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This study focuses on a complementary value network consisting of a snow sports company operating in a ski resort and accommodation businesses located in that resort. If the snow sports company increases the resort's attractiveness by investing in new infrastructure, such as ski lifts or snowmaking facilities, its investment has positive external effects on the revenue of local accommodation businesses. If the cost of these external effects is not compensated by the accommodation businesses, this situation typically creates an underinvestment problem at the expense of the snow sports company. In this context, the authors analyse the extent to which revenue-based and quantitybased compensation payments can mitigate the problem. First, they identify conditions under which such payments increase the profits of both the snow sports company and the accommodation businesses. They further show that a revenue-based compensation payment dominates a quantity-based compensation payment with respect to company profit maximization, because it distorts neither the price nor the quantity decisions of the accommodation businesses.

Concisely written financial documents facilitate information processing and help to improve decision-making. However, the role of readability seems to be still neglected in accounting practice. Readability concerns become even more relevant in the light of the fact that English is commonly used as the corporate language in multinational corporations throughout the world. Management reports prepared in a foreign language may be less readable than reports written in the preparer's mother tongue. With this study we set out to experimentally investigate the effects of report readability and choosing either managers' mother tongue or a foreign language as the reporting language on risk-taking in a management accounting context. We were able to show that a low level of readability significantly reduces the willingness to accept beneficial risks, a phenomenon which can be explained by the cognitive load effect. In line with the foreign language effect, we provide tentative evidence that the use of a foreign language in combination with a high readability level enhances the willingness to undertake beneficial risks. Further investigation revealed that the foreign language effect is present only for a medium-high language proficiency level and can be best explained by the reduced emotionality account.

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