Auditor independence and earnings management

Abstract. This research paper investigates the auditor’s independence especially in today’s modern age where the role of auditor is becoming more and more important as businesses are developing and more and more use of technology, on one hand limits the use of personnel but on the other hand hides the possible effects of human error makes the job even more difficult. So, this paper investigates that how independent the auditors are in today’s world and what are the factors that can affect their independence like non-audit services and what sort of affects, auditor independence can have on earnings management and some suggestions that how the auditors can actually be independent instead of hiding behind the image of being independent when actually they are just a dummy in the hands of the management. I have examined the independence of the auditor by the provision of non-audit services and to what extent auditors independence can allow management to do earnings management or window dressing in Finnish markets by taking the data of the Finnish listed companies. I have used three hypotheses to prove that either the provision of non-audit services does affect the independence or not and to what extent earnings management can be linked with loss of auditor independence. I have used yearly regression model initially and tested the same models with pooled regression models. The yearly tests which I have used suggest that there is a positive relationship between audit and non-audit fees. Though I couldn’t find significant results for either of relationship between audit fees and discretionary accruals or non-audit fees and discretionary accruals, a measure of earnings management. When I used pooled regression model, I do find positive relationship between audit and non-audit fees. I also found positive relationship between audit fees and discretionary accruals, when the results were insignificant in yearly regression model. The pooled regression results for relation between non-audit fees and discretionary accruals were insignificant though. So, my findings were not enough to prove that auditors do lose their independence because of provision of non-audit services and that to what extent auditors independence can give room to management for earnings management

Compensating for source depth change and observing surface waves using underwater communication signals

Underwater communications impose great challenges due to the unpredictable changes in the environment. In order to accommodate for these changes, equalizers are used to track the Impulse Responses (IRs) and compensate the intersymbol interference (ISI). Source and array depth shifts are one of the major contributing factors to continuous amplitude and phase changes in IR. These changes magnify the problem of data processing in which correlation between successive received signals is involved, e.g. passive Time Reversal (pTR) where a probe signal is sent ahead of the data for post cross-correlation. In this paper, an environment based algorithm is used for pTR equalization, where an appropriate frequency shift of the estimated IR compensates for the geometric changes such as source and array depth shifts. We have applied this Frequency Shift pTR equalizer (FSpTR) on real data collected from Underwater Acoustic Barrier 2007 (UAB’07) sea trial having 1000 baud BPSK signaling at carrier frequency of 6.25 KHz with a sudden source depth change of 0.5 m at various known instants of time. The results illustrate that a considerable gain can be attained using the environment based equalizer in the presence of source and/or array depth changes. Moreover by close analysis of the FSpTR results we have detected surface wave motion through the frequency shifts caused by the array depth variations

Arrival-based equalizer for underwater communication systems

One of the challenges in the present underwater acoustic communication systems is to combat the underwater channel effects which results in time and frequency spreading of the transmitted signal. The time spreading is caused by the multipath effect while the frequency spreading is due to the time variability of the underwater channel. The passive Time Reversal (pTR) equalizer has been used in underwater communications because of its time focusing property which minimizes the time spreading effect of the underwater channel. In order to compensate for the frequency spreading effect, an improved version of pTR was proposed, called Frequency shift passive time reversal (FSpTR). FSpTR tries to compensate for the frequency spreading by applying a frequency shift in the estimated channel impulse response (IR). In the multipath environment, multiple replicas of the transmitted signal reaches the receiver through different paths where each path is affected differently by environmental variations. In such cases, a single frequency shift fails to compensate for the environmental variations on each path, resulting in degradation in the performance. In this paper, an arrival-based equalizer is proposed to compensate for the environmental variations on each path. The concept of beamforming is integrated with FSpTR equalizer, in this paper, to compensate each arrival separately for the environmental variations. The proposed equalizer is tested with the real data and the results showed that the proposed approach outperforms pTR and FSpTR equalizers and provides a mean MSE gain of 4.9 dB and 4.2 dB respectively.This work is supported by Portuguese Foundation for Science Technology under PHITOM (PTDC/EEATEL/71263/2006) and COGNAT (PTDC/MAR/112446/2009) projects. This work was also supported by European Community’s Sixth Framework Program through the grant to the budget of the Integrated Infrastructure Initiative HYDRALAB III within the Transnational Access Activities, Contract no. 022441

Potential of vertical line array beamforming in underwater acoustic communications

