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PurposeThe aim is to examine the importance small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) see in different network partners regarding successful tendering in public procurement, and whether this perception predicts the number of joint bids and wins.Design/methodology/approachThe data were collected by an electronic questionnaire which was sent to the registered users of the leading electronic platform for public procurement in Finland. The data were analysed with statistical methods.FindingsThe findings suggest that a favourable perception of the importance of horizontal networks in public procurement is associated with a larger number of joint bids and better success in joint bidding. However, the results do not establish a positive correlation between vertical networks and consortium bidding.Research limitations/implicationsThe data were collected from a single EU country. Since the criteria for bidding consortia may vary between countries, different results might have been achieved from other countries.Practical implicationsSMEs should be encouraged to form bidding consortia and acquire related experience. Policymakers should minimise barriers to consortium bidding, e.g. by offering more information. They should also assess the merits of joint bidding because they rarely encourage SMEs to bid as a consortium.Social implicationsConsortium bidding is a way of enhancing SMEs’ possibilities to participate in public tender contests, even in large contracts.Originality/valueWhile consortium bidding has been recognised to enhance SMEs’ possibilities of participating in public procurement, there is limited research into how SMEs’ network collaborations relate to bidding as a consortium.

This study is the first to examine mergers and acquisitions among small, regional stakeholder banks that belong to the same group. Using data on Finnish unlisted cooperative and savings banks, we investigate the relationship between bank-specific factors and the likelihood of a bank being an acquirer or an acquisition target. We find that large banks tend to acquire small and inefficient banks. Additionally, we examine the loan growth and find a negative (positive), statistically significant association with the likelihood of a bank being an acquisition target (acquirer). Finally, we document an increase in the likelihood of a bank being an acquisition target subsequent to an increase in the share of net fees and commission income against total assets.

PurposeThis paper investigates how the market orientation of SMEs toward public sector customers enables firms to participate and succeed in public procurement.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used a survey-based methodology. First, the authors reconfigured an empirical construct of market orientation for private sector markets to measure the market orientation toward public sector customers. Then they conducted a survey of Finnish firms to test the construct and how it predicted firm performance in public procurement.FindingsThe authors find empirical support for firms to adopt a market orientation toward public sector customers. Their results suggest that customer and competitor orientations are positive predictors of participating and winning supply contracts in public sector tenders.Research limitations/implicationsSelf-reported survey data from a single country may limit the generalizability of results.Originality/valueThis paper is the first to report a market orientation toward public sector customers and describe how it is related to supplier performance in public procurement.

PurposeAccounting standards for goodwill may intensify the agency conflict. Since auditors evaluate intangible asset valuations, this study examines to what extent being an auditor (including Big 4 auditors) and being female as indicators of professional skepticism and conservatism predict accounting professionals' critical views of goodwill accounting under US GAAP.Design/methodology/approachStatistical analyses of a survey of accounting professionals in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States.FindingsThe respondents' views are dispersed from trust in GAAP to views reflecting management opportunism in goodwill accounting. While being an auditor (including Big 4 auditors) does not predict a critical perception, being a female auditor is correlated with critical views to some extent.Research limitations/implicationsThe survey was carried out in a limited geographical area and personal contacts were used to maximize the response rate, which may limit generalizability.Practical implicationsStandard setters can use the results to learn how practitioners perceive the current accounting standards for goodwill. The results provide users and preparers knowledge about potential pitfalls of goodwill accounting. Preparers could increase transparency to alleviate user concerns regarding managerial opportunism in goodwill accounting.Originality/valueThis paper extends the IFRS-based literature exploring practitioners' perceptions of accounting standards by focusing on goodwill accounting in the US GAAP environment. This study also contributes to the auditing literature by providing further evidence on how gender moderates an auditor's perception of accounting standards.

