Was the Accounting Profession Really That Bad?

To gain insight into the extent of malpractice in the State of California prior to the Passage of Sarbanes-Oxley, we examined the nature and magnitude of complains filed with the California Board of Accountancy (CBA) against both licensed and unlicensed accountants during the fiscal years 2000, 2001, and 2002. The CBA currently licenses and regulates over 73,000 licenses, with 1,431 complaints filed during the period reviewed. Disciplinary actions were taken against 283 different licensees for the three fiscal years reviewed. SEC issues were involved in 19 cases, theft or embezzlement 46 cases, public accounting malpractice 146 cases, improper retention of client records 11 cases, cheating on the CPA examination 9 cases, and miscellaneous other 52 cases. Over half of the complaints involved public accounting issues. Audit related complaints accounted for 48%, tax related complaints 36%, and compilations or reviews accounted for 16% of the complaints. These statistics were in line with the experience of the AICPA Professional Liability program. Within the above sections, the paper contains specifics with regards to the most common problems identified as a result of this work. While a number of interesting facts were discovered, one item of particularly interest was the significant number of claims that involved non-profit organizations. CBA administrators do not believe there is any greater tendency for non profit reporting versus for profit reporting, thus appearing to indicate this is just an area that has a greater possibility of accounting malpractice

Bayesian inference with an adaptive proposal density for GARCH models

We perform the Bayesian inference of a GARCH model by the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm with an adaptive proposal density. The adaptive proposal density is assumed to be the Student's t-distribution and the distribution parameters are evaluated by using the data sampled during the simulation. We apply the method for the QGARCH model which is one of asymmetric GARCH models and make empirical studies for for Nikkei 225, DAX and Hang indexes. We find that autocorrelation times from our method are very small, thus the method is very efficient for generating uncorrelated Monte Carlo data. The results from the QGARCH model show that all the three indexes show the leverage effect, i.e. the volatility is high after negative observations

Exact correlation functions of the BCS model in the canonical ensemble

We evaluate correlation functions of the BCS model for finite number of particles. The integrability of the Hamiltonian relates it with the Gaudin algebra ${\cal G}[sl(2)]$. Therefore, a theorem that Sklyanin proved for the Gaudin model, can be applied. Several diagonal and off-diagonal correlators are calculated. The finite size scaling behavior of the pairing correlation function is studied.Comment: 4 pages revtex; 2 figures .eps. Revised version to be published in Phys. Rev. Let

Neutron interferometric measurement of the scattering length difference between the triplet and singlet states of n-3^3He

We report a determination of the n-$^3$He scattering length difference $\Delta b^{\prime} = b_{1}^{\prime}-b_{0}^{\prime} =$ ($-5.411$ $\pm$ $0.031$ (statistical) $\pm$ $0.039$ (systematic)) fm between the triplet and singlet states using a neutron interferometer. This revises our previous result $\Delta b^{\prime} =$ (-5.610 $\pm$ $0.027$ (statistical) $\pm$ $0.032$ (systematic) fm obtained using the same technique in 2008. This revision is due to a re-analysis of the 2008 experiment that includes a more robust treatment of the phase shift caused by magnetic field gradients near the $^3$He cell. Furthermore, we more than doubled our original data set from 2008 by acquiring six months of additional data in 2013. Both the new data set and a re-analysis of the older data are in good agreement. Scattering lengths of low Z isotopes are valued for use in few-body nuclear effective field theories, provide important tests of modern nuclear potential models and in the case of $^3$He aid in the interpretation of neutron scattering from quantum liquids. The difference $\Delta b^{\prime}$ was determined by measuring the relative phase shift between two incident neutron polarizations caused by the spin-dependent interaction with a polarized $^3$He target. The target $^3$He gas was sealed inside a small, flat windowed glass cell that was placed in one beam path of the interferometer. The relaxation of $^3$He polarization was monitored continuously with neutron transmission measurements. The neutron polarization and spin flipper efficiency were determined separately using $^3$He analyzers and two different polarimetry analysis methods. A summary of the measured scattering lengths for n-$^3$He with a comparison to nucleon interaction models is given

Conformational flexibility influences structure–function relationships in tyrosyl protein sulfotransferase-2

Tyrosine sulfation is a very important posttranslational modification of proteins. It is catalyzed by tyrosylprotein sulfotransferase and recently became increasingly important for biomedicine and pharmacy. An important insight about structure–activity relationships of human tyrosylprotein sulfotransferase has been received by elucidating the crystal structure, but there is still no understanding about how conformational flexibility and dynamics which are fundamental protein properties influence structure–function relationships of the enzyme. In order to provide this missing but crucially important knowledge we performed a comprehensive atomistic molecular dynamics study which revealed that (i) the conformational flexibility influences sensitively key structural determinants and interactions between the enzyme, the substrate and the cofactor; (ii) a more open conformation adopted by the substrate for binding in TPST 2; (iii) the mutations of key residues related with catalysis and binding change alter the enzyme structure and influence important interactions between the enzyme, the cofactor and the substrate

Novel methods for spatial prediction of soil functions within landscapes (SP0531)

Previous studies showed that soil patterns could be predicted in agriculturally managed landscapes by modelling and extrapolating from extensive existing but related integrated datasets. Based on these results we proposed to develop and apply predictive models of the relationships between environmental data and known soil patterns to predict capacity for key soil functions within diverse landscapes for which there is little detailed underpinning soil information available. Objectives were: To develop a high-level framework in which the non-specialist user-community could explore questions. To generate digital soil maps for three selected catchments at a target resolution of 1:50000 to provide the base information for soil function prediction. To use a modelling approach to predict the performance of key soil functions in catchments undergoing change but where only sparse or low resolution soil survey data are available. To use a modelling approach to assess the impact of different management scenarios and/or environmental conditions on the delivery of multiple soil functions within a catchment. To create a detailed outline of the requirements for ground-truthing to test the predicted model outputs at a catchment scale. To contribute to the development of a high-level framework for decision makers

Magnetoresistance of proximity coupled Au wires

We report measurements of the magnetoresistance (MR) of narrow Au wires coupled to a superconducting Al contact on one end, and a normal Au contact on the other. The MR at low magnetic field $B$ is quadratic in $B$, with a characteristic field scale $B_c$ determined by phase coherent paths which encompass not only the wire, but also the two contacts. $B_c$ is essentially temperature independent at low temperatures, indicating that the area of the phase coherent paths is not determined by the superconducting coherence length $L_T$ in the normal metal, which is strongly temperature dependent at low temperatures. We identify the relevant length scale as a combination of the electron phase coherence length $L_\phi$ in the normal metal and the coherence length $\xi_S$ in the superconductor

15N Values in Crassostrea virginica Shells Provides Early Direct Evidence for Nitrogen Loading to Chesapeake Bay

Crassostrea virginica is one of the most common estuarine bivalves in the United States? east coast and is frequently found in archaeological sites and sub-fossil deposits. Although there have been several sclerochronological studies on stable carbon and oxygen isotopes in the shells of this species, less is known about ?15N values within their shells, which could be a useful paleoenvironmental proxy to assess estuarine nitrogen dynamics. Modern C. virginica samples were collected in Chesapeake Bay for comparison with archaeological shells from nearby sites ranging in age from ~100 to 3,200 years old. Left valves were sampled by milling the hinge area and the resulting powder was analyzed for %N and ?15N values. Comparison of ?15N values between C. virginica shells shows relatively constant values from ~1250 BC to ~1800 AD. After ~1800 AD, there are rapid increases in 15N enrichment in the shells, which continue to increase in value up to the modern shell values. The increase in ?15N values is evidence of early anthropogenic impact in Chesapeake Bay. These results corroborate the observation that coastal nitrogen pollution occurred earlier than the 19th century and support the use of oyster shell ?15N values as a useful environmental proxy