Determinants of voluntary audit and voluntary full accounts in micro- and non-micro small companies in the UK

This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in Accounting and Business Research, 42(4), 441 - 468, 2012, copyright Taylor & Francis, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/00014788.2012.667969.This study investigates the link between the auditing and filing choices made by a sample of 592 small private companies, which includes 419 micro-companies. It examines decisions made in connection with the 2006 accounts following UK's adoption of the maximum EU size thresholds in 2004, and the impact of the proposed Directive on the annual accounts of micro-companies. The research extends the model of cost, management and agency factors associated with voluntary audit, and develops a complementary model for voluntary full accounts. The results show the benefits of placing full audited accounts on public record that outweigh the costs for a significant proportion of companies. In non-micro small companies, voluntary audit is determined by cost and agency factors, whereas in micro-companies it is driven by cost, management and agency factors. In both groups, the predictors of voluntary full accounts include management and agency factors, and choosing voluntary audit is one of the key factors. The study provides models that can be tested in other jurisdictions to provide evidence of the needs of micro-companies, and the discussion of the methodological challenges for small company researchers in the UK makes further contribution to the literature

International lease accounting reform and economic consequences: the views of UK users and preparers

In response to perceived difficulties with extant lease-accounting standards in operation worldwide, the G4+1 issued a discussion paper which proposes that all leases should be recognized on the balance sheet [ASB (1999). Leases: Implementation of a new approach, discussion paper. London: Accounting Standards Board]. Leasing is now on the active agenda of the IASB. A major difficulty faced by standard setters lies in overcoming the preparer/user lobbying imbalance and obtaining ex ante evidence on the likely impact of regulatory reform. This paper contributes to the ongoing international debate by conducting a questionnaire survey of U.K. users and preparers to assess their views on proposals for lease-accounting reform and on the potential economic consequences of their adoption. The results, based on 132 responses, indicate that both groups accept that there are deficiencies in the current rules, but they do not agree on the way forward and believe that the proposals would lead to significant economic consequences for key parties. The impact on respondents' views of familiarity with the proposals, level of lease usage, and company size, is also examined

Vascular events in Fabry and Gaucher disease

Fabry (FD) and Gaucher (GD) disease are lysosomal storage disorders, caused by single enzyme deficiencies on the glycosphingolipid degradation pathway as a result of genetic mutations in the GLA and GBA genes respectively. These result in a functional enzyme deficiency within the lysosome and accumulation of un-degraded substrate. GD is characterised by a bleeding tendency and bone infarction. Patients with FD suffer from a vasculopathy with strokes, proteinuric renal failure and cardiac conduction defects, but both disorders are highly heterogeneous. Abnormal cytokine profiles and a pro-inflammatory state have been found in both FD and GD, leading to the hypothesis that abnormalities at the blood-endothelial interface affecting coagulation and leucocyte adhesion contribute to the pathology of these disorders. This thesis demonstrates the importance of vascular manifestations in the presentation of both GD and FD with failure to identify the underlying cause of these manifestations resulting in delays between the onset of clinical manifestations and arrival at the correct diagnosis. Abnormalities at the blood-endothelial interface identified in GD include up-regulation of adhesion molecules on lymphocytes that may be of importance in the pathogenesis of bone disease, and increased thrombin generation in an endothelial cell model of GD. In FD, whilst cardiac and renal manifestations occur at earlier onset and with greater severity in men, cerebrovascular disease seems to affect both sexes to a similar degree. Monocytes from females with FD exhibit an age-dependent increase in adhesion mimicking the age-dependent increase in cardiac and renal disease seen in these patients but the mechanisms underlying cerebrovascular disease remain uncertain. Initial investigations of platelet prothrombinase activity suggest this may be enhanced in FD. Further investigation of these abnormalities at the cellular level may shed new insights on, and open up new therapeutic options, for the management of the vascular complications of these disorders

