Seafood substitution is a worldwide problem due to factors such as limited monitoring coupled with complex supply chains. Red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus) is a highly valued and overfished species that is commonly substituted with other fish, such as tilapia, rockfish, and other snapper species. DNA barcoding is typically used by regulatory agencies to detect seafood substitution; however, it is expensive and time-consuming. A rapid, real-time PCR assay targeting red snapper was developed previously for use in fisheries management; however, it has not been tested for its ability to detect red snapper species substitution. The objective of this study was to assess the ability of the real-time PCR assay to identify red snapper fillets and differentiate red snapper from common substitute fish species in combination with DNA barcoding. A total of 21 fresh/frozen fillets labeled as “red snapper” were tested with real-time PCR, along with 57 fresh/frozen fillets representing 15 of the most common categories of fish mislabeled as red snapper. All samples were tested with DNA barcoding to confirm the identity of fish species. Real-time PCR parameters were optimized to reduce background signals associated with cross-reactivity. Overall, real-time PCR identified 4 samples as red snapper: 3 were authenticated as red snapper with DNA barcoding and 1 was identified as mahi-mahi. Overall, 40% of all samples and 91% of “red snapper” samples were considered mislabeled according to DNA barcoding. Red snapper was substituted with other snapper species (e.g., Lutjanus malabaricus, Lutjanus peru, Ocyurus chrysurus, and Rhomboplites aurorubens), rockfish (Sebastes flavidus and Sebastes brevispinis), sea bream (Pagrus major/Pagrus auratus), and mahi-mahi (Coryphaena hippurus). The real-time PCR assay tested in this study can serve as a rapid screening test for the detection of mislabeled species, which can then be confirmed with sequencing techniques. This species identification technique has the potential to be used by regulatory agencies to rapidly determine the authenticity of red snapper on-site.

The topic of this diploma thesis is the Forensic Accounting, which is related to the accounting fraud. Literature review is a chapter devoted to the characteristics of accounting fraud, damage caused by fraudulent behavior and punishment. There is also an information from global economic fraud surveys performed by top consulting company. In this diploma work is a chapter about internal control system, with prerequisites for its functioning and used tools. The last part of literature review is about method of forensic accounting. These methods are used in the practical part a tested on financial statements, processed according to Czech accounting standards, of chosen company. Then in the practical part is an evaluation of internal control system, which is described in detail. Another part is dedicated to the accounting crime committed in the chosen company. Even though that accounting crime was committed, current state of internal control system of chosen company is very good. The analysis which was retroactively done indicates a possible risk of accounting fraud just in this period. These forensic methods were applied also for another years and it has been shown that accounting gives a true and fair view.

Businesses are under pressure to identify and control risks affecting profitability, including the risk of fraud. Identity theft, a type of fraud, costs businesses, governments, and individuals in excess of $56 billion a year. In order to develop good internal controls to help prevent and detect fraud, it is necessary to identify the risks to the business, but business owners are not always aware of what risk factors relate to identity theft. A nonexperimental research design formed the basis of this research study. The population for this study was data from all 50 U.S. states, represented via government databases maintained by the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Census Bureau, and the Department of Labor from all 50 U.S. states from 2008 until 2014. The fraud triangle theory formed the theoretical framework for this study. Regression analysis determined the significance of relationships between state-specific instances of international immigration, state-specific unemployment rates, and state-specific instances of identity theft. Both state-specific instances of international immigration and state-specific unemployment rates demonstrated a significant and positive relationship with instances of identity theft. The implications for positive social change include improved understanding of risk factors for identity theft, which could lead to lower costs of operation for businesses and lower prices for consumers.

Banks are in a precarious position due to increasing corporate losses from prolonged instances of employee-driven occupational fraud. The purpose of this single case study was to explore the leadership strategies some bank leaders used to reduce corporate losses from occupational fraud. The fraud triangle theory was the conceptual framework for this study. Data collection consisted of semistructured interviews with 11 bank managers at various levels within the bank, and a focus group session with 8 frontline managers. Data were analyzed using Yin's 5-step data analysis process, which entailed descriptive coding and sequential review of the interview transcripts. Member checks and interviewing until data saturation occurred helped to ensure the trustworthiness of the findings. Six themes emerged as the key study findings: effective communication, leading by example, empowerment, incentivizing, engendering trust, and personal integrity. Managers use of strategies incorporating these themes helped to improve employees' commitment to achieving their organization's corporate vision and establishing a sense of ownership whereby the employees would better protect and value organizational assets. The board of directors, senior managers, and frontline managers could all apply the strategies, thus reducing the likelihood of occupational fraud. Application of the study findings could contribute to social change by enabling bank leaders to create a positive organizational environment in which their employees make better choices to behave ethically, demonstrate financial responsibility with regards to corporate assets, and become principle agents of the organization.

