Are Financing Needs a Constraint to Earnings Management? Evidence for Private Portuguese Firms.

In this paper I test two intuitions. First, that small private firms have incentives to undertake earnings management. Second, that firms’ financing needs are one of such incentives, constraining the sense of the income manipulation. The tax incentive is deemed to motivate firms into adopting income decreasing actions aimed at reducing the tax bill, and is especially strong in an environment where they are managed by the owners and with close alignment between the accounting and tax systems. However, the debt incentive, which tends to affect mainly those firms with high financing needs, is expected to act as a constraint to the adoption of income decreasing actions, given that firms want to signal their quality to banks. The empirical evidence obtained from a sample of small private Portuguese firms fully supports my intuitions, showing that firms with low financing needs tend to focus on the minimization of the tax bill. Those with high needs are more pervasive in reporting larger profits. Moreover, firms with audited accounts seem to show a lower likelihood of reporting profits, and tentative explanations are either that they are more constrained in adopting earnings management actions, or that audited accounting may act as a signal of their quality, a kind of substitute for the signal underlying the sign and size of reported earnings.earnings management, incentives, income tax, small firms, Portugal.

Civic Education in Basic School: Problems and Challenges in the Digital Age

This paper focus on the analysis of preliminary data of an ongoing study involving Portuguese teachers and students, in the non-disciplinary curricular area of Civic Education. The project aims at encouraging collaborative behaviour in educational communities, involving teachers and students in the development of digital contents, and at exploring different issues on citizenship education, under a case-based methodology. We believe this action research study is of relevance because it can unveil examples of good practices and innovative teaching strategies that need to be disseminated in this compulsory subject taking into account the results of recent studies, which exposed some of the inefficiency of the strategies adopted so far

Unequal Impact of Conservatism on Accrual Measures and Drivers: Implications for the Specification of Accrual Models

This study makes two main contributions to the literature. Firstly, it tests empirically the relative timeliness of accrual measures and earnings components used as explanatory variables in accrual models (“accrual drivers”) regarding the impact of conservatism. Secondly, taking into account the empirical evidence on such a timeliness, it discusses intuitively potential implications for the specification of (traditional) accrual models and the quality of discretionary accrual estimates. It concludes that common accrual models, as Jones (1991), are misspecified. They have a dependent variable (accruals) asymmetrically affected by conservatism, and one or more explanatory variables that are not affected, inducing a non-systematic measurement error in estimating discretionary accruals.accruals; accrual models; discretionary accruals; conservatism.

Technology Ethics in Qualitative Research: How to Be

This introductory note stems from the organization of a special edition of articles from the World Conference on Qualitative Research. Some researchers put forth criticisms about using software in qualitative data analysis, such as losing control in the coding process and leading researchers to use a particular method of analysis according to tool characteristics. Moreover, a number of the scientists believe that the advantages of using specific tools in data analysis are numerous, such as the analysis of an enormous amounts of data, but doing research involves personal or institutional aspects that enter the field of ethics. In the case of specific qualitative data analysis software, it would be possible to list a set of principles that would begin with the organization and importing of data, proceed with their interpretative and descriptive codification followed by questioning the data, up to exporting results to their written dissemination. Such principles could set the boundaries or define ethics in the use of software, referring to any research activity that touches what is right or wrong, good or bad, moral or immoral. This text is in line with the belief shared by others that work studies that can be performed on computational ethics will influence not only the use of Qualitative Data Analysis software but also their development

Partial Derivative Automaton for Regular Expressions with Shuffle

We generalize the partial derivative automaton to regular expressions with shuffle and study its size in the worst and in the average case. The number of states of the partial derivative automata is in the worst case at most 2^m, where m is the number of letters in the expression, while asymptotically and on average it is no more than (4/3)^m

Professores de educação física em Portugal: entre a formação inicial e o exercício profissional