MULTI USER COOPERATION SPECTRUM SENSING IN WIRELESS COGNITIVE RADIO NETWORKS

With the rapid proliferation of new wireless communication devices and services, the demand for the radio spectrum is increasing at a rapid rate, which leads to making the spectrum more and more crowded. The limited available spectrum and the inefficiency in the spectrum usage have led to the emergence of cognitive radio (CR) and dynamic spectrum access (DSA) technologies, which enable future wireless communication systems to exploit the empty spectrum in an opportunistic manner. To do so, future wireless devices should be aware of their surrounding radio environment in order to adapt their operating parameters according to the real-time conditions of the radio environment. From this viewpoint, spectrum sensing is becoming increasingly important to new and future wireless communication systems, which is designed to monitor the usage of the radio spectrum and reliably identify the unused bands to enable wireless devices to switch from one vacant band to another, thereby achieving flexible, reliable, and efficient spectrum utilisation. This thesis focuses on issues related to local and cooperative spectrum sensing for CR networks, which need to be resolved. These include the problems of noise uncertainty and detection in low signal to noise ratio (SNR) environments in individual spectrum sensing. In addition to issues of energy consumption, sensing delay and reporting error in cooperative spectrum sensing. In this thesis, we investigate how to improve spectrum sensing algorithms to increase their detection performance and achieving energy efficiency. To this end, first, we propose a new spectrum sensing algorithm based on energy detection that increases the reliability of individual spectrum sensing. In spite of the fact that the energy detection is still the most common detection mechanism for spectrum sensing due to its simplicity. Energy detection does not require any prior knowledge of primary signals, but has the drawbacks of threshold selection, and poor performance due to noise uncertainty especially at low SNR. Therefore, a new adaptive optimal energy detection algorithm (AOED) is presented in this thesis. In comparison with the existing energy detection schemes the detection performance achieved through AOED algorithm is higher. Secondly, as cooperative spectrum sensing (CSS) can give further improvement in the detection reliability, the AOED algorithm is extended to cooperative sensing; in which multiple cognitive users collaborate to detect the primary transmission. The new combined approach (AOED and CSS) is shown to be more reliable detection than the individual detection scheme, where the hidden terminal problem can be mitigated. Furthermore, an optimal fusion strategy for hard-fusion based cognitive radio networks is presented, which optimises sensing performance. Thirdly, the need for denser deployment of base stations to satisfy the estimated high traffic demand in future wireless networks leads to a significant increase in energy consumption. Moreover, in large-scale cognitive radio networks some of cooperative devices may be located far away from the fusion centre, which causes an increase in the error rate of reporting channel, and thus deteriorating the performance of cooperative spectrum sensing. To overcome these problems, a new multi-hop cluster based cooperative spectrum sensing (MHCCSS) scheme is proposed, where only cluster heads are allowed to send their cluster results to the fusion centre via successive cluster heads, based on higher SNR of communication channel between cluster heads. Furthermore, in decentralised CSS as in cognitive radio Ad Hoc networks (CRAHNs), where there is no fusion centre, each cognitive user performs the local spectrum sensing and shares the sensing information with its neighbours and then makes its decision on the spectrum availability based on its own sensing information and the neighbours’ information. However, cooperation between cognitive users consumes significant energy due to heavy communications. In addition to this, each CR user has asynchronous sensing and transmission schedules which add new challenges in implementing CSS in CRAHNs. In this thesis, a new multi-hop cluster based CSS scheme has been proposed for CRAHNs, which can enhance the cooperative sensing performance and reduce the energy consumption compared with other conventional decentralised cooperative spectrum sensing modes

Discretion in accounting for pensions under IAS 19: using the ‘magic telescope’?

