During the last fifteen years, the professional architecture literature has encouraged practicing architects to increase their involvement in real estate development. Such participation may take several forms ranging from early conceptual development to financial investment. A typical scenario involves a developer asking the architect to forgo all or part of his professional fee in return for an investment interest in the project. However, the literature has done little to equip these novice architects/investors with the practical tools necessary to make informed investment decisions. If an architect is considering such an investment, he must do so with an understanding of what he is giving up and what he can expect in terms of future benefits. / M. Arch.

Yes / This study investigates the associations between audit committee characteristics and the likelihood of auditors' going-concern decisions among UK failed firms. Specifically, we examine whether the threat posed by auditor-provided non-audit services (NAS) to auditors' reporting decisions is mediated by audit committee characteristics. We find that failed firms with higher proportions of independent non-executive directors (NEDs) and financial experts on the audit committee are more likely to receive auditor going-concern modifications prior to failure, but that there is no significant relationship between NAS fees and the likelihood of receiving a going-concern modification. The evidence further suggests that the association between NAS and auditors' reporting decisions is subject to audit committee characteristics. Where the audit committee is more independent and includes a greater proportion of financial experts, auditors providing the client with NAS are less likely to issue a standard unmodified going-concern report prior to failure. Overall, the findings provide support for corporate governance regulators' concerns about the monitoring benefits of audit committee independence and the presence of financial expertise on the audit committee for auditors' reporting decisions.

Doctor of Philosophy / This study explores whether companies that engage in outsourcing suffer negative audit-related consequences. Outsourcing exposes companies to third-party risk, which is the risk associated with outsourcing IT systems and/or business operations to external companies. Publicly traded companies in the United States are required to file a financial report with the Securities and Exchange Commission each year that includes a discussion of significant risks the company faces. I use this disclosure to identify companies that reveal third-party risk as a major threat to their organization and use machine learning to develop a measure that distinguishes companies exposed to third-party risk from those that are not. Using this measure, I examine whether companies exposed to third-party risk arrangements are more likely to suffer from low quality internal controls, to experience a cybersecurity incident, or to pay higher fees to their external auditor. The results do not show an association between my measure of third-party risk and the likelihood that a company reports a problem with internal controls. However, I do find that companies exposed to third-party risk are more likely to experience a cybersecurity incident. Lastly, I find that companies exposed to third-party risk pay higher fees to their external auditors in the initial year that this risk appears in their annual report. Overall, these results provide initial empirical evidence on the existence and consequences of third-party risk. The findings may be of interest to accounting professionals and managers who are in the early stages of learning to identify and manage their third-party risk exposure. Regulators may also benefit from this study as they contemplate updating the auditing standards related to outsourcing.

This item contains the agenda, minutes, and attachments for the Faculty Senate meeting on this date. There may be additional materials from the meeting available at the Faculty Center.

The introduction of user fees and surcharges for medicinal products and foods for special medical purposes is considered to be one of the steps preceding the implementation of health policy reform. As of 1 January 2008, four basic fees were introduced in the Czech healthcare system with the objective of reducing unnecessary demand and misuse of health care. The objective of my Diploma Thesis was to map and evaluate the effects of the introduction of user fees on patients{\crq} number of visits to outpatient specialists. Three main objectives were formulated during my work on this thesis. The first objective was to provide a coherent overview of the issues related to the introduction and use of fees introduced on 1 January 2008 for outpatient specialists. The second objective was to compare patients{\crq} rate of visits to outpatient specialists with the year 2007. The third objective was to evaluate whether the patients{\crq} number of visits to outpatient specialists decreased in relation to age, gender, care provided, and kind of disease. Subsequently, four hypotheses were formulated. Hypothesis 1: The patients{\crq}rate of visits to outpatient specialists decreased compared to the year 2007 as a result of the introduction of user fees. Hypothesis 2: Compared to the year 2007, the introduction of user fees resulted in no considerable decrease in the rate of visits for patients with chronic diseases. Hypothesis 3: The impact of user fees on the rate of visits to outpatient specialists will be comparable for both genders. Hypothesis 4: The introduction of user fees will not result in a prolongation of the interval between the respective visits of patients to outpatient specialists. Quantitative research and method of questioning were used to achieve the goals and verify the hypotheses. The questionnaire technique was used for data collection. The research survey group for the questionnaire comprised physicians with outpatient specialties practicing in South Bohemia, Hradec Králové, Liberec,and Plzeň Regions, Capital City of Prague, Central Bohemia, Ústí and Zlín regions. The final research group comprised 79 specialist physicians with specialties as follows: allergology and clinical immunology, anesthesiology, dermatovenerology, gynecology, surgery, internal medicine, pneumology, ophthalmology, ENT, oncology, orthopedics, neurology, psychiatry, rehabilitation, and urology. The Diploma Thesis met its main objectives, as well as its partial objectives. The second, third, and fourth hypotheses were confirmed. The first hypothesis was not verified successfully in this research. The results of my research suggest that user fees had an impact on patients{\crq} rate of visits to outpatient specialists and can be used for publication in professional journals.

Depuis l’antiquité, les avocats entretiennent avec l’argent une relation particulière.Jouant à la fois un rôle sur le plan social et professionnel, il constitue un élémentdéterminant de la profession.Le XIXe et le XXe « siècles de l’argent », symboles de la révolution industrielle,des mutations sociales et de l’avènement de la bourgeoisie ne peuvent qu’influencer lesrapports entre l’avocat et l’argent. Toutefois, si elles demeurent toujours très proches, laprofession à travers sa déontologie tente d’éloigner ces deux notions en instaurant leconcept du désintéressement et l’idée de mission sociale.Mais c’est sans compter sur la force et la puissance des transformations sociétales.Refuser de vivre avec son temps expose aux critiques et attise la suspicion. Plus quejamais il est l’heure pour les avocats de considérer leur profession comme un métier etde lever le voile sur des siècles de mystère dans ce lien les unissant à l’argent. / Since antiquity, lawyers have a special relationship with money. As a key elementof the profession, it plays both a social and a professional role in it.The 19th and 20th « money centuries », symbols of the industrial revolution, ofdeep social changes and of the advent of the middle class, obviously influenced thelinks between lawyers and money. However, as close as these two notions may remain,the profession tries, through its deontology, to keep a distance between them, institutingthe concept of disinterest and the idea of social mission.But it has to take into account the strength and power of societal changes.Refusing to move with the times can only raise criticisms and stir suspicion. More thanever, it is time for lawyers to consider their profession as a metier and to lift the veilfrom centuries of mystery about their links with money.

The topic of this master thesis is focused on the financing of the tertiary education. Tertiary education is considered to be one of the best investments. This has resulted in a growing demand for it across the whole society. This is one of the reasons why the theme of financing of the tertiary education is often discussed. The main goal of this master thesis is to analyze opinions of the university students on various forms of tuition fees at public universities. The thesis is divided into two essentials parts - a theoretical and practical one. The theoretical part defines the Czech educational system, expose its weaknesses and trends, then describes the system of financing of tertiary education. The practical part is implemented to achieve the objectives of the thesis and it is focused on empirical research. The conclusion summarizes the results that were achieved during the processing of this thesis.

Topic of the thesis is the duration of studies at universities in the Czech Republic and the effect of fees for excessive study duration on the duration of studies. It focuses on undergraduate programs at public universities, for which the fees are applicable. Author exploits data from the national student register and data on the amount of fees from most Czech universities to build a regression model. Awareness of students on the fees policy was determined by questionnaire for participants of a widely used admission test (National Comparative Test Scio). It has been found, that at the average, 41% of students extended nominal length of study program before completing it, with highest share observed in humanities. About 10% of students extended the nominal length of study by more than one year. Fees apply to one-fifth of the students, half of them because their unsuccessful studies had been attributed to their actual length of study. The results show that time to degree is only insignificantly related to the potential amount of the fee; only in the case of students of one public university we have found mild relationship and CZK 1,000 fee increase should shorten time to degree by 6 days. Influence on the length of unsuccessful studies is more pronounced and represents 10 to 90 days per CZK 1,000. Low effect...

