Using SPIN to formalise Accounting Regulations on the Semantic Web

Spohr D, Cimiano P, McCrae J, O'Riain S. Using SPIN to formalise Accounting Regulations on the Semantic Web. Presented at the First International Workshop on Finance and Economics on the Semantic Web in conjunction with the 9th Extended Semantic Web Conference.The eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) has standardised nancial reporting and provide a machine-interpretable for- mat that makes nancial and business reports easier to access and con- sume. Leveraging XBRL with Open Linked Data for purposes such as multi-dimensional regulatory querying and investigation requires XBRL formalisation as RDF. This paper investigates the use of o-the-shelf Se- mantic Web technologies to formalise accounting regulations specied in XBRL jurisdictional taxonomies. Specically the use of the SPARQL In- ferencing Notation (SPIN) with RDF to represent these accounting reg- ulations as rule constraints, not catered for in the RDF abstract model is investigated. We move beyond previous RDF to XBRL transformations and investigate how SPIN enhanced formalisation enables inferencing of nancial statement facts associated with nancial reporting concepts and sophisticated consistency checks, which evaluate the correctness of reported nancial data with respect to the calculation requirements im- posed by accounting regulation. The approach illustrated through two use cases demonstrates the use of SPIN to meet central requirements for nancial data and regulatory modelling

Disrupting Finance

This open access Pivot demonstrates how a variety of technologies act as innovation catalysts within the banking and financial services sector. Traditional banks and financial services are under increasing competition from global IT companies such as Google, Apple, Amazon and PayPal whilst facing pressure from investors to reduce costs, increase agility and improve customer retention. Technologies such as blockchain, cloud computing, mobile technologies, big data analytics and social media therefore have perhaps more potential in this industry and area of business than any other. This book defines a fintech ecosystem for the 21st century, providing a state-of-the art review of current literature, suggesting avenues for new research and offering perspectives from business, technology and industry

Disrupting Finance : FinTech and Strategy in the 21st Century

This open access Pivot demonstrates how a variety of technologies act as innovation catalysts within the banking and financial services sector. Traditional banks and financial services are under increasing competition from global IT companies such as Google, Apple, Amazon and PayPal whilst facing pressure from investors to reduce costs, increase agility and improve customer retention. Technologies such as blockchain, cloud computing, mobile technologies, big data analytics and social media therefore have perhaps more potential in this industry and area of business than any other. This book defines a fintech ecosystem for the 21st century, providing a state-of-the art review of current literature, suggesting avenues for new research and offering perspectives from business, technology and industry

E-Governance: Strategy for Mitigating Non-Inclusion of Citizens in Policy Making in Nigeria

The Nigerian federation that currently has 36 states structure adopted the Weberian Public Administrative system before now as an ideal way of running government, which was characterized with the traditional way of doing things without recourse to the deployment of Information Communication Technology (ICT). Today e-governance is seen as a paradigm shift from the previous way of governance. Research has shown that, the adoption and implementation of e-governance is more likely to bring about effective service delivery, mitigate corruption and ultimately enhance citizens’ participation in governmental affairs. However, it has been argued that infrastructure such as regular electricity power and access to the Internet, in addition to a society with high rate of literacy level are required to effectively implement and realize the potentials of e-governance for improved delivery of services. Due to the difficulties currently experienced, developing nations need to adequately prepare for the implementation of e-governance on the platform of Information Communication Technology (ICT). Hence, this study seeks to examine whether the adoption and implementation of e-governance in the context of Nigeria would mitigate the hitherto non-inclusion of citizens in the formulation and implementation of government policies aimed at enhanced development. To achieve the objective of the study, data were sourced and analyzed majorly by examining government websites of 20 states in the Nigerian federation to ascertain if there are venues for citizens to interact with government in the area of policy making and feedback on government actions, as a way of promoting participatory governance. The study revealed that the adoption and implementation of e-governance in the country is yet to fully take place. This is due to lack of infrastructure, low level of literacy rate and government inability to provide the necessary infrastructure for e-governance to materialize. The paper therefore, recommends among others the need for the Federal Government to involve a sound and clear policy on how to go about the adoption and implementation of egovernance through deliberate effort at increasing budgetary allocation towards infrastructural development and mass education of citizens

The Impact of e-Democracy in Political Stability of Nigeria

The history of the Nigerian electoral process has been hitherto characterized by violence stemming from disputes in election outcomes. For instance, violence erupted across some states in Northern Nigeria when results indicated that a candidate who was popular in that part of the country was losing the election leading to avoidable loss of lives. Beside, this dispute in election outcome lingers for a long time in litigation at the electoral tribunals which distracts effective governance. However, the increasing penetrating use of ICTs in Nigeria is evident in the electoral processes with consequent shift in the behavior of actors in the democratic processes, thus changing the ways Nigerians react to election outcomes. This paper examines the trend in the use ICT in the Nigerian political system and its impact on the stability of the polity. It assesses the role of ICT in recent electoral processes and compares its impact on the outcome of the process in lieu of previous experiences in the Nigeria. Furthermore, the paper also examines the challenges and risks of implementing e-Democracy in Nigeria and its relationship to the economy in the light of the socio-economic situation of the country. The paper adopted qualitative approach in data gathering and analysis. From the findings, the paper observed that e-democracy is largely dependent on the level of ICT adoption, which is still at its lowest ebb in the country. It recognizes the challenges in the provision of ICT infrastructure and argues that appropriate low-cost infrastructure applicable to the Nigerian condition can be made available to implement e-democracy and thus arouse the interest of the populace in governance, increase the number of voters, and enhance transparency, probity and accountability, and participation in governance as well as help stabilize the nascent democrac

Global and local trajectories of social standardisation: The cases of Argentina and Brazil

This dissertation examines the interaction between a particular type of global governance mechanism – social standardisation – and national political economic structures in two countries of the global South: Argentina and Brazil. In doing so it provides a greater understanding of the emergence of new governance structures and the growing role of actors from emerging countries. The dissertation develops three lines of analysis. First, it studies the evolution of the institutional attempts to establish global social standards since the onset of the twentieth century, with specific attention to three global governance initiatives emerging around the 2000s: the UN Global Compact, the Global Reporting Initiative, and the ISO 26000 Guidance Standard on Social Responsibility. Second, it investigates the participation in these latest initiatives of actors from Argentina and Brazil, detailing institutional connections, central players, clusters and overall participation patterns. Third, it analyses and contrasts national participation patterns in light of the trajectory of social standardisation and the political economic environment of these two countries. As a result, the dissertation offers a distinct contribution to the governance and standardisation literature by highlighting the relevance of national political variables in structuring engagement with global governance projects. The dissertation uses a combination of methodologies, sources and analytical techniques including historical analysis, network analysis, interviews with local actors, and direct observation of one instance of global standard-setting. The main line of argument is that local participation in global initiatives of social standard-setting depends on two main elements: the pre-existence of compatible cleavages of social standardisation, and the local resonance of governance frames. Moreover, the thesis reveals that these elements are strongly connected with ‘Southern’ political variables regarding the pattern of political, social and economic development, the model of state-society relations, and the political discourse promoted by the government. On this basis, this thesis can explain the divergent participation patterns found in Brazil and Argentina regarding the three global case study initiatives and their overall acceptance of social standardisation programmes. The dissertation provides two main contributions: 1) it emphasises the relevance of communicative dynamics in the diffusion of global governance, relativising economistic and power-led approaches, and 2) demonstrates the relevance of Southern political institutions, traditions, and discourses in structuring global/local communications

The history of banking technologies in the UK: patterns of technological investment decision-making and expertise

The central role of banking in the 2008 credit crisis has been the source of much controversy about the quality and robustness of decision-making in the Financial Services sector. This paper aims to surface the influence of the historical evolution of expertise in the banking sector, on such decisions and, in so doing, to underline that the decision-making activity is strongly linked to the views of dominant expert groups in the industry in each era. The paper proposes that Technological Investment Decision Making (TIDM), as viewed historically, has been highly contingent to both technological developments in banking and the subsequent developments in banking expertise that provides the pool for decision-makers in the industry.The paper adopts an historical perspective to illustrate that, counter to popular belief, TIDM is a socially constructed process rather than the outcome of any normative exercise. History demonstrates that there is no optimal method for TIDM with rigour and accuracy of execution determining successful outcomes. On the contrary, in each era, the "right way" to perform TIDM has always been underpinned by the standpoints and beliefs of specialised practitioners who dominated the UK banking industry and by the received wisdom of a community of expert professionals, administrators and think tanks, dictating "realities" on the state of the economy, the role of banks and the value of technologies