A geographical comparison of assurance on integrated reporting

This paper explores the report of the companies. The focus is on Integrated Reporting – IR that presents financial and non-financial information through integrated thinking. An Integrated Reporting presents a hybrid situation because it includes financial information that is subjected to a mandatory audit, and non-financial information that can be assured in a voluntary basis. In this way, the inclusion of assurance information can be seen through a legitimation lens representing the organizations’ effort to increase legitimacy. The motivation behind this paper is to discuss the assurance presented on Integrated Reporting. The research’s objective is to provide an analysis on the differences between companies from different geographical origins related to the assurance provided on Integrated Reporting. The methodological approach is characterized by a qualitative study on the assurance included in Integrated Reporting. The empirical analysis is related to the analysis of the reports of 45 organizations. We find that the company’s geographical origins implicate differences in the information disclosed related to assurance. The paper’s contribution consists on new insights into the emergent field of assurance on Integrated Reporting with the increase of the understanding of the assurance report’s characteristics, which are disclosed by companies from different geographical settings.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

How to challenge university students to work on integrated reporting and integrated reporting assurance

Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, society has become more sensitive to sustainability and to the consequences of companies’ activities. Furthermore, the demands for change in corporate reporting have led to the emergence of integrated reporting (IR) and an increase in the disclosure of nonfinancial information assurance to ensure the compliance of integrated information. Universities need to embrace this challenge and be part of this change. This research’s goal is to enhance the diffusion of IR and integrated reporting assurance (IRA) in the curricula of universities by presenting a tool for professors and universities to help introduce the subjects in higher education institutions. The methodological approach develops a theoretical analysis of published IR and IRA articles related to education, to create a presentation of the challenge learning method (CLM) for professors and high education institutions to develop the subject of IRA to challenge students. Considering teaching experience as a value-added component to research the proposed method comes from the teaching experience of the authors. The result consists of a method that can increase accounting academics knowledge of IR and IRA and motivate students to study these emerging accounting practices. This study contributes to the extant literature on IR, IRA and Education that is scarce, the use of appropriate teaching methods to IR and IRA, and the dissemination of IR and IRA in education by providing a better connection between the universities and the best practices of corporate reporting and auditing. This study leads to an increase in the connection among higher education institutions, professors, students, practitioners, auditors, regulators, standard setters, and society in general.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

How to challenge university students to work on integrated reporting and integrated reporting assurance

Artigo publicado em revista científica internacionalSince the beginning of the twenty-first century, society has become more sensitive to sustainability and to the consequences of companies’ activities. Furthermore, the demands for change in corporate reporting have led to the emergence of integrated reporting (IR) and an increase in the disclosure of nonfinancial information assurance to ensure the compliance of integrated information. Universities need to embrace this challenge and be part of this change. This research’s goal is to enhance the diffusion of IR and integrated reporting assurance (IRA) in the curricula of universities by presenting a tool for professors and universities to help introduce the subjects in higher education institutions. The methodological approach develops a theoretical analysis of published IR and IRA articles related to education, to create a presentation of the challenge learning method (CLM) for professors and high education institutions to develop the subject of IRA to challenge students. Considering teaching experience as a value-added component to research the proposed method comes from the teaching experience of the authors. The result consists of a method that can increase accounting academics knowledge of IR and IRA and motivate students to study these emerging accounting practices. This study contributes to the extant literature on IR, IRA and Education that is scarce, the use of appropriate teaching methods to IR and IRA, and the dissemination of IR and IRA in education by providing a better connection between the universities and the best practices of corporate reporting and auditing. This study leads to an increase in the connection among higher education institutions, professors, students, practitioners, auditors, regulators, standard setters, and society in general.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Relatórios de garantia de fiabilidade no relato Integrado Assurance on Integrated Reporting <IR>

O Relato Integrado tem assumido maior relevância enquanto ferramenta para a aferição da sustentabilidade empresarial pelos investidores. Um Relato Integrado fornece informações sobre a avaliação de risco e o crescimento potencial de valor futuro. Desta forma, influencia a gestão do risco e a auditoria e leva à necessidade de novas estruturas conceptuais de relatórios de garantia de fiabilidade de forma a assegurar a conformidade da informação integrada. A motivação desta pesquisa prende-se com a análise da emissão de relatórios de garantia de fiabilidade no Relato Integrado. O objetivo é analisar os tipos de relatórios de garantia de fiabilidade incluídos no Relato Integrado. A abordagem metodológica consiste num estudo qualitativo sobre os relatórios de garantia incluídos no Relato Integrado. A análise empírica desenvolve um estudo de relatos integrados de 46 organizações. Os resultados obtidos indicam que mais de metade das empresas analisadas divulgam, de forma voluntária, relatórios de garantia de fiabilidade, entre outros. A contribuição do trabalho consiste num melhor conhecimento das práticas de relatórios de garantia incluídas no Relato Integrado, que poderá conduzir a melhores decisões e análises sobre o assunto para académicos, profissionais, auditores e reguladores.The Integrated Reporting – IR acquires more relevance as a tool for the investor decision about the companies sustainability. An Integrated Reporting provides information concerning risk evaluation and potential future value growth. Therefore, influencing risk management and audit, leading to the need for new assurance frameworks to assure the compliance of integrated information. The motivation of this research is at the level of assurance on Integrated Reporting. The research objective is to analyze the types of assurance provided on Integrated Reporting. The methodological approach undertakes a qualitative study on the assurance provided on Integrated Reporting. The empirical analysis develops a study of integrated reports related to 46 organizations. The obtained results indicate that more than half of the analyzed companies provide, in a voluntary basis, independent assurance, among others. The contribution of the paper is a better knowledge of the practices of assurance on Integrated Reporting and on Non-Financial information, that could lead to better decisions and analysis on this subject for academics, practioners, auditors and regulators.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

TUBERCULOSE PULMONAR: CONHECER PARA MELHOR CUIDAR

A tuberculose é uma das principais causas da morbilidade e mortalidade a nível mundial. Apesar dos esforços e das estratégias definidas pela organização mundial da saúde (OMS), persistem atrasos no diagnóstico efectivo e na iniciação do tratamento. A tuberculose pulmonar é um grave problema social e um grande desafio para a saúde pública. A identificação dos casos, o início precoce e rigoroso do tratamento farmacológico e medidas que visem a protecção das pessoas que convivem com o doente, são fundamentais para o controle da doença. Neste contexto, o papel do enfermeiro na equipa multiprofissional de saúde, por meio de uma assistência sistemática é de extrema relevância. Em São Vicente, não obstante os esforços feitos para debelar a doença, têm-se a percepção de que o número de casos se vem aumentando, motivo que esteve na base da proposta de elaboração deste trabalho, cujo objectivo principal é o de contribuir para o seu controlo. Para o cumprimento desse objectivo, foi feita uma análise dos últimos 3 anos e uma entrevista semiestruturada aos doentes internados no sector de tisiologia do Hospital Baptista de Sousa e os que se encontravam em seguimento na Delegacia de Saúde da ilha. A análise dos dados aponta para um aumento dos casos, um fraco reconhecimento da doença (causa e forma de transmissão), a modalidade de tratamento, bem como revela percepções dos pacientes, que fornecem dicas que, em nossa opinião, deverão ser utilizados na melhoria do atendimento. O tratamento supervisionado deverá ser posto em prática como ferramenta de eleição na abordagem, como um meio de reduzir a transmissão seja através do controlo, seja privilegiando acções educativas no âmbito familiar e, finalmente, como uma possibilidade de ampliar a capacidade de intervenção, através de estabelecimento de vínculo, acolhimento e responsabilidade na perspectiva de garantir a adesão do paciente ao tratamento e melhor qualidade de vida, contribuindo para o controlo efectivo da doença

South African educators’ experiences of learners who may have ADHD in their classrooms

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), according to the DSM-IV-TR, is a developmental disorder that is first identified in childhood, where children display inattention and hyperactivity, impulsivity or a combination thereof. This PhD study focuses on understanding and explaining how educators understand learners who may have ADHD in their classrooms. The main research question is: “How do educators experience learners in their classrooms who may have ADHD? ”The main research question was developed into sub-questions: 1) How do educators experience teaching and teaching the learner who may have ADHD? 2) How do educators manage their classrooms with learners in their classrooms, who may have ADHD? 3) How has the experience of educating learners who may have ADHD influenced or affected the educator? A narrative research design was employed, whereby 17 educators, from three different schools from Gauteng were interviewed. Informed consent was collected from all participants. The textual data was analysed using content theme analysis. The educators’ narratives varied according to teaching experience and maturity within the diverse context of the school environment. Five themes emerged from the data generated from the study. Findings from the study indicate that: (1) learners who may have ADHD appear to be treated differently from the other learners; (2) the educators’ keep learners who may have ADHD busy with different activities as one of the methods most commonly used in managing learners who may have ADHD; (3) the educators feel that learners who may have ADHD challenge them; (4) educators feel that they need to be able to share information with other educators on how to manage and support learners who may have ADHD and that they need outside assistance from a specialist and (5) the educators feel that parents do not pull their part in assisting educators and/or learners who may have ADHD. Subsequent to the theme analysis two interviews were then selected, instrumentally analysed and discussed in order to represent personalised accounts of educators’ experiences of learners who may have ADHD in their classrooms. Lastly, the themes have been presented as a narrative.Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2009.Educational Psychologyunrestricte