The U.S. government is responsible for protecting the country's energy and technology infrastructure. Critics argue the United States has failed to prepare, protect and respond to incidents involving the national electric grid leaving communities vulnerable to prolonged power outages. Protection of investor owned utilities' critical infrastructure is vulnerable to cyber and physical harm from the absence of criminalizing the intrusion of private sector computer networks, the lack of cybersecurity threats in emergency management, and the absence of cyber-intelligent leadership supports this argument. The purpose of this study was to introduce an electric grid protection theoretical concept, while identifying whether cybersecurity law and emergency management, amongst the investor-owned utility community, has an optimized relationship for protecting the national electric grid from harm. Easton's political system input/output model, Sommestad's cybersecurity theory, and Mitroff's crisis management theory provided the theoretical foundations for this study. The study utilized a mixed method research design that incorporated a Likert collection survey and combined quantitative chi-square and qualitative analysis. The key findings identified that cybersecurity law and the use of emergency management in the electric grid protection theory were not optimized to protect the national electric grid from harm. The recommendations of this study included the optimization of the theory elements through educational outreach and amending administrative cybersecurity law to improve the protection of the national electric grid and positively impacting social change by safeguarding the delivery of reliable electric energy to the millions of Americans who depend upon it.

2007年，力霸集團掏空案轟動社會，其中，舞弊者掏空友聯產險將近48億元，其所採用之手法即利用房地產評價困難之特性。近二年來，台灣部分地區房地產價格飆漲，情況嚴重。聯想二事，有心人趁此時機再利用房地產進行舞弊可能性不低，不禁令人憂慮。好在查核人員可能可以防堵該舞弊之發生，而其學識背景可能不同。 本研究彙總相關之個案，試圖探討該種舞弊手段，並企圖瞭解對此種手段之了解程度，包括不同學識背景之查核人員了解程度是否不同。本研究以學生代替查核人員，所探討之二種不同學識背景為會計與地政；本研究透過問卷測量會計科系出身之查核人員對房地產評價與以房地產為工具之舞弊了解程度，是否與地政背景之查核人員存在差異。 本研究透過個案研析，找出14項舞弊風險因子，並將其分為四類。在實證結果部分則發現，會計背景之查核人員在以房地產為工具之舞弊風險因子的了解程度上，不如地政背景之查核人員。不過，只有當情境高度涉及地政相關專業時，二種背景之查核人員所評估之該種舞弊風險差異才顯著，一般情境下，二者評估之能力沒有明顯差異。因此，本研究建議會計背景之查核人員應該多了解以房地產為工具之舞弊個案。另外，出於會計背景之查核人員在以房地產為工具之舞弊風險因子的了解程度上，仍有部分較佳；故本研究亦建議實務上如遇處理涉及房地產之案件或查核時，應同時指派地政背景與會計背景之查核人員。 / The case of Rebar Group in 2007 was a serious case in Taiwan. As one part of the case, the fraud in Union Insurance Co. was committed by using real estate as tools, because real estate is difficult in evaluation. In recent two years, there has been a situation that the real estate’s price goes very high in some areas of Taiwan. If we associate these two things, there may be a chance for someone to commit the fraud by using real estate as tools. Fortunately, auditors could prevent the occurrence of this kind of fraud; auditors might have different major. This research summarized all the cases related, discussed about the tricks of this kind of fraud, and tried to know whether the levels of the auditors in different major fields on these tricks are different or not. Trough the poll(which is aimed at students of accounting and land economics departments), the research measured auditors’ level of comprehending the fraud by using real estate as tools, and tried to find out whether the levels are different or not between auditors majoring in accounting and in land economics. Trough the cases, this research found 14 fraud risk factors, and classified them into 4 categories. On the other hand, the empirical results show auditors majoring in accounting are not as good as auditors majoring in land economics on comprehending this kind of fraud’s risk factors. Nevertheless, about the ability to evaluate the risk of this kind of fraud, there is no significant difference between auditors major in accounting and in land economics but in the situation highly involved the specialty of land economics. Thus, this research suggests auditors majoring in accounting should get more comprehending on the fraud cases committed by using real estate as tools. Additionally, due to auditors majoring in accounting perform better than whom majoring in land economics on some part of comprehending this kind of fraud’s risk factors, this research also suggests the one who dealing with the cases related to real estate should appoint auditors majoring in land economics and in accounting at the same time.

<p>The general contract law principle of loyalty between negotiators, in deliberation, leads to a duty of disclosure for negotiators. The extent of this duty of disclosure is influenced by many different factors; amongst others the type of agreement, the negotiators knowledge and opportunity of procuring knowledge. The general duty of disclosure is both a part of the contract law principle of loyalty between negotiators in negotiating a contract, and an indirectly statutory obligation, that, if neglected will lead to nullification of the agreement. The legislator has stated that the general contract law, Lag (1915:218) om avtal och andra rättshandlingar på förmögenhetsrättens område (avtalslagen), should be used to regulate negotiating of contracts, including the negotiation of contracts of employment. In arbetsdomstolens judging, additional factors have been weighed in, and the judgement is done also through the use of a concept taken from employment law, the concept of ”saklig grund för uppsägning”. Arbetsdomstolen appear to prefer using employment law and principles of protection for the employee, even though the legislators opinion was that general contract law should regulate negotiations of contracts of employment. This way, other factors are included in the judging of the duty of disclosure when seeking employment than in the general judging of duty of disclosure. Amongst other the interests of society and the will of protecting the person seeking employment, affects arbetsdomstolens judging of the duty of disclosure in negotiating contracts of employment. The thesis arguments that this interpretation, of the confines between contract law and employment law, is contrary to the statements of the legislator, and also an unfit interpretation of the principle of duty of disclosure, in terms of reaching partition of risks between negotiators of contracts of employment.</p>

The general contract law principle of loyalty between negotiators, in deliberation, leads to a duty of disclosure for negotiators. The extent of this duty of disclosure is influenced by many different factors; amongst others the type of agreement, the negotiators knowledge and opportunity of procuring knowledge. The general duty of disclosure is both a part of the contract law principle of loyalty between negotiators in negotiating a contract, and an indirectly statutory obligation, that, if neglected will lead to nullification of the agreement. The legislator has stated that the general contract law, Lag (1915:218) om avtal och andra rättshandlingar på förmögenhetsrättens område (avtalslagen), should be used to regulate negotiating of contracts, including the negotiation of contracts of employment. In arbetsdomstolens judging, additional factors have been weighed in, and the judgement is done also through the use of a concept taken from employment law, the concept of ”saklig grund för uppsägning”. Arbetsdomstolen appear to prefer using employment law and principles of protection for the employee, even though the legislators opinion was that general contract law should regulate negotiations of contracts of employment. This way, other factors are included in the judging of the duty of disclosure when seeking employment than in the general judging of duty of disclosure. Amongst other the interests of society and the will of protecting the person seeking employment, affects arbetsdomstolens judging of the duty of disclosure in negotiating contracts of employment. The thesis arguments that this interpretation, of the confines between contract law and employment law, is contrary to the statements of the legislator, and also an unfit interpretation of the principle of duty of disclosure, in terms of reaching partition of risks between negotiators of contracts of employment.

