A US strategy for IFRS adoption

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has conducted a public consultation on a â??roadmap" it proposed late last year to adopt International Financial Reporting Standards in America. This debate takes particular relevance as the crisis has highlighted the importance of accounting standards as an instrument of economic policymaking, with a high-profile controversy about â??mark-to-market" accounting. Nicolas Véron responds with suggestions about how the SEC should both support IFRS, and push for reforms of standard-setting governance and globally consistent enforcement.

Minimum Age Difference as a Requisite for Adoption

Recent incidents of abortive uses of adoption statutes have pointed up the possible need for a healthy change in our adoption laws: the inclusion of a required age difference between adopter and adoptee. The author urges that such a statutory requirement is necessary to more fully effectuate the idea that adoption imitates nature, a postulate of adoption law originating in Roman jurisprudence and, so the author contends, underlying adoption law in this country. The article raises interesting questions concerning the very nature of adoption, the function which it serves in our society, and the possible policy differences between minor and adult adoptions

Putting Families First: How the Opioid Epidemic is Affecting Children and Families, and the Child Welfare Policy Options to Address It

Abstract: Opioids and Child Welfare Across the country, placements in foster care are rising. In 2016, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported that 273,539 children in the U.S. entered foster care. In 34 percent of those cases, parental drug abuse was one of the factors leading to the child’s removal from their family. Additionally, the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration estimates that 400,000 births nationally are affected by prenatal exposure to alcohol and illicit drugs, which represents 10 percent of all live births. As the opioid epidemic continues, increasing numbers of children are at high risk for developmental and behavioral disorders because of their prenatal substance and alcohol exposure. In addition, children who remain at home may endure the challenges and trauma resulting from impaired caregiving due to parental substance use disorders (SUDs). This article explores the intersection of the opioid epidemic and child welfare, examining current research and publicly available data to discuss policy opportunities for better serving families affected by parental SUDs, including: ensuring health and safety for infants prenatally exposed to substances; appropriate identification, diagnosis, and treatment of developmental and behavioral needs; ensuring parents have access to outpatient treatment and services that can allow families to stay together when safe and appropriate; and ensuring sufficient access to inpatient treatment options that can serve parents and children together

Technology diffusion in a differentiated industry

This paper investigates the adoption timing pattern of a cost-reducing innovation in a differentiated oligopolistic industry. It compares price and quantity market competition with the second-best optimal adoption rule. The diffusion pattern typically depends on the degree of product differentiation, and on the ability of firms to precommit, or not, to a certain adoption date. When goods are imperfect substitutes, market competition leads always to later adoption dates than it is socially optimal. When goods are sufficiently close substitutesı the last adoption occurs always earlier than in the optimum; the first adoption might also occur earlier but only if preemption is a credible threat

Mapping factors influencing EAI adoption in the local government authorities on different phases of the adoption lifecycle

Several private and public organisations have adopted Enterprise Application Integration (EAI), however, its application in the Local Government Authorities (LGAs) is limited. Although, there exist few EAI adoption models, these models mainly focus on a number of different factors (e.g. benefits, barriers, cost) influencing the decision making process for EAI adoption. Moreover, these models do not illustrate which factor(s) influence the decision making process for EAI adoption on the adoption lifecycle phases. Literature indicates that the adoption process involves a sequence of phases an organisation passes through before taking the decision for adoption. This exemplifies that LGAs may also have to pass through several adoption phases before taking the decision to adopt EAI. However, due to the: (a) multiplicity of diverse EAI adoption factors and (b) not able to recognise which factor(s) influence EAI on adoption lifecycle phases, it may not be easy for LGAs to take decisions to adopt EAI by merely focusing on different factors. This may impede the decision making process for EAI adoption in LGAs. Notwithstanding, the implications of EAI have yet to be assessed, leaving scope for timeliness and novel research. Therefore, it is of high importance to investigate this area within LGAs and result in research that contributes towards successful EAI adoption. This paper makes a step forward as it: (a) investigates and proposes four adoption lifecycle phases, (b) validates the adoption lifecycle phases and (c) mapping the factors influencing EAI adoption on the adoption lifecycle phases, through a case study. Hence, it significantly contributes to the body of knowledge and practice. In doing so, providing sufficient support to the decision makers for speeding up the decision making process for EAI adoption in LGAs

E-commerce technology adoption framework by New Zealand small to medium size enterprises

This paper attempts to highlight a framework for the adoption of electronic commerce (EC) technologies in New Zealand with specific interest in the small to medium-size enterprise (SME) sector of the economy. The main thrust of the research was to develop the framework for EC adoption by the New Zealand SMEs and hence study the accelerators and impediments to the adoption and diffusion of EC technologies. The paper shows how IS/IT adoption and diffusion theories and practicalities can be explored for developing the proposed EC adoption framework. It is argued that results from research case studies based on the framework are able to identify the factors influencing and leading to the adoption of e-commerce technologies by the New Zealand SMEs

Adoption Level of Farmers on Maize Cultivation Practices

The study to measure the extent of adoption level of maize production technologies has been conducted among the maize farmers in the Udumalpet block. The results of the study would help to know the adoption level of farmers which would had in designing suitable programmes to cater to the needs of the farmers. The results revealed that majority (64 per cent) of respondents belonged to the category of medium adoption level whereas, 23.30 per cent of the respondents belonged to the category of low adoption level and above one tenth (14 per cent) of respondents belonged to high adoption level category

Conditions of registration for all regulated social care services and categories of registration for children’s homes and voluntary adoption agencies

"Ofsted’s policy on conditions of registration for children’s homes, residential family centres, adoption support agencies, voluntary adoption agencies and independent fostering agencies, and on categories of registration for voluntary adoption agencies and children’s homes" - front cover

The Child Adoption Marketplace: Parental Preferences and Adoption Outcomes

In the United States child adoption costs vary considerably, ranging from no out-of-pocket expense to $50,000 or more. What are the causes for the variability in adoption expenses? We administered a survey to a sample of Michigan adoptive families to link adoptive parent characteristics, child characteristics, and adoption-related expenses and subsidies. We then estimate “hedonic” regressions in which adoption cost is a function of child characteristics. The analysis shows that most of the variation in adoption costs is explained by child characteristics. In particular, costs lower for older children, children of African descent, and special needs children. Findings inform policies regarding the transition of children from foster care to adoptive families.child welfare, adoption, subsidy

BPM Adoption at Bilfinger

Big size corporate companies that opt for Business ProcessManagement (BPM) adoption invest a lot in BPM initiatives with theprimary focus on the identification and standardization of best practicesin the different phases of the BPM lifecycle. The business processes de-signed are usually seen as the standard way of executing the processesand tend not be adapted to specific customers' need or changing condi-tions. Furthermore, the acceptance of a paradigm shift by the end usersis an added challenge. This case introduces a success story on BPMadoption in complex environments where different organizational unitswith different needs are involved. The projects executed in different unitsrespond to specific customers’ requirements, which affects the set of pro-cesses to be designed and executed within them. We developed a novelapproach inspired by the Cynefin framework and used it to define processarchitectures and the respective business process models for a subset ofthe units. To ensure the applicability and acceptance of the new paradigmwe followed a number of well-known methodologies and practices (e.g.SCRUM and gamification). As a result, we managed to move from thetraditional function orientation to BPM orientation taking into consid-eration the flexibility needs, and we received very positive feedback fromour end users