Teaching Practical Business Ethics

Every ethical dilemma embodies three central questions: What is the optimal ethical outcome? Why should I want the best ethical outcome? Can I achieve the best outcome while preserving professional and personal relationships and, if so, how? Legislative, scholarly, and pedagogical responses to recent ethical and financial scandals involving companies like Enron, Worldcom, Tyco, Parmalat, and Ahold have focused almost exclusively on the first two questions, leaving the third unanswered. This article engages the third question by presenting a pedagogical tool for encouraging executives to personalize and operationalize business ethics

Wink, Wink, Nudge Judge: Persuading U.S. Courts to Take Accountants Seriously in Federal Securities Cases, with Help from the U.K. Companies Act

The 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers reopened wounds many thought were healed by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) in 2002. The Lehman litigation finally ended in late 2013 with audit firm Ernst & Young paying $99 million to investors who claimed the firm misled them with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). Other defendants, including banks, officers, and directors, paid out more than$500 million. The bright line standards of GAAP and SOX were obviously not enough to protect Lehman plaintiffs or defendants. Why not? The 2006 fraud trial of Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling offers clues. When asked at trial whether U.S. accounting principles (GAAP) permitted Enron’s accountants to mislead Enron’s auditors, Skilling’s accounting expert Walter Rush replied: “[T]his isn\u27t even an issue under GAAP. GAAP doesn\u27t talk about misleading. GAAP doesn\u27t talk about integrity. GAAP talks about accounting rules, how you measure assets and liabilities, what kind of disclosures you make.” At about the same time, the SEC’s Chief Accountant declared that most financial statements are misleading. Against this backdrop, in leading recent securities fraud cases, federal courts have disregarded or studiously avoided GAAP and accounting experts, examining more broadly whether financial statements are “fairly presented” or “not misleading,” thus dismissing costly accounting testimony as irrelevant and suddenly exposing defendants — like those in Lehman — to unforeseen legal exposure. Meanwhile, leading accounting scholars and professional associations, domestic and international, have vociferously decried the FASB’s narrow focus on GAAP compliance to the virtual exclusion of fairness and integrity in financial reporting. This article documents the tendency of federal courts to ignore accounting experts in federal securities fraud cases, chronicles the ongoing debate over GAAP compliance and fair presentation, summarizes relevant U.S. and U.K. statutes and regulations, and recommends reforms suggested by the U.K. Companies Act 2006, the IASB, and the FASB’s own Concepts Statement No. 8 that may help to restore the marketplace and courtroom relevance of accounting experts

Lexis Nexus Complexus: Comparative Contract Law and International Accounting Collide in the IASB-FASB Revenue Recognition Exposure Draft

U.S. and international accounting-standard setters plan to launch a new, global revenue accounting standard, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, in 2013. Poised at the nexus of comparative contract law and international accounting, the proposal\u27s contract-based revenue recognition model creates new legal risks and opportunities for accountants, lawyers, clients, and financial statement users. Despite its focus on legally enforceable contracts, the proposed standard was drafted without input from the legal community. This Article models the proposal\u27s complex contract-analysis process, demonstrating that its revenue outcomes may vary materially because of seemingly minor interjurisdictional differences in law applicable to open-price contracts; offers practice pointers for attorneys, accountants, and auditors; recommends changes to the proposal, including the substitution of self-enforcing Nash equilibria for legally enforceable contracts; and encourages more collaboration between the legal and accounting professions in the joint deployment of legal and accounting expertise for better value creation, value allocation, and risk mitigation

The Role of Bargaining Style in Public Company Audits

According to prior auditing research, negotiation plans an important role in audit outcomes. General purpose negotiating literature suggests that bargaining styles are an important factor in business negotiations and that bargaining style mismatches between negotiating counter-parties can influence negotiation results. To date, the role of auditors\u27 bargaining-style tendencies in audit negotiations has gone unnoticed in the auditing literature. A study examines the bargaining styles of accountants and managers as measured by the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument. The results suggest that accountants are predisposed to avoid conflict or accommodate whereas managers are predisposed to collaborate or compete. Recognizing this potential mismatch of bargaining styles should help the auditor to develop more effective negotiation strategies

Polyurethane foams produced from pyrolysis oil - Production and possible application

© 2018 Elsevier Ltd Rigid polyurethane (PU) foams are widely used for instance in building insulation. Two component systems comprising of a polyol as component A and a diisocyanate as component B are generally applied. Both components are produced from fossil oil resources. The liquid products from fast pyrolysis of biomass contain a large variety of organic compounds with -OH functional groups. This gives rise to the idea to substitute the polyol component in PU foams with such biomass based intermediates. Pyrolysis condensates derived from woody and herbaceous biomass were dried and samples of PU foams were produced with varying amounts of condensate substituting the polyol component. Especially the foams made from condensates produced from straw showed good insulation properties, which were expressed as low thermal conductivity. Here, with a substitution degree of 80% a thermal conductivity of 0.0283 Wm−1K−1was achieved, which was 8% lower than for the foams produced from commercial components (0.0308 Wm−1K−1). Preliminary results for the measurement of compressive strength indicated that the required value of 150 kPa can easily be achieved, especially with a high degree of substitution. These results show a high potential for the application of bio-based intermediates in the building sector. Further research on other properties is necessary, but the main requirements for thermal conductivity are already met without optimization of the catalyst/stabilizer system

Violent video games and morality: a meta-ethical approach

This paper considers what it is about violent video games that leads one reasonably minded person to declare "That is immoral" while another denies it. Three interpretations of video game content a re discussed: reductionist, narrow, and broad. It is argued that a broad interpretation is required for a moral objection to be justified. It is further argued that understanding the meaning of moral utterances – like "x is immoral" – is important to an understanding of why there is a lack of moral consensus when it comes to the content of violent video games. Constructive ecumenical expressivism is presented as a means of explaining what it is that we are doing when we make moral pronouncements and why, when it comes to video game content, differing moral attitudes abound. Constructive ecumenical expressivism is also presented as a means of illuminating what would be required for moral consensus to be achieved

Air Trapping on Chest CT Is Associated with Worse Ventilation Distribution in Infants with Cystic Fibrosis Diagnosed following Newborn Screening

BACKGROUND: In school-aged children with cystic fibrosis (CF) structural lung damage assessed using chest CT is associated with abnormal ventilation distribution. The primary objective of this analysis was to determine the relationships between ventilation distribution outcomes and the presence and extent of structural damage as assessed by chest CT in infants and young children with CF. METHODS: Data of infants and young children with CF diagnosed following newborn screening consecutively reviewed between August 2005 and December 2009 were analysed. Ventilation distribution (lung clearance index and the first and second moment ratios [LCI, M(1)/M(0) and M(2)/M(0), respectively]), chest CT and airway pathology from bronchoalveolar lavage were determined at diagnosis and then annually. The chest CT scans were evaluated for the presence or absence of bronchiectasis and air trapping. RESULTS: Matched lung function, chest CT and pathology outcomes were available in 49 infants (31 male) with bronchiectasis and air trapping present in 13 (27%) and 24 (49%) infants, respectively. The presence of bronchiectasis or air trapping was associated with increased M(2)/M(0) but not LCI or M(1)/M(0). There was a weak, but statistically significant association between the extent of air trapping and all ventilation distribution outcomes. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that in early CF lung disease there are weak associations between ventilation distribution and lung damage from chest CT. These finding are in contrast to those reported in older children. These findings suggest that assessments of LCI could not be used to replace a chest CT scan for the assessment of structural lung disease in the first two years of life. Further research in which both MBW and chest CT outcomes are obtained is required to assess the role of ventilation distribution in tracking the progression of lung damage in infants with CF

Stresses and strains on the human fetal skeleton during development

Mechanical forces generated by fetal kicks and movements result in stimulation of the fetal skeleton in the form of stress and strain. This stimulation is known to be critical for prenatal musculoskeletal development; indeed, abnormal or absent movements have been implicated in multiple congenital disorders. However, the mechanical stress and strain experienced by the developing human skeleton in utero have never before been characterized. Here, we quantify the biomechanics of fetal movements during the second half of gestation by modelling fetal movements captured using novel cine-magnetic resonance imaging technology. By tracking these movements, quantifying fetal kick and muscle forces, and applying them to three-dimensional geometries of the fetal skeleton, we test the hypothesis that stress and strain change over ontogeny. We find that fetal kick force increases significantly from 20 to 30 weeks' gestation, before decreasing towards term. However, stress and strain in the fetal skeleton rises significantly over the latter half of gestation. This increasing trend with gestational age is important because changes in fetal movement patterns in late pregnancy have been linked to poor fetal outcomes and musculoskeletal malformations. This research represents the first quantification of kick force and mechanical stress and strain due to fetal movements in the human skeleton in utero, thus advancing our understanding of the biomechanical environment of the uterus. Further, by revealing a potential link between fetal biomechanics and skeletal malformations, our work will stimulate future research in tissue engineering and mechanobiology

Oral and Fecal Campylobacter concisus Strains Perturb Barrier Function by Apoptosis Induction in HT-29/B6 Intestinal Epithelial Cells

Campylobacter concisus infections of the gastrointestinal tract can be accompanied by diarrhea and inflammation, whereas colonization of the human oral cavity might have a commensal nature. We focus on the pathophysiology of C. concisus and the effects of different clinical oral and fecal C. concisus strains on human HT-29/B6 colon cells. Six oral and eight fecal strains of C. concisus were isolated. Mucus-producing HT-29/B6 epithelial monolayers were infected with the C. concisus strains. Transepithelial electrical resistance (Rt) and tracer fluxes of different molecule size were measured in Ussing chambers. Tight junction (TJ) protein expression was determined by Western blotting, and subcellular TJ distribution was analyzed by confocal laser-scanning microscopy. Apoptosis induction was examined by TUNEL-staining and Western blot of caspase-3 activation. All strains invaded confluent HT-29/B6 cells and impaired epithelial barrier function, characterized by a time- and dose-dependent decrease in Rt either after infection from the apical side but even more from the basolateral compartment. TJ protein expression changes were sparse, only in apoptotic areas of infected monolayers TJ proteins were redistributed. Solely the barrier-forming TJ protein claudin-5 showed a reduced expression level to 66±8% (P<0.05), by expression regulation from the gene. Concomitantly, Lactate dehydrogenase release was elevated to 3.1±0.3% versus 0.7±0.1% in control (P<0.001), suggesting cytotoxic effects. Furthermore, oral and fecal C. concisus strains elevated apoptotic events to 5-fold. C. concisus-infected monolayers revealed an increased permeability for 332 Da fluorescein (1.74±0.13 vs. 0.56±0.17 10−6 cm/s in control, P<0.05) but showed no difference in permeability for 4 kDa FITC-dextran (FD-4). The same was true in camptothecin-exposed monolayers, where camptothecin was used for apoptosis induction

Die Betreuung und Reanimation des Neugeborenen

Entstehung und Anwendung dieser Empfehlungen Eine Arbeitsgruppe der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Neonatologie (SGN) hat im Jahr 2000 Empfehlungen zur Betreuung und Reanimation von Neugeborenen für die Schweiz ausgearbeitet. Nach einer ersten Überarbeitung 2007 werden diese nun aufgrund neuerer Daten und Evidenzen1) sowie Revisionen internationaler Empfehlungen2)– 7) erneut revidiert. Diese Leitlinien sollen als Empfehlungen verstanden werden, die im individuellen Fall angepasst werden können und sollen