Informal institutions and managers’ earnings management choices: evidence from IFRS-adopting countries

In this study, we investigate the role of informal institutions (religiosity and culture) in determining managers’ choices of earnings management methods (accruals vs. real activities), after controlling for formal institutions (investor protection, enforcement quality and equity market development). Using an ethical perspective, we find that managers tend to choose an earnings management strategy that meets the prevailing social (informal) norms of the environment where the firm is headquartered. Specifically, our analysis shows that firms domiciled in countries with strong religious adherence and highpower- distance cultures prefer to manage their earnings ‘upwards’ through real activities rather than accruals. Overall, our results suggest that informal institutions determine managers’ earnings management choices at least as strongly as formal institutions do. It would therefore be misleading to analyze managers’ choices in managing earnings solely from the formal rules perspective without considering the role of informal constraints or vice versa

Abnormal inventory and performance in manufacturing companies: evidence from the trade credit channel

This paper examines the value of abnormal inventory and the channels through which firms decrease abnormally high inventory or increase abnormally low inventory for a sample of 976 United Kingdom (UK) manufacturing firms over the period from 2006 to 2015. Using GMM regressions, the results show that (i) an optimal inventory policy exists; and (ii) firms that are able to converge at this optimal inventory level byeither decreasing abnormally high inventory or increasing abnormally low inventory to improve operational and stock performance. Importantly, the results show that trade receivables and trade payables are the channels through which firms achieve efficient inventory management

Comprehensive Evaluations of Student Performance Estimation via Machine Learning

Success in student learning is the primary aim of the educational system. Artificial intelligence utilizes data and machine learning to achieve excellence in student learning. In this paper, we exploit several machine learning techniques to estimate early student performance. Two main simulations are used for the evaluation. The first simulation used the Traditional Machine Learning Classifiers (TMLCs) applied to the House dataset, and they are Gaussian Naïve Bayes (GNB), Support Vector Machine (SVM), Decision Tree (DT), Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP), Random Forest (RF), Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA), and Quadratic Discriminant Analysis (QDA). The best results were achieved with the MLP classifier with a division of 80% training and 20% testing, with an accuracy of 88.89%. The fusion of these seven classifiers was also applied and the highest result was equal to the MLP. Moreover, in the second simulation, the Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) was utilized and evaluated on five main datasets, namely, House, Western Ontario University (WOU), Experience Application Programming Interface (XAPI), University of California-Irvine (UCI), and Analytics Vidhya (AV). The UCI dataset was subdivided into three datasets, namely, UCI-Math, UCI-Por, and UCI-Fused. Moreover, the AV dataset has three targets which are Math, Reading, and Writing. The best accuracy results were achieved at 97.5%, 99.55%, 98.57%, 99.28%, 99.40%, 99.67%, 92.93%, 96.99%, and 96.84% for the House, WOU, XAPI, UCI-Math, UCI-Por, UCI-Fused, AV-Math, AV-Reading, and AV-Writing datasets, respectively, under the same protocol of evaluation. The system demonstrates that the proposed CNN-based method surpasses all seven conventional methods and other state-of-the-art-work

Reforming Fiscal Institutions in Resource-Rich Arab Economies: Policy Proposals

This paper traces the evolution of fiscal institutions of Resource Rich Arab Economies (RRAEs) over time since their pre-oil days, through the discovery of oil to their build-up of oil exports. It then identifies challenges faced by RRAEs and variations in their severity among the different countries over time. Finally, it articulates specific policy reforms, which, if implemented successfully, could help to overcome these challenges. In some cases, however, these policy proposals may give rise to important trade-offs that will have to be evaluated carefully in individual cases

Country-specific drivers of the value relevance of goodwill impairment losses

This study is the first to analyze the value relevance of goodwill impairment losses (GIL) in an international context; therefore, it builds a link between institutional, cultural, and religious factors and cross-country variations in the relevance of GIL. Using a sample of 18,143 firm-year observations drawn from 21 countries during the period 2005–2018, we find that firms, on average, have reported GIL that are value relevant to their investors. However, consistent with the litigation perspective, the value relevance of GIL is found to be substantially higher for firms domiciled in countries with high-level institutional quality (IQ) than for firms in countries where IQ is relatively low. Our findings remain robust after controlling for macroeconomic effects or excluding observations from the biggest countries, which constitute a substantial proportion of the data set that we analyze. Additional tests show that institutional effects, although absorbing religion, did not supersede or restrain cultural effects, suggesting that social norms also influence the relevance of impairment information. Our evidence introduces a new explanation for heterogeneity in value relevance of goodwill impairments, and adds to research on the effects of legal and social norms on value relevance

