and “fair value” and reviews their meanings and applications in a historical context. Business cycles and the recent recession are used as foundations for illustrating how prices, such as for real estate, vary with cycles, but are not always directly indicative of either market value or fair value. The latter term has a long history, but has undergone recent definition and revision by the US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) that are shown to closely align fair value with market value. A current controversy over the use of transactions as prima fascie, or perhaps the only indication of market value is discussed and the “market” of “market value” is examined.

The paper offers a new look at market evidence concepts that are time‐honored, yet have been largely lost or forgotten. The principal finding is that duress is not consistent with conventional definitions of market value or fair value, yet significant market evidence exists that duress is often ignored or improperly considered in valuations and financial decisions. The paper also concludes that the FASB's focus on “market participants” (sellers and buyers) as the prime source of Fair Value evidence is akin to the rules which have applied to market value for many decades. The paper concludes with a discussion of why transactions may be evidence of “a market,” but are not necessarily representative of the “market” or of fair value.

Market Value is a market protection against fraud, misrepresentation, and misunderstanding. Valuations must be performed in accordance with that definition – not as it is interpreted for personal gain or for any other interpretations of convenience, misunderstanding, or special purpose.