THE MEASUREMENT OF COMPLIANCE WITH INTERNATIONAL ISA700: THE CASE OF AUDIT REPORTS PUBLISHED BY THE BIG ACCOUNTING FIRMS IN TUNISIA

This article examines the form and content of auditor¿s report published by Tunisian auditors who represent international auditing firms. It measures the compliance of these reports with elements enumerated by International standard on auditing (ISA700). To reach this objective, an empirical study has been conducted based on an analysis of 42 audit reports published in the Tunisian context. The results show that in Tunisia audit reports issued by the international auditing firms are not equally compliant with five of the twenty-six elements enumerated by International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). This difference of conformity to ISA700 can be explained by characteristics of the Tunisian environment (inefficient stock market and a weak number of large holding corporations, among others), which may induce auditors to disregard some elements followed by the same ISA.compliance, form of auditor’s report, content of auditor’s report, auditing in Tunisia

Corporate Environmental Disclosure Practices in Different National Contexts: The Influence of Cultural Dimensions

The influence of different national contexts, including the effects of cultural environments, on corporate environmental disclosure practices has yet to be properly addressed in the literature. The purpose of this research is, therefore, to analyse how cultural factors affect the environmental disclosure practices of companies in different countries. This research is supported by the diversity of cultures across countries. Given that a cultural framework prompts different organisational actions and strategies, the question to be answered through this research is as follows: How do cultural aspects affect corporate environmental disclosure? Cultural factors are precisely those that can explain similarities and differences between stakeholders’ actions and preferences. The sample used in this research comprises companies in 28 countries and 9 economic sectors for the period 2004 to 2015. Our main findings show that companies operating in countries with individualist, masculine and indulgent cultures are less likely to disclose environmental information. Contrary to our predictions, cultures with a longterm orientation also discourage the reporting of environmental information, while uncertainty avoidance contexts tend to promote more environmental reporting

Female directorship on boards and corporate sustainability policies: Their effect on sustainable development

We aim to explore whether board gender diversity, specifically women institutional directors, improves the sustainability development and stakeholder engagement of listed firms by affecting corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies. Moreover, within female institutional directors we can differentiate between banks and insurance companies (pressure-sensitive female institutional directors) and mutual funds, investment funds, pension funds and venture capital firms (pressure-resistant female institutional directors). Thus, the effect of these categories of directors on CSR policies is also analysed. Our findings suggest that female institutional, as a whole, have a positive effect on CSR policies, the same behaviour that show pressure-resistant female institutional, while pressure-sensitive institutional do not impact on CSR policies. This research provides a new framework for the role played by certain types of female directors (female institutional directors, female pressure-sensitive directors and female pressure-resistant directors) in CSR policies and, thus, may help policymakers to promote CSR policies, and to take action to promote responsible behaviour among listed firms

Understanding Molecular Mechanisms of Protein Kinases Regulation and Inhibition

Protein kinases (PKs) play a key role in regulating cellular processes. Kinase dysfunction can lead to disease, thus kinases are important targets for drug design and a fundamental class of pharmacological targets for anti-cancer therapy. Among protein kinases, B-Raf and c-Src are remarkably interesting as anticancer drug targets because of their important role in cancer onset (B-Raf) and progression (c-Src). This thesis is mainly focused on the characterization of the molecular mechanism at the basis of the regulation and inhibition of these remarkable PKs. By using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and molecular dynamics simulations (MD) we have studied in great details their activation dynamics, their inhibition and the effect of clinically-relevant oncogenic mutations on their structure and dynamics. C-Scr was the first viral oncogenic protein discovered, is involved in metastasis and is mutated in 50% of colon, liver, lung, breast and pancreas tumours. Upon phosphorylation, various conserved structural elements, including the activation loop, switch from an inactive to an active form able to bind ATP and phosphorylate a substrate in a cellular signalling process leading to cell replication. In this thesis, we will discuss how phosphorylation drastically changes the dynamics of the C-lobe in c-Src by NMR analysis, a phenomenon not easily accessible by static crystallographic studies. The second part of the thesis will be focused on B-Raf, a protein serine/threonine kinase. B-Raf kinase is a key target for the treatment of melanoma, since a single mutation (V600E) is found in more than 50% of all malignant melanomas. Despite their importance, the molecular mechanisms explaining the increased kinase activity in this mutant remains elusive. As kinase activity is often tightly regulated by one or more conformational transitions between an active and an inactive state, which are difficult to be observed experimentally, molecular dynamics simulations are often useful to interpret the experimental results. In this project, we will examine the mechanism by which the V600E mutation enhances the activity of the B-Raf monomer. We will also employ a combination of MD techniques with NMR experiments to fully map the effects of the mutation on the conformational landscape of B-Raf. An understanding at the atomic level of the mechanisms leading to their activation and inhibition is an extremely important goal in anti-cancer drug discovery. A better understanding of these proteins' mechanisms might lead to more potent and less toxic drugs. Finally, I report on the studies of a much small domain often associated with PKs in regulatory pathways: the WW domain. By using a combination of MD simulations and NMR, we have characterized the effect of a pathogenic mutation on its folding landscape

¿Reaccionan los analistas de riesgos comerciales de las empresas españolas ante los informes de auditoría calificados?: Un estudio empírico

En este trabajo se presenta un estudio empírico en el que se analiza si los informes de auditoría aportan información relevante en la evaluación de los riesgos comerciales de las empresas. Para ello se ha realizado un estudio experimental con 74 analistas de riesgos comerciales de empresas españolas. Los resultados indican que el tipo de informe de auditoría (favorable o con salvedades) sí que influye en las decisiones comerciales que toman los analistas de riesgos. Concretamente, aportan información relevante cuando los analistas deciden iniciar relaciones comerciales con otra empresa, cuando valoran el riesgo de la operación comercial, cuando exigen garantías adicionales a las habituales y, finalmente, cuando tienen que determinar la cantidad de riesgo asumible con una empresa. Por el contrario, los resultados han puesto de manifiesto que la naturaleza de las salvedades afecta relativamente a las cuatro decisiones analizadas

La influencia de las remuneraciones de los consejeros ejecutivos de las empresas del Ibex 35 en la rentabilidad financiera

El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar cómo afecta la retribución de los consejeros ejecutivos de las empresas del Ibex 35 en la rentabilidad financiera. Como variables de control que podrían influir en la rentabilidad financiera de la empresa se han considerado el tamaño de la empresa, el ratio o nivel de endeudamiento, la rentabilidad económica, el número total de consejeros en el Consejo de Administración y, por último, el sueldo de los consejeros externos independientes. Los resultados obtenidos muestran que la remuneración de los consejeros ejecutivos no es estadísticamente significativa, por lo tanto, no influye en la rentabilidad de los propietarios de las empresas. Por otra parte, el leverage o ratio de endeudamiento y la rentabilidad económica se asocian de manera positiva con la rentabilidad financiera. Los resultados también manifiestan que no existe una relación, tanto lineal como no lineal, entre el número total de consejeros y la rentabilidad financiera; no influyendo tampoco en la misma ni el tamaño de la empresa ni la remuneración de los consejeros externos independientes. Cabe destacar que hemos realizado el mismo análisis para una submuestra de empresas tras haber excluido a las entidades financieras, pudiendo afirmar que estas organizaciones no sesgan los resultados anteriores, es decir, la remuneración de los consejeros ejecutivos sin considerar a las entidades financieras tampoco influye en la rentabilidad financiera empresarial.The objective of this study is to analyze how executive director's remuneration of companiees in the IBEX 35 affects to the return on equity(ROE). As control variables that could affect the return on equity, we have considered the size of the company, the debt levels the return on assets (ROA), the total number of directors and, the remuneration of independent directors. The results show that the remunerationos executive directors is not statistically signiflcant; therefore, it does not affect the return on equity. On the other band, the laverage and the return on assets are positived associated with return on equity. The results also demostrated that there is not relationship, both linear and nonlinear, between the total number of directors and the return on equity, as a well as not affecting to the return on equity the company size and the remuneration of independent outside directors. Moreover, we performed the same analysis for a subsample of firms after excluding financial institutions and we can conclude that these firms do not bias the results above, i. e. The remuneration of executive directors, without taking into account financial firms, has no influence in the return on equity

