In this book, Andrew Harvey sets out to provide a unified and comprehensive theory of structural time series models. Unlike the traditional ARIMA models, structural time series models consist explicitly of unobserved components, such as trends and seasonals, which have a direct interpretation. As a result the model selection methodology associated with structural models is much closer to econometric methodology. The link with econometrics is made even closer by the natural way in which the models can be extended to include explanatory variables and to cope with multivariate time series. From the technical point of view, state space models and the Kalman filter play a key role in the statistical treatment of structural time series models. The book includes a detailed treatment of the Kalman filter. This technique was originally developed in control engineering, but is becoming increasingly important in fields such as economics and operations research. This book is concerned primarily with modelling economic and social time series, and with addressing the special problems which the treatment of such series poses. The properties of the models and the methodological techniques used to select them are illustrated with various applications. These range from the modellling of trends and cycles in US macroeconomic time series to to an evaluation of the effects of seat belt legislation in the UK.

Forecasting, Structural Time Series Models and the Kalman Filter

Established in 2006, TATA Africa Services (Nigeria) Limited operates as the nodal point for Tata businesses in West Africa. TATA Africa Services (Nigeria) Limited has a strong presence in Nigeria with investments exceeding USD 10 million. The company was established in Lagos, Nigeria as a subsidiary of TATA Africa Holdings (SA) (Pty) Limited, South Africa and serves as the hub of Tata’s operations in Nigeria and the rest of West Africa.

What About Us

Sustainable Development Goals

Keywords: a Vocabulary of Culture and Society

What makes organizations so similar? We contend that the engine of rationalization and bureaucratization has moved from the competitive marketplace to the state and the professions. Once a set of organizations emerges as a field, a paradox arises: rational actors make their organizations increasingly similar as they try to change them. We describe three isomorphic processes-coercive, mimetic, and normative—leading to this outcome. We then specify hypotheses about the impact of resource centralization and dependency, goal ambiguity and technical uncertainty, and professionalization and structuration on isomorphic change. Finally, we suggest implications for theories of organizations and social change.

The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields (Chinese Translation)

Challenges for accounting and business education: blending online and traditional universities in a MOOC environment

Interests in and understanding of supply chain management are growing, along with a number of catalysts which include: reduction in trade barriers; development of logistics structures as a counterforce to globalisation; and reduced geographical spread in business. This raises a set of challenges for sustainable supply chain information management which is explored here, including: confidentiality and business records; cost-management and eco-efficiency; socio-cultural distance; complexity; and the need for rapid responses to the situation when a crisis occurs. These challenges lead to a critique of conventional cost management and the need to make sure credible information is provided in the supply chain relationship. A comprehensive Environmental Management Accounting (EMA) framework reveals that the links between sustainability management accounting and different decision settings are not clear in the supply chain relationship. The papers presented in this book provide a guide towards improved knowledge of EMA and supply chain accounting interrelationships, challenges and potential successes.

Sustainable Supply Chain Management and Environmental Management Accounting

Technology is transforming education as we know it. How will universities be affected by new online methods of teaching and learning? What does the virtual university mean for accounting and business education? How will global change impact Australian and New Zealand higher education institutions and students? Whether we embrace or resist change, university education must adapt just as other markets and industries have adapted – publishing, music and photography, to name but a few. In-depth analysis in The Virtual University: Impact on Australian Accounting and Business Education highlights the challenges, obstacles and opportunities in transforming higher education to meet the needs of the next generation of accountants. The Virtual University: Impact on Australian Accounting and Business Education is the latest edition of the Academic Leadership Series developed in partnership with the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia and the Centre for Accounting Governance and Sustainability (CAGS) at the University of South Australia.

The virtual university: impact on Australian accounting and business education

Purpose – Farm dam safety in Australia is being flouted and sustainability of catchments compromised because of the potential and severe consequences of dam failure. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to explore policy issues associated with safety of farm dam water storage through a comparison of developments in two Australian states against an analysis of international benchmarks and to provide an exemplar of best practice.Design/methodology/approach – A strategic review and content analysis is firstly undertaken to establish international dam safety policy benchmarks ranging from minimum to best practice as well as selection guidelines for varying circumstances, and to identify an exemplar best practice model. Longitudinal study over a 12‐year period then provides the basis for case analysis in order to reinforce the established minimum level benchmark and to demonstrate the application of the benchmarked model policy selection guidelines.Findings – Research results show that in Australia, South Austr...

Analysis and application of international dam safety policy benchmarks

The purpose of this paper is to address, via a case study, some of the key measurement issues within environmental accounting, in particular the methods used to measure threatened and endangered wildlife. This study examines the accounts of Earth Sanctuaries Ltd, a listed conservation company in Australia over a seven year financial reporting period beginning in 1995 and ending in 2001, a period both prior and subsequent to, the implementation of Australian Accounting Standard AASB 1037 — Self Generating and Re‐Generating Assets (SGARA s), which sought to recognise the value of biological assets within financial statements. In particular the study examines these values in light of the conceptual framework qualitative characteristics of relevance and reliability. The study concludes that because of the current Commonwealth policy of non‐trade in wildlife, and the consequent absence of an active and liquid market for trade in these assets, efforts to provide legitimacy to the environmental cause are hampered, and questions raised over the surrogate measurement base used to value the assets.

Roger Burritt

Papers

Challenges for accounting and business education: blending online and traditional universities in a MOOC environment

Sustainable Supply Chain Management and Environmental Management Accounting

The virtual university: impact on Australian accounting and business education

Analysis and application of international dam safety policy benchmarks

Accounting for Biological Assets - the Experience of an Australian Conservation Company