OS MITOS DO CINEMA: UMA ANÁLISE CONTRASTIVA DA LINGUAGUEM IMAGÉTICA CINEMATOGRÁFICA, À LUZ DA PSICOLOGIA ANALÍTICA DE JUNG, QUANTO AO ESTUDO DOS ARQUÉTIPOS

The present text is the fruit of the study of kinetic language in modern times, in the light of the archetypal theory, one of the pillars of support of the analytical psychology of Carl Gustav Jung. The work is developed in 3 (three) divisions. The first one has the scope of analyzing, in a qualitative way, the language of cinema. In the second line, the essential elements of analytical psychology developed by Jung, in counterpart to Freud's psychoanalysis, are demonstrated, in which the theory of archetypes is clarified as symbols of the psyche, making a connection with the myths of cinema. With the aim of granting applicability to the theme, the paper seeks to highlight in a last segment the study of some archetypes of national cinema, in particular, the black one that today has been present alongside afro culture, in a remarkable way in Brazilian cinematography; in addition to being exposed some exemplary cases of cinematical archetypes of national films, feature films, emphasizing the answers as to the relevance of these myths of national cinema, as a form of universal kinetic language

Tratamento técnico retrospetivo de recursos cartográficos : uma experiência

herdeira de um fabuloso espólio documental que atravessou, parte dele, mais de um século, já que teve a sua origem na Academia Politécnica do Porto (1837) e na Faculdade Técnica (1915), mais tarde Faculdade de Engenharia (1926). Com a introdução das novas tecnologias da informação e comunicação os catálogos manuais migraram para ambientes digitais, mas a fase de transição exigiu trabalho extraordinário, sem impedir, contudo, que grande volume de documentos permanecesse, por muito tempo, na escuridão dos depósitos aguardando, pacientemente, o momento de se revelarem ao mundo. Assim aconteceu na biblioteca da FEUP; assim aconteceu com os documentos cartográficos. Outras prioridades ditaram o faseamento do seu tratamento. Diferentes técnicos os manusearam, outras tantas interpretações ditaram diferentes critérios de descrição bibliográfica. O tratamento técnico retrospetivo pode ser uma tarefa morosa e consumidora de recursos humanos e orçamentais. Nem sempre acarinhada ou compreendida é, no entanto, fundamental. Porque é preciso tratar, armazenar e difundir a herança que nos foi legada. Porque é preciso organizar e gerir os espaços físicos e as coleções. Porque é preciso satisfazer solicitações. Enfim, porque é preciso cumprir a missão da biblioteca

Inclusive Schools: the power in our hands

Comunicação apresentada no Congresso Internacional Special Education - ISEC "Including the excluded",na Universidade de Manchester, em Julho de 2000.Representing the great challenge of the educational systems, the inclusive school must be our aim for the next millennium. Is this a consensual goal? If so, how do we conceptualise an inclusive school and how can we work for it with the resources we have and manage to develop? The present work is a result of an action-research study that started by the enquiry (from June/99 to September/99) to the people responsible for management of all the schools ( more precisely 526, from the preschool level to the third cycle - end of compulsory education in Portugal) of the region of Alentejo, (Baixo Alentejo e Alentejo Litoral) and the intervention (planned for February/2000) with a group of teachers based upon the creative resolution of their school problems, towards the building of a school for all, where children, teachers, parents and other agents of the community find a place to grow personally and professionally

Entrepreneurial orientation and export performance: the mediating effect of organisational resources and dynamic capabilities

This study analyses the relationships among entrepreneurial orientation, organisational resources, dynamic capabilities, and export performance. Specifically, we propose that entrepreneurial orientation enhances the attraction of financial, informational and relational resources thus affecting export performance through dynamic capabilities. This model is empirically tested with data from 265 managers of exporting companies in Portugal. Results validate ten out of eleven direct relationships of the model and confirm the mediating effect of organisational resources and dynamic capabilities on export performance. Entrepreneurial orientation contributes to the attraction of relational and informational resources, relational resources boost the development of informational and financial resources, and these three types of organisational resources directly affect the development of dynamic capabilities and export performance. In what concerns the managerial implications, managers, public policy makers, and researchers aiming to contribute to firms’ competitiveness and performance must clearly understand how resources affect the development of differentiated dynamic capabilities.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio