Balance sheet versus earnings conservatism in Europe.

In this study we extend prior research on the international analysis of accounting conservatism (Joos and Lang, 1994; Ball et al., 2000; Giner and Rees, 2001), by examining the level of accounting conservatism across eight European countries (United Kingdom, Germany, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and Belgium), and assessing the statistical significance of the differences among them. The definitions of conservatism that we use are, on the one hand, the Feltham and Ohlson (1995) definition, which implies a persistent understatement of book value of shareholders' equity (balance sheet conservatism). On the other hand, we use the one proposed by Basu (1997), that is, a timelier recognition of bad news in earnings relative to good news (earnings conservatism). We also address the possible scale problems of the models used to measure balance sheet conservatism. Finally, we check whether our comparative results could be influenced by a different sample composition in each country. Our results show that there are both balance sheet and earnings conservatism practices in all countries under study. In addition, while continental countries show larger balance sheet conservatism, differences in earnings conservative practices between countries are not that pronounced, although they tend to be larger in the UK. We also find that the existence of balance sheet conservative practices is associated with reduced levels of earnings conservatism, which is consistent with the results in Pope and Walker (2003).Order reprints; Request permissions;

Rejoinder to Ivari’s (2016) Paper: “How to Improve the Quality of Peer Reviews? Three Suggestions for System-level Changes”

This short paper is a rejoinder to Ivari’s (2016). It describes the Ivari’s arguments, corrective actions, and contributions on the peer-based review system problem in the information systems field. It manifests that, while Ivari’s posited solutions are worthy, they are also insufficient for achieving a behavioral change in the current peer-based review system. However, based on Ivari’s solutions, this short paper presents radical extensions as alternative solutions. Their implementation, however, will rely on the willingness of editorial teams of top and secondary-level journals to promote structural rather than superficial changes to the peer-based review system

Time-Precision Flexible Adder

Paper submitted to 10th IEEE International Conference on Electronics, Circuits and Systems (ICECS), Sharjah, Emiratos Árabes, 2003.A new conception of flexible calculation that allows us to adjust a sum depending on the available time computation is presented. More specifically, the objective is to obtain a calculation model that makes the processing time/precision more flexible. The addition method is based on carry-select scheme adder and the proposed design uses precalculated data stored in look-up tables, which provide, above all, quality results and systematization in the implementation of low level primitives that set parameters for the processing time. We report an evaluation of the architecture in area, delay and computation error, as well as a suitable implementation in FPGA to validate the design.This work is being backed by grant DPI2002-04434-C04-01 from the Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología of the Spanish Government

Exact Numerical Processing

Paper submitted to Euromicro Symposium on Digital Systems Design (DSD), Belek-Antalya, Turkey, 2003.A model of an exact arithmetic processing is presented. We describe a representation format that gives us a greater expressive capability and covers a wider numerical set. The rational numbers are represented by means of fractional notation and explicit codification of its periodic part. We also give a brief description of exact arithmetic operations on the proposed format. This model constitutes a good alternative for the symbolic arithmetic, in special when numerical exact values are required. As an example, we show an application of the exact numerical processing to calculate the perpendicular vector to another one for aerospace purposes.This work is being backed by grant DPI2002-04434-C04-01 from the Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología of the Spanish Government

Sistema de gestión de energía para una estación de carga de vehículos cero emisiones basado en MPC

This work is within the lines of research of the Automática y Robótica Industrial group from the Ingeniería de Sistemas y Automática Department at University of Seville. In particular, it aims at serving as a base for the group contribution to the zero-emission vehicle recharging station future project, which will be held by the Excellent Research Group ENGREEN with the collaboration of researches from the whole Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería. Due to environmental goals of ENGREEN, besides inspiring the use of electric and hydrogen-based vehicles, the charging station will consume renewable energy coming from solar power. The use and management of energy storage system such as hydrogen is crucial because of uncertainty in energy production and consumption. Predictive controllers, well-known as MPC, are used in this work for the resolution of such a complex and multi-objective energy flow problem in that system. Throughout this report, the microgrid is simulated in different generation and consumption scenarios, showing how a scheduler MPC, using both continuous and logic variables, and a reference tracking MPC, using only continuous variables, allow for optimal and efficient solutions. The software Simµgrid, developed by the group itself some years ago, is used over MATLAB/Simulink with Yalmip toolbox and solver CPLEX for the scheduler MPC and the solver quadprog without Yalmip for the reference tracking MPC. The work described above is expected to be used in the future as a starting point for a more complex and detailed management of zero-emission vehicles charging process.Este trabajo se encuentra dentro de las líneas de investigación del grupo Automática y Robótica Industrial del Departamento de Ingeniería de Sistemas y Automática de la Universidad de Sevilla. En concreto, trata de sentar las bases de la aportación de dicho grupo al futuro proyecto de estación de recarga de vehículos cero emisiones que llevará a cabo la Unidad de Excelencia ENGREEN, con componentes de toda la Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería. Debido a los fines medioambientales de dicha unidad de excelencia, además de impulsar el uso del vehículo eléctrico y del basado en hidrógeno, la estación de recarga hará uso de fuentes de energía renovable como la solar. La incertidumbre en la producción y consumo de energía hace necesario el empleo de sistemas de almacenamiento de energía como el hidrógeno y su consiguiente gestión. El flujo de potencia en estos sistemas es un problema de control complejo y multiobjetivo para cuya resolución se emplean en este trabajo técnicas de control predictivo, o más conocido como MPC. A lo largo de esta memoria se describen las simulaciones de la microrred con diferentes escenarios de generación y consumo, mostrando cómo un MPC planificador, usando tanto variables continuas como lógicas, y otro de seguimiento, usando sólo variables continuas, permiten obtener una solución óptima y eficiente. Para ello se usa MATLAB/Simulink sobre el software Simµgrid, desarrollado en años anteriores por el propio grupo de investigación, con el toolbox Yalmip y el solver CPLEX para el MPC planificador y el solver quadprog sin Yalmip para el MPC de seguimiento. Lo anterior pretende emplearse en un futuro como punto de partida para una gestión más compleja y detallada del proceso de recarga de vehículos cero emisiones.Universidad de Sevilla. Máster en Ingeniería Electrónica, Robótica y Automátic

The effect of earnings management on the asymmetric timeliness of earnings.

Is earnings management affecting (driving) the measures of earnings conservatism?Ball et al. (2000) point out that the asymmetry in the recognition of good and bad news in earnings (faster recognition of bad news: earnings conservatism) is more pronounced in common‐law than in code‐law based accounting regimes. However, comparative studies on earnings conservatism in Europe have failed to identify significant differences between common‐law and code‐law based countries. We argue that in code‐law based countries managers have incentives to reduce earnings consistently. This enhances the association between earnings and returns in bad news periods. We find that after controlling for discretionary accruals, the differential earnings response to bad news in Germany and France decreases significantly.Conservatism; Earnings management; Europe; Comparability;