We use a panel data set of UK-listed companies over the period 2005 to 2009 to analyse the actuarial assumptions used to value pension plan liabilities under IAS 19. The valuation process requires companies to make assumptions about financial and demographic variables, notably discount rate, price inflation, salary inflation, and mortality/life expectancy of plan members/beneficiaries. We use regression analysis to analyse the relationships between these key assumptions (except mortality, where disclosures are limited) and company-specific factors such as the pension plan funding position and duration of pension liabilities. We find evidence of selective ‘management’ of the three assumptions investigated, although the nature of this appears to differ from the findings of US authors. We conclude that IAS 19 does not prevent the use of managerial discretion, particularly by companies whose pension plan funding positions are weak, thereby reducing the representational faithfulness of the reported pension figures. We also highlight that the degree of discretion used reflects the extent to which IAS 19 defines how the assumptions are to be determined. We therefore suggest that companies should be encouraged to justify more explicitly their choice of assumptions

Formulation and characterisation of conventional and 3-D printed mini-tablets and inserts for ocular use

This thesis describes a study into the formulation, manufacture and characterisation of mini-tablets and inserts for ocular use. Powder-based mini-tablets were formulated using the antibiotic chloramphenicol and a range of polymers. The effect of powder particle size on the quality of the products was investigated and was significant only for drug release from polyethylene oxide 8M mini-tablets. Transition temperature microscopy was used to assess drug distribution across the surface of the mini-tablets. Good contact of the nano-probe with the mini-tablet surface was the determining factor in the quality of the images created, with the residual particle shape after compaction playing a significant role. A novel approach to the manufacture of mini-tablets using 3-D printing was investigated. The fused deposition modelling approach was unsuccessful due to the difficulty in producing extrudates of the required polymers. Stereolithography was used to prepare a range of formulations, with polyethylene glycol (PEG) diacrylate as the base material and phenylbis (2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyl) phosphine oxide as photoinitiator. The quality of the 3-D printed tablets was variable and dependent on the relative content of these two ingredients and the equipment settings. The 3-D printed mini-tablets showed a slow first-order drug release profile, which was increased by the inclusion of pore formers such as low molecular weight PEG. The applicability of the stereolithography approach for 3-D printing of individualised ocular inserts was investigated. A cranial MRI scan of an adult male human was used, with permission, to generate a 3-D image of the eye, from which a personalised ocular insert was produced. A matching personalised flow-through dissolution chamber was constructed, in order to enable to assess the drug release profile from the inserts. Similarly to the 3-D printed mini-tablets, the drug release followed a slow first-order profile, and was increased by the presence of pore formers in the insert

Auditor-client interactions in the changed UK regulatory environment - A revised grounded theory model

Audit and financial reporting quality are under intense scrutiny nationally and globally. The outcome of high-level auditor-auditee discussion and negotiation issues (auditor-client interactions) is central to this debate. Beattie et al. developed a grounded theory model of these interactions in the 1997 UK setting. This paper reports on a field study of 45 interactions in nine case companies in the radically changed post-SOX regulatory environment. Crucially, interviewees in each case company extend the chief financial officer-audit partner dyad to include the audit committee chair. Fundamental revisions to the model emerge. The strongest influence on interactions has become the national enforcement regime, overlaid upon the international standard-setting regime. The outcome in both the eyes of the participants and in our evaluation is full compliance (contrary to the findings from the 1997 setting), regardless of the perceived quality of the standards and the integrity of the outcome. Personal and company characteristics, which were of most importance in 1997, have become peripheral. The audit committee chair is shown to fulfil a gatekeeping role in relation to the full audit committee

PS18kh: A New Tidal Disruption Event with a Non-axisymmetric Accretion Disk

We present the discovery of PS18kh, a tidal disruption event discovered at the center of SDSS J075654.53+341543.6 (d ≃ 322 Mpc) by the Pan-STARRS Survey for Transients. Our data set includes pre-discovery survey data from Pan-STARRS, the All-sky Automated Survey for Supernovae, and the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System as well as high-cadence, multiwavelength follow-up data from ground-based telescopes and Swift, spanning from 56 days before peak light until 75 days after. The optical/UV emission from PS18kh is well-fit as a blackbody with temperatures ranging from T ≃ 12,000 K to T ≃ 25,000 K and it peaked at a luminosity of L ≃ 8.8 × 10 erg s . PS18kh radiated E = (3.45 ± 0.22) × 10 erg over the period of observation, with (1.42 ± 0.20) × 10 erg being released during the rise to peak. Spectra of PS18kh show a changing, boxy/double-peaked Hα emission feature, which becomes more prominent over time. We use models of non-axisymmetric accretion disks to describe the profile of the Hα line and its evolution. We find that at early times the high accretion rate leads the disk to emit a wind which modifies the shape of the line profile and makes it bell-shaped. At late times, the wind becomes optically thin, allowing the non-axisymmetric perturbations to show up in the line profile. The line-emitting portion of the disk extends from r ∼ 60r to an outer radius of r ∼ 1400r and the perturbations can be represented either as an eccentricity in the outer rings of the disk or as a spiral arm in the inner disk. 43 -1 50 50 in g out

