Publications by category
Books
Billings M, Cowdell P, Cowdell J (2001).
Investment Management. Canterbury, Kent, Financial World Publishing.
Abstract:
Investment Management
Abstract.
Journal articles
Billings M, O Brien C, Woods M, Vencappa D (2017). Discretion in accounting for pensions under IAS 19: using the ‘magic telescope’?.
Accounting and Business Research,
47(2), 123-143.
Abstract:
Discretion in accounting for pensions under IAS 19: using the ‘magic telescope’?
© 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor. &. Francis Group. We use a panel data set of UK-listed companies over the period 2005–2009 to analyse the actuarial assumptions used to value pension plan liabilities under IAS 19. The valuation process requires companies to make assumptions about financial and demographic variables, notably discount rate, price inflation, salary inflation and mortality/life expectancy of plan members/beneficiaries. We use regression analysis to analyse the relationships between these key assumptions (except mortality, where disclosures are limited) and company-specific factors such as the pension plan funding position and duration of pension liabilities. We find evidence of selective ‘management’ of the three assumptions investigated, although the nature of this appears to differ from the findings of US authors. We conclude that IAS 19 does not prevent the use of managerial discretion, particularly by companies whose pension plan funding positions are weak, thereby reducing the representational faithfulness of the reported pension figures. We also highlight that the degree of discretion used reflects the extent to which IAS 19 defines how the assumptions are to be determined. We therefore suggest that companies should be encouraged to justify more explicitly their choice of assumptions.
Abstract.
Full text.
DOI.
Billings M (2016). Book review: Rogue banking: a history of financial fraud in interwar Britain.
ECONOMIC HISTORY REVIEW,
69(3), 1028-1030.
Full text.
DOI.
Billings M (2015). Book Review: Banking in crisis: the rise and fall of British banking stability 1800 to the present.
Economic History Review,
68(3), 1072-1073.
DOI.
Billings M, Tilba A, Wilson J (2015). ‘To invite disappointment or worse’: governance, audit and due diligence in the Ferranti–ISC merger.
Business History,
58(4), 453-478.
DOI.
Billings M (2014). Book Review: When Wall Street Met Main Street: the Quest for an Investors' Democracy.
Enterprise and Society,
15(1), 168-171.
DOI.
Billings M, Oats L (2014). Innovation and pragmatism in tax design: Excess Profits Duty in the UK during the First World War.
Accounting History Review,
24, 83-101.
Abstract:
Innovation and pragmatism in tax design: Excess Profits Duty in the UK during the First World War
© 2014, © 2014 Taylor. &. Francis. In this article, we examine the design and administration of Excess Profits Duty (EPD), introduced in the UK in 1915. This represented a significant innovation as the country's first comprehensive attempt to tax ‘excessive’ business profits. EPD was a complex tax which had two objectives: to generate additional revenues to help fund dramatically increased wartime government expenditure and to curb ‘profiteering’. Although criticised on numerous grounds, we argue that the tax was surprisingly successful. For all its defects, it generated very substantial revenues, and its design and administration proved flexible and robust in coping with the uncertainties of war.
Abstract.
DOI.
Billings M (2013). Book Review: Unsettled Account: the Evolution of Banking in the Industrialized World Since 1800.
Economica,
80(320), 795-796.
DOI.
Billings M, Bátiz-Lazo B (2012). Accounting Regulation and Management Discretion - a Case Note.
Abacus: a journal of accounting, finance and business studies,
48(3), 414-437.
Full text.
DOI.
Billings M (2012). Book Review: Financial centres and international capital flows in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
BUSINESS HISTORY,
54(5), 811-813.
Author URL.
DOI.
Billings M, Bátiz-Lazo, B (2012). New Perspectives on Not-for-profit Financial Institutions: Organisational Form, Performance and Governance.
Business History,
54(3), 309-324.
Full text.
Billings M (2011). Book review: Creative accounting, fraud and international accounting scandals.
BUSINESS HISTORY,
53(7), 1185-1186.
Author URL.
DOI.
Billings M, Capie F (2011). Financial crisis, contagion, and the British banking system between the world wars.
Business History,
53(2), 193-215.
Full text.
Billings M, O'Brien C, Woods M (2010). Accounting for Pension Risk. The Actuary, 24-25.
Billings M, O'Brien C, Woods M (2010). Bring Risk into the Open. The Treasurer, 32-33.
