IFRS 8 and the cost of capital in Europe

This study examines segment reporting information usefulness after the adoption of IFRS 8 in 18 European Union countries. Specifically, 1) we introduce a new comprehensive measure of segment reporting quality that reflects four different dimensions of segment information, 2) we investigate the impact of segment reporting quality on the cost of equity and debt capital after the adoption of IFRS 8, and 3) we investigate the moderating role of the country-level enforcement system on the association between segment reporting quality and the cost of equity and debt capital after the adoption of IFRS 8. Using a self-constructed segment reporting quality measure and a sample of 884 firm-year observations over the period of 2007 to 2011, we provide evidence that investors and lending institutions find no change in the usefulness of segment reporting after the adoption of IFRS 8. Our study is original in using a comprehensive measure of segment reporting quality. Furthermore, our study is the first to examine the relationship between segment reporting quality and the cost of debt capital after the adoption of IFRS 8 and the moderating role of the country-level enforcement system. Our findings provide useful insights to regulator and accounting standard-setting bodies about segment reporting

The impact of earnings quality on aspects of capital markets: evidence from UK listed firms

This thesis investigates the association between four accounting-based earnings quality proxies and three capital market aspects of UK listed firms after applying the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The three capital market aspects are: the cost of equity capital; information symmetry; and analysts’ information environment (number of analysts following, the dispersion of analysts’ forecasts and the accuracy of analysts’ forecasts). It finds evidences that firms with low earnings quality have a higher cost of equity capital, higher information asymmetry, lower number of analysts following, a higher dispersion of analysts’ forecasts and less accurate analysts’ forecasts than firms with high earnings quality. Also, the results show that the innate component of each earnings quality proxy, driven by economic fundamentals, has a larger impact on the three aspects of capital market than the discretionary component, driven by management choices. This is consistent with the theoretical framework of IFRS which the UK adopted in 2005 for listed firms. These findings shed light on the important role of earnings quality in helping analysts and investors to make better financial investment decisions. Theory suggests that this role is achieved by increasing the informativeness of firms’ information environment, improving the precision of financial information, reducing estimation risk and information asymmetry; these are expected to lead to a lower cost of equity capital

ESG practices and the cost of debt: evidence from EU countries

Using legitimacy and institutional theories, this study investigates whether lending institutions reward firms in 15 EU countries for their environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance and disclosure in terms of lowering their cost of debt capital. Our study distinguishes between ESG performance that is used to indicate an effective commitment to ESG strategies, and ESG disclosure that represents an effort to construct an image of commitment designed to positively influence stakeholders’ perceptions. Supporting a version of legitimacy theory, we find that lending institutions value both ESG performance and disclosure and integrate ESG information in their credit decisions – in that firms with stronger ESG performance have a lower cost of debt, and ESG disclosure has an equal impact on the cost of debt as ESG performance. Although these findings suggest that the market (in context) can engender more desirable social outcomes by rewarding ESG practices, it fails to distinguish between ESG performance and disclosure (which may be contrasted as the more substantive and the more symbolic). Moreover, our results also reflect upon the importance of the role that civil society and the state play in addressing and exploring the limitations of free-market regimes. Specifically, we provide evidence that the impact of ESG performance and disclosure on the cost of debt is more dominant in the stakeholder-oriented countries (where the community is more prevalent). Our main findings are robust to a battery of sensitivity tests, including an alternative measure of the cost of debt, model specifications, and different approaches to address endogeneity. We acknowledge limitations in our research method but point nevertheless to its value in supporting a critical perspective and make suggestions for future research

The Impact of Corporate Social and Environmental Practices on the Cost of Equity Capital:UK Evidence

PurposeThere has been an ongoing call from various groups of stakeholders for social and environmental practices to be integrated into companies’ operations. A number of companies have responded by engaging in socially and environmentally responsible activities, while others choose not to participate in these activities, which incur additional costs. The absence of consensus regarding the economic implications of social and environmental practices provides the impetus for this paper. This study aims to examine the association between corporate social and environmental practices (CSEP) and the cost of equity capital measured by four ex ante measures using a sample of UK listed companies.Design/methodology/approachFirst, we undertake a review of the extant literature on CSEP. Second, using a sample of 236 companies surveyed in “Britain’s most admired companies” in terms of “community and environmental responsibility” during the period 2010-2014, we estimate four implied a cost of equity capital proxies. The relationship between a companies’ cost of equity capital and its CSEP is then calculated.FindingsThe authors find evidence that companies with higher levels of CSEP have a lower cost of equity capital. This finding determines the significant role played by CSEP in helping users to make useful decisions. Also, it supports arguments that firms with socially responsible practices have lower risk and higher valuation.Practical implicationsThe finding encourages companies to be more socially and environmentally responsible. Furthermore, it provides up-to-date evidence of the economic consequences of CSEP. The results should, therefore, be of interest to managers, regulators and standard-setters charged with developing regulations to control CSEP, as these practices are still undertaken on a voluntary basis by companies.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the association between CSEP of British companies and their cost of equity capital. The study complements Ghoul et al. (2011), who examine the relationship between CSR and the cost of equity capital of the US sample. The authors extend Ghoul et al. (2011) by using a sample of the UK market after applying International Financial Reporting Standards.</p

AUTONOMY OF URBAN LIGHT RAIL TRANSPORT SYSTEMS AND ITS INFLUENCE ON USERS, EXPENDITURES, AND OPERATIONAL COSTS

The aim of this paper is to study and highlight various effects of automizing urban light rail transport systems by examining the impact of such structures on common users, as well as the expenditures and operational costs involved. By providing an overview of different transportation networks through the three categories of expenditure—transportation, maintenance, and administration—an idea of the general operational cost can be established. Additionally, by indicating the aforementioned cost, the effect of the grade of automation on costs can be determined and explained. However, this paper does not include an attempt to estimate these costs; it only states what may affect such costs. Furthermore, the factor of safety is considered by underlining the changes expected to occur with the implementation of such networks. The implementation of autonomous rail systems would result in lower operational costs, which is discussed in this paper based on another study. At the same time, the factor of safety was also observed as simultaneously increasing, as were the overall experiences of users, both in terms of aesthetics and function. The only setback found by the research is that some users would be reluctant to use a network without an operator

Business of love: exploring motivations to use and sentiments towards online dating using big data analytics

Online Dating has increased in popularity over the past few years. With the evolution of technology and the internet’s increasing capabilities of interaction, online dating has altered the dating world and offered a convenient, fast, and trendy way to find a partner. In fact, it has yielded an industry that has been growing at a quick pace of 5.3% yearly and was estimated to reach $3 billion of revenues in the US only in 2016, generated by hundreds of online dating businesses. However, both big and small players in the multi-billion dollar industry compete to bring in as many subscribers as they can, using various state-of the-art technologies which are the key to their success. To stay ahead of the competition, in-depth knowledge of consumers is an irreplaceable factor. Adopting the “Uses and Gratifications” approach, the aim of this paper is to boost the knowledge of businesses operating in the field by shedding light on the primary motivations of online daters. It also examines the user experience by identifying sentiments toward dating platforms and finds more insights regarding the causes behind those sentiments. A large set of reviews publicly posted by users was employed as the source of data. The study carried out on 1346 reviews about 47 dating platforms has revealed six primary motivations for using online dating. People surf dating sites to seek love or a serious relationship, meet new people, engage in casual relationships, utilize the convenience offered through virtual dating, follow the trend of meeting others via dating sites, or to validate their personal image which in return provides self-satisfaction to the dater. Among all, the first motivation appeared to be the strongest. The employed text analytics tools named SAS VA and Microsoft Power BI have shown positive, average, and negative sentiments across users towards online dating businesses. Of these, the larger group of users expressed negative sentiment. The study demonstrated that the negative experience was mainly attributed to gaps in the offered services, technology, and quality of other subscribers

Separation of Uranium from Rare Earths using Tertiary Amine from Sulfate Solutions

A sulfate leach liquor of 0.78 g/l uranium and 0.57 g/L rare earths produced from Abu-Zeniema wastes was subjected to different extraction experiments using tri-octyl amine as a solvent.  Complete extraction of uranium from rare earths sulfate solutions was performed using a sulfate leach liqueur of pH 1.25, 10% TOA in kerosene, 1/20 organic to aqueous phase ratio and stirring for three minutes at room temperature.  The saturation capacity of 14.0 g U/L was performed after three contacts between sulfate leach liquor and TOA organic solvent. The optimum uranium stripping conditions from the saturated TOA solvent were performed using sodium carbonate as a stripping agent with 0.75M molarity, 3 minutes contact time and 1/4 aqueous to organic ratio. Three stages of contacts counter currently were required for uranium stripping from the loaded organic using the optimum stripping conditions. A strip solution of 47.6 g U/L was obtained by two contacts between a fresh saturated solvent and the same carbonate strip solution. A fine grained uranium peroxide cake with 65.1% U was attained from the stripping solution by hydrogen peroxide precipitation at pH 2

Infectious complications of endourological treatment of kidney stones: A meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials

Objective: Endourological treatment is associated with a risk of postoperative febrile urinary tract infections and sepsis. The aim of this study was to review the reported rate of infectious complications in relation to the type and modality of the endourologic procedure. Methods: This systematic review was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines. Two electronic databases (PubMed and EMBASE) were searched. Out of 243 articles retrieved we included 49 studies after full-text evaluation. Results: Random-effects meta-analysis demonstrated that retrograde intrarenal surgery (RIRS) and percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) were associated with not significantly different odds of getting fever (OR = 1.54, 95% CI: 0.99 to 2.39; p = 0.06) or sepsis (OR = 1.52, 95% CI: 0.37 to 6.20, p = 0.56). The odds of getting fever were not significantly different for mini PCNL compared to standard PCNL (OR = 1.11, 95% CI: 0.85 to 1.44; p = 0.45) and for tubeless PCNL compared to standard PCNL (OR = 1.34 95% CI: 0.61 to 2.91, p = 0.47). However, the odds for fever after PCNL with suctioning sheath were lower than the corresponding odds for standard PCNL (OR = 0.37, 95% CI: 0.20 to 0.70, p = 0.002). The odds of getting fever after PCNL with perioperative prophylaxis were not different from the corresponding odds after PCNL with perioperative prophylaxis plus a short oral antibiotic course (before or after the procedure) (OR = 1.31, 95% CI: 0.71 to 2.39, p = 0.38). Conclusions: The type of endourological procedure does not appear to be decisive in the onset of infectious complications, although the prevention of high intrarenal pressure during the procedure could be crucial in defining the risk of infectious complications. on behalf of U-merge Ltd. (Urology for emerging countries), London-Athens-Duba