Use of expert systems in harmonizing international accounting reports

A significant problem in international accounting is the presence of a variety of accounting and disclosure standards that have been adopted by various countries as they match their national information needs to specific formats. Efforts at harmonization of world-wide financial statements have been less than successful. The needs in the 1990s suggest the need for an expedient solution to this problem. The current paper addresses this problem and suggests an information systems approach—a new approach—namely the development of an expert system which would be capable of translating disclosure in a particular country standard to one that meets internationally acceptable accounting standards or from one country standards to another country standards. The authors accept ^that the lack of adequate data may be the impediment to the development of the expert system and suggest a solution from database management to alleviate the harmonization dilemma

ADR Accounting Principles Choice And The Market Reaction To Form 20-F

In this study, we conjecture that non-U.S. firms, choosing to be listed on the major U.S. exchanges, will incur the added costs associated with the supplemental disclosure requirements in order to get that information impounded in the home country equity share price via the ADR share price in the manner described by Fishman and Hagerty (1989).  More specifically, we evaluate the equity share response to U.S.-listed ADR Form 20-F filing in a manner similar to Chen and Sami (2009, 2008) anticipating that the incremental disclosures will prompt ADR and equity security share responses.  Unlike prior studies, we investigate whether the Form 20-F filings prompt U.S. dominant cross-market information flows from the ADR share market back to the home country equity share market proportional to the incremental Form 20-F information.  We employ bivariate and single equation models of the cross-market ADR and equity security share response to the filing, controlling for the firm-specific Form 20-F accounting principles choice.  Preliminary results indicate that both ADR and equity security share markets respond to the Form 20-F filing.  There is a strong indication that the U.S. ADR share market response dominates the cross-market information flow driving the home country equity share market response.  Furthermore, we find that the cross-market response to ADR Form 20-F filing is not equal across the three available accounting principle choices in either the ADR share market or the home country equity share market. Our results are consistent with U.S. GAAP conveying the most of new price relevant information, IFRS, and local accounting standards being informative but not to the same extent

Customized clinical practice guidelines for management of adult cataract in Iran

Purpose: To customize clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for cataract management in the Iranian population. Methods: First, four CPGs (American Academy of Ophthalmology 2006 and 2011, Royal College of Ophthalmologists 2010, and Canadian Ophthalmological Society 2008) were selected from a number of available CPGs in the literature for cataract management. All recommendations of these guidelines, together with their references, were studied. Each recommendation was summarized in 4 tables. The first table showed the recommendation itself in clinical question components format along with its level of evidence. The second table contained structured abstracts of supporting articles related to the clinical question with their levels of evidence. The third table included the customized recommendation of the internal group respecting its clinical advantage, cost, and complications. In the fourth table, the internal group their recommendations from 1 to 9 based on the customizing capability of the recommendation (applicability, acceptability, external validity). Finally, customized recommendations were sent one month prior to a consensus session to faculty members of all universities across the country asking for their comments on recommendations. Results: The agreed recommendations were accepted as conclusive while those with no agreement were discussed at the consensus session. Finally, all customized recommendations were codified as 80 recommendations along with their sources and levels of evidence for the Iranian population. Conclusion: Customization of CPGs for management of adult cataract for the Iranian population seems to be useful for standardization of referral, diagnosis and treatment of patients. © 2015 Journal of Ophthalmic and Vision Research | Published by Wolters Kluwer - Medknow

Convalescent plasma in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised controlled, open-label, platform trial