Agency theory suggests that minority shareholders in private firms are vulnerable to shareholder oppression, which necessitates shareholder protection. This paper investigates a form of shareholder protection, the special representative of minority shareholders, which is used in Finland and Sweden. The special representative is a valuation expert, typically an auditor or a lawyer, who assists minority shareholders in shareholder dissent cases which require judicial appraisal of the minority interest in a firm. The different codes of conduct associated with these professions may manifest themselves in their performance as valuation experts. We examine a comprehensive data set of judicial valuation cases of Finnish private firms, in which the judge learns the valuation estimates of the controlling shareholder, the minority shareholder and the special representative and then issues a verdict on the fair price of the firm's shares. Our findings indicate that the special representative benefits minority shareholders by reducing the gap between the minority shareholders’ and the judge's valuation estimates. Our results also suggest that the special representative's professional background may affect how he or she values the company. We find that special representatives who are auditors propose more conservative valuation estimates than lawyers do.

Purpose Key audit matters (KAMs) in International Standard for Auditing, 701 seek to enhance the value of the auditor’s report by increasing the transparency of how the audit was performed. The purpose of this study is to investigate how professional auditors themselves perceive the impact of KAMs on audit quality and audit effectiveness. Design/methodology/approach Statistical analyses of an electronic survey of certified public auditors (CPAs) in Finland. Findings Regarding the perceptions of KAMs, the authors found two dominant views on auditing: quality and efficiency. In general, the respondents did not consider that KAMs improve audit quality. However, auditors focusing on efficiency considered that KAMs make the audit process more fluent. Further, the use of KAMs may facilitate audit effectiveness and cooperation between auditors and managers. The authors also found three factors related to the KAMs processes and auditing work: effectiveness, risks and workload. Practical implications Auditors may use KAMs to provide focus in their work. This facilitates balancing between the demands for added value while keeping the workload and audit risks at a tolerable level. Originality/value This study contributes to the emerging literature on KAMs as well as to the literature examining practitioner views of changes in auditing regulation. It is, as far as we know, the first study to report survey evidence on how CPAs themselves perceive KAMs and the effects of KAMs on audit work in an European Union country context.

The merits of public procurement of innovations (PPI) as a demand-side innovation policy instrument have been identified in both political and academic discussion. In particular, the involvement of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in PPI could be a valuable tool in promoting SME innovations. As such, PPI could play an important role in the entrepreneurial ecosystem in which interdependent actors collaborate. However, the impact of collaboration among entrepreneurial ecosystem actors in the context of PPI on SMEs’ competitiveness lacks empirical assessment. This chapter addresses this gap in the literature with a survey of Finnish SMEs. We propose a construct for SMEs’ improved competitiveness which can be attributed to involvement in public procurement. A statistical analysis applying a path model suggests that after controlling for firm size and age, innovativeness and industry, collaborating with the public sector customer in developing new products/services, improving production processes and making improvements to existing products/services in response to the public sector customer’s demand is associated with improved competitiveness. As a managerial implication, the results suggest that PPI has merits in promoting the competitiveness of SMEs through innovations.

While public procurement is an efficient demand-side policy instrument, resource constraints impede small and medium-sized enterprises from accessing innovation procurement contracts. As a remedy, inter-organizational networks are seen as a means to extend SMEs’ resources. This paper examines the relationship between inter-organizational networks and SMEs’ innovative performance. It investigates how this relationship is mediated by the public or private sector customer's demand for new or significantly improved products. We find that networks involving other firms are associated with SMEs’ innovative performance, and that this is mediated by both customer types. Furthermore, the public procurement of innovations is associated with greater returns in the case of the new products or services. For significantly improved products or services, networks involving other firms may improve performance when the demand originates from private sector customers. Our results suggest that SMEs should emphasize networks with other firms rather than public or private research and development actors when they develop new products for the public sector. These innovations can be further developed, providing opportunities for further leverage in private sector markets.

While inputs used in analysts’ valuation models have been documented (Brown et al. 2015), it has not been studied how analysts’ personal characteristics are associated with their level of critical perception regarding agency conflict manifested in published financial statements. This is important because analysts are, to some extent, substitutes for industry‐specialised auditors in monitoring financial reporting (e.g., Sun and Liu 2011). To address this shortcoming, we investigate analysts’ level of critical perception concerning current goodwill accounting standards, which provide significant reporting latitude. We use data from a survey of Nordic financial analysts and examine this data with statistical methods, including factor analysis and structural equation modelling. We find two latent constructs, one which reflects a critical attitude to the current goodwill accounting standards and one which reflects an uncritical attitude to the current standards. Our structural equation model suggests that having a background in auditing, as well as general experience and exposure to different industries, is associated with a higher degree of critical perception of current standards. In contrast, having a basic (low) level of formal business (accounting) education is associated with a more uncritical perception than having a high level of education.

This paper examines entry barriers to involvement in public procurement of small and medium-sized enterprises and the role of training in dismantling those barriers. We find that firms' perceptions of barriers are of five main types. Regression analysis shows that a lack of ongoing training is associated with SMEs' perceptions of resource constraints and practical skills that hinder their participation in public procurement. We also observe a positive connection between a positive attitude toward training and SMEs' participation rates in public procurement. As a managerial implication, the value of training should be appraised at the firm level, and organizing training and providing information concerning public procurement could be a recommended policy to improve the SME participation rate in public procurement.

A general view is that small and medium-sized enterprises are underrepresented in public procurement due to their resource constraints. The recent literature suggests that small and medium-sized enterprises' strategic orientations could also have a role in the underrepresentation. In addition, small and medium-sized enterprises tend to position themselves either towards national or wider level public sector customers or towards sub-national level public sector customers. This paper studies how strategic orientations, namely entrepreneurial orientation and market orientation, affect small and medium-sized enterprises’ targeting of public sector customers, and how this affects their performance. Our findings show that market-oriented small and medium-sized enterprises tend to focus on sub-national level public sector customers, whereas entrepreneurially oriented small and medium-sized enterprises have more often national or wider level public sector customers. It also appears that higher performance is associated with national or wider level rather than sub-national level public sector customers. In consequence, more attention should be paid to the differentiation of public procurement markets in developing and refining policies aimed at increasing small and medium-sized enterprises participation in public procurement and at using public procurement as a means to strengthen small and medium-sized enterprises’ roles in promoting overall economic development.

This paper contributes to the literature on the role of public procurement in encouraging innovations in the economy by empirically examining how the inverted-U relationship between competition and innovation is related to SME behavior in public procurement. First, we establish the inverted-U relationship in our data. We find that ‘intra-provincial suppliers’ (SMEs supplying mainly to public sector customers in their own municipality and province) are less innovation-oriented than ‘supra-provincial suppliers’ (supplying mainly to public sector customers residing outside their own province). In addition, a descriptive analysis suggests that the innovativeness of intra-provincial suppliers exhibits a weakly positive relationship with competition. However, the innovativeness of supra-provincial suppliers appears to be negatively related to competition at high levels of competition, but not at low levels of competition.

This study explores factors that influence the adoption of digital accounting. The literature suggests that perceived benefits, organisational readiness and external pressures promote the adoption of technical innovations. Using a mixed-methods approach, we combine interviews and a survey to test this theory. An exploratory factor analysis of a survey of Finnish accounting firms results in five factors. These are: 1) ‘attitudes and perceived benefits’ representing the thoughts that digitalisation improves working efficiency and opens up new business opportunities to accounting firms; 2) ‘lack of competence’ indicating a perception that a firm lacks required competence; 3) ‘investment in operations development’ which relates to a firm's development in new services; 4) ‘lack of customer pressure’ which indicates that customers have no demand for digital accounting services; 5) ‘keeping up with digitalisation’ which relates to the perceived importance of digitalisation.

This article illustrates how the proactivity/innovativeness dimension of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) influences how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) search for information on public sector tender opportunities and their subsequent bidding activity. From an analysis of the contemporary literature and our findings, we demonstrate how successful SME participation in public procurement can be encouraged and increased.

Disordered Internet gambling is a psychological disorder that represents an important public health issue due to the increase in highly available and conveniently accessible Internet gambling sites. Chasing losses is one of the few observable markers of at-risk and problem gambling that may be used to detect early signs of disordered Internet gambling. This study examined loss chasing behaviour in a sample of Internet casino and poker players and the socio-demographic variables, irrational beliefs, and gambling behaviours associated with chasing losses. An online survey was completed by 10,838 Internet gamblers (58% male) from 96 countries. The results showed that Internet casino players had a greater tendency to report chasing losses than poker players and gamblers who reported chasing losses were more likely to hold irrational beliefs about gambling and spend more time and money gambling than those who reported that they were unaffected by previous losses. Gamblers who played for excitement and to win money were more likely to report chasing losses. This study is one of the largest ever studies of Internet gamblers and the results are highly significant as they provide insight into the characteristics and behaviours of gamblers using this mode of access.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore auditors' perceptions of goodwill accounting under international financial reporting standards (IFRS). More specifically, the authors surveyed auditors to see if they believe that IFRS enables earnings management in goodwill accounting. Further the paper explores background factors behind opinions.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses a survey of KHT certified Finnish auditors. The electronic questionnaire was sent to 523 KHT‐auditors. The authors received 123 responses yielding a response rate of 23.5 percent.FindingsThe survey indicates that there are two lines of thought regarding goodwill accounting under IFRS. According to the first line of thought, managers of listed Finnish companies behave opportunistically in goodwill write‐off decisions. The other line of thought suggests that there is a favorable attitude towards the IFRS procedures of goodwill accounting. Big Four auditors seem to favor goodwill accounting under IFRS.Research limitations/implicationsThis study is conducted in Finland. Larger data collection would enhance the reliability of the results.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature by providing the perspective of auditors on fair value and goodwill as very few studies have examined goodwill issues from this viewpoint.

Retail markets in online comparison shopping websites are extremely competitive, yet firms voluntarily list in these services. The objective of this paper is to study competition and seller profitability in comparison shopping markets. In the proposed model, two profit-maximizing sellers sell a homogeneous good to Bayesian risk-neutral buyers. Buyers use a reputation system to update their beliefs about the sellers and purchase from the seller that maximizes the buyer’s expected surplus. The model shows that a seller’s profit depends on the distribution of buyer beliefs. A good reputation increases a seller’s profits. Empirical testing is carried out using data from Pricegrabber, a popular comparison shopping website. The evidence indicates that a good reputation may support price premiums as the model suggests.

IAS 36 provides latitude to management in the impairment testing of goodwill assets, which may intensify agency conflict. In this study, we carry out an empirical analysis on goodwill impairment losses recognised by Finnish listed companies between 2005 and 2009. We document evidence that a change of CEO is associated with a goodwill write-off. Further, our results indicate that the size of a goodwill impairment loss is larger when the company's reported earnings would have been negative in the absence of the impairment charge, which points towards behaviour associated with earnings bath. However, we also report evidence that the monitoring function of the stock market may reduce asymmetric information concerning the carrying value of goodwill. These results suggest that regulators could benefit from focusing on monitoring compliance with the current goodwill accounting standards in firms which exhibit high levels of information asymmetry between investors and management.

Electronic commerce has become an important platform for business-to-consumer retailing. However, there is very little research of firm growth and dynamic effects of reputation in electronic markets. Using data from Pricegrabber, this paper studies firm growth in light of Gibrat’s Law and reputation effects in the short run and in the long run. Our key finding is that Gibrat’s Law holds in the short run, but small firms grow faster than large firms in the long run. We find also that sellers benefit from good reputations in the short run, but positive reputation effects are muted in the long run.

In this paper, we explore auditors’ perceptions of goodwill accounting under IFRS with a survey of Finnish KHT-certified auditors in 2011. Exploratory factor analysis indicates that auditors are divided in two distinct groups: one group has a favorable attitude towards the IFRS procedures of goodwill accounting, while the other group sees that managerial interests affect goodwill impairment decisions. A binary choice model shows that Big 4 auditors are more likely to belong to the favorable group.

This paper argues that managerial discretion plays an important role in goodwill write-off decisions under IFRS 3. We carry out an empirical analysis on Finnish listed companies between 2005 and 2009. Our evidence suggests that a new CEO is more likely to impair goodwill. We find also that goodwill impairment charges occur when earnings would have been negative, which points in the direction of earnings bath-type of behavior. Furthermore, our results show that financial markets reduce the problems of asymmetric information associated with goodwill accounting.