Audit fees and IFRS accounting - Is information costly?

Since 2005 companies with equity instruments traded on regulated markets in the European Economic Area have prepared their financial reports in accordance with accounting standards issued by the IASB. A survey conducted in 2007 indicated that most of the EU companies that changed from local to IFRS rules incurred additional costs in connection with the transition. Also, companies expected additional future costs from using IFRS. Although the main part of these stemmed from the companies’ internal work on IFRS statements, additional costs for external auditing and other external services were identified as substantial but independent of company size. We analyze whether the application of IFRS standards has increased Danish companies’ cost of auditing. Our study is based on a sample of financial reports from large Danish companies from 2002 to 2008. Controlling for a number of general audit fee driving aspects, we find that overall, audit fees have not increased significantly for companies using IFRS rules. However, when combining IFRS with company size and complexity, we find that large and complex companies using IFRS pay a heavy audit fee premium compared to small and less complex companies that also use IFRS. Our results for nonaudit fees are less conclusive.Audit fees; non audit fees; IFRS; transition of accounting regime; empirical study

Factors Contributing to Domestic Violence Among Hindu Asian Indian Immigrant Women in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania: A Feasibility Study

While there is research on survivors of domestic violence in India and the United States (U.S.), little is known about the sociocultural factors related to domestic violence among Hindu Asian Indian immigrant women (AIIW) in the U.S. The objectives of this study were to a) test the feasibility of conducting domestic violence research among Hindu AIIW; b) investigate domestic violence prevalence and correlations with other characteristics; and c) test the cultural appropriateness of completed measures on social support, acculturation status, and domestic violence. Over 50% of respondents had experienced abuse, often perpetrated by family. Participants had high levels of social support and acculturation, regardless of their abuse status. Participants were receptive to this research, suggesting that domestic violence research among Hindu AIIW is feasible. High prevalence of violence among Hindu AIIW suggests they are at high risk for experiencing abuse; lack of variability in social support and acculturation scale responses suggest the need to further test instruments among Hindu AIIW

Relationship between adjustment disorder symptoms and probable diagnosis before and after second lockdown in Israel: longitudinal symptom network analysis

BACKGROUND There is cumulative evidence of the importance of exploring the change of dynamics between symptoms over time as reflective of consolidation of psychopathology. AIMS To explore the interactions between symptoms of ICD-11 adjustment disorder before and after the second lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel and identify the most central symptoms and their concurrent and prospective associations with probable adjustment disorder. METHOD This is a population-based study drawn from a probability-based internet panel. A representative sample of the adult Israeli population was assessed at two time points (T1, pre-second lockdown, n = 1029, response rate 76.17%; T2, post-second lockdown, n = 764, response rate 74.24%). Symptoms of adjustment disorder were assessed by the International Adjustment Disorder Questionnaire (IADQ). RESULTS Although the overall strength of associations at the two measurement points was similar and two same communities were found, there was a significant change in their structure, with a more consolidated network at T2. The most central item was 'difficult to relax' in both networks. Cross-sectionally, all symptoms of failure to adapt significantly predicted adjustment disorder. 'Worry a lot more' (preoccupation) and 'difficult to adapt to life' (failure to adapt) at T1 significantly predicted this diagnosis at T2. CONCLUSIONS Adjustment disorder symptoms consolidated during the second lockdown of the pandemic. In line with the ICD-11 conceptualisation of adjustment disorder, both preoccupation and failure-to-adapt symptoms have prognostic validity. This highlights the importance of identifying and targeting adjustment disorder symptoms during a period of stress such as the COVID-19 pandemic