The board of directors and dividend policy: the effect of gender diversity

In this article, we aim to study the impact on dividends policy of gender diversity on the board of directors (hereinafter BD). We hypothesize that the proportion of women directors, the proportion of independent, institutional, and executive female directors, and the percentage of shares held by female directors on BD, have an impact on the dividends policy of Spanish companies. Our findings, analyzing the whole sample, show that the proportion of female directors and shares held by female directors are positively associated with dividend payout, while the percentage of institutional female directors has a negative impact. The percentage of independent and executive female directors has no effect on dividend payout. When companies with losses are removed from the sample, the findings report that the percentage of female directors on BD and the percentage of independent female directors impact positively on dividend policy, while the percentage of institutional and executive female directors has a negative effect. The proportion of shares held by female directors on BD does not have an effect on dividend payout when only companies with profits are examined. Thus, the results confirm that gender diversity has an influence on dividend payout, so the existing legislation should encourage more participation by women in governing bodies. Our evidence supports the Act for Effective Equality between Women and Men, which establishes that listing companies have to achieve a quota of 40% of women in decision-making bodies by 2015

Leaf image classification with exponential family Fisher vector

Fil: Redolfi, J. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba; Argentina.Fil: Sanchez, J. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba; Argentina.Fil: Pucheta, J. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Laboratorio de Investigación Matemática Aplicada a Control; Argentina.Fil: Pucheta, J. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Departamento de Ingeniería Electrónica; Argentina.In this work we present an experimental analysis of the use of exponential family Fisher vector to solve the problem of visual plant identification. We make a comparison of the encoding of different descriptors with this framework and we evaluate the performance on public datasets and compare these results with state of the art methods proposed in the literature. We show that eFV framework performs very well in the problem of plant classification.Fil: Redolfi, J. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba; Argentina.Fil: Sanchez, J. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba; Argentina.Fil: Pucheta, J. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Laboratorio de Investigación Matemática Aplicada a Control; Argentina.Fil: Pucheta, J. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Departamento de Ingeniería Electrónica; Argentina.Sistemas de Automatización y Contro

The gender gap in pay in company boards

The aim of this study is to analyze whether a gender wage gap exists in the boards of directors (BD) of companies listed on the Madrid Stock Exchange from 2004 to 2011. We hypothesize that the percentage of female directors on a BD, the presence of female directors on the Nomination and Compensation Committee, the presence of well-qualified independent women directors on BD, the sector, and the geographical region, have an effect on the gender wage gap. The results show that the percentage of female directors on a BD and the geographical region have no effect on the gender wage gap. On the other hand, the finding reports that women’s presence on the Nomination and Compensation Committee increases the gender gap in pay, and it is reduced when there are independent female directors who have gained a degree on the BD, and when the company operates in the finance and real estate services sector. In addition, the results also demonstrate that the seniority of the female directors decreases the gender gap in pay, while there is a rise when the companies are bigger and the size of the BD and the return on assets increase. These conclusions should encourage regulatory bodies to adopt forceful rules to mitigate the gender gap in pay

Institutional directors and the quality of information: the role of directors appointed by banks

Manuscript Type: Empirical Research Question: The objective of this paper is to study the impact that directors who represent institutional investors have on the quality of financial reporting. We focus on those who maintain business relations with the firm on whose board they sit (pressure sensitive directors), and analyze their influence both on Boards and Audit Committees. Additionally, we examine the specific role of bank directors on Boards and Audit Committees and examine their effects on the quality of information when they act as shareholders and directors. Research Findings/Insights: Our results suggest that institutional directors are an effective monitoring device that leads to higher quality of financial reporting and, therefore, to less likelihood of qualified audit reports. Consistent with the relevant role of business relations with the firm, we find that directors appointed by pressure sensitive investors, both in Boards and Audit Committees, have a higher impact on the unqualified audit opinion. Nevertheless, when analyzing separately, only savings banks representatives on the Board increase the pressure to issue a clean audit opinion. Theoretical/Academic Implications: The results confirm that Board characteristics have an important influence on financial reporting quality, in line with the views that have been expressed by several international bodies (e.g., FRC, 2003; OECD, 2004). The findings also suggest that both researchers and policy makers should no longer consider institutional investors as a whole, since directors appointed by different types of institutional investors have various implications on the audit opinion. Practitioner/Policy Implications: This study makes its core contribution by empirically showing that directors appointed by different types of institutional investors have diverse implications on the audit opinion. This evidence could be potentially helpful in providing a basis for regulatory actions, namely those aiming to influence the structure of the Board of directors. The results have significant implications for supervisors and regulators, whose role in safeguarding the financial system will benefit from an understanding of how the presence of savings banks and commercial banks in non-financial firms Boards impacts audit opinion in a bank-based system