Estimates of the Sensitivities of the Value of the Firm to Profitability, Growth, and Capital Intensity

Value-based management systems concentrate on actions that generate value for the shareholders in the wealth creation process (Fisher 1995; Lieber 1996; Walbert 1994). This study focuses explicitly on profitability, growth, and capital intensity as drivers of the value of the firm by extending a free cash flow valuation model for the firm. The extended model is used to provide information about the sensitivities of the value of the firm to changes in the firm\u27s profitability, growth, and capital intensity. These sensitivities are presented in terms of partial derivatives and dollar changes. The partial derivatives show the changes in the value of the firm resulting from a small change in the measures for profitability, growth, or capital intensity. Each dollar amount shows the dollar changes in the value of the firm resulting from a small change in the profitability, growth, or capital intensity measures. These sensitivities show the impact of changes in the profitability, growth, and capital intensity measures on the value of the firm. This information is valuable in helping managers predict the results of actions to improve the wealth generating ability of the firm by managing these value drivers more effectivel

Obstacles to International Accounting Standards Convergence

Given the recent changes in the international sector, along with the similarities in the conceptual frameworks of the FASB and IASC, the relatively swift convergence of US GAAP and International Accounting Standards is a distinct possibility. This article contends convergence is possible, and reviews 3 key areas that could hinder or foster it: 1. the general organization, in terms of form and topical content, of the frameworks, 2. a significant pervasive difference between the frameworks, and 3. specific differences within the major topical areas of the frameworks

The High Road

Discusses the obstacles to international accounting standards convergence. Effort of the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) to promote to convergence theme; Comparison between the convergence frameworks of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Accounting Standards Board; Sections of the \u27Framework for the Preparation and Presentation of Financial Statements\u27 document issued by the IASC

Bacterial Cholangitis, Cholecystitis, or both in Dogs

BACKGROUND: Bacterial cholangitis and cholecystitis are rarely reported, poorly characterized diseases in the dog. OBJECTIVES: To characterize the clinical features of these conditions. ANIMALS: Twenty‐seven client‐owned dogs with bacterial cholangitis, cholecystitis, or both. METHODS: Multicenter, retrospective cases series of dogs with bacterial cholangitis, cholecystitis, or both, presenting January 2000 to June 2011 to 4 Veterinary Schools in Ireland/United Kingdom. Interrogation of hospital databases identified all cases with the inclusion criteria; histopathologically confirmed cholangitis or cholecystitis and bile culture/cytology results supporting a bacterial etiology. RESULTS: Twenty‐seven dogs met the inclusion criteria with approximately 460 hepatitis cases documented over the same study period. Typical clinical pathology findings were increases in liver enzyme activities (25/26), hyperbilirubinemia (20/26), and an inflammatory leukogram (21/24). Ultrasound findings, although nonspecific, aided decision‐making in 25/26 cases. The most frequent hepatobiliary bacterial isolates were Escherichia coli (n = 17; 16 cases), Enterococcus spp. (n = 8; 6 cases), and Clostridium spp. (n = 5; 5 cases). Antimicrobial resistance was an important feature of aerobic isolates; 10/16 E. coli isolates resistant to 3 or more antimicrobial classes. Biliary tract rupture complicated nearly one third of cases, associated with significant mortality (4/8). Discharged dogs had a guarded to fair prognosis; 17/18 alive at 2 months, although 5/10 re‐evaluated had persistent liver enzyme elevation 2–12 months later. CONCLUSION AND CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Bacterial cholangitis and cholecystitis occur more frequently than suggested by current literature and should be considered in dogs presenting with jaundice and fever, abdominal pain, or an inflammatory leukogram or with ultrasonographic evidence of gallbladder abnormalities

An experimental evaluation of software redundancy as a strategy for improving reliability

The strategy of using multiple versions of independently developed software as a means to tolerate residual software design faults is suggested by the success of hardware redundancy for tolerating hardware failures. Although, as generally accepted, the independence of hardware failures resulting from physical wearout can lead to substantial increases in reliability for redundant hardware structures, a similar conclusion is not immediate for software. The degree to which design faults are manifested as independent failures determines the effectiveness of redundancy as a method for improving software reliability. Interest in multi-version software centers on whether it provides an adequate measure of increased reliability to warrant its use in critical applications. The effectiveness of multi-version software is studied by comparing estimates of the failure probabilities of these systems with the failure probabilities of single versions. The estimates are obtained under a model of dependent failures and compared with estimates obtained when failures are assumed to be independent. The experimental results are based on twenty versions of an aerospace application developed and certified by sixty programmers from four universities. Descriptions of the application, development and certification processes, and operational evaluation are given together with an analysis of the twenty versions

Chasing Brane Inflation in String-Theory

We investigate the embedding of brane anti-brane inflation into a concrete type IIB string theory compactification with all moduli fixed. Specifically, we are considering a D3-brane, whose position represents the inflaton $\phi$, in a warped conifold throat in the presence of supersymmetrically embedded D7-branes and an anti D3-brane localized at the tip of the warped conifold cone. After presenting the moduli stabilization analysis for a general D7-brane embedding, we concentrate on two explicit models, the Ouyang and the Kuperstein embeddings. We analyze whether the forces, induced by moduli stabilization and acting on the D3-brane, might cancel by fine-tuning such as to leave us with the original Coulomb attraction of the anti D3-brane as the driving force for inflation. For a large class of D7-brane embeddings we obtain a negative result. Cancelations are possible only for very small intervals of $\phi$ around an inflection point but not globally. For the most part of its motion the inflaton then feels a steep, non slow-roll potential. We study the inflationary dynamics induced by this potential.Comment: 34 pages, 4 figures. Final version published in JCA