A Theory of Efficiency for Managing the Marketing Executives in Nigerian Banks

Bank customers in Nigeria are almost unanimous in decrying inefficiency and most have at some time or the other wished the Nigerian banks at least a little less of it. The concern for efficiency in managing the marketing executives in Nigerian banks prompted this study. The study was examined in the light of Kaizen (Continuous Improvement) and Efficiency Theory. A sample of 303 marketing executives from selected banks in Nigeria was determined using the finite multiplier. The hypothesis test results gave significant values of Wald Ch-Square for the intercept and individual response categories of research questions (p < 0.05) with the exception of the response of generally agree (p>0.05) and definitely agree (no computed Wald Chi-Square result), which indicated the significance of the results. Hence management is responsible for setting the context within efficiency improvements can take place, and bear prime responsibility for identifying and implementing efficiency of the marketing executives in Nigerian banks. Granted that the bank as a whole would benefit less with inefficiency, and that the task of reducing inefficiency in managing the marketing executives is uphill, a programme of reducing inefficiency should be based on three major premises, namely:` (i) that some are inefficient because they do not know what to do in given situations (structural inefficiency); (ii) that knowing what to do, some are inefficient because they do not want to do the right thing in given situations (primary or voluntary inefficiency); and (iii) that knowing what to do and wanting to do it, some are still inefficient because they cannot do the  right thing in given situation (secondary or induced inefficiency). This is the inefficiency brought about when the bank manager himself is inefficient, gives a bad example, stifles initiatives and is unwilling to control the marketing executives. The fact that it is recommended for top bank management to be exposed to training suggests that bank managers can and do induce inefficiency. For efficiency drive in managing the marketing executives in Nigerian banks, it is recommended the adoption of a 3H grand strategy to work on the Head (H1), the Heart (H2) and the Hand (H3) of management and the marketing executive, that is, respectively, their knowledge, their attitudes, and the tools with which they work. It is therefore essential for a bank management introducing an efficiency drive to identify factors that provide the critical inputs to his organization, and pass them through the 3H transformation process first. These critical factors are referred to as the crossroads. For just as traffic on a highway cannot flow freely unless the crossroads are cleared, no bank can function efficiently unless its critical inputs are functioning very efficiently. The crossroad (top management) in Nigerian banks must be transformed first through the 3H grand strategy if any efficiency drive for managing the marketing executives is to yield good results. Keywords:Efficiency Drive, Voluntary Inefficiency, Kaizen Principle, Nigerian Banks, Marketing Executives, Wald Chi-Square, 3H Grand Strategy

Patterns of Cost Allocation Strategies: A Look at Cooperative Fire Departments in the State of Michigan

Intergovernmental cooperation is an important topic in Michigan's current economic climate and has received a lot of treatment by researchers. However, very few studies have been conducted regarding cost sharing agreements made by cooperating groups, especially in the realm of fire service. This study identifies common cost allocation mechanisms and develops a conceptual framework that predicts prevalent patterns between low transaction cost sharing arrangements and similarities among involved communities. Other theories are presented regarding patterns with expenditures and other budgetary data. Patterns were identified using two-step cluster analysis in SPSS. Three tests were done uncovering several variables significant in determining clusters. Among these variables were cost allocation choice, total expenditures, number participating municipalities per fire district, median home value, and percent white population. There were several limitations to this study, including a small number of observations and limited variables.Public Economics,

A reexamination of the distributive politics model and the allocation of federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) dollars

The literature on the distributive politics model suggests that elected officials strategically allocate public benefits to curry favors, secure votes and gain reelection. In other words, elected officials distribute public benefits in such a way as to enhance their own personal careers and goals. Unfortunately, this centralized, top-down perspective (Rich 1989), which focuses exclusively on the motivations of the elected officials, fails to consider the political, economic and social characteristics of the governmental unit represented by the officials. These contextual factors may influence the allocation decisions made by the elected officials. Thus, an expanded distributive politics model---one that takes into account the form of government, size of city, geographical region, per capita income and poverty level of the jurisdiction---may better explain allocation decisions made by elected officials than the traditional model. Specifically, this research will examine how and why cities and their elected representatives allocate federal community development block grant (CDBG) dollars. The main contribution of this work is to offer a more comprehensive approach that considers a variety of contextual factors ignored by the traditional distributive politics model. Expanding the traditional distributive politics model to include a thorough understanding of the saliency and role of contextual factors will result in easier and more reliable predictions about how public benefits are likely to be allocated

A framework for the classification of accounts manipulations

Accounts manipulations have been a matter of research, discussion and, even, controversy in several countries such as the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and France. The objective of this paper is to elaborate a general framework for classifying accounts manipulations through a thorough review of the literature. This framework is based on the desire to influence the market participants' perception of the risk associated to the firm. The risk is materialized through the earnings per share and the debt/equity ratio. The literature on this topic is already very rich, although we have identified series of areas in need for further research.accounts manipulations; earnings management; income smoothing; big bath accounting; creative accounting