Billings M (2010). The Rise of the International Treasury Profession. The South African Treasurer, 18-20.
Billings M, Capie F (2009). Transparency and Financial Reporting in Mid-twentieth Century British Banking.
Accounting Forum, 38-53.
Full text.
DOI.
Billings M, Capie F (2007). Capital in British banking, 1920–1970.
Business History,
49(2), 139-162.
DOI.
Capie F, Billings M (2004). Evidence on competition in English commercial banking, 1920-1970.
Financial History Review,
11(1), 69-103+1-5.
DOI.
Billings M, Capie F (2004). The development of management accounting in UK clearing banks, 1920-70.
Accounting, Business and Financial History,
14(3), 317-338.
DOI.
Billings M, Capie, F (2001). Accounting Issues and the Measurement of Profits - English Banks - 1920-68.
Accounting, Business & Financial History,
11(2), 225-251.
DOI.
Billings M, Capie F (2001). Profitability in English Banking in the Twentieth Century.
European Review of Economic History,
5(3), 367-401.
DOI.
Chapters
Billings M (2017). A historical perspective on risk management. In Woods M, Linsley P (Eds.) The Routledge Companion to Accounting and Risk, Abingdon: Routledge, 5-14.
Billings M (2016). Financial Reporting, Banking and Financial Crisis: Past, Present and Future. In Hollow M, Akinbami F, Michie R (Eds.)
Complexity and Crisis in the Financial System: Critical Perspectives on American and British Banking, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 287-305.
Full text.
Billings M, Oats L, de Cogan D (2015). The Board of Referees: “A Most Useful Addition to Fiscal Machinery”. In Harris P (Ed)
Studies in the History of Tax Law, Oxford: Hart Publishing, 107-132.
Abstract:
The Board of Referees: “A Most Useful Addition to Fiscal Machinery”
Abstract.
Billings M, Booth A (2010). Techno-Nationalism, the Post Office and the Creation of Britain’s National Giro. In Batiz-Lazo B (Ed) Technological Innovation in Retail Finance, Routledge, 155-172.
Reports
Billings M, O'Brien C, Woods M (2010). Pensions Risk Disclosures by FTSE 100 Companies. Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland.
Publications by year
2017
Billings M (2017). A historical perspective on risk management. In Woods M, Linsley P (Eds.) The Routledge Companion to Accounting and Risk, Abingdon: Routledge, 5-14.
Billings M, O Brien C, Woods M, Vencappa D (2017). Discretion in accounting for pensions under IAS 19: using the ‘magic telescope’?.
Accounting and Business Research,
47(2), 123-143.
Abstract:
Discretion in accounting for pensions under IAS 19: using the ‘magic telescope’?
© 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor. &. Francis Group. We use a panel data set of UK-listed companies over the period 2005–2009 to analyse the actuarial assumptions used to value pension plan liabilities under IAS 19. The valuation process requires companies to make assumptions about financial and demographic variables, notably discount rate, price inflation, salary inflation and mortality/life expectancy of plan members/beneficiaries. We use regression analysis to analyse the relationships between these key assumptions (except mortality, where disclosures are limited) and company-specific factors such as the pension plan funding position and duration of pension liabilities. We find evidence of selective ‘management’ of the three assumptions investigated, although the nature of this appears to differ from the findings of US authors. We conclude that IAS 19 does not prevent the use of managerial discretion, particularly by companies whose pension plan funding positions are weak, thereby reducing the representational faithfulness of the reported pension figures. We also highlight that the degree of discretion used reflects the extent to which IAS 19 defines how the assumptions are to be determined. We therefore suggest that companies should be encouraged to justify more explicitly their choice of assumptions.
Abstract.
Full text.
DOI.
2016
Billings M (2016). Book review: Rogue banking: a history of financial fraud in interwar Britain.
ECONOMIC HISTORY REVIEW,
69(3), 1028-1030.
Full text.
DOI.
Billings M (2016). Financial Reporting, Banking and Financial Crisis: Past, Present and Future. In Hollow M, Akinbami F, Michie R (Eds.)
Complexity and Crisis in the Financial System: Critical Perspectives on American and British Banking, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 287-305.
Full text.
2015
Billings M (2015). Book Review: Banking in crisis: the rise and fall of British banking stability 1800 to the present.
Economic History Review,
68(3), 1072-1073.
DOI.
