WHAT DO AUDITORS PROMISE THEIR GOVERNMENTAL AUDIT CLIENTS? WHAT DO GOVERNMENTAL AUDIT CLIENTS WANT? AUDIT PROPOSAL EVIDENCE FROM GOVERNMENTAL AUDIT PROCUREMENT PROCESSES

This dissertation, consisting of two studies, analyzes a dataset of audit proposals to investigate auditors’ impression management strategies and audit procurement quality in the public sector. Text based analytic methods are employed to examine the content of audit proposals, which were submitted for government audit engagements in fifteen states. The first study investigates auditors\u27 marketing language and hypothesizes that CPA firms will project a cooperative, non-independent image in audit proposals to impress potential clients. The results suggest that CPA firms, especially larger ones, project a persona of a cooperative and trustworthy service provider than to present themselves as independent auditors. In addition, CPA firms self-portray more independence when client management is involved in a procurement process compared to when an independent state audit agency selects the auditor. Responding to the PCAOB\u27s (2013) concern about auditors\u27 commercial interests and marketing materials, the findings suggest that CPA firms’ marketing language may threaten perceived auditor independence and thus are important to regulators, practitioners, and decision makers. The second study examines the association between auditor selection and perceived audit service qualities in audit proposals. Based on agency theory and prior research, this study predicts that government clients will choose an auditor whose audit proposal reflects more perceived audit quality attributes and that this association will be stronger for states with higher political competition or lower perceived risk of corruption. The results indicate that government clients tend to select an auditor who emphasizes competence, is a predecessor auditor, and, is less expensive. The findings provide insights into governmental audit procurement practices and the determinants of auditor selection decisions in the public sector. The dissertation contributes to the literature by creating a new, unexplored dataset of audit proposals, developing and validating linguistic categories related to the concepts of auditor independence, relationship marketing, and competence, and exploring potential threat of audit firms’ marketing materials to the appearance of auditor independence

Diagrammatic approach to excitonic effects on nonlinear optical response

Optical responses of atomically thin 2D materials are greatly influenced by electron-hole interactions. It is by far established that exciton signatures can be well-identified in the optical absorption spectrum of quasi-2D materials. However, the same level of understanding of excitonic effects on nonlinear optical responses and the ability to compute them accurately is still much desired. Based on the functional integral formalisms and working in the velocity gauge, we introduce a convenient Feynman diagram approach for calculating nonlinear responses including excitonic effects. By dressing electron-photon interactions with electron-hole ladder diagrams, we derive an expression for second-order optical responses and provide a comprehensive description of excitonic effects. We apply our approach to a monolayer h-BN model and show qualitative changes in the second harmonic generation spectrum when comparing with results assuming independent particles. Our approach can be readily extended to higher order optical responses and is feasible for first-principles calculations

BIOMECHANICAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN TAI-CHI PRACTICING AND ACTIVE ELDERLY DURING THE STAIR-TO-FLOOR TRANSITION

Long-term Tai-Chi practitioners tend to have similar movement to healthy adults and exhibit movement strategies that reduce fall risk during stair-to-floor transition. We aimed to assess the differences during stair descent to ground in Tai-Chi elderly practitioners and active elderly. Fourteen regular Tai-Chi practitioners and fourteen active elderly participated. Whole-body kinematics and ground reaction forces (GRFs) were recorded synchronously by using motion analysis and a force platform. A t-test was used to test the differences between the groups. Both descent and forward walking step length and center of mass (COM) velocity, both horizontal braking and propulsive force and impulse, ankle range of motion (ROM) and total work in the sagittal plane, and maximum hip moment in the frontal plane had significant differences. Our results appear to support the benefits of long-term Tai-Chi training during the stair-to-floor transition

5-Hy­droxy­indan-1-one

In the title compound (5HIN), C9H8O2, is perfectly planar as all atoms, except the H atoms of both CH2 groups, lie on a crystallographic mirror plane. In the crystal, mol­ecules are linked by strong inter­molecular O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, forming an infinite chain along [100], generating a C(8) motif

Quantified movement test of core muscles for Athletes

The purpose of this study was to compare the different of the core muscles ability between normal subjects and athletes of an assessment consisted of seven movement tests. Nineteen participants were voluntarily recruited in this study and divided into normal subjects (N=9, age=20.2+-0.7 y/o, weight:63.7+-11.7 kg, height:170.9+-6.7 cm) and collegiate athletes (N=10, age=19.9+-1.0 y/o, weight; 72.4+-7.8 kg, height; 172.5+-4.5 cm). The result shows that the path length of plank, bird dog with right-hand raise, bird dog with left-hand raise, right side plank, right bridge, left bridge and area of right bridge, left bridge has significant differences between two groups (Table 1). Athletes exhibit shorter path length and smaller path area in all of these data

Examining The Factors That Affect ERP Assimilation

The aim of this study is to identify the factors that influence the assimilation of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems in the post-implementation stage. Building on organizational information processing theory (OIPT) and absorptive capacity (AC), we propose an integrated model, which examines the relationship among organizational fit, absorptive capacity, environmental uncertainty, and ERP assimilation. Based on the survey data from 98 firms that have implemented ERP, most of the proposed hypotheses were supported, showing that initial fit, potential AC, realized AC, and heterogeneity jointly affect ERP assimilation. Task uncertainty (hostility and heterogeneity) negatively moderates the relationship between initial fit and ERP assimilation. The implications for both theory and practice are discussed