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Politics in human societies represents a variation, and elaboration, on a major evolutionary theme. Political processes have played an important functional role in goal-oriented, cooperative social systems in the natural world. This view of politics is also consistent with a causal theory – known as the Synergism Hypothesis – which explains the rise of complexity in evolution over time and, equally important, the frequent examples of devolution and dissolution. In addition to a brief discussion of this theory, the evolution of political systems in humankind will be described, from its possible origins among our remote australopithecine ancestors to the emergence of complex modern civilizations. Now, however, we confront an existential threat to our species, and to many others, due mainly to climate change. The future is very problematic. I will argue here that the only viable path going forward is a new social contract coupled with (democratic) global governance – a global “superorganism.”

This paper provides evidence on the impact of regulatory environment on financial reporting quality of transitional economies. This study compares the financial reporting quality of Hong Kong firms which are cross-listed in mainland China with those of Hong Kong firms cross-listed in China using specific earnings management metrics (earnings smoothing, timely loss recognition, value relevance and managing towards earnings targets) under pre- and post-IFRS regimes.

The financial reporting quality of Chinese A-share companies and Hong Kong listed companies are examined using earnings management measures. Using 2007 as base year, the study used a cumulative of −5 and +5 years of convergence experience which provide a total of 3,000 firm-year observations. In addition to regression analyses, we used the difference-in-difference analysis to check for the impact of regulatory environments on earnings management.

Through the lens of contingency theory, our results indicate that the adoption of the new substantially IFRS-convergent accounting standards in China results in better financial reporting quality evidenced by less earning management. The empirical results further shows that accounting data are more value relevant for Hong Kong listed firms, and that firms listed in China are more likely to engage in accrual-based earnings management than in real earnings management activities. We established that different earnings management practices that are seemingly tolerable in one country may not be tolerable in another due to level of differences in the regulatory environments.

The findings show that Hong Kong listed companies’ exhibit higher level of financial reporting quality than Chinese listed companies, which implies that the financial reporting quality under IFRS can be significantly different in regions with different institutional, economic and regulatory environments. The results imply that contingent factors such as country’s institutional structures, its extent of regulation and the strength of its investor protection environments impact on financial reporting quality particularly in transitional and emerging economies. As such, these factors need to be given appropriate considerations by financial reporting regulators and policy-makers interested in controlling earnings management practices among their corporations.

This study is a high impact study considering that China plays a significant role in today’s globalised economy. This study is unique as it the first, that we are aware of, to compare real earnings activities against accrual-based earnings management in pre- and post-IFRS adoption periods within the Chinese and Hong Kong financial reporting environments, distinguishing between cross-listed and non-cross-listed firms.

Purpose: Significant structural changes are currently occurring in the Indian labour sector. Artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies are redefining the activities and skill requirements for various jobs in the healthcare sector. These adjustments have been accelerated by the economic crisis brought on by COVID-19, along with other considerations.

Need for the Study: Skills shortages, job transitions, and the deployment of AI at the company level are the three main challenges confronting the Indian labour market. This chapter aims to discuss policy alternatives to address a rising need for health workers and provide an overview of changes to the healthcare sector’s labour market.

Methodology: A review of the available literature was conducted to determine the causes of the widening skill gap despite a vibrant and prodigious young population. The background of the sustainable labour market is examined in this chapter, with a focus on workforce migration and mobility.

Findings: This chapter gives a comparative review of recent policy papers and evidence, as well as estimates of the health workforce and present Indian datasets. Furthermore, it highlights how important it is for all people concerned to invest in today’s workforce to close the skill gap and create better future opportunities.

Practical Implications: This chapter’s findings imply a severe shortage of human intellectual capital in India and a need to bridge this gap in the Indian labour market.

This chapter is a speculative examination of the way in which theory is used in the social accounting literature. It is intended as an initial guide for those approaching the area for the first time; it is intended as a map for those in the field who would like to adopt a bigger picture for their work and it is intended as a wake-up call to those of us stuck in unconscious ruts. The chapter's departure point is the recognition that social accounting requires a reasonably sophisticated awareness of theory – not least because the subject matter itself is so contentious and conditional. The chapter's ambitions are to encourage a more evaluative and policy-based approach to the subject matter of social accounting; to offer a pedagogic basis to help others make some sense of theory in social accounting and to seek to empower and liberate social accounting scholars by assisting the range of their theorising. Social accounting scholars tend to approach the area with concerns and desires for liberation and possibility. Theory can help articulate those concerns and can support and encourage that desire. Above all, the chapter is explicitly partial, speculative and tentative, and it is not a formal or informed attempt to produce a theory of theories in social accounting. To articulate a range of the possible theories, we offer a simple heuristic through which we may navigate our way through the soup of concepts and perceptions that can blend into a potential infinity of ways of looking and seeing. We hope to encourage diversity and speculation rather than narrowness and alleged certainty.

The growth in environmental accounting research and interest in the last few years has been little short of phenomenal. For those of us with a long-standing interest in such issues, it is easy to get swept along in the euphoria of seeing environmental issues brought to centre stage in business and accounting debates. Despite wishing to encourage this growth in interest, this chapter is by way of a cautionary tale that, within this burgeoning, enthusiastic and often excellent research, there is a very real danger that environmental accounting may well end up doing more harm than good. This chapter, works from the premises that: (a) accounting (and accounting research) typically adopts a set of implicit assumptions about the primacy and desirability of the conventional business agenda — and is thus ‘managerialist’ in focus; and (b) that the conventional business agenda and environmental protection — and, especially, the pursuit of sustainability — are in fundamental conflict. If this is so then accounting is contributing to environmental degradation — not environmental protection. The chapter seeks to provide a review of the current state of the art in environmental accounting research through this ‘managerialist’ lens and then goes on to illustrate the essence of the problem through the reporting of a new analysis of data from an international study of accounting, sustainability and transnational corporations. The chapter concludes with a call for more explicit examination of the implicit assumptions held in accounting research generally and environmental accounting research in particular.

This paper aims at evaluating the scope of the bargaining power theory which considers direct investment restrictions—particularly regarding capital ownership—as the result of a bargaining process between the MNE and the host country. Three points are specifically studied: the conflict between the host country and the MNE about the conditions of location; the bargaining power features as they are studied in econometric tests and in monographies; and the bargaining dynamics between the MNE and the host country. What does remain of the “obsolete theory” thesis developed by Vernon which is taken up today within the framework of game theory?

This article analyzes the interplay between regulation and social and environmental reporting in northern Italian social enterprises. Specifically, it investigates how “non-accredited” social enterprises discharge voluntary accountability before and after the introduction of regulation making social and environmental reporting compulsory for “accredited-social enterprises.” By developing a content analysis on 170 stand-alone social and environmental reports, this article provides a longitudinal analysis of voluntary disclosures in a regulated context from 2006 (before regulation) to 2009 (after regulation). Based on the total number of disclosures and the average number of sentences per report, Italian “non-regulated” social enterprises showed increased voluntary disclosure on social and environmental matters from 2006 to 2009; however, when analyzing the average sentences per report, it emerges that the information contained in the stand-alone social and environmental reports decreased, especially disclosures related to “social-related issues.” This article looks beyond crude noncompliance analysis with legislation and analyzes if the regulation influences organizations’ voluntary disclosure. It analyzes all of the social and environmental disclosures provided by northern Italian “non-accredited” social enterprises before and after the introduction of regulation. The novelty of this article rests in the fact that it does not analyze the social and environmental disclosure of “legal social enterprises”; rather, it considers the whole voluntary disclosure context for “non-accredited” social enterprises in a regulated environment.