Photo Lighting Supply, Inc.: An Auditing Case Study

Photo Lighting Supply, Inc. (PLS) is a small manufacturer of tungsten and strobe studio and location photography lighting.  This case requires students to consider the accounting matching principle, materiality, audit procedures for bonus payments, letters of representation, and planning and supervision. This case is appropriate for an introductory auditing class used near the end of the term, or used at any time in an advanced auditing class.  The requirements of the case necessitate students consult several sections of the accounting and auditing standards.  With the CPA Examination having moved to a computerized format, candidates will be required to use electronic accounting and auditing databases.  This case requires students to search the standards to prepare their solution to the case

Accountants Awareness And Perceptions About Assurance On XBRL Financial Statements

The purpose of this study is to gather information about accountants and auditors level of knowledge of XBRL and their perceptions about the importance of providing assurance and the level of assurance needed. An online survey questionnaire was used to gather data from CPAs at all levels of experience and was open from December 2009 through February 2010. The survey gathered information about the participants level of knowledge and awareness about XBRL, and their perceptions about the importance, relevance, and need for assurance on XBRL financial information. The results suggest that accountants and auditors believe that assurance on XBRL financial statements is important and will improve the accuracy and reliability of the XBRL tagged financial statements. Participants were also asked to rank the importance of assurance criteria on XBRL financial statements such as assurance on the accuracy, completeness, existence, proper taxonomies, proper extensions, valid extensions and validity and well-formedness. The results show that participants ranked assurance on the accuracy and completeness assertions as being most important and assurance on validity and well-formedness being the least important. The findings have important implications for the audit profession, as the implementation of XBRL has the potential to not only expand the role of the auditor to include auditing their clients application of XBRL tags, but might also influence the cost and time involved to conduct audit services

Earnings Informativeness And Ownership Structure In Japan

This paper investigates the association between institutional ownership structures and the quality of earnings information via changes in earnings response coefficients for a sample of Japanese firms during 1990-1998. From these results we can predict that the greater the percentage of institutional shareholders in Japan, the better the quality of earnings information and the higher the foreign ownership; the quality of earnings information is better during Japan’s recession period of 1990-1998. However, keiretsu membership percentage is not important for the quality of earnings information in Japan even though firm size, leverage ratio, and growth are important factors in earnings information in Japan

A Context-Sensitive Approach to XAI in Music Performance

The rapidly evolving field of Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) has generated significant interest in developing methods to make AI systems more transparent and understandable. However, the problem of explainability cannot be exhaustively solved in the abstract, as there is no single approach that can be universally applied to generate adequate explanations for any given AI system, and this is especially true in the arts. In this position paper, we propose an Explanatory Pragmatism (EP) framework for XAI in music performance, emphasising the importance of context and audience in the development of explainability requirements. By tailoring explanations to specific audiences and continuously refining them based on feedback, EP offers a promising direction for enhancing the transparency and interpretability of AI systems in broad artistic applications and more specifically to music performance

Academicians' And Practitioners' Views On The Importance Of The Topical Content In The First Auditing Course

The research question addressed in this study is to compare and identify differences between academics teaching auditing classes and practicing accountants regarding the importance of topics covered in the first university auditing course.  This is accomplished by surveying academics and practitioners regarding their perceptions of the importance of 41 topics addressed in current auditing textbooks.  The results show the five most important topics, as ranked by professors, are audit risk, understanding internal control, evidence, financial statement assertions, and fraud awareness.  The five most important topics as ranked by accounting practitioners, are audit risk, ethics, documentation, understanding IC, analytical procedures.  Professors teaching auditing classes face a challenge ensuring they prepare students to enter the business world equipped with all the skills necessary to be successful.  Auditing professors should give consideration to tapping into this wealth of knowledge provided by accounting professionals and reevaluate the emphasis in their current auditing class

Accounting Reform In The Republic Of Moldova

Many countries of the former Soviet Union, including Moldova, are facing the challenge of building a strong economy that will lead to long-term economic stability.  Like other former Soviet States, Moldova has had to undertake a total transition from a planned economy to a market economy.  Economic reform in Moldova has been a slow, painful process with high unemployment rates.  During the past 10 years, Moldova has made significant economic reforms, but much is yet to be accomplished.  The purpose of this paper is to examine the accounting reforms that have taken place in the Republic of Moldova since 1991, when they declared their independence from the former Soviet Union.  This paper will present background information on the Republic of Moldova, and examine the objectives of accounting reform, accounting practice reforms, and accounting education reforms

Ritualistic approach to sonic interaction design: A poetic framework for participatory sonification

