Finance And Accounting Outsourcing: Three Studies Related To The Ethical And Economic Dimensions Of Accounting Outsourcing

This dissertation evaluates the economic and ethical considerations underlying the outsourcing of professional services such as finance and accounting. The dissertation is comprised of three separate, but related studies. The first study explores the adequacy of the disclosure rules recommended in the revised ethics rulings regarding disclosure of outsourcing relationships and the resulting ethical and economic repercussions for both, the AICPA members and their clients. The second study analyzes the disclosure rules recommended in the AICPA ethics rulings regarding disclosure of outsourcing relationships from an ethical standpoint. The third study adopts the perspective of the third party service provider. The third study analyzes the factors that provide a competitive advantage to leading service providers in accounting outsourcing markets in India. Taken together, these studies address issues that have not been addressed previously in accounting literature and will advance our understanding of a fast-growing phenomenon, the outsourcing of accounting services. Finance and accounting outsourcing may strongly influence the choice of future organizational form and structure thus making it important to develop an early understanding of this industry

City profile : Guwahati

This paper lays out relevant urban context in terms of demography, economic history and employment, the history of migration and conflicts in Assam and Guwahati, the processes of urban growth and development in the city, as well as urban governance. Part II identifies and discusses key arenas of conflicts and violence that are linked to land, planning and governance regimes in the city, namely, informal settlement of the city’s hills, street vending, and women’s safety and safe access to public transport. These arenas of conflict and violence are the focus areas for the research project

City profile : Ahmedabad

This research investigates potential pathways through which urban planning and governance mechanisms become drivers of deprivations, conflicts and violence. While also developing a background understanding of Ahmedabad, it discusses contexts of demography and economic transformations since liberalization; their impacts for urban poverty and inequality; the historical growth of the city and resulting spatial segmentation; the current status of housing amongst urban poor and low-income groups; and the urban development paradigm in terms of planning, housing, basic services, street vending and public transport. How can urban planning and governance interventions help reduce urban tensions, inequalities, conflicts and violence in Indian cities

Paediatric acute hepatitis of unknown aetiology : a national investigation and adenoviraemia case-control study in the UK

Funding Information: This work was undertaken as part of a national enhanced incident by UK public health agencies. We thank the parents and guardians of the children who gave up their valuable time to speak to the public health investigation teams; without their support we could not have been able to undertake a thorough investigation. We are grateful to the many paediatricians and liver specialists who reported cases to us and responded to follow-up with further information. We also thank Ezra Linley and Simon Tonge of the UK Health Security Agency Seroepidemiology Unit for rapidly providing serum samples for testing. We would like to thank the Incident Management Teams of the UK nations, members of the incident cells, epidemiology, laboratory, and local Health Protection Teams who supported the investigations, in particular: Katy Sinka, Mike Gent, Suzanna Howes, Eileen Gallagher, Selene Corsini, Eleanor Clarke, Rajani Raghu, Kelsey Mowat, Iain Hayden, Matt Hibbert, Skye Firminger, Catriona Angel, Donna Haskins, Kay Ratcliffe, Hannah Emmett, Alex Elliot, Helen Hughes, Sarah Deeny, Sarah Garner, Sarah Gerver, Flora Stevens, Paula Blomquist, Gabriel Gurmail Kauffman, Kristine Cooper, Hannah Taylor, Giovanni Leonardi, Michelle Dickinson and Michelle Watson from England; Kimberly Marsh, Michael Lockhart, David Yirrell, Sandra Currie, Kate Templeton, Samantha Shepherd, Roisin Ure, Jim McMenamin, Rachel Tayler, Louisa Pollock, Antonia Ho, Chris Cunningham and Hayley Peacock from Scotland; and Katie Binley and Meg Wallace from Northern Ireland.Peer reviewe

2016 International Land Model Benchmarking (ILAMB) Workshop Report

As earth system models (ESMs) become increasingly complex, there is a growing need for comprehensive and multi-faceted evaluation of model projections. To advance understanding of terrestrial biogeochemical processes and their interactions with hydrology and climate under conditions of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide, new analysis methods are required that use observations to constrain model predictions, inform model development, and identify needed measurements and field experiments. Better representations of biogeochemistryclimate feedbacks and ecosystem processes in these models are essential for reducing the acknowledged substantial uncertainties in 21st century climate change projections

Identification of a Sudden Cardiac Death Susceptibility Locus at 2q24.2 through Genome-Wide Association in European Ancestry Individuals

Sudden cardiac death (SCD) continues to be one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide, with an annual incidence estimated at 250,000–300,000 in the United States and with the vast majority occurring in the setting of coronary disease. We performed a genome-wide association meta-analysis in 1,283 SCD cases and >20,000 control individuals of European ancestry from 5 studies, with follow-up genotyping in up to 3,119 SCD cases and 11,146 controls from 11 European ancestry studies, and identify the BAZ2B locus as associated with SCD (P = 1.8×10−10). The risk allele, while ancestral, has a frequency of ∼1.4%, suggesting strong negative selection and increases risk for SCD by 1.92–fold per allele (95% CI 1.57–2.34). We also tested the role of 49 SNPs previously implicated in modulating electrocardiographic traits (QRS, QT, and RR intervals). Consistent with epidemiological studies showing increased risk of SCD with prolonged QRS/QT intervals, the interval-prolonging alleles are in aggregate associated with increased risk for SCD (P = 0.006)

Towards a Decision Aid for External Audit Evaluation of the Internal Audit Function

The purpose of this paper is to inform practitioners about leading research in the field of internal audit and corporate governance. There has been considerable progress in academic research towards the development of a decision aid for External Audit evaluation of the Internal Audit Function. Desai et al. (2009) developed a theoretical model of the decision process used by external auditors to determine the strength of their client’s internal audit function. They further tested this model using computer simulations. The model is based on three factors identified by auditing standards and prior academic research: Competence, Work Performance, and Objectivity. The results of the analysis revealed that modelling the “And” relationship is essential for assessing the strength of the IA function. As far as interrelationships are concerned, the analysis revealed that when the three factors have a strong or a perfect relationship, the strength of the IA function remains high even if we have positive or negative evidence about one of the factors. The model developed by Desai et al. (2009) is an important step towards developing a decision aid for external auditors for evaluating the internal audit function. To advance the development of this model the next step will be to test the assumptions of the model empirically in the real audit world among real external auditors