Les dirigeants gèrent-ils les résultats comptables avant d’annoncer une réduction d’effectifs ? Le cas des entreprises françaises cotées

This paper examines whether firms engage in earnings management activities in the context of workforce reductions. We assume that firms use income-decreasing accruals before workforce reduction announcements to show that the operation is necessary and thus to avoid incurring political costs. Based on 120 workforce reduction announcements for 104 French listed companies over the period 2007-2012, our results confirm that firms manage earnings downwards in the year before workforce reduction announcements (approximately 4% of total assets). Overall, the results validate the political cost hypothesis in the context of workforce reductions

Glucose-Dependent Regulation of NR2F2 Promoter and Influence of SNP-rs3743462 on Whole Body Insulin Sensitivity

Background: The Nuclear Receptor 2F2 (NR2F2/COUP-TFII) heterozygous knockout mice display low basal insulinemia and enhanced insulin sensitivity. We previously established that insulin represses NR2F2 gene expression in pancreatic β-cells. The cis-regulatory region of the NR2F2 promoter is unknown and its influence on metabolism in humans is poorly understood. The present study aimed to identify the regulatory regions that control NR2F2 gene transcription and to evaluate the effect of NR2F2 promoter variation on glucose homeostasis in humans. Methodology/Principal Findings: Regulation of the NR2F2 promoter was assessed using gene reporter assays, ChIP and gel shift experiments. The effects of variation at SNP rs3743462 in NR2F2 on quantitative metabolic traits were studied in two European prospective cohorts. We identified a minimal promoter region that down-regulates NR2F2 expression by attenuating HNF4α activation in response to high glucose concentrations. Subjects of the French DESIR population, who carried the rs3743462 T-to-C polymorphism, located in the distal glucose-responsive promoter, displayed lower basal insulin levels and lower HOMA-IR index. The C-allele at rs3743462 was associated with increased NR2F2 binding and decreased NR2F2 gene expression. Conclusions/Significance: The rs3743462 polymorphism affects glucose-responsive NR2F2 promoter regulation and thereby may influence whole-body insulin sensitivity, suggesting a role of NR2F2 in the control of glucose homeostasis in humans. © 2012 Boutant et al

SIRT1 enhances glucose tolerance by potentiating brown adipose tissue function

Objective: SIRT1 has been proposed to be a key signaling node linking changes in energy metabolism to transcriptional adaptations. Although SIRT1 overexpression is protective against diverse metabolic complications, especially in response to high-fat diets, studies aiming to understand the etiology of such benefits are scarce. Here, we aimed to identify the key tissues and mechanisms implicated in the beneficial effects of SIRT1 on glucose homeostasis. Methods: we have used a mouse model of moderate SIRT1 overexpression, under the control of its natural promoter, to evaluate glucose homeostasis and thoroughly characterize how different tissues could influence insulin sensitivity. Results: mice with moderate overexpression of SIRT1 exhibit better glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity even on a low fat diet. Euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamps and in-depth tissue analyses revealed that enhanced insulin sensitivity was achieved through a higher brown adipose tissue activity and was fully reversed by housing the mice at thermoneutrality. SIRT1 did not influence brown adipocyte differentiation, but dramatically enhanced the metabolic transcriptional responses to β3-adrenergic stimuli in differentiated adipocytes. Conclusions: our work demonstrates that SIRT1 improves glucose homeostasis by enhancing BAT function. This is not consequent to an alteration in the brown adipocyte differentiation process, but as a result of potentiating the response to β3-adrenergic stimuli

Deficient endoplasmic reticulum-mitochondrial phosphatidylserine transfer causes liver disease

Non-alcoholic fatty liver is the most common liver disease worldwide. Here, we show that the mitochondrial protein mitofusin 2 (Mfn2) protects against liver disease. Reduced Mfn2 expression was detected in liver biopsies from patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Moreover, reduced Mfn2 levels were detected in mouse models of steatosis or NASH, and its re-expression in a NASH mouse model ameliorated the disease. Liver-specific ablation of Mfn2 in mice provoked inflammation, triglyceride accumulation, fibrosis, and liver cancer. We demonstrate that Mfn2 binds phosphatidylserine (PS) and can specifically extract PS into membrane domains, favoring PS transfer to mitochondria and mitochondrial phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) synthesis. Consequently, hepatic Mfn2 deficiency reduces PS transfer and phospholipid synthesis, leading to endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and the development of a NASH-like phenotype and liver cancer. Ablation of Mfn2 in liver reveals that disruption of ER-mitochondrial PS transfer is a new mechanism involved in the development of liver disease

COUP-TFII Controls Mouse Pancreatic β-Cell Mass through GLP-1-β-Catenin Signaling Pathways

Background: The control of the functional pancreatic beta-cell mass serves the key homeostatic function of releasing the right amount of insulin to keep blood sugar in the normal range. It is not fully understood though how beta-cell mass is determined

Les incitations à la gestion des résultats des sociétés absorbantes : le cas des fusions-absorptions françaises

Cette recherche étudie les facteurs explicatifs de la gestion des résultats (GdR) des sociétés absorbantes avant une fusion-absorption. Basée sur un échantillon de 107 sociétés cotées françaises, elle révèle une GdR à la hausse plus forte lorsque l’opération implique une dilution du contrôle des actionnaires dominants, lorsque les actionnaires de l’absorbante sont à l’initiative de l’opération et lorsque le critère du cours de Bourse est utilisé pour fixer la parité. À l’inverse, l’utilisation directe d’un critère de résultats comptables limite la GdR

Fonction et régulation du facteur de transcription COUP-TFII dans les cellules b du pancréas

PARIS5-BU Méd.Cochin (751142101) / SudocSudocFranceF

Les incitations à la gestion des résultats des sociétés absorbantes : le cas des fusions-absorptions françaises

Cette recherche étudie les facteurs explicatifs de la gestion des résultats (GdR) des sociétés absorbantes avant une fusion-absorption. Basée sur un échantillon de 107 sociétés cotées françaises, elle révèle une GdR à la hausse plus forte lorsque l’opération implique une dilution du contrôle des actionnaires dominants, lorsque les actionnaires de l’absorbante sont à l’initiative de l’opération et lorsque le critère du cours de Bourse est utilisé pour fixer la parité. À l’inverse, l’utilisation directe d’un critère de résultats comptables limite la GdR

Les incitations à la gestion des résultats des sociétés absorbantes : le cas des fusions-absorptions françaises

Cette recherche étudie les facteurs explicatifs de la gestion des résultats (GdR) des sociétés absorbantes avant une fusion-absorption. Basée sur un échantillon de 107 sociétés cotées françaises, elle révèle une GdR à la hausse plus forte lorsque l’opération implique une dilution du contrôle des actionnaires dominants, lorsque les actionnaires de l’absorbante sont à l’initiative de l’opération et lorsque le critère du cours de Bourse est utilisé pour fixer la parité. À l’inverse, l’utilisation directe d’un critère de résultats comptables limite la GdR

Managers’ responses to political costs: an examination of the relationship between narrative impression management and earnings management during workforce reductions.

International audienc