Audit fees and IFRS accounting - Is information costly?

Since 2005 companies with equity instruments traded on regulated markets in the European Economic Area have prepared their financial reports in accordance with accounting standards issued by the IASB. A survey conducted in 2007 indicated that most of the EU companies that changed from local to IFRS rules incurred additional costs in connection with the transition. Also, companies expected additional future costs from using IFRS. Although the main part of these stemmed from the companies’ internal work on IFRS statements, additional costs for external auditing and other external services were identified as substantial but independent of company size. We analyze whether the application of IFRS standards has increased Danish companies’ cost of auditing. Our study is based on a sample of financial reports from large Danish companies from 2002 to 2008. Controlling for a number of general audit fee driving aspects, we find that overall, audit fees have not increased significantly for companies using IFRS rules. However, when combining IFRS with company size and complexity, we find that large and complex companies using IFRS pay a heavy audit fee premium compared to small and less complex companies that also use IFRS. Our results for nonaudit fees are less conclusive.Audit fees; non audit fees; IFRS; transition of accounting regime; empirical study

Multivariate matrix-exponential distributions

We review what is currently known about one-dimensional distributions on the non-negative reals with rational Laplace transform, also known as matrix-exponential distributions. In particular we discuss a flow interpreation which enables one to mimic certain probabilisticly inspired arguments which are known from the theory of phase-type distributions. We then move on to present ongoing research for higher dimensions. We discuss a characterization result, some closure properties, and a number of examples. Finally we present open problems and future perspectives

The effects of 52 weeks of soccer or resistance training on body composition and muscle function in +65-year-old healthy males:A randomized controlled trial

The effects of 52 weeks of soccer or resistance training were investigated in untrained elderly men. The subjects aged 68.1±2.1 yrs were randomised into a soccer (SG; n = 9), a resistance (RG; n = 9) and a control group (CG; n = 8). The subjects in SG and RG, respectively, trained 1.7±0.3 and 1.8±0.3 times weekly on average during the intervention period. Muscle function and body composition were determined before and after 16 and 52 weeks of the intervention period. In SG, BMI was reduced by 1.5% and 3.0% (p<0.05) after 16 and 52 weeks, respectively, unchanged in RG and 2% higher (p<0.05) in CG after 52 weeks of the intervention period. In SG, the response to a glucose tolerance test was 16% lower (p<0.05) after 16 wks, but not after 52 wks, compared to before the intervention period, and unchanged in RG and CG. In SG, superoxide dismutase-2 expression was 59% higher (p<0.05) after 52 wks compared to before the intervention period, and unchanged in RG and CG. In RG, upper body lean mass was 3 and 2% higher (p<0.05) after 16 and 52 wks, respectively, compared to before the intervention period, and unchanged in SG and CG. In RG, Akt-2 expression increased by 28% (p<0.01) and follistatin expression decreased by 38% (p<0.05) during the 52-wk intervention period, and was unchanged in SG and CG. Thus, long-term soccer training reduces BMI and improves anti-oxidative capacity, while long-term resistance training impacts muscle protein enzyme expression and increases lean body mass in elderly men. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01530035