Uma abordagem institucionalista da contabilidade

A Contabilidade e as normas que regulam a sua prática social contribuem para a existência da estabilidade do funcionamento da vida socioeconómica. Devido à importância da Contabilidade enquanto mecanismo social de criação e comunicação de conhecimento e ao papel desempenhado pelas normas contabilísticas na mediação das relações entre os diversos agentes económicos, elas devem ser analisadas com recurso ao conceito de instituição, o qual permite justamente compreender esses aspectos que as caracterizam. Neste texto, utiliza-se uma abordagem institucionalista para se compreender o papel social da Contabilidade e das normas que regulam a sua prática social, procurando-se utilizá-la para compreender as estruturas conceptuais da informação financeira enquanto instrumento de regulação contabilística.Accounting and its standards contribute to the stable functioning of socioeconomic life. Due to the importance of accounting as a social knowledge creation and communication mechanism, and due to the role of accounting standards in mediating the relations between different economic agents, they should be analyzed with reference to the concept of institution, which permits understanding their characteristic aspects. In this text, an institutionalist approach is used to understand the social role of accounting and the standards regulating its social practice, with a view to using it to understand the conceptual structures of financial information as an accounting regulation instrument

Managing corporate social and environmental disclosure: An accountability vs. impression management framework

Institutional environment demands from organizations to be accountable for their social and environmental actions and to provide information allowing the assessment of their long-term prospects for profitability may lead organizations to adopt Impression Management (IM) tactics to manage perceptions. Consequently, organizations may provide accounts demonstrating that they are good corporate citizens and possess the intangible assets required for future good financial performance. Although organizations have increased their corporate social reporting, the quality and reliability of those reports have been questioned. The literature suggests that these disclosures tend to be selective and biased, and do not enhance corporate accountability. This study proposes a formal conceptual framework linking IM, social and environmental accountability, financial performance, and organizational legitimacy. The arguments in this study are of economic, societal, and ethical concern, as IM behaviors may undermine the transparency of social and environmental reporting, and the decoupling between the economic and social image offered by companies through reporting and the reality. These insights also point at the complexities for organizations in dealing with accountability to all stakeholders. The conceptual framework proposed is useful for future studies aiming at understanding how organizations use IM in their corporate social reporting in the accountability process.Delfina Gomes has conducted the study at Research Center in Political Science (UIDB/CPO/00758/2020), University of Minho/University of Évora and supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Education and Science through national funds. This research was also supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, under the project grant UIDB/05105/2020

Efficacy of Aliskiren/Hydrochlorothiazide Combination for the Treatment of Hypertension: A Meta-Analytical Approach

Background: Single-pill combinations of aliskiren/hydrochlorothiazide have recently been approved by the European Medicines Agency for the treatment of hypertension. Objective: This study aimed to assess the antihypertensive efficacy of aliskiren/hydrochlorothiazide combination in reducing systolic and diastolic blood pressure in hypertensive patients. Methods: A search in International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, MEDLINE, The Cochrane Library and ISI Web of Knowledge was performed from 2000 to November 2009, to identify randomized, double-blind, clinical trials using aliskiren/hydrochlorothiazide for the treatment of hypertension. Studies were included if they evaluated the antihypertensive efficacy of aliskiren/hydrochlorothiazide in patients with mild or moderate essential hypertension and age 18 years. The meta-analytical approach calculated the weighted average reductions of systolic and diastolic blood pressure for each daily dosage combination. Results: We included 5 clinical trials testing several combinations of aliskiren/hydrochlorothiazide and containing data on 5448 patients. In all studies blood pressure was assessed at inclusion (baseline) and after 8 weeks of therapy. Blood pressure reductions and control rates were significantly (p < 0.05) higher with the aliskiren/hydrochlorothiazide combinations than with placebo and the same doses of aliskiren or hydrochlorothiazide alone. The weighted mean reductions (mm Hg) from baseline of systolic and diastolic blood pressure for each aliskiren/hydrochlorothiazide combination were: -15.8/- 10.3 (150/25 mg); -15.9/-11.8 (300/12.5 mg); -16.9/-11.6 (300/25 mg). Blood pressure control rates (%) for the above combinations were, at least, respectively: 43.8, 50.1 and 51.9. Conclusions: Aliskiren/hydrochlorothiazide provided clinically significant additional blood pressure reductions and improved blood pressure control rates over aliskiren or hydrochlorothiazide monotherapy.We thank the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) for supporting the fellowship grant SFRH/BD/36756/ 2007 to Manuel Morgado