The impact of international diversification on credit scores: Evidence from the UK

This study investigates the impact of international diversification on credit scores using a large sample of 6,557 UK firms. Our findings suggest that international diversification has an inverted U-shaped relationship with credit scores, and R&D intensity positively moderates this relationship. The results also show the international diversification-credit score relationship is only significant for firms operating in competitive industries. Further, we find the impact of international diversification on a firm’s credit score is not only dependent on innovation and competition, but also on its age of maturity, size, the industry to which it belongs, and its geographical location

From neck swelling to abrupt compromised airway: A case of a hemorrhagic ruptured thyroid cyst

Here, we present a rare case of spontaneous hemorrhagic rupture of a benign thyroid cyst in an adult Indian female who had no history of thyroid gland disease, trauma or coagulopathies. The patient presented to the Emergency Department with a suddenly progressive left-sided neck swelling of short duration. A 36-year-old otherwise healthy female presented to our Emergency Department with a progressive swelling on the left side of her neck that had started 2 days before her visit. Initially, the clinical neck examination revealed a well-defined soft cystic lesion confined to the left side of the neck anteriorly, measuring around 4 cm × 4 cm, tender to touch and moving with deglutition. Preliminary flexible scope examination of her larynx was normal. Within a few hours of having undergone ultrasonography examination, the neck swelling became diffused with increased tenderness. However, the patient remained clinically stable with no signs of airway compromise. A repeat of the fiber optic flexible scope examination showed submucosal hematoma in the left aryepiglottic area that mildly pushed the patient's laryngeal inlet to the contralateral side. Shortly after, the patient's condition worsened with the progression of swelling leading to compression of the airway. This promoted the decision to intubate the patient, who was subsequently, managed conservatively with close monitoring in the intensive care unit. Postintubation ultrasonography and computer tomography scans showed diffused inflammatory changes on the left side of the neck in the superficial and deep planes, mainly confined to the infrathyroid. Spontaneous sudden hemorrhagic rupture of a thyroid gland cyst is a rare condition but should be considered in a massive abrupt neck swelling that could potentially be life threatening

Do Trade Credit and Bank Credit Complement or Substitute Each Other in Public and Private Firms?

In this study, we analyse the complementary and substitution effect between trade credit (TC) and short-term bank credit (BC) for public and private firms in the UK. Using a sample of 254,352 firm-year observations over the period 2008-2021, we find TC and BC are substitutes for public firms that have easy access to cheap external finance. In contrast, TC and BC are complements for private firms that have limited access to alternative financing resources, such as financial markets. Importantly, our results show that public firms are faster in adjusting towards the optimum level of their TC and BC than private firms in an attempt to determine the appropriate mix between these two types of financing. Our study introduces new evidence on the efficient management of TC and BC for public and private firms

Lateral sinus thrombosis in children: Case series

Lateral sinus thrombosis is rare but potentially fatal condition. The consequences of misdiagnosis of this condition are detrimental. Aims: To review our experience in lateral sinus thrombosis secondary to otogenic disease in pediatric population. Settings and Design: Retrospective study of case series treated in two teaching hospitals over five years. Materials and Methods: Clinically and radiologically diagnosed cases of lateral sinus thrombosis were identified through database search. Results: Lateral sinus thrombosis was the result of chronic suppurative otitis media in 7 cases, with 3 patients (42.85%) having cholesteatoma. There were no associated intracranial complications in any of the patients. Two patients (28.57%) underwent medical treatment, and 5 patients (71.43%) had surgical treatment. Aggressive and early surgical intervention treatment was initiated according to evaluation of preoperative findings. The sigmoid sinus was aspirated in three patients. Complete re-canalization or lysis of the thrombus was achieved. Anticoagulant agent was used in 1 patient (14.28%). Six patients (85.82%) presented with the typical lateral sinus thrombosis clinical features, and 1 patient (14.28%) presented with otorrhea solely. Mastoidectomy was undertaken in 5 patients (71.42%) with canal wall up in 2 patients (28.57%) and canal wall down in 2 patients (28.57%). Myringotomy, ventilation tube insertion, and cortical mastoidectomy were done in 1 patient (14.28%). Conclusions: Early and aggressive surgical intervention of lateral sinus thrombosis otogenic complication can minimize mortality, hospitalization period, and length of medical treatment. High index of suspicion is important