Covid-19 pandemic related disclosures in corporate reports of Portuguese listed companies: an interpretation of evidence provided by accounting information systems

This work analyzes how Portuguese listed companies disclosed pandemic-related information in their annual reports in the years 2019 and 2020, focusing on the sections where information was presented, the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) actions implemented, and the risks disclosed. Based on a manual content analysis, this work provides preliminary evidence on corporate disclosures made in the pandemic context, suggesting that institutional forces and stakeholder groups may have influenced the information disclosed and provided by accounting information systems.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Management control decisions in gym services in Portugal and Brazil during pandemic confinement COVID-19: accounting information systems approach

The present research aimed to identify similarities and differences in management control decisions implemented in gyms in Portugal and Brazil in reaction to the pandemic confinement COVID-19. The theoretical approach was in the context of Information Systems (ISs). The cases of one gym in Portugal and one in Brazil were studied through a qualitative methodology using the holistic multiple case study method. Data collection was made through a content analysis and interviews with managers of both gyms. The results allow the conclusion that the global and sudden pandemic confinement COVID-19 affected management control decisions in gym services, especially the budget control which showed abnormally unfavorable deviations in income, expenses and investments. Although the studied gyms were located in different continents (Portugal and Brazil), the managers' control decisions were similar, evidencing an immediate damage containment response and short-term resilience. As for the ISs, the results showed that the instrumental usefulness of these systems implemented in both gyms was never questioned as a support to operation and decision making. But the temporary and drastic reduction in the activity of the gyms, in response to an unexpected confinement context, meant a consequent and natural reduction in their use. As for the extent of the theoretical framework, the study reinforces the weaknesses of the budgeting process in an unexpected pandemic context, on the one hand, and the interdependence between ISs and management control decisions in the gym services sector. Additionally, without questioning that interdependence relationship, it can also be interpreted that ISs have an instrumental character because they are more dependent on managers' decisions and critical junctures.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Evolving the enterprise resource planning system in use to improve control management: a case study in the communications and multimedia services trade

This research aims to understand how and why an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system should evolve to improve management control. Having as supporting theory the ERP system, the holistic single case study method was applied in a communications and multimedia services trading company. Data collection was based on documents, participant observation and interview with the company manager. The main results showed the need to change the ERP system in order to allow disaggregating information to greater detail. Such disaggregation was evidenced for accounting reporting, costs per vehicle, costs per driver, nonfinancial performance per employee and performance per store. As an extension of theory, the need for management accounting to build disaggregated information and the interdependence of adaptive Information Systems (ISs) are reinforced.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Integrated reporting an exploratory study on the motivations and obstacles in the adoption of a new information reporting system

This study explores the motives for voluntary adoption and reasons for non-adoption of integrated reporting by Portuguese listed companies. For this purpose, a questionnaire survey was addressed to adopters and non-adopters of integrated reporting. The results reveal motivations for integrated reporting associated with external pressures and reporting trends of other companies. The cost of implementing this new reporting system seems to be the main reason why few companies do it yet. The preparation of sustainability information in accordance with internationally recognized frameworks seems to be the current priority of companies and an intermediate step between traditional financial reporting and integrated reporting.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Oral health goes to school

Abstract in proceedings of the Fourth International Congress of CiiEM: Health, Well-Being and Ageing in the 21st Century, held at Egas Moniz’ University Campus in Monte de Caparica, Almada, from 3–5 June 2019.This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Mobilidade de borboletas: estudos genéticos e de marcação e recaptura

Mestrado em Biologia Aplicada - Ecologia, Biodiversidade e Gestão de EcossistemasA dispersão biológica das espécies sempre foi um tema importante em vários estudos em ecologia de populações. Sabe-se que diferentes espécies de borboletas apresentam diferentes tipos de comportamentos: migratório ou sedentário. São conhecidos vários estudos genéticos que dizem respeito à estrutura populacional e aos problemas de isolamento. No entanto, são geralmente desconhecidos estudos de comportamento de dispersão das espécies para a análise populacional. Seleccionaram-se, por isso, dois métodos distintos, microssatélites e marcação e recaptura, para caracterizar a mobilidade de borboletas. Para o método genético foram selecionadas 16 populações (634 indivíduos) de Brenthis ino (Rottemburg, 1775), recolhidas em Rheinland-Pfalz, Alemanha e Alsace, França, a fim de identificar a estrutura genética das populações em estudo. Através da análise por microssatélites de onze loci polimórficos, foi possível identificar a sua variabilidade e a estrutura genética entre populações. A diferenciação genética entre as populações (FST = 0.040) foi significativa. A média da heterozigosidade observada e o erro padrão foi de 0.64±0.013, enquanto a heterozigosidade esperada foi 0.73±0.008. Oito dos onze loci estavam em equilíbrio de Hardy-Weinberg, mas a presença de alelos nulos é provável para três loci. Foi encontrado um sistema de isolamento por distância, que é significativo ao ponto de explicar quase 42% da diversidade genética entre as populações. Nenhum sistema de isolamento por distância foi encontrado nas montanhas de Hunsrück, indicando que ocorre um grande fluxo genético entre populações da região. O segundo método utilizado foi o de marcação e recaptura. Em Trier, Rheinland-Pfalz, Alemanha, foram marcados 1.210 indivíduos de cinco espécies diferentes, Anthocharis cardamines, Pieris napi, Pieris rapae, Leptidea reali e Araschnia levana, a fim de examinar o comportamento de dispersão. A baixa taxa de recaptura indicou que se está perante grandes populações de Pieris napi; Pieris rapae e Leptidea reali. A função exponencial negativa (NEF) mostrou ser o melhor modelo para prever os movimentos de longa distância dos indivíduos por captura/recaptura para as espécies Pieris napi, Pieris rapae e Leptidea reali. Os resultados desta previsão indicam que estas três espécies poderão voar longas distâncias, apresentando uma grande mobilidade. Os resultados obtidos para B. ino são importantes uma vez que esta apresenta um estatuto vulnerável em Rheinland-Pflaz. Programas de monitorização poderão ser aplicados para as cinco espécies do estudo de marcação e recaptura para se caracterizar as tendências populacionais de mobilidade.Biological dispersal has always been an important topic in several studies in population ecology. It is known that different butterfly species present a sedentary or migratory behaviour. While the genetic analysis intends to respond to population structure and isolation issues that are mostly well studied, the effects of different dispersal behaviours of species are widely unknown. Therefore, we selected two different methods, a genetic and an ecological, to characterise butterfly mobility. For the genetic method we selected 16 populations (634 individuals) of Brenthis ino (Rottemburg, 1775), collected in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany and Alsace, France in order to identify the genetic structure of the study populations. Through analysing eleven polymorphic microsatellite loci, we could identify the genetic variability and structure among populations. The genetic differentiations among populations (FST = 0.040) was highly significant. The mean value of observed heterozygosity and the standard error was 0.64±0.013, while the one of the expected heterozygosity was 0.73±0.008. Eight of the eleven loci were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, but presence of null alleles is likely for three loci. A system of isolation-by-distance was found and it explains almost 42% of the genetic differentiation among populations. No system of isolation-by-distance was found in the Hunsrück mountains leading to a large gene-flow among populations occurring in this region. The mark-release recapture was the second method used. In Trier, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, we marked 1.210 individuals of five different species, Anthocharis cardamines, Pieris napi, Pieris rapae, Leptidea reali and Araschnia levana in order to examine their dispersal behaviour. The Negative Exponential Function (NEF) was the best model to predict long distance movements of the capture/recapture individuals for the species Pieris rapae, Pieris napi and Lepdtidea reali. The results of this prediction show that they can move large distances, therefore, we can assume that these three species have a large mobility. The results obtained for the genetic structure seems to guarantee a genetic long-term survival for most of our 16 populations of B. ino. This is an important result once it has a vulnerable status for Rheinland-Pflaz. All five species have a least concern status for the same region, although conservative measures should not be forgotten. Butterfly monitoring programs are an option that describes large-scale population trends

A dor representada n'as Pedras Negras de Gastão Cruz

A Dor Representada n'As Pedras Negras de Gastão Cruz, título que se decidiu atribuir a este trabalho, e que retoma as últimas palavras do poema "Representações", pretende ser uma abordagem possível a As Pedras Negras (1995), livro que encerra o volume de Poemas Reunidos, do poeta, publicado em 1999. O objectivo que presidiu a este estudo foi o de abrir novas pistas de leitura para este conjunto de poemas, pois parece-nos que As Pedras Negras são algo mais do que aquilo que os críticos de um modo geral nelas viram. Sem ignorar o contexto em que surgem, pretende-se demonstrar que a presença da dor não exclui a possibilidade de encontrar um sentido inequivocamente positivo n'As Pedras Negras. Este estudo está dividido em três capítulos, que correspondem a três momentos da leitura da obra. No primeiro capítulo, propõe-se a leitura de As Pedras Negras como poética da dor e da negatividade, tendo em conta a presença constante dos temas da morte, do tempo e perecimento do corpo. No segundo capítulo, procura-se abordar a enunciação poética n'As Pedras Negras, partindo da ideia de que existe toda uma encenação que envolve a escrita do livro, com o objectivo de filtrar a emoção e diluir o "eu" na impessoalidade do acto poético. Finalmente, no terceiro capítulo, pretende-se reflectir sobre o poder criador da linguagem n'As Pedras Negras. A escrita é um modo de perenizar a memória dos que partiram, e, nesse sentido, uma poderosa afirmação da vida contra a morte

Custo do financiamento bancário e qualidade da informação financeira: estudos para empresas sem valores cotados em Bolsa

Doutoramento em ContabilidadeA Tese é constituída por três estudos distintos mas ligados pela temática do custo do financiamento bancário e da qualidade da informação financeira, em empresas sem valores cotados em bolsa. No primeiro estudo analisa-se a relação entre o custo do financiamento bancário e a qualidade da informação financeira nas empresas portuguesas. A qualidade da informação financeira é entendida como sinónimo de qualidade dos resultados e é medida através do valor absoluto dos accruals anormais. Os resultados obtidos demonstram a existência de uma relação negativa entre o custo do financiamento bancário e a qualidade da informação financeira nas empresas portuguesas sem valores cotados em bolsa. No segundo estudo alarga-se a análise anterior a empresas sem valores cotados em bolsa do Reino Unido, Alemanha, França e Espanha, realizandose também uma comparação entre esses países e Portugal. A evidência empírica deste estudo permite concluir que existe uma relação negativa entre o custo do financiamento bancário e a qualidade da informação financeira em todos os países, com exceção do Reino Unido. Este país apresenta-se como um caso particular entre os países analisados, onde a qualidade da informação financeira parece apenas influenciar o custo de determinados tipos de empréstimos. No terceiro estudo analisa-se o efeito que a deterioração da qualidade da informação financeira, consubstanciada na apresentação de resultados negativos, tem no custo do financiamento bancário das empresas portuguesas. A evidência obtida demonstra que as empresas que verificam tal deterioração suportam um aumento do custo do financiamento bancário.The thesis is composed of three distinct but related studies, linked by the subject of the relationship between the cost of bank debt and financial information quality in private firms. The first study tests whether there is a relationship between the cost of bank debt and the financial information quality, in a sample of Portuguese private firms. Financial information quality is understood as synonymous of earnings quality and is measured by the absolute value of abnormal accruals. The results suggest that there is a negative relationship between the cost of bank debt and the information quality in Portuguese private firms. The second study extends the previous analysis to private firms in the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Spain, also conducting a comparison between these countries and Portugal. The empirical evidence suggests that there is a negative relationship between the cost of bank debt and the financial information quality in all countries, except the United Kingdom. This country seems to be a special case among the countries analyzed, where the financial information quality appears to influence only the cost of certain types of loans. The third study analyzes the effect that the deterioration in the quality of financial information, reflected in the presentation of negative earnings, has on the cost of bank debt, in a sample of Portuguese private firms. The empirical evidence suggests that firms experiencing such deterioration support an increase in the cost of bank debt

Constraints on multiple dependencies in the left-periphery in European Portuguese

This paper focuses on intervention effects obtained by embedding a topic constituent (either a displaced topic or a clitic left-dislocated topic) within the domain of wh-movement. We present the results of two acceptability judgment tests carried out in European Portuguese (EP), which indicate that only a subset of the constructions in which a topic intervenes in the path of wh-movement is judged acceptable by native speakers. The pattern that emerges can be described by the following generalization: (1) A wh-movement dependency may contain a topicalized or clitic left-dislocated constituent in its scope iff the full topic-(cl)-gap dependency is contained within the path of wh-movement. This generalization indicates that a version of the no crossing constraint (e.g., Fodor 1978; Pesetsky 1982) holds in these configurations. We discuss the challenges faced by a purely syntactic account of (1) and suggest that a more promising line of an approach is one that attempts to derive (1) from processing constraints.FCT-CEECIND/04331/201

Tracking participants’ behaviour when performing linguistic tasks

This study aims to identify behaviours that accompany the psychological processes involved in reading sentences and deciding on a response. The response times of different participants' actions while they completed a questionnaire were measured. We focus on two datasets from the sample: cases in which participants changed their responses and cases in which they did not. The results show that changing the response has an impact on response times. More importantly, this impact occurs not only during the decision-making process but also throughout the task. This research may contribute to a better understanding of response time data in off-line techniques and to fine-tuning experimental designs.Research at the Centre for Humanistic Studies (CEHUM) was funded by FCT Foundation for Science and Technology (CEECIND/04331/2017). FCT has funded the research partially at CMAT (UIDB/00013/2020, UIDP/00013/2020) and the research at NIPE (UIDB/03182/2020)