Pan-STARRS and PESSTO search for an optical counterpart to the LIGO gravitational-wave source GW150914

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Oxford University Press via http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw1893We searched for an optical counterpart to the first gravitational wave source discovered by LIGO (GW150914), using a combination of the Pan-STARRS1 wide-field telescope and the PESSTO spectroscopic follow-up programme. As the final LIGO sky maps changed during analysis, the total probability of the source being spatially coincident with our fields was finally only 4.2 per cent. Therefore we discuss our results primarily as a demonstration of the survey capability of Pan-STARRS and spectroscopic capability of PESSTO. We mapped out 442 square degrees of the northern sky region of the initial map. We discovered 56 astrophysical transients over a period of 41 days from the discovery of the source. Of these, 19 were spectroscopically classified and a further 13 have host galaxy redshifts. All transients appear to be fairly normal supernovae and AGN variability and none is obviously linked with GW150914. We illustrate the sensitivity of our survey by defining parameterised lightcurves with timescales of 4, 20 and 40 days and use the sensitivity of the Pan-STARRS1 images to set limits on the luminosities of possible sources. The Pan-STARRS1 images reach limiting magnitudes of $\textit{i}$$_{P\rceil}$ = 19.2, 20.0 and 20.8 respectively for the three timescales. For long timescale parameterised lightcurves (with FWHM≃40d) we set upper limits of $\textit{M}$$_{i}$ ≤ −17.2$^{−0.9}_{+1.4}$ if the distance to GW150914 is $\textit{D}_{\lfloor}$ = 400 ± 200 Mpc. The number of type Ia SN we find in the survey is similar to that expected from the cosmic SN rate, indicating a reasonably complete efficiency in recovering supernova like transients out to $\textit{D}_{\lfloor}$ = 400 ± 200 Mpc.Pan-STARRS is supported by the University of Hawaii and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Planetary Defense Office under Grant No. NNX14AM74G. The Pan-STARRS-LIGO effort is in collaboration with the LIGO Consortium and supported by Queen's University Belfast. The Pan-STARRS1 Sky Surveys have been made possible through contributions by the Institute for Astronomy, the University of Hawaii, the Pan-STARRS Project Office, the Max Planck Society and its participating institutes, the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg and the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, The Johns Hopkins University, Durham University, the University of Edinburgh, the Queen's University Belfast, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network Incorporated, the National Central University of Taiwan, the Space Telescope Science Institute, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under Grant No. NNX08AR22G issued through the Planetary Science Division of the NASA Science Mission Directorate, the National Science Foundation Grant No. AST-1238877, the University of Maryland, Eotvos Lorand University (ELTE), and the Los Alamos National Laboratory. This work is based (in part) on observations collected at the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere, Chile as part of PESSTO, (the Public ESO Spectroscopic Survey for Transient Objects Survey) ESO programs 188.D-3003, 191.D-0935. Some of the data presented herein were obtained at the Palomar Observatory, California Institute of Technology. SJS acknowledges funding from the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013)/ERC Grant agreement no [291222] and STFC grants ST/I001123/1 and ST/L000709/1. MF is supported by the European Union FP7 programme through ERC grant number 320360. KM acknowledges support from the STFC through an Ernest Rutherford Fellowship FOE acknowledges support from FONDECYT through postdoctoral grant 3140326. This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and data products from the Two Micron All Sky Survey, which is a joint project of the University of Massachusetts and the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center/California Institute of Technology, funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Science Foundation