CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND CREATIVE ACCOUNTING: TWO CONCEPTS STRONGLY CONNECTED? SOME INTERSTING INSIGHTS HIGHLIGHTED BY CONSTRUCTING THE INTERNAL HISTORY OF A LITERATURE

Corporate governance is concerned with the relationships between a business’smanagement and its board of directors, shareholders and lenders and its other stakeholders such asemployees, customers, suppliers, and the community in which activates. The connection betweenthis topic and creative accounting was debated in the literature since the latter occurrence isrelated to the weakness of the first. Our study offers interesting insights into this strong connectionby examining the relevant ideas developed previously in the literature with the scope ofunderstanding, reinterpreting and rediscovering from interesting points of view this association inour search for responsibility in the economic environment. By conducting this study we wanted toreinforce the role of literature analyst as an interpreter who contributes meaning to the presentstate of the art.corporate governance, creative accounting, Papineau`s hierarchy

CASH-FLOW REPORTING BETWEEN POTENTIAL CREATIVE ACCOUNTING TECHNIQUES AND HEDGING OPPORTUNITIES CASE STUDY ROMANIA

We have studied the cash flow reporting issues in Romania, trying to establish if there isan interest in using creative accounting techniques in order to manipulate cash flow reporting.Another issue of our research is focused on the possibility of using hedging opportunities by financialmanagers of Romanian companies, in order to at least partially protect future cash-flow from externalfluctuating factors.In order to achieve our goals, we have issued a questionnaire, submitted to authorize auditors fromRomania (208 audit companies and 267 individual auditors).Our study lead us to conclude that creative accounting techniques related to cash flow are only partlyknown and used by the Romanian companies. On the other hand, hedging techniques were found to bevery little known and used by Romanian managers. In this respect, the few instruments used are relatedto bank and insurance products like factoring, receivables insurance, financial instruments based oninterest and foreign exchange rates.cash flow, creative accounting, hedging opportunities

JONES, DECHOW AND KASZNIK MODELS SIGNIFICANCE IN THE ROMANIAN ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT

This study intends to be a first step into an attempt of measuring the earningsmanagement using an econometric model valid for the Romanian specificities by trying to establishthe level of significance of three acknowledged econometric models: Jones (1991), Dechow et al.(1995) and Kasznik (1999) on Romanian economic environment.Given the above mentioned premises, the study was conducted using the Romanian listedcompanies (active on the Bucharest Stock Exchange) selected by a main criteria: discrepancybetween reported cash flow and reported net income. Our analyses lead us to the conclusionrelated to the above mentioned issues that Jones model was found to be significant for Romanianeconomic environment in terms of applicability unlike Dechow and Kasznik models, thus it may befurther developed and applied to an extended database.earnings management, manipulation, cash flow

Oxygen treatment reduces neurological deficits and demyelination in two animal models of multiple sclerosis

AIMS: To explore the importance of tissue hypoxia in causing neurological deficits and demyelination in the inflamed CNS, and the value of inspiratory oxygen treatment, using both active and passive experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). METHODS: Normobaric oxygen treatment was administered to Dark Agouti rats with either active or passive EAE, compared with room air-treated, and naïve, controls. RESULTS: Severe neurological deficits in active EAE were significantly improved after just 1 hour of breathing ~95% oxygen. The improvement was greater and more persistent when oxygen was applied either prophylactically (from immunization for 23 days), or therapeutically from the onset of neurological deficits for 24, 48, or 72 hours. Therapeutic oxygen for 72 hours significantly reduced demyelination and the integrated stress response in oligodendrocytes at the peak of disease, and protected from oligodendrocyte loss, without evidence of increased oxidative damage. T-cell infiltration and cytokine expression in the spinal cord remained similar to that in untreated animals. The severe neurological deficit of animals with passive EAE occurred in conjunction with spinal hypoxia and was significantly reduced by oxygen treatment initiated before their onset. CONCLUSIONS: Severe neurological deficits in both active and passive EAE can be caused by hypoxia and reduced by oxygen treatment. Oxygen treatment also reduces demyelination in active EAE, despite the autoimmune origin of the disease

IMPORTANCE AND VULNERABILITY OF TRUE AND FAIR VIEW IN THE ROMANIAN ACCOUNTING ENVIRONMENT – CASE STUDY

This empirical study comprises items related to the operationalization of the concept True and Fair View in day to day accounting issues in Romanian accounting environment, demarche based on which we were interested in assessing the vulnerability of the concept and also the importance attributed by Romanian practitioners. If the vulnerability is high and the importance attributed low, the concept True and Fair View `s importance as an overall basis of accounting is limited, fact that will affect the quality of accounting information. The categories approached were chosen based on their implication related to the operationalization of the concept. The company’s financial directors are responsible for ensuring that the financial statements give True and Fair View and in the same manner the expert accountants must consider it important in order to prepare the financial statements in accordance to its requirements and finally the financial auditors must assess its existence, otherwise if this principle is neglected the companies would consequently present spurious results of their activity. All the categories above asserted that the concept doesn’t have only a symbolic role at the national level and their implication in achieving its requirements can be characterized by a proactive attitude. When it comes to assessing the potential vulnerability of TFV, our respondents agreed that items like legislative ambiguity and accounting estimates have the potential to affect TFV construct in the practical side of accounting

The surgical safety checklist and patient outcomes after surgery: a prospective observational cohort study, systematic review and meta-analysis

© 2017 British Journal of Anaesthesia Background: The surgical safety checklist is widely used to improve the quality of perioperative care. However, clinicians continue to debate the clinical effectiveness of this tool. Methods: Prospective analysis of data from the International Surgical Outcomes Study (ISOS), an international observational study of elective in-patient surgery, accompanied by a systematic review and meta-analysis of published literature. The exposure was surgical safety checklist use. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality and the secondary outcome was postoperative complications. In the ISOS cohort, a multivariable multi-level generalized linear model was used to test associations. To further contextualise these findings, we included the results from the ISOS cohort in a meta-analysis. Results are reported as odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals. Results: We included 44 814 patients from 497 hospitals in 27 countries in the ISOS analysis. There were 40 245 (89.8%) patients exposed to the checklist, whilst 7508 (16.8%) sustained ≥1 postoperative complications and 207 (0.5%) died before hospital discharge. Checklist exposure was associated with reduced mortality [odds ratio (OR) 0.49 (0.32–0.77); P\u3c0.01], but no difference in complication rates [OR 1.02 (0.88–1.19); P=0.75]. In a systematic review, we screened 3732 records and identified 11 eligible studies of 453 292 patients including the ISOS cohort. Checklist exposure was associated with both reduced postoperative mortality [OR 0.75 (0.62–0.92); P\u3c0.01; I2=87%] and reduced complication rates [OR 0.73 (0.61–0.88); P\u3c0.01; I2=89%). Conclusions: Patients exposed to a surgical safety checklist experience better postoperative outcomes, but this could simply reflect wider quality of care in hospitals where checklist use is routine