Taxable persons’ right to deduct input VAT is an integral part of the VAT system and may in principle not be limited. Carousel schemes deprive the Member States a great deal of tax revenue, investigations show that up to EUR 100 billion disap-pear every year. In order to stop these trading arrangements and reduce the big amount of tax revenue which disappears every year, some Member States would like to deny traders involved in carousel frauds the right to deduct the input VAT. It exist different opinions regarding taxable persons’ ability to deduct input VAT when involved in carousel frauds. The ECJ has given judgements in three interest-ing cases dealing with the right to deduct in case of carousel fraud. In the Optigen case, it was established that taxable persons who do not know or have any reason to believe that they are involved in a carousel fraud cannot be denied the right to deduct the input VAT. In the FTI case, it was concluded that taxable persons in-volved in carousel frauds can be jointly and severally liable to pay the VAT to-gether with the person, actually liable to pay the VAT. A precondition for making a taxable person jointly and severally liable is that the taxable person has to be aware or should have been aware that the transaction made, was involved in such a scheme. If the taxable person did not know or had no reason to suspect this, he cannot be made jointly and severally liable. The ruling in the Kittel case confirms the Optigen judgement as well as concludes that when a taxable person is aware or should have been aware that he is involved in a carousel scheme, he is not enti-tled to deduct the input VAT. If this is the case, it is possible for the tax authori-ties in the different Member States to deny taxable persons this right as well as claim a refund. These judgements clarify when the national tax authorities can deny a taxable per-son the right to deduct input VAT when the transactions are made in a chain of fraud. However, another problem occurred, it is up to the national courts to de-cide when a taxable person should be aware that he is involved in a carousel fraud. This decision shall be based upon objective factors, no guidelines or any other help as to what these objective factors should consist of have been published. This creates an interpretation gap for the national courts followed by the risk of having an outcome with different interpretations from the courts in the Member States. / Den avdragsrätt som beskattningsbara personer besitter utgör en oskiljaktig del av mervärdesskattesystemet och kan därför i princip inte inskränkas. Karusellhandel berövar medlemsstaterna på stora mängder skatteinkomster. Olika undersökning-ar visar att upp till 100 miljarder euro försvinner varje år till följd av karusellbe-drägerier. Vissa medlemsstater vill kunna neka avdragsrätt för beskattningsbara personer som är inblandade i olika typer av karusellhandel som ett försök att stoppa dessa arrangemang och för att minska de skatteintäkter som årligen förlo-ras. Det finns olika åsikter om möjligheten att neka avdragsrätt för beskattningsbara personer involverade i karusellhandel. EG-domstolen har avkunnat domar i tre in-tressanta mål som rör avdragsrätten vid karusellhandel. I Optigen målet fastställ-des att beskattningsbara personer som inte vet eller har någon anledning att miss-tänka att de är inblandade i en karusellhandel inte kan bli nekade att dra av den in-gående mervärdesskatten. I FTI målet drogs slutsatsen att beskattningsbara per-soner involverade i karusellhandel kan bli solidariskt betalningsansvariga för sälja-rens mervärdesskatteskuld. Förutsättningen för att sådant ansvar skall kunna åläg-gas är att den beskattningsbara personen visste eller hade skälig anledning att misstänka att han var involverad i ett karusellbedrägeri. Däremot kan en beskatt-ningsbar person som inte visste eller hade skälig anledning att misstänka att han var inblandad i ett karusellbedrägeri inte åläggas solidariskt betalningsansvar. Do-men i Kittel målet bekräftar Optigen domen samtidigt som den fastställer att be-skattningsbara personer som medvetet eller som haft skälig anledning att misstän-ka att han är inblandad i ett karusellbedrägeri kan förlora avdragsrätten. Om så är fallet kan följaktligen de nationella skattemyndigheterna neka avdragsrätt för en beskattningsbar person samt kräva en återbetalning av redan utbetalad mervärdes-skatt. Dessa domar klarlägger när de nationella skattemyndigheterna kan neka en be-skattningsbar person avdragsrätten när en transaktion är genomförd i samband med ett karusellbedrägeri. Ett annat problem uppstod dock eftersom det är upp till de nationella domstolarna att bestämma när en beskattningsbar person skall ha skälig anledning att misstänka att han är involverad i ett karusellbedrägeri. Detta beslut ska baseras på objektiva faktorer, det finns emellertid inga riktlinjer eller annan hjälp att ta till för att bestämma vad dessa objektiva faktorer skall vara. Det-ta skapar ett tolkningsproblem för de nationella domstolarna, vilket kan resultera i olika tolkningar mellan medlemsstaterna.

In the first essay, "Why Won't You Forgive Me? Evidence of a Financial Misreporting Stigma in Bank Loan Pricing," we examine the relation between bank loan pricing and intentional financial misreporting. Firms that misreport financial information pay greater spreads on their bank loans for five years following their restatements, whether benchmarked against their pre-restatement loans or similar loans made to matched non-misreporting firms. Misreporting firms that promptly replace certain parties who are potentially related to the misreporting see their spreads fall to benchmark levels within three years following restatement. Large fractions of firms, however, do not promptly replace the potentially related parties and continue to pay premiums over benchmark spread levels for five years following restatement. The results suggest that misreporting creates a long-lasting and costly stigma, but that certain actions can reduce the duration of the stigma. In the second essay, "Can Shareholder-Creditor Conflicts Explain Weak Governance? Evidence from the Value of Cash Holdings," we look into whether shareholder-creditor conflicts generate costs large enough to prevent improvements in governance. If firms choose to remain weakly governed, some cost must prevent improvements. We address our research question by estimating the value of cash as a function of governance, leverage, and the interaction of the two. We find that governance increases the value of cash, but that leverage reduces the gain from strong governance. However, the magnitudes are far too small to explain why weak governance firms remain weakly governed. Our estimates suggest more than 80 percent of weakly governed firms would increase the value of their cash by improving governance. In fact, half of weakly governed firms would increase the value of their cash holdings by $0.35 or more per dollar held by improving governance. Our focus on cash holdings does not seem to drive our results, nor do endogenous governance choices or nonlinearities reverse our conclusions.