Cross Compliance: what about compliance?

We reviewed some moral hazard (MH) models applied to agri-environmental policies and identified the main methodological aspects of the literature on this topics. Imperfect vs incomplete monitoring , static vs dynamic and single vs multiple agents models are the main lines along which the literature has been organised analysing each component of a MH model. Most papers point out the role of farmers' risk aversion in mitigating MH. Others highlight that the observed high rate of compliance is still somewhat paradoxical given current enforcement strategies with low fines and monitoring levels. Cross compliance confirm these findings and urges further studies on dynamic models and farmers' non profit maximising behaviour.Cross-compliance, Moral Hazard, Enforcement, Agri-environmental schemes, Agricultural and Food Policy, Q15, Q58, D82,

Determinants of IFRS compliance in Africa: analysis of stakeholder attributes

Purpose: This paper examines the drivers of companies’ compliance with IFRS using the stakeholder salience theory. Research Methods: We have used panel data from 205 companies to examine the IFRS compliance level across 13 African countries. Our study has also established the relationship between stakeholders’ attributes and firms’ compliance with IFRS. Findings: On IFRS compliance, we found that the average compliance score among the companies over the period was 73.09% with a minimum score of 62.86% and maximum of 85.61%. We found a significant positive association between audit committee competence (ACC) and compliance and found the same for chartered accountants on board (AOB). There is less compliance with the latest standards, such as IFRS 3, 7, and 13. Also, IAS 17, 19, 36, and 37 are problematic across the sample. We also found that compliance has been increasing over the years. Practical implications. For companies, our studies provide empirical evidence on the importance of having chartered accountants’ corporate boards as well as competent audit committees involved in ensuring high compliance with IFRS. Our findings also provide valuable information for professional accounting organizations on the role of its members (chartered accountants) in the effectiveness of IFRS compliance. Value/Contribution: This study complements and updates prior studies on IFRS compliance with findings from Africa, a region that has been neglected in the literature. It provides empirical evidence on the importance of chartered accountants sitting on corporate boards in ensuring high compliance with IFRS

Managing standards compliance

Software engineering standards determine practices that `compliant' software processes shall follow. standards generally define practices in terms of constraints that must hold for documents. The document types identified by standards include typical development products, such as user requirements, and also process-oriented documents, such as progress reviews and management reports. The degree of standards compliance can be established by checking these documents against the constraints. It is neither practical nor desirable to enforce compliance at all points in the development process. Thus compliance must be managed rather than imposed. We outline a model of standards and compliance and illustrate it with some examples. We give a brief account of the notations we have developed tosupport the use of the model and describe a support environment we have constructed. We contrast our approach to related work and discuss the broader implications of our findings for process modelling and the management of inconsistent information

A magistrate's view on achieving compliance

This conference presentation was given as part of the Achieving Compliance with Road Traffic Law: What can enforcement, prosecution and sentencing contribute? Conference by Chris Hunt Cooke, Magistrate and Chairman of the Magistrates' Association Road Traffic Committee. The conference, jointly organised by PACTS and the Criminal Justice Research Centre with Brunel Law School, was hosted at Brunel University on the 13th June 2012, and was the first opportunity to review the evidence about how to improve compliance with road traffic law. Its aim was to set out the challenges facing the government over the next few years and the steps that need to be taken to improve levels of compliance on our roads. It took a wide look at the process of compliance from initial choices about enforcement through to the effectiveness of the court system

A survey of tax compliance costs of Flemish SMEs: magnitude and determinants

This study presents survey evidence on the magnitude and determinants of tax compliance costs in Flemish small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Data were obtained from an Internet questionnaire among members of a professional network of Flemish entrepreneurs, called VOKA. Analyzing a sample of 151 Flemish SMEs, we find that the tax compliance costs exceeding over 7% of gross added value are relatively high. Value-added tax, labor taxes, and corporate taxes are the main components of tax compliance costs. In addition, our evidence confirms the regressivity hypothesis, according to which smaller companies face relatively higher compliance costs. Furthermore, industry, age, and the proportion of blue-collar workers prove to be determining factors of relative compliance costs. Our study concludes by formulating a number of policy recommendations that might contribute to lower compliance costs

Does d-cycloserine facilitate the effects of homework compliance on social anxiety symptom reduction?

BACKGROUND: Prior studies examining the effect of d-cycloserine (DCS) on homework compliance and outcome in cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) have yielded mixed results. The aim of this study was to investigate whether DCS facilitates the effects of homework compliance on symptom reduction in a large-scale study for social anxiety disorder (SAD). METHODS: 169 participants with generalized SAD received DCS or pill placebo during 12-session exposure-based group CBT. Improvements in social anxiety were assessed by independent raters at each session using the Liebowitz social anxiety scale (LSAS). RESULTS: Controlling for LSAS at the previous session, and irrespective of treatment condition, greater homework compliance in the week prior related to lower LSAS at the next session. However, DCS did not moderate the effect of homework compliance and LSAS, LSAS on homework compliance, or the overall augmenting effect of DCS on homework compliance. Furthermore, LSAS levels were not predictive of homework compliance in the following week. CONCLUSION: The findings support the general benefits of homework compliance on outcome, but not a DCS-augmenting effect. The comparably small number of DCS-enhanced sessions in this study could be one reason for the failure to find a facilitating effect of DCS

Design Challenges for GDPR RegTech

The Accountability Principle of the GDPR requires that an organisation can demonstrate compliance with the regulations. A survey of GDPR compliance software solutions shows significant gaps in their ability to demonstrate compliance. In contrast, RegTech has recently brought great success to financial compliance, resulting in reduced risk, cost saving and enhanced financial regulatory compliance. It is shown that many GDPR solutions lack interoperability features such as standard APIs, meta-data or reports and they are not supported by published methodologies or evidence to support their validity or even utility. A proof of concept prototype was explored using a regulator based self-assessment checklist to establish if RegTech best practice could improve the demonstration of GDPR compliance. The application of a RegTech approach provides opportunities for demonstrable and validated GDPR compliance, notwithstanding the risk reductions and cost savings that RegTech can deliver. This paper demonstrates a RegTech approach to GDPR compliance can facilitate an organisation meeting its accountability obligations

A randomized trial to determine the impact on compliance of a psychophysical peripheral cue based on the Elaboration Likelihood Model

Objective: Non-compliance in clinical studies is a significant issue, but causes remain unclear. Utilizing the Elaboration Likelihood Model of persuasion, this study assessed the psychophysical peripheral cue ‘Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) call frequency’ on compliance. Methods: 71 participants were randomized to once daily (OD), twice daily (BID) or three times daily (TID) call schedules over two weeks. Participants completed 30-item cognitive function tests at each call. Compliance was defined as proportion of expected calls within a narrow window (± 30 min around scheduled time), and within a relaxed window (− 30 min to + 4 h). Data were analyzed by ANOVA and pairwise comparisons adjusted by the Bonferroni correction. Results: There was a relationship between call frequency and compliance. Bonferroni adjusted pairwise comparisons showed significantly higher compliance (p = 0.03) for the BID (51.0%) than TID (30.3%) for the narrow window; for the extended window, compliance was higher (p = 0.04) with OD (59.5%), than TID (38.4%). Conclusion: The IVRS psychophysical peripheral cue call frequency supported the ELM as a route to persuasion. The results also support OD strategy for optimal compliance. Models suggest specific indicators to enhance compliance with medication dosing and electronic patient diaries to improve health outcomes and data integrity respectively

Tax compliance cost of bumiputera small and medium enterprises in Northern Malaysia

This paper explores and measures the level of tax compliance costs among Bumiputera small and medium enterprises in the Northern Region of Malaysia for the year of assessment 2003. The findings revealed that the tax compliance costs have a significant relationship with the paid up capital(size of enterprises). Overall, the tax compliance cost of Bumiputera small and medium enterprises was RM880,110 for the assessment year 2003. Furthermore tax compliance cost of smaller Bumiputera enterprises amounted to RM413,670 while the larger Bumiputera enterprises was RM466,440.The average tax compliance cost is RM22,003. Most of the large Bumiputera enterprises incurred more external tax compliance costs than internal compliance costs (62.34%) compared to the smaller Bumiputera enterprises (37.66%). In contrast, the smaller Bumiputera enterprises incurred more internal tax compliance costs of about 83% as compared to external tax compliance costs (17%). The results also indicated that small Bumiputera enterprises have a higher percentage of tax compliance costs based on tax revenue, which is 2.57 times more compared to large Bumiputera enterprises,which amounted to only 0.46 times