Um dos principais tópicos atuais de pesquisa é ́ a concepçãoo de técnicas de processamento de sinal eficazes para comunicações submarinas. Este interesse é reforç ̧ado pelos desafios inerentes às condições incontroláveis, como a batimetria, a temperatura, e as variações temporais (geométricas) das profundidades da fonte e da antena de receptores. A obtenção de taxas de transmissão modestas é ainda um desafio, devido a estas variações. O presente trabalho aborda o uso potencial do formador de feixes (beamformer) no sistema de comunicações submarinas. O propósito de usar um beamformer neste trabalho é o de separar os diferentes caminhos que chegam do transmissor para o recetor, o que é motivado pelo fato de que, num ambiente real, não é possível distinguir todos os caminhos de propagação, no domínio do tempo. Neste trabalho, é usado o beamformer de atraso-e-soma, que aplica atrasos diferentes para cada hidrofone da antena vertical, e adiciona as saídas resultantes. Cada um dos atrasos é função do ângulo de chegada e da profundidade do hidrofone. O objetivo do beamformer é aplicar os atrasos opostos a cada elemento da antena vertical, para garantir a soma coerente da frente de onda numa direção particular. Ambos resultados com dados simulados e dados reais são apresentados neste trabalho, para mostrar o desempenho do beamformer. Os resultados do beamformer são comparados com os resultados da análise Doppler, para caracterizar chegadas diferentes e fazer corresponder essas chegadas às variações Doppler, mostrando que cada chegada é afetada pelas variações ambientais de uma maneira diferente, resultando numa quantidade diferente de Doppler

An Empirical Study of Technology Business Incubation on Economic Growth of Pakistan

Technology Business Incubators (TBIs) are seen as a mechanism that could create supportive and entrepreneurial environments for technology-based start-ups, helping them to increase their survival rates. TBIs are designed to offer start-ups the technological support and services and a solution in bridging the knowledge gap to help them develop their own viable businesses, by providing are source-based necessary for supporting their development in early and critical stage. Many TBIs have been established in hoping to promote national economic growth. To promote the success of TBIs in emerging markets, it is therefore important for the incubator management team or policy makers to understand the necessary resource required to support the development of their start-ups in order to help them to become viable businesses. The purpose of this paper is to determine enabling factors influencing the success of technology business incubators (TBIs) with respect to existing and acquired resources, and describe how these enabling factors have been implemented in practice to increase the economic growth of Pakistan. Keywords: Technology, business Incubators, Entrepreneurship, Innovatio

The Role of Technology Entrepreneurship towards Economic Growth: An Application of RFID in Livestock Sector of Pakistan

Over the last three eras, technology entrepreneurship has turned into an essential driver of economic development. The interconnection between entrepreneurship and technology is valuable to distinguish the most applicable techniques for competitiveness in the business areas and supporting new ventures. In today’s competitive environment, Technology entrepreneurship is considered to be an essential element by which an organization can accomplish maintainable development and solve confronting issues related to its processes. In fact, the technological entrepreneurial approach is predicted to add to feasible development and growth toward Knowledge economy. The expansion and diffusion of technology is an essential component which might influence the fate of any industry. In this modern era, one of the significant contribution of  information and communication technology (ICT) in livestock sector is advancement of electronic labels for distinctive ID of animals by utilizing Radio frequency identification (RFID) chips, which are inexpensive, distinctive and tamperproof. Automatic identification of animal assists in enhancing the farm administration practices and prosperity of animals. The foremost goal of this paper is to familiarize the reader with the hypothetical lens of technology entrepreneurship approach with an emphasis on livestock sector of Pakistan. Therefore, this study is an endeavor to find out what opportunities Technological Entrepreneurship and particularly RFID offers to entrepreneurs to exploit current scientific and innovative knowledge to address market issues that will bring business achievement and economic growth by using the secondary data. This paper will first give an ephemeral introduction of technology and Entrepreneurship. Specifically, the relationship between technology and entrepreneurship is scrutinized. Additionally, it will address the issues confronted by livestock sector in Pakistan while executing RFID, thus emphasizing the shortcomings and deficiencies of the RFID in Pakistan. At last, detail argument shall be made on the role of technologies entrepreneurial and its overall impact on the economy growth. Keywords: Technology, Entrepreneurs, Economic growth, Technology entrepreneurs, Livestock, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)

Relationship of Computer Usage and Work Self-Efficacy of Employees in the Organizations

