Maturity in management accounting: exploratory study in Portuguese SME

The purpose of this paper is to characterize the level of maturity of management accounting in Portuguese industrial SMEs. Specifically, the study classifies firms using Kaplan's Four-Stage model; and introduces a new model to classify them better. The research design is exploratory. The data were collected through interviews with those responsible for management accounting in 58 Portuguese industrial SMEs. The analysis used descriptive and inferential statistics and a cluster analysis was performed to classify firms according to their management accounting characteristics. The results showed that all the SMEs belong to stage 2 of Kaplan's model and that it is possible to classify them in one of the four stages of the proposed new model. Moreover, the type of firm and the source of capital have no influence on the level of maturity, although larger firms tend to have greater maturity. The study offers evidence that there is a clear difference between management accounting knowledge and practices, which should motivate top management to focus on the continuous training of firm employees on the latest developments in management accounting methods.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Predictive models for managing financial incentives oriented to companies: Application to Portugal 2020

Since Portugal joined the European Union (EU) that it has been receiving incentives/funds to reduce disparities with other EU countries. Despite this goal, disparities between European regions still exist and the impact of such funds is questionable. What if it is possible to predict the success of such incentives when the funds are awarded to the beneficiaries? Using data from the database of The Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation (IAPMEI), for the programs National Strategic Reference Framework (QREN), and Portugal 2020, two predictive models are developed to estimate the number of applications to be received and the schedule of expected payments to beneficiaries for a four-month period. The results allow for a better prediction, on one hand, of the resources to be allocated to the evaluation process of the applications, and on the other hand, of the financial execution plan for the upcoming period, in order to prepare the financial execution.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Rebound effect of allowance for corporate equity on debt bias

We analyse if the Brazilian Allowance for Corporate Equity (ACE-type system) reduces the debt tax bias. Specifically, we study if the continuous treatment effect of interest on equity negatively affects the level of financial leverage. We find that the tax policy implemented is similar to the deductible cash dividends and not to an ACE. The empirical implication is that the interest on equity treatment increases the debt tax bias, producing a rebound effect to what is expected for this policy on the risk-taking behaviour and corporate capital structure. This rebound effect is homogeneous in firms with different financial constraints status. There are evidences that shareholders influence the cash distribution policy, adjusting the later to their own tax preferences.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Does Brazilian allowance for corporate equity reduce the debt bias? Evidences of rebound effect and ownership-induced ACE clientele

We analyse if the Brazilian Allowance for Corporate Equity (ACE-type system) reduces the debt tax bias. Specifically, we study if the continuous treatment effect of interest on equity negatively affects the level of financial leverage. We find that the tax policy implemented is similar to the deductible cash dividends and not to an ACE. The empirical implication is that the interest on equity treatment increases the debt tax bias, producing a rebound effect to what is expected for this policy on the risk-taking behaviour and corporate capital structure. This rebound effect is homogeneous in firms with different financial constraints status. There are evidences that shareholders influence the cash distribution policy, adjusting the later to their own tax preferences. Therefore, there may be an “ACE clientele effect” induced by heterogeneity in tax preferences among shareholders.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Why are US firms using more short-term debt?

We show that corporate use of long-term debt has decreased in the US over the past three decades and that this trend is heterogeneous across firms. The median percentage of debt maturing in more than 3 years decreased from 53% in 1976 to 6% in 2008 for the smallest firms but did not decrease for the largest firms. The decrease in debt maturity was generated by firms with higher information asymmetry and new firms issuing public equity in the 1980s and 1990s. Finally, we show that demand-side factors do not fully explain this trend and that public debt markets' supply-side factors play an important role. Our findings suggest that the shortening of debt maturity has increased the exposure of firms to credit and liquidity shocks

Designing and building for extreme environments. A multi-criteria decision model to evaluate architecture for extreme temperatures

The purpose of this research is to present an assessment methodology that validates architecture designs for environments with extreme temperatures, considering structural and energy demands, as well as sustainability-related concerns. This is achieved using multi-criteria decision analysis modelling. This study presents the results of a MCDA model built for this purpose, and evaluated through four variations representing different project scenarios. A total of 11 criteria (regarding energy efficiency, material performance, architectural performance and circularity) are used to analyse four building assemblies, in order to understand which is more appropriate for an environment with extremely cold and extremely hot temperatures. This allows the validation of the proposed multi-criteria analysis framework, which will lead to further research on extreme climate design.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Organizational Learning in the Hotel Industry: an eclectic instrument of measurement

Organizational Learning, despite being a widely debated topic in the literature on management, regarding the hotel industry still suffers from scattered information. This study was conducted with 295 professionals, among them managers and employees of hotels in Brazil and Portugal in order to validate a measuring instrument of organizational learning, properly adapted for hotel industry, and identify differences in the degree of efficiency of the organizational learning process between hotels of different categories, and between managers and employees. Initially a content validation with representatives of the hotel industry was made, than a confirmatory factor analysis was performed. As a result, we obtained a scale with 4 factors and 12 items, which was able to identify differences in the level of organizational learning between hotels and between managers and employees. There is evidence that the ability of individuals and groups to learn is encouraged, but is not being achieved in full in this industry, and that the most critical part of the process involves the dimension of creation and knowledge management in this industry.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A blue sky catastrophe in double-diffusive convection

A global bifurcation of the blue sky catastrophe type has been found in a small Prandtl number binary mixture contained in a laterally heated cavity. The system has been studied numerically applying the tools of bifurcation theory. The catastrophe corresponds to the destruction of an orbit which, for a large range of Rayleigh numbers, is the only stable solution. This orbit is born in a global saddle-loop bifurcation and becomes chaotic in a period doubling cascade just before its disappearance at the blue sky catastrophe.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, REVTeX, To be published in Physical Review Letter

Fuzzy formal concept analysis

CNPQ - CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICOCAPES - COORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DE PESSOAL E NÍVEL SUPERIORFormal Context Analysis is a mathematical theory that enables us to find concepts from a given set of objects, a set of attributes and a relation on them. There is a hierarchy of such concepts, from which a complete lattice can be made. In this paper we p831192205CNPQ - CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICOCAPES - COORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DE PESSOAL E NÍVEL SUPERIORCNPQ - CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICOCAPES - COORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DE PESSOAL E NÍVEL SUPERIOR306546/2017-5308524/2014-437th Conference of the North-American-Fuzzy-Information-Processing-Society (NAFIPS

Gold's hedging and safe haven properties for European stock and bond markets

Most portfolio managers and risk managers strive to pick assets that lead to efficient financial risk mitigation; among them, gold stands out. This paper provides new insights into the role of gold as both a hedge and a safe haven towards European stock and sovereign bond markets. We base the analysis on evidence spanning the Euro's inception to the COVID-19 pandemic spread across Europe. To capture gold's hedge ability, we use the ADCC-GARCH and DCC-GARCH models, while for testing gold's safe haven property we use OLS regressions for different quantiles. Our results show that gold is a hedge for stocks, particularly after the Lehman Brothers collapse. Gold also shows strong safe haven properties for the most extreme negative returns (1% and 2.5% quantiles), and during specific events, such as the Lehman Brothers collapse, the Greek bailout and the Brexit Referendum. Still, for the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, the results do not confirm this property. Conversely, for bonds, both hedge and safe haven effects are not strongly evident, with gold characterised, at best, as a weak hedge and safe haven. These findings have portfolio allocation implications for investors in European markets, namely fund and risk managers, by pointing out gold hedging and safe haven attributes.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio