Home  About us  Contact
 

Large UK Companies (large + uk_company)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting75%

Selected Abstracts

The trade credit decision: evidence of UK firms

MANAGERIAL AND DECISION ECONOMICS, Issue 6-7 2003
Nam Sang Cheng
Trade credit finance and credit management are gradually gaining the research attention an area of such importance merits. One area, still far from resolved, is why trade credit is extended by non-financial firms to customers. This paper seeks to identify the generic forces behind the trade credit offer and to explore the empirical support for 20 propositions on credit motives derived from the literature and the implications of such motives to credit policies. The paper reports findings from a survey of senior finance officers involved in credit management in large UK companies. It assesses the degree to which theoretical explanations for granting trade credit are experienced in practice and whether observed differences attaching to credit motives among firms are associated with variations in credit policies and debtor days. The study found strong empirical support for seven propositions linked to competitiveness, pricing, investment and financing, and weaker support for a number of other theoretically-derived motives for trade credit extension. Factor analysis suggested a more insightful approach to classifying trade credit motives, covering investment in customers, customer's operating and financial benefits, supplier's marketing/operational benefits and market pressure to conform. In addition, two factors,customer relations and pricing flexibility,were extracted as motives for varying credit terms. Consistent with our hypothesis average debtor days were found to be significantly higher for those firms emphasising the financing, investment, and pricing flexibility propositions. These findings, and implications for future research, are explored. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Managers as Monitors: An Analysis of the Non-executive Role of Senior Executives in UK Companies

BRITISH JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2000
Noel O'Sullivan
An important aspect of current governance practice is the use of non-executive directors to monitor the behaviour of company management. This paper examines the extent to which senior executives are utilized as non-executives in large UK companies. The results suggest that executive directors are not an important source of non-executive directors. The average number of non-executive directorships held by each executive is 0.22. Indeed, 85% of executives hold no additional directorships. The holding of non-executive directorships is positively related to the strength of board monitoring in the executive's company, executive tenure and company size. Executives in companies with greater growth opportunities and operating in regulated industries are less likely to hold non-executive directorships. [source]

Voluntary social disclosures by large UK companies

BUSINESS ETHICS: A EUROPEAN REVIEW, Issue 2-3 2004
Stephen Brammer
First page of article [source]

Factors influencing the quality of corporate environmental disclosure

BUSINESS STRATEGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, Issue 2 2008
Stephen Brammer
Abstract Many firms choose to communicate their environmental strategies through voluntary environmental disclosures. This paper examines patterns in the quality of voluntary environmental disclosures made by a sample of around 450 large UK companies drawn from a diverse range of industrial sectors. The analysis distinguishes between five facets of quality, including the disclosure of group-wide environmental policies, environmental impact targets and an environmental audit. We examine how the decisions firms face regarding each facet of quality are determined by firm and industry characteristics, and find the quality of disclosure to be determined by a firm's size and the nature of its business activities. Specifically, we find high quality disclosure to be primarily associated with larger firms and those in sectors most closely related to environmental concerns. In contrast to several recent contributions, we find that the media exposure of companies plays no role in stimulating voluntary disclosures. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]