SummaryBackground Azithromycin has been proposed as a treatment for COVID-19 on the basis of its immunomodulatoryactions. We aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of azithromycin in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19.Methods In this randomised, controlled, open-label, adaptive platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19Therapy [RECOVERY]), several possible treatments were compared with usual care in patients admitted to hospitalwith COVID-19 in the UK. The trial is underway at 176 hospitals in the UK. Eligible and consenting patients wererandomly allocated to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus azithromycin 500 mg once perday by mouth or intravenously for 10 days or until discharge (or allocation to one of the other RECOVERY treatmentgroups). Patients were assigned via web-based simple (unstratified) randomisation with allocation concealment andwere twice as likely to be randomly assigned to usual care than to any of the active treatment groups. Participants andlocal study staff were not masked to the allocated treatment, but all others involved in the trial were masked to theoutcome data during the trial. The primary outcome was 28-day all-cause mortality, assessed in the intention-to-treatpopulation. The trial is registered with ISRCTN, 50189673, and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04381936.Findings Between April 7 and Nov 27, 2020, of 16 442 patients enrolled in the RECOVERY trial, 9433 (57%) wereeligible and 7763 were included in the assessment of azithromycin. The mean age of these study participants was65·3 years (SD 15·7) and approximately a third were women (2944 [38%] of 7763). 2582 patients were randomlyallocated to receive azithromycin and 5181 patients were randomly allocated to usual care alone. Overall,561 (22%) patients allocated to azithromycin and 1162 (22%) patients allocated to usual care died within 28 days(rate ratio 0·97, 95% CI 0·87–1·07; p=0·50). No significant difference was seen in duration of hospital stay (median10 days [IQR 5 to >28] vs 11 days [5 to >28]) or the proportion of patients discharged from hospital alive within 28 days(rate ratio 1·04, 95% CI 0·98–1·10; p=0·19). Among those not on invasive mechanical ventilation at baseline, nosignificant difference was seen in the proportion meeting the composite endpoint of invasive mechanical ventilationor death (risk ratio 0·95, 95% CI 0·87–1·03; p=0·24).Interpretation In patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19, azithromycin did not improve survival or otherprespecified clinical outcomes. Azithromycin use in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 should be restrictedto patients in whom there is a clear antimicrobial indication

The Impact Of Statement No. 91 On Financial Reports of Financial Institutions

SFAS No. 91 restricted the previously acceptable methods of accounting for loan origination fees and costs to the deferral method.  The purpose of this paper is to discuss the provisions of SFAS No. 91 and examine its impact on financial reports of affected entities.  We analyzed a sample of 90 financial institutions’ annual reports.  Our examination reveals that the majority of studied entities did not experience material impacts in their financial reports as a result of compliance with the provisions of SFAS No. 91

Amortizing Initial Direct Costs Of Capital Leases: Match Or Mismatch?

In this paper, we discuss the treatment of initial direct costs associated with direct financing capital leases, as specified by SFAS No. 91 and SFAS No. 98.  In particular, we show that this treatment results in a rather unusual (and, in our opinion, inappropriate) amortization pattern for initial direct costs over the lease term.  We then discuss alternative amortization methods that conceptually may better satisfy the matching principle

The differential effect of directional unexpected earnings and post-earnings announcement drift behaviour

This research investigates whether the post-earnings announcement equity security price return drift is monotonic but (1) at a different rate than at the time of the earnings announcement, and (2) at different rates for positive unexpected earnings and negative unexpected earnings. Our results indicate that the post-earnings announcement equity security price return drift amplifies the equity security return reaction at the time of the earnings announcement for negative earnings changes. However, post-earnings announcement equity security price return drift reverses the equity security return reaction at the time of the earnings announcement for positive unexpected earnings. Implications of our research results for equity security return drift, reversal, and volatility are that equity security prices under-react at the time of the earnings announcement to negative unexpected earnings and over-react at the time of the earnings announcement to positive unexpected earnings.post earnings announcement drift; market efficiency; investors' expectations; trading volume; equity security returns; unexpected earnings.

The impact of culture on accounting: does Gray's model apply to Iran?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between cultural values (as defined by Hofstede) and accounting values (as described by Gray) in Iran. Design/methodology/approach – The appropriate data for a period of ten years (1993-2002) were compiled from economical magazines, the Iran Statistical Yearbook, financial statements, and auditors’ reports of the firms listed in Tehran Stock Exchange. LISREL was used to analyze the data. Findings – The results of this research show the relationships among cultural and accounting values in Iran and found support for more than one-half of Gray's hypotheses. Numerous issues, such as the abnormal evolution of accounting in Iran, the impact of unstable economics, inappropriate use of accounting methods and procedures which are common among developing countries, the impact of governmental ownership, and the lack of well developed capital market tradition may be some determining factors as to why several of Gray's hypotheses were not supported through this research. Originality/value – This paper analyzes the effect of Iran's cultural changes on accounting practice and encourages research that examines all dimensions of accounting in Iran and other developing countries.Accounting, Individual behaviour, Iran, National cultures, Professional services, Uncertainty management