No presente estudo procurou-se analisar as representações que os professores das diferentes escolas de Educação Física em Portugal possuem acerca da relação existente entre a sua formação inicial e o exercício da profissão docente, nomeadamente a nível da sua adequabilidade, das limitações dessa formação e das expetativas criadas. Recorrendo a uma metodologia de cariz qualitativo o estudo centrou-se num grupo de quinze professores com formações iniciais realizadas nas instituições portuguesas mais marcantes do século XX: o Instituto Nacional de Educação Física, as Escolas Superiores de Educação Física, os Institutos Superiores de Educação de Lisboa e do Porto e as Faculdades de Ciências do Desporto e Educação Física. Concluiu-se que estes professores, independentemente da sua escola, consideram que a sua formação inicial, apesar de algumas limitações em áreas muito específicas, os preparou adequadamente para o exercício da sua atividade enquanto professores de Educação Física, tendo correspondido, na sua generalidade, às suas expectativas.In this study, we have sought to analyse the representations that teachers from the various schools of Physical Education in Portugal have of the relationship between their initial training and the teaching practice in terms of its adequacy, limitations of training and expectations. Based on a qualitative methodology, the study focused on a group of fifteen teachers with initial training performed in the most distinguished Portuguese institutions in the 20th century: the National Institute of Physical Education, the Higher Schools of Physical Education, the Colleges of Physical Education of Lisbon and Porto and the Faculties of Sports Sciences and Physical Education. We have concluded that, regardless of their school, teachers feel that their initial training, despite being limited in some very specific areas, has prepared them adequately for practice, and has, in general, met their expectations.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologi

Sapo Campus: what users really think about an institutionally supported PLE

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A Identidade socioprofissional dos professores de educação física em Portugal

O presente estudo tem como principal objectivo investigar a forma como os professores de Educação Física se relacionam e se veem relativamente a outros colegas do grupo disciplinar, avaliando o poder preditivo de variáveis, como a escola de formação inicial ou a experiência profissional, que concorrem para a (in) definição da sua identidade profissional. Recorrendo a uma metodologia de cariz qualitativo a investigação centrou-se num grupo de quinze professores com formações iniciais distintas da área disciplinar de Educação Física realizadas nas instituições mais marcantes de Portugal no século XX: Instituto Nacional de Educação Física (INEF), Institutos Superiores de Educação Física (ISEF), Escolas Instrutores de Educação Física (EIEF) e Faculdades de Ciências do Desporto e Educação Física (FCDEF). As principais conclusões do estudo sugerem-nos a existência de alguma coesão dentro do grupo disciplinar de Educação Física, já que os professores mais novos reconhecem que a sua evolução depende, também da relação que estabelecem com os mais velhos e os mais velhos reconhecem que os mais novos são indispensáveis na atualização de determinados saberes, procurando, pois, baseados nestes pressupostos, estabelecer uma relação profícua entre todos, independentemente da geração em questão ou da escola de formação inicial.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologi

The socio-professional status of physical education teachers in Portugal: a qualitative approach

Despite some worth mentioning initiatives, Physical Education teaching in Portugal was only unveiled and recognized at a later stage by others than the ones directly involved in it. In fact, during most of the 20th century, both the subject and the teachers were clearly considered to have a peripheral status, particularly when compared to their professional peers. Considering the changes in the last decades, we found it pertinent to analyse how these teachers perceive the status that is assigned to them by teachers of other subjects, and also by their students. For the purpose of this analysis, we used a qualitative methodology in our study focused on a group of fifteen teachers with varied degrees in Physical Education, and graduated from some of the most distinguished schools in Portugal since the 1940s until the end of the 20th century. We concluded that there could be made a definition to a certain extent, regarding what the other teachers think about the status of Physical Education teachers. Some of the teachers, namely those graduated from institutes, ISEF (College of Physical Education), realise that their fellow teachers do not recognize their true value and treat them as the "poor relatives" of education. Nevertheless, there are those who perceive and recognize their value and treat them as equals. More consensual, however, seem to be their perceptions about the opinion of students and staff, as our study tends to show that Physical Education teachers feel that they assign them anidentical status to that of teachers of other subjects.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologi

A auto-imagem profissional dos professores de educação física em Portugal

O presente artigo pretende analisar a forma como os professores de Educação Física se percepcionam enquanto docentes. É um estudo que coloca a ênfase na percepção dos sujeitos em questões relativas à construção da sua identidade docente. Situando-nos num quadro de um paradigma não positivista, recorremos a uma metodologia de cariz qualitativo. O estudo centrou-se num grupo de quinze professores com formações iniciais distintas da área da Educação Física realizadas nas instituições mais marcantes de Portugal. Concluímos que os professores, independentemente da escola de formação, se definem como exigentes, disciplinadores e metódicos. Verificámos, ainda, que há concepções e actuações diferentes no âmbito do ensino da Educação Física.This article aims to analyze how Physical Education teachers perceive themselves as instructors. It is a study that emphasizes perception of teachers regarding the construction of their teaching. Placing ourselves in a context of a non- positivist paradigm we resort to a methodology of a qualitative nature. The study focused on a group of fifteen teachers with basic training other than the subject area of Physical Education held in the most remarkable institutions in Portugal. We conclude that teachers, independently of school training are defined as demanding, disciplining and methodical. We also verified that there are different conceptions and actions in teaching Physical Education.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologi