How does culture impinge upon managers' demeanor of earnings management? Evidence from cross-country analysis

We examine the impact of national culture on earnings. Specifically, we examine managers’ likelihood of using accrual or real earnings management and the role of culture on various attributes of earnings (accruals quality, persistence, smoothing, and predictability). We measure national culture using Hofstede’s six dimensions of culture (1984, 2001, and 2010). Using data from 36 countries during 1997-2018, we find that managers are likely to use both accruals and real earnings management in high power distance countries. In long-term oriented countries, managers are more likely to use real earnings management. In uncertainty avoidance countries, in high individualist countries, and in higher indulgent versus restraint countries, managers are less likely to use either type of earnings management. In masculine countries, managers tend to use lower accruals management rather and rely on production cost real earnings management. We also find the use of accruals management and the use of real earnings management are substitutes for each other. In addition, we are able to classify countries into four earnings quality groups based on the culture impact on the earnings attributes (primarily driven by accruals quality, predictability, and smoothing). Persistence is generally not significant in classifying countries by earnings attributes. Our findings indicate that a universal set of accounting standards is a challenging goal to achieve given the cultural diversity across countries. To improve the existing corporate governance framework and to ensure high quality and uniform financial statements, the enforcement of standards should be tailored to specific cultures, or at a minimum, corporate boards need to be more culturally diversified

LGBTQ+ Substance Use and Sexual Health and Wellbeing: A Special Commentary

Although there has been some increased visibility in professional counseling literature pertaining to LGBTQ+ issues, gaps still exist. One such omission is how LGBTQ+ sexual wellbeing is negatively influenced by substance use. This commentary briefly reviews ways LGBTQ+ sexual wellbeing is negatively impacted by substance use. We provide commentary on how counselors may bolster sexual wellbeing when working with LGBTQ+ substance users and highlight gaps in counseling research. Lastly, recommendations for integrating this content into counselor training are provided

The soil microbial community alters patterns of selection on flowering time and fitness‐related traits in Ipomoea purpurea

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154384/1/ajb21426.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154384/2/ajb21426_am.pd

Une bibliothèque de recherche face à l'édition électronique

Le développement des collections de périodiques a toujours constitué une composante majeure des politiques d'acquisition des bibliothèques de recherche. Aujourd'hui, les voilà confrontées simultanément, et de manière aiguë, à une difficulté certes récurrente : l'augmentation ininterrompue du coût des abonnements, et à une nouveauté radicale encore très difficile à maîtriser et qui engendre plutôt des surcoûts : la mise sur le marché de documents numérisés, principalement des périodiques. Organe d'un établissement pionnier en matière d'utilisation des réseaux informatiques pour la diffusion des résultats de la recherche, la bibliothèque du CERN a depuis plusieurs années déjà intégré cette nouvelle donne dans sa politique d'acquisition

A Note On Earnings Forecast Source Superiority

We examine the forecast accuracy of Value Line analysts relative to the Brown-Rozeff (100)X(011)4 ARIMA model.  We find that for a surprising percentage (35-41%) of our sample of small firms that time series-based earnings per share predictions are more accurate than those obtained from The Value Line Investment Survey.  Further, we document exploitable characteristics of each subgroup that are associated with forecast origin.  In those instances where the seasonal, univariate earnings forecast model identified by Brown and Rozeff (1979) produces more accurate forecasts than Value Line, we find significant differences in firm size, degree of diversification, magnitudes of the autoregressive and seasonal moving-average parameters, residual standard errors, and magnitude of the Ljung-Box Q-statistic.  We use probit regressions to identify ex ante those firms likely to be accurately forecast by each source.  We achieve a marginal improvement in forecast accuracy, which suggests there is potential for using ex ante decision rules to improve forecast accuracy.&nbsp

Measuring Family Centred Care: Working with Children and Their Parents in a Tertiary Hospital

Rationale and aim: Family-centred care (FCC) is widely used in paediatrics, though no rigorous evidence for it exists. A growing body of qualitative research raises concerns about FCC, and health professionals’ attitudes to it. We measured attitudes to working with children and working with parents of hospitalised children held by nurses, doctors, allied health and ancillary staff at an Australian children’s hospital, using a validated questionnaire with two scores, one for working with children, one for working with parents, and demographic characteristics, and compared responses. Method: we recruited a randomized sample, and compared means of working with children and working with parents scores, using a Wilcoxon signed rank test p<0.0001. Mean differences by categories of demographics were estimated using ANOVA and median test compared the median scores.Results: respondents gave significantly more positive scores for working with children than parents. These were influenced by level of education, whether respondents were parents themselves, if they held senior positions, had worked with children for a long time, and held a paediatric qualification. Conclusions: paediatric health professionals view working with children in a more positive light than working with parents. However, if FCC was being implemented effectively, given its empahsis on the whole family as the unit of care, there would be no difference between working with children or their parents. This quantiative study supports the increasing body of qualitative research which highlights problems with this model. In addition, this study provides a way to measure FCC

Consequences of Sexism in Counselor Education: A Collective Analytic Autoethnography

In this article we used collective analytic autoethnography to explore experiences and perceptions of sexism among five counselor educators. Based on analysis of narrative data, we introduced a model that illustrates how sexism was experienced and given meaning by participants. Sexist events lead to positive (empowerment, sexism externalization, advocacy, and relationships with others) and negative (low self-confidence, internalized sexism, negative affect, institutional sexism) consequences within their personal and professional lives. Implications of this model are discussed and directions for future research are presented

The learning experiences of health and social care paraprofessionals on a foundation degree

Foundation degrees have been developed in the UK as a means of meeting the learning needs of paraprofessionals in health and social care and the services within which they work in a cost-effective fashion. Workplace learning is an intrinsic component to these degrees. Taking a socio-cultural perspective, this paper examines how the students' workplaces, life circumstances and sense of career trajectory shaped their learning experience and motivation. A small-scale evaluation study, using semi-structured interviews, focused on the learning experiences of a group of paraprofessionals enrolled in a foundation degree in health and social care. Data revealed fragmented employment patterns, underpinned by consistent vocational drives. While the study resonated with vocation, participants were ambivalent or lacked information about career progression. Workplace conditions, relationships and limited time shaped learning and coping strategies. A strategic and focused approach to student learning is required and includes attention to career pathways, workforce development strategy, the requirements of a range of stakeholders, workplace supervision and support for learning

Probabilistic Estimation of Site Specific Fault Displacements

The College of the Redwoods (CR) located near Eureka, California would like to upgrade a series of existing buildings that are unfortunately located on secondary faults associated with the active Little Salmon Fault (LSF) zone. In the early 1990’s a deterministic value of the maximum dip-slip displacement that had occurred on one of these secondary faults located beneath the southeast building corner of the former library was measured to be 1.7 feet. This displacement was resolved into approximately 1.5 feet horizontal offset and 0.8 feet of vertical offset, based on the secondary fault plane dip. Geologically, it has not been possible to establish the actual dates of the occurrence of the displacements on the observed faults, therefore it was assumed that they all had occurred within the last 11,000 years. The structural engineer for the project has indicated that it was not possible to design for the observed ground displacement of 1.7 feet. This limited study was undertaken to assess the variation of ground displacements that were observed over the area of ground occupied by CR’s Administration, Science, and former Library buildings. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the reasonableness of using a deterministically determined maximum value of displacement in estimating, and designing mitigations for, the structural response, or whether a probabilistic approach could be utilized. The only data available within the limited time frame allowed for the study was from a series of trench logs made as part of a project for locating building sites on the campus in the early 1990’s. As a first step the frequency distributions of both horizontal and vertical displacements located in a volume of soil comprising the area occupied by the above buildings to a depth of 14 feet were examined. The 14 feet was the maximum depth of the trenches used to provide data for the study. Probability density functions (PDF) versus displacements were developed based on the frequency distributions. The area under the PDF curves between given displacement intervals represents the probability of occurrence (POC) of that displacement. A cumulative probability of occurrence for a displacement interval can be determined by adding the individual POC’s. Based on this it was estimated that a horizontal displacement of ≤ 1.0 foot has a probability of 89% of occurring in the next 11,000 years at the site. In contrast, a vertical displacement of ≤ 1.0 foot has a probability of 88% probability of occurrence