An individual’s perceived ability to adopt computer or information technology successfully has been shown to be major factor affecting his or her willingness to accept new technology. Hence, the relationship of self-efficacy with information system usage (computer, Internet, new information technology, etc.) is noteworthy. This research aims at studying exactly that. Four major constructs of self-efficacy presented by Albert Bandura are discussed in the paper. The literature review and the relevant researches, mentioned previously, all suggest that a relationship exists between Computer/Information System Usage and Self-efficacy, both in learning institutions and workplace environments. This study, however aims at interrogating this relationship at workplace environments of Rawalpindi/Islamabad regions of Pakistan, in particular. To conclude the results 150 questionnaires were distributed out of which we received 127 back. The participants have matriculation to doctorate qualification; however, majority had master’s degree which is sixteen years of education in Pakistan. This study and its findings are significant on another level as well. Throughout the literature review, the researches that have been quoted have all been carried out abroad. Although, there is an advent of Information Technology in Pakistan and individuals are getting to be computer savvy, little to no research can be found that has been conducted here. This may be an initial step and that too in the small cities of Rawalpindi/Islamabad; the results nonetheless are promising and can pave a way for more thorough and large scale future investigations on the matter. In conclusion, the findings can also assist in creating awareness regarding the association between computer self-efficacy and work self-efficacy amongst the population. This in turn, can help bring about a change in the opinions and attitudes of individuals thus, creating a constructive and optimistic approach toward Information System and Computer usage whereby, increasing employee productivity and performance. Keywords: Self-Efficacy, Technological Self-Efficacy, Work Self-Efficacy, Information System’s Usage, Organizations and Computer Usage

The Role of Technology Entrepreneurship in Higher Education Sector of Developing Countries: A Case Study of Pakistan

In modern theories of growth and development, technological innovation has taken the focus stage and such innovations are commercialized by technology entrepreneurs. Colleges and universities are investing heavily in the development of their student’s entrepreneurial skills and have tremendous impact on innovation and entrepreneurial development. Universities today equally function as an important driving force to enhance economic value by creation of networks with innovators across a region through their incubators and scientific and technology parks. In developed countries many entrepreneurs start up their companies at their universities but in developing countries there are so many challenges yet to be faced by new starts up. Technology entrepreneurship in education basically explores how technology entrepreneurs are applying business practices or technology innovations to transform education to lead to higher performance. As higher education industry is changing radically and that transformation is worth for commercial benefits of businesses and also for innovative startups. Today the presence of colleges and universities are not only meant to be the gatekeeper of knowledge and information instead various innovators are in flowing as entrepreneurs in education industry. This study will explore that in what ways technology entrepreneurship is facilitating the educator sector of the emerging economies specifically in Pakistan. Keywords: Technology entrepreneurship, High Education Sector, Developing economies, Business Incubation Centers

Biologically-inspired transport of solid spherical nanoparticles in an electrically-conducting viscoelastic fluid with heat transfer

Bio-inspired pumping systems exploit a variety of mechanisms including peristalsis to achieve more efficient propulsion. Non-conducting, uniformly dispersed, spherical nano-sized solid particles suspended in viscoelastic medium forms a complex working matrix. Electromagnetic pumping systems often employ complex working fluids. A simulation of combined electromagnetic bio-inspired propulsion is observed in the present article. Currents formation has increasingly more applications in mechanical and medical industries. A mathematical study is conducted for magnetohydrodynamic pumping of a bi-phase nanofluid coupled with heat transfer in a planar channel. Two-phase model is employed to separately identity the effects of solid nanoparticles. Base fluid employs Jeffery’s model to address viscoelastic characteristics. The model is simplified using of long wavelength and creeping flow approximations. The formulation is taken to wave frame and non-dimensionalize the equations. The resulting boundary value problem is solved analytically, and exact expressions are derived for the fluid velocity, particulate velocity, fluid/particle temperature, fluid and particulate volumetric flow rates, axial pressure gradient and pressure rise. The influence of volume fraction density, Prandtl number, Hartmann number, Eckert number and relaxation time on flow and thermal characteristics is evaluated in detail. The axial flow is accelerated with increasing relaxation time and greater volume fraction whereas it is decelerated with greater Hartmann number. Both fluid and particulate temperature are increased with increment in Eckert and Prandtl number whereas it is reduced when the volume fraction density increases. With increasing Hartmann, number pressure rise is reduced. Furthermore, pressure is reduced with greater relaxation time in the retrograde pumping region whereas it is elevated in the co-pumping and free pumping regions. The number of the trapped boluses is decreased whereas the quantity of boluses increases with a rise in volume fraction density of particles