Increasing Efficiency through Accounting: Examining Factors Influencing Uses of the Internal Service Fund Among County Governments

ABSTRACT. Previous studies involving internal service fund (ISF) use over the past thirty years point to a decline due to limited usefulness and the ability for local governments to reallocate costs to various departments. In order to determine if this trend is continuing, a thorough analysis was conducted of North Carolina County Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (CAFRs). Initial findings indicate that there has been a slight increase in ISF use with the province still among larger governments, but the number of services utilized through an ISF continues to decline. Additional survey data suggest less experienced finance officers, a lower number of staff accountants, and a larger budgeted employee base result in a higher probability of using an internal service fund

Measuring Disclosure Content Within the MD&A: The Case of North Carolina Counties

Audit implementation of Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) 34 guidelines has yielded increased levels of disclosure content within local government comprehensive annual financial reports (CAFRs). Of particular interest is the Management Discussion & Analysis (MD&A) content that provides a prelude to primary statements establishing unit overall financial position. In this study, the level of disclosure content is measured using net position, fund balance, and organizational factors among all 100 North Carolina County governments for fiscal year 2019. The empirical analysis suggests that disclosure content within area of foci changes depending on increased audit fees, state designated tier level, specific departmental spending, and lengthier MD&As. Additional information illuminates a very limited auditor pool and some recalcitrance concerning service provision. Overall, the findings point to audit disclosure practices including the MD&A as being predicated on unit overall needs versus illumination

Conditions for Competition: Assessing the Competitive Dynamics of US Counties

Research in public policy examines specific theories that drive policy adoption among jurisdictions. One of these theories, referred to in the economics literature as economic competition (or strategic competition), posits that local governments may engage in competition with one another because of the potential interjurisdictional economic spillover effects of certain fiscal policies. In this article, sales tax rates, a common, yet overlooked, policy instrument in the policy literature is examined to determine if sales tax rates drive competition among counties. Testing several hypotheses, this study finds that sales tax rate increases can exacerbate competition among counties. However, this relationship is conditional on the per capita county income; more specifically, poorer counties are more vulnerable to the effects of economic competition than wealthier counties. Furthermore, many other processes influence sales tax increases, depending on how the process is modeled. Thus, economic competition is a multidimensional process shaped by a multitude of factors

Neuroendocrine carcinoma arising in soft tissue: three case reports and literature review

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Neuroendocrine tumours (NET) are tumours arising from neuroendocrine cells of neural crest origin. They are characterised by the presence of neurosecretory granules which react positively to silver stains and to specific markers including neuron specific enolase, synaptophysin and chromogranin. Metastasis to the skin occurs infrequently but primary soft tissue NET is excessively rare.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We report our experience with 3 such cases. In the first case, the NET originated in muscle and was treated with wide surgical excision and adjuvant radiotherapy. The second case presented as a subcutaneous mass in the foot and the tumour was positive on ¹²³I mIBG scan. She has had prolonged recurrence-free survival following primary hypo-fractionated radiotherapy. In the third case, a cutaneous nodule proved to be a NET and at surgery, lymph node disease was present. He has remained disease-free after surgical excision without the need for external beam radiotherapy.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These tumours appear to have a good prognosis. Complete excision offers potentially curative treatment. Adjuvant radiotherapy may be helpful when the tumour margin is narrow. For patients with unresectable disease or where surgery would not be appropriate, radiotherapy appears to be an effective therapeutic option.</p

County Government Fleet Purchasing Practices: Financial Efficiency vs. Need Assertion

An abundant amount of local government services are implemented through the use of automobiles each year. These costs include initial purchase, use, repair, and replacement. Traditional budgeting research is broad and does not isolate fleet costs or the influential actors in the process. This study examines the finance practices and need assertion associated with vehicle purchases and acquisition. Findings indicate most county governments in North and South Carolina choose to purchase vehicles on a cash basis, especially if there is a low resale value for surplus automobiles. In addition, county staff are very influential in additional vehicle purchases, especially if the sheriff can convince the county manager that additional automobiles of a particular make can enhance service delivery

The theoretical application of the dichotomy-duality model to the county government budget process

Much deliberation has existed concerning normative budgetary theory at the local government level. The vast array of local government organizational types precipitates many levels of involvement. However, there is limited evidence concerning the level of involvement of elected officials within the process, nor the amount of influence wielded by administrative actors. In addition, there are lingering questions concerning the extent at which external factors contribute to involvement. This study examines the level of involvement of actors within the budgetary process among the commission-manager form of county governments in North Carolina. The researcher has proposed a three-tier budgetary dichotomy-duality model as a foundation for organizing the study. The three elements of the model consist of institutional characteristics to account for external factors affecting county governments, commissioner characteristics and county manager characteristics. The research questions and hypotheses posited by the researcher examine the relationship between each element of the model and the level of involvement of the actors. This is an exploratory study using quantitative data as the basis for the research. Surveys were mailed to 300 county commissioners and all 100 county managers in the state of North Carolina. There were 126 county commissioner surveys returned along with 84 county manager surveys. In addition, two separate dependent variables were utilized to better determine involvement in the budget formulation process. The data was analyzed using logistic regression analysis. The findings suggest that there are several factors which influence budgetary involvement. Among the institutional factors, unfunded mandates and the size of the budget lead to more involvement by county managers. For county commissioners, older commissioners, especially those who have retired, stated more involvement along with Republican commissioners and those who serve on larger commissions. Experience of the county manager also played a role as more inexperienced managers could expect more involvement by commissioners. Managers stated more involvement if they were primarily responsible for budget formulation, if they identified a particular problem area in budget formulation, and if commissioners actually agreed with most of their budget recommendations. From a public administration standpoint, there is definitely a convoluted line in the politics/administration dichotomy among county governments in the North Carolina county government budget process. It is clear that certain factors and actor characteristics create an atmosphere for increased involvement for some actors compared to others. The budgetary dichotomy-duality model does provide for some residual usefulness in determining levels of involvement for local government actors. If applied to a single government unit during the budget formulation process, it could be determined as to which group of actors has the most influence between the elected officials and the administration

IL-32 is a molecular marker of a host defense network in human tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis is a leading cause of infectious disease-related death worldwide; however, only 10% of people infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis develop disease. Factors that contribute to protection could prove to be promising targets for M. tuberculosis therapies. Analysis of peripheral blood gene expression profiles of active tuberculosis patients has identified correlates of risk for disease or pathogenesis. We sought to identify potential human candidate markers of host defense by studying gene expression profiles of macrophages, cells that, upon infection by M. tuberculosis, can mount an antimicrobial response. Weighted gene coexpression network analysis revealed an association between the cytokine interleukin-32 (IL-32) and the vitamin D antimicrobial pathway in a network of interferon-γ- and IL-15-induced "defense response" genes. IL-32 induced the vitamin D-dependent antimicrobial peptides cathelicidin and DEFB4 and to generate antimicrobial activity in vitro, dependent on the presence of adequate 25-hydroxyvitamin D. In addition, the IL-15-induced defense response macrophage gene network was integrated with ranked pairwise comparisons of gene expression from five different clinical data sets of latent compared with active tuberculosis or healthy controls and a coexpression network derived from gene expression in patients with tuberculosis undergoing chemotherapy. Together, these analyses identified eight common genes, including IL-32, as molecular markers of latent tuberculosis and the IL-15-induced gene network. As maintaining M. tuberculosis in a latent state and preventing transition to active disease may represent a form of host resistance, these results identify IL-32 as one functional marker and potential correlate of protection against active tuberculosis