Ett offentligt uppköpserbjudande innebär att ett aktiebolag, budgivaren, lämnar ett erbjudande ställt på generella villkor till aktieägarna i ett annat aktiebolag, målbolaget, i syfte att förvärva aktierna i det sistnämnda bolaget. Offentliga uppköpserbjudanden är vanligt förekommande på den svenska värdepappersmarknaden och eftersom transaktioner av detta slag är väldigt komplexa är det av stor vikt att förtroendet för marknaden upprätthålls under sådana förfaranden.  En viktig faktor för att upprätthålla förtroendet för aktiemarknaden på ett effektivt sätt är att självreglering föreligger. För Sveriges del utgörs självregleringen av-seende offentliga uppköpserbjudaden av de s.k. Takeover-reglerna (TO-reglerna). Den senaste revideringen av TO-reglerna skedde den 1 februari år 2015 och med-förde ett förbud mot s.k. budrelaterade arrangemang, även kallat break-up fees. Break-up fees är ett avtal som ingås mellan budgivare och målbolag i syfte att målbolaget ska vara skyldigt att utge en ersättning till budgivaren ifall förvärvet inte fullföljs. Break-up fees skapades under 1980-talet i USA och används flitigt än i dag på den amerikanska aktiemarknaden i syfte att främst åstadkomma en ”försäkringsfunktion” för budgivaren vid takeovers. För budgivaren är offentliga uppköpserbjudanden nämligen ofta förenade med stora kostnader till följd av omfattande förberedelser. Genom denna ”försäkring” uppnås en kostnadstäckningsfunktion och minskar således den ekonomiska risken som är förenad med takeovers. Den senaste revideringen har sin grund i de ändringar som tidigare hade skett i den brittiska motsvarigheten till TO-reglerna. I Storbritannien ansågs det vara nödvändigt att införa ett förbud mot break-up fees eftersom denna typ av avtal ansågs begränsa målbolaget vid takeover-förfaranden. Break-up fees ansågs således resultera i en otillbörlig fördel för budgivaren. Liknande resonemang anfördes under arbetet med de svenska reglerna vilket resulterade i ett svenskt förbud mot break-up fees. Förbudet är emellertid inte absolut utan Aktiemarknadsnämnden (AMN) har möjlighet att lämna dispens från förbudet.  Även om break-up fees är vanligt förekommande i USA har avtal av detta slag endast förekommit i mycket ringa omfattning i Sverige. Till följd av detta väcker förbudet mot break-up fees en stor osäkerhet beträffande de konsekvenser som förbudet kommer resultera i och huruvida förbudet borde ha införts i svensk rätt. Den amerikanska forskningen visar att break-up fees resulterar bl.a. i att målbolag försätts i en god förhandlingsposition, uppnår riskminimering till följd av ovannämnda kostnadstäckning, skapar förtroende för aktiemarknaden i allmänhet och transaktionen i synnerhet. Forskningen visar även att fler takeovers fullföljs ifall en break-up fee har ingåtts mellan parterna.  I detta arbete förs resonemang beträffande anledningen till att de svenska TO-reglerna har följt utvecklingen av de motsvarande brittiska reglerna och således införandet av förbud mot break-up fees. Det diskuteras även huruvida målbolagsstyrelsen är förhindrad att p.g.a. det aktuella förbudet fullgöra sina skyldigheter enligt gällande rätt. Vidare diskuteras hur aktieägarskyddet vid offentliga uppköpserbjudanden är uppbyggt i svensk rätt mot bakgrund av brittisk och amerikansk rätt samt huruvida förbudet mot break-up fees kan anses resultera i att målbolagsstyrelsens roll försvagas och aktieägarskyddet försvagas. Därtill kommer att en de lege ferenda-diskussion förs vari fenomenet break-up fees jämförs med gällande rätt rörande försvarsåtgärder. I syfte att belysa de konsekvenser som förbudet kan medföra problematiseras även förbudet mot break-up fees mot bakgrund av bestämmelsen avseende insiderbrott och break-up fees praktiska funktioner i olika rättssystem. Undertecknad kommer i detta arbete fram till att förbudet mot break-up fees torde bl.a. resultera i att budgivare och målbolag kommer hädanefter att söka sig till att uppnå andra deal protection-avtal. Vidare torde förbudet varken resultera i att målbolagets roll stärks eller i ett ökat skydd för målbolagets aktieägare. Därtill anses förbudet resultera i en maktobalans mellan AMN och målbolagsstyrelsen, vilket är negativ ur ett företagsekonomiskt perspektiv. Mot bakgrund av detta och ett antal andra skäl kommer undertecknad fram till slutsatsen att ett förbud mot break-up fees borde ej ha införts i svensk rätt.

Goal of this thesis was to assess the constitutionality of "regulatory fees" in healthcare, which were enacted in the Czech Republic in 2007. The first chapter goes through the two decisions of the Czech Constitutional Court concerning assessment of the constitutionality of regulatory fees and identifies five main areas to study: 1)General methodology of human rights interpretation and their collisions in the Czech constitutional system, 2)Genesis and interpretation of social rights. 3)Identification of a test to assess collision between social rights and public goods 4)Essence of the right to free healthcare 5)Empirical assessment of the regulatory fees impact Second chapter is an overview of the first area divided into two sections: traditional methods of interpretation in constitutional law and development of the proportionality principle based on an overview of the Czech and foreign jurisprudence and the previous decisions of the Czech Constitutional Court. Third chapter describes the genesis of the social rights as a specific area of human rights. Implication from both chapters are combined to create a universal proportionality test that includes specific intensity of review for social rights. Fourth chapter provides a case study that firstly identifies the essence of the right to free healthcare,...