Weber, Elke U., Jonathan Baron, and Graham Loomes, Conflict and Trade-offs in Decision Making.

(Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 201, 374 pp.)

This book is part of a series of books on judgment and decision making. Conflict and Tradeoffs presents 13 chapters by various researchers on the general question: Why are some decisions easier to make than others? The answer

is not as simple as the fact that some decisions have an alternative that dominates the other(s) on all relevant attributes. It is much more subtle. In experiments on choice behavior, most people appear to be decision seeking when making decisions for themselves and decision averse (i.e., prefer to have someone else makes the decision) when making decisions for others.

Trade-offs are also more difficult when the dimensions are different. The book gives a perfect example related to the appropriate penalty for causing harm. If a logging company mistakenly cuts down 100 acres of protected forest, then people find it easier to assess a penalty of an equal amount and type of timber to be given to the government than they do a larger amount of timber of a different type or even monetary damages. With some creativity in experimental design and operation, this result has direct implications for auditor and client liability to allegedly wronged stakeholders.

The chapters encompass a variety of situations in which trade-offs are necessary. As you might expect, not all are of direct interest to business or accounting researchers. Two specific examples are the chapters on impulse buying and decisions about prenatal screening. Each is interesting from a judgment and decision-making perspective, but both would be leisure reading for most of us. The chapters that would more easily translate into the realm of behavioral accounting research are ones on the emotional trade-off difficulty on decision behavior, behavioral consequences of experienced regret, and judgments of relative importance and contingent decision behavior.

Finally, there are three chapters that deal with broader issues that may translate easily into our area of academic interest. The first of these chapters, on private values and public policy, addresses the question of what monetary value should be attached to any health and safety improvement in order to weigh it appropriately against the opportunity costs of bringing it about. As the chapter documents, it is not a simple question to answer. It strikes me as similar to the question: How much are you willing to pay an auditor to reduce the probability of an audit failure and what are the opportunity costs of such a reduction? The second chapter tided, "Decisions with Multiple Stakeholders and Conflicting Objectives," describes and demonstrates a process for framing and analyzing decisions of this type. Virtually every pronouncement of accounting rule-making bodies falls into this situation. The framework and example could lead to some interesting research questions concerning the rule-making process. Finally, there is a chapter that illustrates how to use a web site to provide health care consumers with a decision aid. Managerial accountants will find this chapter especially interesting.

Conflict and Tradeoffs is not meant to be a textbook for a behavioral accounting seminar course. Its purpose is to bring together in one book a number of experts in a particular area of study. Along with its predecessors in the series, this book will attract readers from many disciplines. The audience for this book includes academics, graduate students, advanced undergraduates (probably not accounting students), and practicing professionals in an area such as decision analysis. It is an interesting book, which I am still rereading.

STEPHEN A. BUTLER
University of Oklahoma

Editorial Data

The following table contains information about turnaround time for manuscripts (including revisions) on which editorial decisions were made in the 12-month period ended May 31, 2002. Turnaround time is the number of days between the date that the manuscript was received and the date of the editor's letter to the author(s):

                                  Number of   Cumulative  Cumulative
                                 Manuscripts    Number      Percent

0 [less than or equal to] Days       86           86         28.01
 [less than or equal to] 30
31 [less than or equal to] Days     108          194         63.19
 [less than or equal to] 60
61 [less than or equal to] Days      84          278         90.55
 [less than or equal to] 90
91 [less than or equal to] Days      23          301         98.05
 [less than or equal to] 120
121 [less than or equal to] Days      6            6        100.00

The mean review time was 50 days; the median review time was 50 days.

EDITORIAL POLICY AND STYLE INFORMATION

EDITORIAL POLICY

According to the policies set by the Publications Committee (which were endorsed by the Executive Committee and were published in the Accounting Education News, June 1987), The Accounting Review "should be viewed as the premier journal for publishing articles reporting the results of accounting research and explaining and illustrating related research methodology. The scope of acceptable articles should embrace any research methodology and any accounting-related subject, as long as the articles meet the standards established for publication in the journal.... No special sections should be necessary. The primary, but not exclusive, audience should be--as it is now--academicians, graduate students, and others interested in accounting research."

The primary criterion for publication in The Accounting Review is the significance of the contribution an article makes to the literature.

The efficiency and effectiveness of the editorial review process is critically dependent upon the actions of both authors submitting papers and the reviewers. Authors accept the responsibility of preparing research papers at a level suitable for evaluation by independent reviewers. Such preparation, therefore, should include subjecting the manuscript to critique by colleagues and others and revising it accordingly prior to submission. The review process is not to be used as a means of obtaining feedback at early stages of developing the research.

Reviewers and associate editors are responsible for providing critically constructive and prompt evaluations of submitted research papers based on the significance of their contribution and on the rigor of analysis and presentation. Associate editors also make editorial recommendations to the editor.

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FORMAT

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TABLES AND FIGURES

The author should note the following general requirements:

1. Each table and figure (graphic) should appear on a separate page and should be placed at the end of the text. Each should bear an Arabic number and a complete title indicating the exact contents of the table or figure. Tables and figures should define each variable. The titles and definitions should be sufficiently detailed to enable the reader to interpret the tables and figures without reference to the text.

2. A reference to each graphic should be made in the text.

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Equations: Equations should be numbered in parentheses flush with the right-hand margin.

DOCUMENTATION

Citations: Work cited should use the "author-date system" keyed to a list of works in the reference list (see below). Authors should make an effort to include the relevant page numbers in the cited works.

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6. If the manuscript refers to statutes, legal treatises or court cases, citations acceptable in law reviews should be used.

Reference List: Every manuscript must include a list of references containing only those works cited. Each entry should contain all data necessary for unambiguous identification. With the author-date system, use the following format recommended by The Chicago Manual:

1. Arrange citations in alphabetical order according to surname of the first author or the name of the institution responsible for the citation.

2. Use author's initials instead of proper names.

3. Date of publication should be placed immediately after author's name.

4. Titles of journals should not be abbreviated.

5. Multiple works by the same author(s) in the same year are distinguished by letters after the date.

6. Inclusive page numbers are treated as recommended in Chicago Manual section 8.67.

Sample entries are as follows:

American Accounting Association, Committee on Concepts and Standards for External Financial Reports. 1977. Statement on Accounting Theory and Theory Acceptance. Sarasota, FL: AAA.

Demski, J. S., and D. E. M. Sappington. 1989. Hierarchical structure and responsibility accounting. Journal of Accounting Research 27 (Spring): 40-58.

Dye, R., B. Balachandran, and R. Magee. 1989. Contingent fees for audit firms. Working paper, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.

Fabozzi, F., and I. Pollack, eds. 1987. The Handbook of Fixed Income Securities. 2nd edition. Homewood, IL: Dow Jones-Irwin.

Kahneman, D., P. Slovic, and A. Tversky, eds. 1982. Judgment Under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.

Porcano, T. M. 1984a. Distributive justice and tax policy. The Accounting Review 59 (October): 619-636.

--. 1984b. The perceived effects of tax policy on corporate investment intentions. The Journal of the American Taxation Association 6 (Fall): 7-19.

Shaw, W. H. 1985. Empirical evidence on the market impact of the safe harbor leasing law. Ph.D. dissertation, The University of Texas at Austin.

Sherman, T. M., ed. 1984. Conceptual Framework for Financial Accounting. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School.

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SUBMISSION OF MANUSCRIPTS

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5. Revisions must be submitted within 12 months from request, otherwise they will be considered new submissions.

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