Very little accounting research exists which investigates specific decision tasks performed by audit committee members. More specifically, little research exists regarding the one decision task which appears to be a primary duty of all audit committees--the decision task of selecting and/or evaluating the external auditor. Since the auditor selection decision is basically an assessment of the tradeoffs between audit quality and audit fees and the determination of audit fees is straightforward, the current study focuses on the assessment of audit quality. The primary objectives of this research project were (1) to identify those factors which affect audit quality, (2) to investigate how those audit-quality factors correlate with audit committee chairpersons' assessments of audit quality, and (3) to determine whether audit committee chairpersons exhibit expert judgment in their audit-quality assessments. To meet these objectives of two-phase study was conducted. In the first phase of the study audit committee chairpersons were asked to rate the impact various factors have on the quality of auditing services. Those factors identified in the first phase to have the strongest impact on audit quality were then utilized in the second phase to develop audit-quality scenarios. The second phase of the study consisted of requesting each audit committee respondent to assess audit quality for 32 individual audit-quality scenarios. Regression analysis was employed in the second phase to represent the cognitive models of the respondents. The Judgmental Analysis (JAN) technique also was used in the second phase to cluster the decision makers into the various decision-making groups which exist. The results of this two-phase study provided data regarding the perceived impact of 15 audit-quality factors on audit quality and how the most important of these audit-quality factors correlate with audit committee chairpersons' audit-quality assessments. The main conclusions of the study were (1) team-specific factors have a stronger perceived impact on audit quality than do firm-specific factors, (2) audit team composition factors are perceived to be the most important determinants of audit quality, and (3) consensus is not obtained regarding audit-quality assessments.

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In the study, as a whole, the purpose is to present the major laws for consumer protection in Texas in the existing economy and determine the extent to which they meet consumer protection standards and where they fail to meet such standards.

This study involved an evaluation of laboratory manuals available to high schools for use with electricity training systems to ascertain which-were most adequate in meeting curriculum standards for general electricity as specified in Bulletin 615 of the Texas Education Agency.

D.Cur. / With the dawn of the new democratic dispensation in South Africa, numerous structural changes in the form of new legislation on health care were introduced by government. The purpose hereof is to transform health care delivery in order to bring about equality, accessibility, availability and applicability of health care to the citizens of South Africa. However, such changes have given rise to rationalization and the restructuring of health care services and health care personnel. Against the background of the so-called brain drain of health care personnel, it possibly contributed to a situation where numerous health care services find themselves with a shortage of expert human and material resources. These changes have influenced the quality of decisionmaking in health care services in general, and nursing in particular. Furthermore, based on an investigation of disciplinary case studies of the SANe, it appears that there is an increase in the number of disciplinary cases against nurses. These disciplinary cases reflect the nature of the decisions made by nurses. From these disciplinary case studies, it appears that decision-making by nurses do not comply with the reasonable expectations as stipulated in the legal-ethical framework of the nursing profession. Furthermore, it appears that decisions made by nurses in order to promote the health of the individual, group and/or community, are unsafe, ineffective and unacceptable in terms of the reasonable expectations as stipulated in the legal-ethical framework of the nursing profession. It can be concluded, that decision-making by these nurses no longer complies with the regulation in terms of the Nursing Act (Act 50 of 1978, as ammended), namely to deliver safe nursing to the citizens of South Africa. As a possible solution to the aforementioned problem, the researcher sees the description of a system for quality decision-making as being necessary in nursing. This goal can be achieved by the following objectives: the exploration and description of the expectations of the stakeholders with regard to quality decision-making in nursing, the integration of these expectations during iv the conceptualization of quality decision-making in nursing, as well as the formulation of standards for quality decision-making in nursing.Based on a qualitative, explorative, descriptive and standard-generation design, the study was conducted in four phases to achieve the objectives of the study. During the first phase, the expectations ofthe stakeholders with regard to quality decision-making in nursing were explored and described. In phase two, the identified themes on quality decision-making were conceptualized. In phase three standards for quality decision-making in nursing were formulated through inductive and deductive reasoning from the results of the previous two phases. In phase four a system for quality decision-making in nursing was described based on a theoretical foundation of the systems theory.

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The purpose of this study was to determine the degree of alignment to national and state standards in public and private university educational leadership certification programs in the state of Florida. The standards used were the National Educational Technology Standards for Administrators (NETS-A) and the Florida Principal Leadership Standard for Technology (FPLST). A total of 16 university technology leadership course syllabi were examined. Nine syllabi were obtained from 11 public universities and seven were obtained from 11 private universities in Florida. Syllabi were examined using rubrics and assigned to one of three categories: definitely aligned, somewhat aligned and not aligned. A percentage was calculated for each type of school and degree of alignment to national and state standards to determine degree of alignment of syllabi. Inferential statistics were used to compare the degree of alignment between public and private universities. Alignment to national standards was more prevalent in syllabi from public universities than private universities while no significant relationship existed between the type of university and state standards. No inferential tests were conducted comparing traditional course syllabi with blended and online course syllabi, as the sample size of online courses was too small. The study found that technology leadership courses are being offered in a majority of Florida's educational leadership programs, indicating a growing commitment to the field. Although most universities offer a course in technology leadership, syllabi are not addressing some key national and state standards. / Several recommendations were made including provide experiential learning opportunities for aspiring administrators based on national and state standards, assess current administrators in their knowledge of the NETS-A, provide ongoing district professional development to ensure current administrators are well prepared and promote the NETS-A as national guidelines in technology leadership. Syllabi should address new and emerging technology issues and be created as a best product model addressing all mandated state and national technology standards. National and state technology standards have a strong influence on leadership preparation and must be based on the best research with input from practitioners and higher education faculty. / by Angela M. Iudica. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Ling Fook-tong. / Abstract also in Chinese. / Thesis (MBA)--Chinese University of Hong Kong. / Bibliography: l. 49-50.