The Linkage Between Reporting Quality and Performance in Information Systems Projects

Recent research suggests that flawed status reporting is a serious concern in information systems projects. Several investigations have sought to understand the factors that lead project reporters to engage in misreporting. The main motivation for these studies has been the presumption that inaccurate reporting has a significant, negative impact on project performance. However, the linkage between reporting quality and project performance has not been empirically confirmed. The goal of this effort was to answer the following research question: Is reporting quality associated with project outcomes? Our investigation consisted of two complementary survey studies. The first study considered the perceptions of status report senders; the second study considered the perceptions of status report receivers. Both studies showed that reporting quality is positively associated with task and psychological outcomes. Moreover, the second study’s results suggest that reporting quality is also related to organizational outcomes

How Registries Can Help Performance Measurement Improve Care

Suggests ways to better utilize databases of clinical information to evaluate care processes and outcomes and improve measurements of healthcare quality and costs, comparative clinical effectiveness research, and medical product safety surveillance

Views of healthcare professionals to linkage of routinely collected healthcare data : a systematic review

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Development of an ongoing national data collection on the educational outcomes of children in child protection services: a working paper

This working paper provides an overview of a proposed national linked dataset on the educational activity and outcomes of children while in child protection services, to allow ongoing and longitudinal monitoring of the academic progress, and to better inform policy, practice and planning of activities to support these children.Summary Background Improving the educational outcomes of children involved in statutory child protection services has been a high priority for Australian governments in recent years. The inclusion of education-specific national indicators in the National Framework for Protecting Australia\u27s Children 2009-2020 and the National Standards for out-of-home care means the implementation of an ongoing national data collection on the educational outcomes of children in the care of the state has increased in importance and urgency. Such a collection would allow ongoing and longitudinal monitoring of academic progress, to better inform policy, practice and planning of activities to support these children. This working paper sets out a proposed national methodology for reporting on the educational outcomes of children in child protection services. The former CDSMAC (now SCCDSAC) funded the AIHW to develop this methodology in collaboration with jurisdictions.Proposed methodology National reporting on the educational outcomes of children in care can be best achieved through linking the Child Protection National Minimum Data Set (CP NMDS) with a national set of education data (an \u27Education Module\u27, see Section 2). The CP NMDS is the \u27base\u27 data set for the Education Module and will be used to identify in-scope children. In line with the National Standards for out-of-home care, the population scope of the Education Module would be children aged 0-17 years whose care arrangements have been ordered through the Children\u27s Court, where parental responsibility for the child or young person has been transferred to the Minister/Chief Executive. A range of relevant administrative data sets which capture information across the primary and secondary schooling years have been identified, from which data could be sourced for the Education Module (see Section 2 for details). Undertaking data linkage at the national level will allow the use of nationally-consistent linkage processes to improve match rates and efficiency. The AIHW is a Commonwealth- accredited Data Integration Authority, and therefore well-positioned to undertake this linkage work for the Education Module. A phased approach to implementation is recommended, commencing with linkage between NAPLAN data and CP NMDS data (Phase 1, further described in Section 3). The Education Module could then be expanded following the successful completion of Phase 1.Phase 1 implementationHigh-level support from both the child protection and education sectors will be required to implement the Education Module, which would involve national-level data linkage. In- principle support for the implementation of Phase 1 (further described in Section 3) was received from the appropriate national community services and education committees in early 2013-SCCDSAC, and the Australian Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs Senior Officials Committee (AEEYSOC). The AIHW has received funding from SCCDSAC to roll out Phase 1 over a period of 18 months, commencing in September 2013

Linkage and Multilevel Governance

Economic models of emissions trading implicitly assume a simple unitary governance structure, where a single regulator designs and enforces an emissions trading program. The Kyoto Protocol, however, employs a multilevel governance structure in which international, regional, national, sub-national, and even private actors have significant roles in designing and enforcing the trading program. Under this structure, international trading of credits requires complex linking of disparate regional, national, and subnational trading program. This paper describes the multilevel governance model employed in the Kyoto Protocol and then analyzes some of the problems this complexity creates for the project of creating an international market in environmental benefit credits to realize technology transfer benefits. This paper shows that multilevel governance creates costs that can interfere with technology transfer and free trade in credits. It concludes that rules sufficiently stringent to encourage technology transfer in the face of significant additionality problems will likely burden free trade in credits. Unfortunately, rules sufficiently relaxed to make international transactions simple and problem free will lack integrity and spawn non-additional credits greatly limiting the Kyoto Protocol\u27s potential as a technology transfer mechanism. The paper suggests that these governance complexities counsel against automatic embrace of linkage

Global Innovations in Measurement and Evaluation

We researched the latest developments in theory and practice in measurement and evaluation. And we found that new thinking, techniques, and technology are influencing and improving practice. This report highlights 8 developments that we think have the greatest potential to improve evaluation and programme design, and the careful collection and use of data. In it, we seek to inform and inspire—to celebrate what is possible, and encourage wider application of these ideas

Internal audit department characteristics/activities and audit fees: Some evidence from Hong Kong firms

This study provides preliminary support for the notion that internal audit function assists in reducing external audit effort and fees. Data on internal audit characteristics and activities are obtained from survey respondents of Hong Kong companies and audit fee model data are acquired from their annual reports. The results of this study suggest that the external auditor of firms in Hong Kong rely on the internal audit function and subsequently charge a lower fee. Lower external audit fees are associated with a larger internal audit department and certain activities carried out by the internal audit. Specifically, lower external audit fees are associated with more internal audit effort spent on activities relating to financial statements, systems development and maintenance, operating efficiency and effectiveness, fraud investigations and unlimited access to internal auditors’ working papers. The results of this study suggest that the contribution of the internal audit may substitute for some substantive external auditing processes and lower monitoring costs

Sector Wide Approaches to Education - A Strategic Analysis

Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

California Carbon Market Watch: A Comprehensive Analysis of the Golden State's Cap-and-Trade Program, Year One - 2012-2013

January 1, 2014 marked one year since the start of California's landmark cap-and-trade program, a market-based system to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution. The program will be the second-largest carbon market in the world, after the European Union's, and will cover 85% of all carbon pollution in the state by 2015. It is the most discussed program in a suite of strategies being deployed to achieve the goal of California's Global Warming Solutions Act -- also known as Assembly Bill 32 (AB 32) -- a 2006 law requiring the state to reduce GHG emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. California is the eighth-largest economy in the world and the first state in the nation to employ an economy-wide cap-and-trade program. While no state or country can stop climate change alone, California's environmental policies have a history of success and replication. The importance of California's program is thus magnified by the example it sets, and the world is watching to see whether the state's carbon market will succeed.One year into the program, the outlook is positive. California's cap-and-trade system weathered legal challenges and demonstrated a successful launch and viability during its initial year. In the first five auctions, all of the offered emission allowances usable for compliance in 2013 were sold. Similarly, the secondary market for carbon allowances has shown stability, and carbon prices close to the floor indicate the long-term possibility of low marginal abatement costs for regulated entities. Contrary to some predictions of harsh economic damage, capping carbon pollution in California has occurred amidst sustained and promising economic recovery and growth, including a stronger housing market and lower unemployment rate.This report provides an overview and analysis of California's carbon market after one year in operation. Included are a background on the cap-and-trade program, an account of the carbon market's progress to date, and an analysis of what the market's performance means for California's environmental and economic goals. This analysis includes in-depth summaries and trends observed from the quarterly auctions and secondary market activity, along with evaluations of market performance by industry experts and academics. Updates regarding litigation, proposed regulatory amendments, and international agreements are also discussed