Circular Economy for Cities and Sustainable Development: The Case of the Portuguese City of Leiria

Funding: This research is financed by National Funds of the FCT - Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology within the project «UIDB/04928/2020» and, under the Scientific Employment Stimulus-Institutional Call CEECINST/00051/2018.The principles of the circular economy play a central role in the global economy, and its application is suggested in the context of business and urban development for creating cities capable of reinventing themselves in the long term. The main objective of this study is to assess the perception of the inhabitants of the city of Leiria (Portugal) regarding the concept of the circular economy and the acceptance of circular actions and projects, gathering their opinions and motivations, and understanding the challenges they perceive for implementing the circular economy. This study is relevant because, to date, no work has analyzed the circular practices of citizens and consequent projects for a city. The adopted methodology consisted of a mixed qualitative and quantitative approach, which was materialized in the administration of an online questionnaire to the inhabitants, workers, or students of the Municipality of Leiria. We obtained a sample of 547 answers. These results underwent statistical analysis, and it was concluded that the familiarization of study participants with the circular economy is low, but that they have a positive predisposition to engage in rental, reuse, article repair, and recycling activities. The municipality should continue to invest in the extension and promotion of circular economy initiatives in the city, since there is a predisposition of respondents towards using them, which may lead to the conclusion that they would support their implementation. This is an initial step that should promote further research into understanding the perception of citizens regarding circular economy initiatives and actions, followed by how it might be supported to achieve its full potential in cities.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Preliminary study of a non-invasive portable device for continuous monitoring of blood alcohol concentration

Alcohol is one of the main constituents of alcoholic beverages and, surely, is the oldest and most abused drug among those currently known. This substance is one of the most common causes of traffic accidents and these in turn have become, over the years, a public health issue. The target audience of this study are users that want to consciously drink alcoholic beverages and particularly professional drivers. This is the target audience since despite having greater experience and responsibility, their profession is the most affected by the consumption of alcohol, especially due to the fact they spend more hours driving than average drivers, increasing the likelihood of traffic accidents. This paper describes a portable non-invasive device for continuous monitoring of the concentration of alcohol in the blood. This device consists essentially of two primary components: an amperometric biosensor, which promotes, collects and analyzes a sample of sweat, and the data acquisition and processing system, which makes the acquisition and analog/digital conversion of the biodata and subsequent digital processing of the results. Sweat is promoted by applying the technique of iontophoresis. Measurements are performed every 5 minutes, allowing the user to know in real time and in any place, which is his alcohol level.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Management control practices as performance facilitators in a crisis context

In modern times, disruptive contexts have challenged the functioning of organisations, as shown by recent events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the current war in Europe. The literature highlights the role of management control practices (MCP) as resources that help to improve decision-making processes and organisational performance and competitiveness in a crisis context. In response to stakeholders’ pressures, companies are integrating Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) issues into their measurement and control systems. The aim of this research is to examine whether companies perceive MCP as a resource to support the decision-making process and contribute to organisational performance and competitiveness in a crisis environment, as well as to ascertain the perceived role of CSR in MC. A survey by questionnaire was conducted among the 250 major exporting companies in Portugal. Results show that in a crisis context of uncertainty and unpredictability such as the COVID-19 pandemic organisations perceive MCP as having (1) a significant influence on organisational performance and on leveraging organisational competitiveness; (2) a significant link with CSR. In general terms, this study provides new insights into the perceptions of the role of MCP as a valuable resource to achieve organisational competitiveness and performance in disruptive social and economic contexts.This research is supported by national funds, through the FCT—Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology under the project UIDB/04011/2022 and by NECE-UBI, Research Centre for Business Sciences, Research Centre under the project UIDB/04630/2022. This research has been also financed by Portuguese public funds through FCT, in the framework of the projects with references UIDB/05105/2020 and UIDB/04105/2020

Methodological Rationale for the Taxonomy of the PO.EX Digital Archive

The PO.EX Digital Archive aims to create a digital representation of large corpus of intermedia literary works produced by Portuguese authors since the 1960s. In the process of remediating these works for the current digital networked environment we address metadata issues in a way that satisfies both our material and textual analysis of intermediality, and also the interoperability requirements of current information systems. The creation of a taxonomy for organizing and classifying a diverse array of materials such as those that constitute the digital archive of Portuguese Experimental Poetry (which includes Performance, Digital, Concrete, Spatial, Sound, Video, and Visual poetry) is a challenging task for the present researchers. The purpose of this article is to offer a brief rationale for our decisions, and to explain and illustrate our classification system.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The impact of media pressure on corporate sustainability in the cement industry : a portuguese case study

In this study we examine the sustainability reporting practices and sustainability strategies of a leading Portuguese cement company. The Portuguese cement industry had to deal since 1997 with scrutiny and pressure because of its involvement in co-incineration of hazardous industrial waste. Grounded on a lens of analysis combining legitimacy theory and media agenda-setting theory and based on a content analysis of sustainability reports and semi-structured interviews, we analyse the strategies used by the company to deal with said scrutiny and pressure and present its sustainability performance. Media pressure does seem to have impacted sustainability reporting and sustainability strategies as tools for the company to restore its legitimacy. Findings generally suggest that strategies of communication designed to legitimate the company actions were used. In particular, we suggest that the company managed its legitimacy by using simultaneously two sustainability reporting strategies: one of image enhancement and other of avoidance of threatening topics.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Sustainability in small and medium-sized enterprises: a systematic literature review and future research agenda

The following supporting information can be downloaded at: ttps://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/su14116493/s1, PRISMA checklist.Main aim: This paper examines the main topics of research in the literature studying the topic of sustainability in small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), and aims at presenting a future research agenda. Method: We conducted a systematic literature review based on articles published between 2000 and 2020. From an initial set of 88 papers taken from WoS in the period under analysis, 42 papers were effectively analyzed. Main results: The results of an in-depth reading reveal four clusters representing the main topics of research in the field: sustainability and SMEs’ performance; green and environmental management issues; social and cultural issues and their impact on sustainability policies; values, skills, and capabilities. Key findings suggest that the following angles of research appear to be underexplored: theoretically grounded research; research using large samples; articles examining sustainability reporting; research looking into non-manufacturing sectors; work examining settings in developing countries; research undertaking international comparisons; articles exploring the complementarity between the literature on sustainability in SMEs and on family-owned businesses; and the influence of the social and cultural context on SMEs’ engagement with sustainability. Main contribution: This paper offers insights to academia, practitioners, and policy makers to help SMEs engaging with sustainability and may assist also the latter to develop strategies to improve SMEs’ social and environmental reporting. Given the current pandemic crisis, and the urgency for sustainable business practices, we expect to contribute to expanding knowledge in this field of research

Non-Financial Reporting and Assurance: A New Opportunity for Auditors? Evidence from Portugal

Research on auditing professionals’ perceptions of non-financial reporting and its assurance is relatively scarce, and the majority of the existing studies pay little attention to the assurance aspect. Our study contributes to strengthening this type of research by investigating Portuguese audit professionals’ perceptions of non-financial reporting and its assurance. The purpose of the current paper is to identify the perceptions of Portuguese audit professionals about non-financial reporting, particularly the responsibility for its preparation, its mandatory or voluntary natures, and how to improve non-financial reporting and its assurance. We also analyze whether these perceptions are associated with sex and work experience. The perceptions of statutory auditors were surveyed by using a questionnaire. Results allow us to conclude that Portuguese statutory auditors agree that non-financial reporting assurance is an important practice, and that company management should be responsible for the preparation and publication of non-financial reports. They consider that assurance of these reports should be conducted by a statutory auditor and think that the Institute of Portuguese Statutory Auditors should have a more active role in this matter. Notwithstanding, very few of the respondents have experience with this type of assurance, which may explain their acknowledgment of the importance of additional training. Work experience and sex do not influence the perceptions of the auditors. Findings suggest the existence of a positive attitude towards non-financial reporting and its assurance associated with the acknowledgement of its underdevelopment in Portugal. As far as we are aware, our study is the first to focus exclusively on Portuguese auditing professionals’ perceptions concerning non-financial reporting and assurance.Funding: This research is financed by National Funds of the FCT—Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology within the project «UIDB/04928/2020» and, under the Scientific Employment Stimulus—Institutional Call CEECINST/00051/2018.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio