The impact of harmonisation by the International Federation of Accountants: an empirical study of the informational value of Tunisian auditors’ reports on annual financial statements

Purpose – This paper examines the impact of the new, revised International Standard on Auditing (Revised ISA700) in terms of the wording characteristics of Tunisian auditors’ reports. Design/methodology/approach – measurement of the compliance of auditors’ reports issued by Tunisian auditors with the new revised International Standard on Auditing (Revised ISA700) Findings – the audit reports examined are not fully compliant with all the elements enumerated by the new standard issued by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) Originality/value – This paper provides new empirical evidence about the level of compliance with the revised ISA700. It discusses the limits on standardisation efforts for national auditors’ reports, and the implications for accounting firms and their audit clients

Recent Significant Advances in Estimating and Forecasting Theories and Economic Modelling: With Applications to Asian Investment Studies.

The paper presents the basics of a new and flexible approach to statistically modelling the activities of multi-sectoral economies (Tran Van Hoa, 1992) and applies it to study investment in five major East Asian countries (ie, China, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia and Thailand) during the period 1970-1993 using recent World Bank databases. The approach dominates the computable general equilibrium method in its data-consistent structure.ECONOMIC MODELS ; EVALUATION ; FORECASTS ; INVESTMENTS

Do You Always Need a Textbook to Teach Astro 101?

The increasing use of interactive learning strategies in Astro 101 classrooms has led some instructors to consider the usefulness of a textbook in such classes. These strategies provide students a learning modality very different from the traditional lecture supplemented by reading a textbook and homework, and raises the question of whether the learning that takes place during such interactive activities is enough by itself to teach students what we wish them to know about astronomy. To address this question, assessment data is presented from an interactive class, which was first taught with a required textbook, and then with the textbook being optional. Comparison of test scores before and after this change shows no statistical difference in student achievement whether a textbook is required or not. In addition, comparison of test scores of students who purchased the textbook to those who did not, after the textbook became optional, also show no statistical difference between the two groups. The Light and Spectroscopy Concept Inventory (LSCI), a research-validated assessment tool, was given pre- and post-instruction to three classes that had a required textbook, and one for which the textbook was optional, and the results demonstrate that the student learning gains on this central topic were statistically indistinguishable between the two groups. Finally, the Star Properties Concept Inventory (SPCI), another research-validated assessment tool, was administered to a class for which the textbook was optional, and the class performance was higher than that of a group of classes in a national study

Variance Risk Premiums and Predictive Power of Alternative Forward Variances in the Corn Market

We propose a fear index for corn using the variance swap rate synthesized from out-of-the-money call and put options as a measure of implied variance. Previous studies estimate implied variance based on Black (1976) model or forecast variance using the GARCH models. Our implied variance approach, based on variance swap rate, is model independent. We compute the daily 60-day variance risk premiums based on the difference between the realized variance and implied variance for the period from 1987 to 2009. We find negative and time-varying variance risk premiums in the corn market. Our results contrast with Egelkraut, Garcia, and Sherrick (2007), but are in line with the findings of Simon (2002). We conclude that our synthesized implied variance contains superior information about future realized variance relative to the implied variance estimates based on the Black (1976) model and the variance forecasted using the GARCH(1,1) model.Variance Risk Premium, Variance Swap, Model-free Variance, Implied Variance, Realized Variance, Corn VIX

Difference in Quality of Life Between Group and Individual Exercise in a Faith-Based Sample

There is limited data on the quality of life of individuals who exercise in a group versus individuals who exercise alone. The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a difference in the quality life between adults who attend an exercise class and those who exercise alone. Using the WHOQOL-BREF, 27 adult females were surveyed in Central California at two Church of Latter Day Saints locations. Ten females were enrolled in a group exercise class while 17 were individual exercisers. The data was analyzed using a t-test for independent samples to determine if there is a significant difference in scores. There was not a significant difference in overall quality of life, environmental domain, and physical domain, but there was a significant difference in the psychological and social domains. Further research is recommended and benefits are detailed

Effects of thigh compression wraps on sprint performance in a physically active population.

Compression garments are widely used in sport to enhance performance. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of thigh compression wraps on 60 m sprint performance. Twenty-six physically active college students, seven men and nineteen women, were participants in the study. The participants completed three 60 m sprints in each of two test sessions. The second test session occurred two to seven days after the first test session. The participant’s thighs were compression wrapped in one test session, the treatment session, and not wrapped in the other test session, the control session. Whether or not the first test session was the treatment or control session was randomly determined. In each test session the participant completed a five-minute warmup on a bicycle ergometer and then ran three 60 m sprints. After each sprint, the participant walked approximately 320 m before sprinting again five minutes after completing the previous sprint. The average 60 m sprint time was 0.100 s slower for the treatment sessions than for the control sessions, but this difference was not significant (p=.057). The women’s average 60 m sprint time was 0.161 s slower for the treatment sessions than for the control sessions. This difference was significant (p=.003). The men’s average 60 m sprint time was 0.067 s faster for the treatment sessions than for the control sessions, but this difference was not significant (p=.601). There was a significant change between all trials in each testing session, but there was only a significant change from the first trial to the second trial in the treatment session (p=.047). This may have been due to loosening effect of the compression wraps. The results indicate that the use of compression wraps has a negative effect on sprint performance in women. The results differ from all other studies examining the effects of compression garments on sprint iv performance. The results of these other studies indicated that the use of compression garments in a small positive effect to no effect on sprint performance. Future studies should examine the effects of the use of compression wraps on performance in other activities

Private Valuation of a Public Good in Three Auction Mechanisms.

We evaluate the impact of three auction mechanisms – the Becker–DeGroot–Marschak (BDM) mechanism, the second-price auction (SPA), and the random nth-price auction (NPA) – in the measurement of private willingness-to-pay and willingness-to-accept for a pure public good. Our results show that the endowment effect is lower with the BDM mechanism. In this market mechanism, the effect disappears after a few repetitions. Yet, on a logarithmic scale, the random nth-price auction yields the highest speed of convergence towards equality of welfare indices. We also observe that subjects value public goods in reference to their private subjective benefit derived from their public good funding.auction mechanisms; WTP-WTA disparity; private provisions; public goods;

The Fed and the ECB: Why such an apparent difference in reactivity?

Compared with the U.S., the amplitude of the European monetary policy rate cycle is strikingly narrow. Is it an evidence of a less reactive ECB? This observation can certainly reflect the preferences and then the strategy of the ECB. But its greater inertia must also be assessed in the light of the singularity of the European structure and of the shocks hitting it. From this perspective, several contributions assert that the nature, size and persistence of shocks mainly explain the different interest rate setting. Therefore, they rely on the idea that both areas share the same monetary policy rule and, more surprising, the same structure. This paper aims at examining this conclusions with an alternative modelling. The results confirm that the euro area and U.S. monetary policy rules are not fundamentally different. But we reject the differences of nature and amplitude of shocks. What is often interpreted as such is in fact the consequence of how distinctly both economies absorb shocks. So differences in the amplitude of the interest rate cycles in both areas are basically explained by structural dissimilarities.interest rate; macroeconomic shocks; monetary policy rules ; policy activism; structural divergence