Presented at the 27th International Conference on Auditory Display (ICAD 2022) 24-27 June 2022, Virtual conference.While sonification is often adopted as an analytical tool to understand data, it can also be an efficient basis for the construction of an interaction model for an aesthetic sound piece. Mirroring the performative arts, a ritualistic approach in participatory sonification can take place whenever a work relies more on the outer form of the piece, than on the meaning attributed to the information communicated, to connect with an audience, losing some degrees of readability and intelligibility in the process while maintaining a reliable data-to-sound relationship. We will present a few examples that anticipate or expand the use of sonification as analytical tool to propose aesthetic approaches, accessing more complex layers of meaning in interactive design. By proposing topological, semantic, and technical perspectives, we demonstrate the functional aspects of the multimedia artwork “The Only Object They Could Retrieve From Earth’s Lost Civilisation” (“The Only Object” from now on). Outcomes will be considered under the multidisciplinary framework here proposed, to conclude with possibilities and implications of a ritualistic approach to interaction design

Subtlety and detail in digital musical instrument design

PhD thesisSubtlety and detail are fundamental to what makes musical instruments special, and worth dedicating a life’s practice to, for designer, maker, player and listener alike. While instruments are recognised and classified by form, it is the nuances of individual instruments that constitute their power to say what could not be said any other way. Digital musical instruments (DMI) have long been criticised as lacking expressive depth, but technology of sufficient fidelity now exists, which raises compelling questions. What can contemporary DMI designers learn from heritage practices about mastering subtlety and detail? What forms does this mastery take, and how can it be elucidated, compared and shared? Using DMI design tools, kits and activities as probes, this thesis addresses these questions from the perspectives of design, embodiment and craft. In a preliminary study, violin luthiers were asked about subtlety and detail in their practice and culture. The outcomes suggested that subtle details originate in the tacit and embodied realms, which are facilitated to develop by specific contexts, environments and materials. In the first study, attendees of a DMI research conference participated in a workshop reflecting on subtlety and detail. Attendees were divided into groups and explored the physical details of a DMI design kit, in an activity book ended by discussion. Responses focused on re-interpretations of instrumental identity, suggesting that the provided context motivated in the opposite direction to the original brief. In the second study, the same kit was deployed with single rather than co-located groups of digital luthiers, modifying instead the sound of the instrument via a Pure Data patch, and responses focused less on instrumental identity and more on gesture-sound mapping strategies. Provocatively, neither studies resulted in sustained focus on details, motivating a novel DMI probe and activity for individuals. In the third study, digital and traditional instrument makers, musicians and other creatives, were invited to handcraft the resonance models of a digital tuned percussion instrument using sculpting clay, responding to constrained briefs. Participants’ backgrounds deeply influenced their responses, and distinctive themes emerged related to aesthetics, tacit and embodied knowledge, and algorithmic pattern. This thesis introduces a scale-based ontology of DMI design, dividing detail into macro, meso and micro levels. Focusing on the micro scale, a series of reflections and suggestions are provided based on the investigations, for how DMI design practitioners, technologists and researchers can illuminate this domain, for the benefit of subtle and detailed digital musical expression

CryoSat-2 Significant Wave Height in Polar Oceans Derived Using a Semi-Analytical Model of Synthetic Aperture Radar 2011–2019

This paper documents the retrieval of significant ocean surface wave heights in the Arctic Ocean from CryoSat-2 data. We use a semi-analytical model for an idealised synthetic aperture satellite radar or pulse-limited radar altimeter echo power. We develop a processing methodology that specifically considers both the Synthetic Aperture and Pulse Limited modes of the radar that change close to the sea ice edge within the Arctic Ocean. All CryoSat-2 echoes to date were matched by our idealised echo revealing wave heights over the period 2011–2019. Our retrieved data were contrasted to existing processing of CryoSat-2 data and wave model data, showing the improved fidelity and accuracy of the semi-analytical echo power model and the newly developed processing methods. We contrasted our data to in situ wave buoy measurements, showing improved data retrievals in seasonal sea ice covered seas. We have shown the importance of directly considering the correct satellite mode of operation in the Arctic Ocean where SAR is the dominant operating mode. Our new data are of specific use for wave model validation close to the sea ice edge and is available at the link in the data availability statement

Building an IDE for an embedded system using web technologies

Implementing an understandable, accessible and effective user interface is a major challenge for many products in the microcontroller and embedded computing community. Bela, an embedded system for ultra-low latency audio and sensor processing, features a browser-based integrated development environment (IDE) using web technologies (Node.js, HTML5 and CSS). This methodology has allowed us to create an IDE that is simplified and intuitive for beginners while still being useful to those more advanced, thus supporting users as they evolve in expertise