Billings M, Oats L, de Cogan D (2015). The Board of Referees: “A Most Useful Addition to Fiscal Machinery”. In Harris P (Ed)
Studies in the History of Tax Law, Oxford: Hart Publishing, 107-132.
Abstract:
The Board of Referees: “A Most Useful Addition to Fiscal Machinery”
Abstract.
Billings M, Tilba A, Wilson J (2015). ‘To invite disappointment or worse’: governance, audit and due diligence in the Ferranti–ISC merger.
Business History,
58(4), 453-478.
DOI.
2014
Billings M (2014). Book Review: When Wall Street Met Main Street: the Quest for an Investors' Democracy.
Enterprise and Society,
15(1), 168-171.
DOI.
Billings M, Oats L (2014). Innovation and pragmatism in tax design: Excess Profits Duty in the UK during the First World War.
Accounting History Review,
24, 83-101.
Abstract:
Innovation and pragmatism in tax design: Excess Profits Duty in the UK during the First World War
© 2014, © 2014 Taylor. &. Francis. In this article, we examine the design and administration of Excess Profits Duty (EPD), introduced in the UK in 1915. This represented a significant innovation as the country's first comprehensive attempt to tax ‘excessive’ business profits. EPD was a complex tax which had two objectives: to generate additional revenues to help fund dramatically increased wartime government expenditure and to curb ‘profiteering’. Although criticised on numerous grounds, we argue that the tax was surprisingly successful. For all its defects, it generated very substantial revenues, and its design and administration proved flexible and robust in coping with the uncertainties of war.
Abstract.
DOI.
2013
Billings M (2013). Book Review: Unsettled Account: the Evolution of Banking in the Industrialized World Since 1800.
Economica,
80(320), 795-796.
DOI.
2012
Billings M, Bátiz-Lazo B (2012). Accounting Regulation and Management Discretion - a Case Note.
Abacus: a journal of accounting, finance and business studies,
48(3), 414-437.
Full text.
DOI.
Billings M (2012). Book Review: Financial centres and international capital flows in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
BUSINESS HISTORY,
54(5), 811-813.
Author URL.
DOI.
Billings M, Bátiz-Lazo, B (2012). New Perspectives on Not-for-profit Financial Institutions: Organisational Form, Performance and Governance.
Business History,
54(3), 309-324.
Full text.
2011
Billings M (2011). Book review: Creative accounting, fraud and international accounting scandals.
BUSINESS HISTORY,
53(7), 1185-1186.
Author URL.
DOI.
Billings M, Capie F (2011). Financial crisis, contagion, and the British banking system between the world wars.
Business History,
53(2), 193-215.
Full text.
2010
Billings M, O'Brien C, Woods M (2010). Accounting for Pension Risk. The Actuary, 24-25.
Billings M, O'Brien C, Woods M (2010). Bring Risk into the Open. The Treasurer, 32-33.
Billings M, O'Brien C, Woods M (2010). Pensions Risk Disclosures by FTSE 100 Companies. Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland.
Billings M, Booth A (2010). Techno-Nationalism, the Post Office and the Creation of Britain’s National Giro. In Batiz-Lazo B (Ed) Technological Innovation in Retail Finance, Routledge, 155-172.
Billings M (2010). The Rise of the International Treasury Profession. The South African Treasurer, 18-20.
2009
Billings M, Capie F (2009). Transparency and Financial Reporting in Mid-twentieth Century British Banking.
Accounting Forum, 38-53.
Full text.
DOI.
2007
Billings M, Capie F (2007). Capital in British banking, 1920–1970.
Business History,
49(2), 139-162.
DOI.
2004
Capie F, Billings M (2004). Evidence on competition in English commercial banking, 1920-1970.
Financial History Review,
11(1), 69-103+1-5.
DOI.
Billings M, Capie F (2004). The development of management accounting in UK clearing banks, 1920-70.
Accounting, Business and Financial History,
14(3), 317-338.
DOI.
2001
Billings M, Capie, F (2001). Accounting Issues and the Measurement of Profits - English Banks - 1920-68.
Accounting, Business & Financial History,
11(2), 225-251.
DOI.
Billings M, Cowdell P, Cowdell J (2001).
Investment Management. Canterbury, Kent, Financial World Publishing.
Abstract:
Investment Management
Abstract.
Billings M, Capie F (2001). Profitability in English Banking in the Twentieth Century.
European Review of Economic History,
5(3), 367-401.
DOI.
