Today's schools face a mounting number of court cases resulting from conflicts between parents of children with special needs and educators tasked with meeting those needs (Osborne, 2009). Principals have the enormous responsibility to ensure appropriate services to educate students with disabilities and, as special education leaders, require a skill set that includes knowledge of current laws, litigation, student learning needs, and how to support parents' decision making rights and responsibilities. A gap is evident between what principals know about special education leadership and case law and what principals are doing in the field. The purpose of this study was to identify effective actions and behaviors that support Virginia principals' leadership in special education decision making. More specifically, the study examined what can be done to minimize special education disputes between parents and schools and identify principals' skill sets to minimize special education disputes. Two concurrent Delphi studies were conducted with 16 member panels; stakeholders with familial responsibilities to children with disabilities and professional experts with responsibility to special education compliance participated. A final round exchanged findings between the panels. The study identified a list of best practices for Virginia school principals to support special education leadership and decision making. / Ed. D.

There is risk involved in the decision making process. In many cases, individuals are required to rate the risk of one position against the other, to determine which risk is greater, before making a decision. This thesis explores the differences in how the mass public and elites (the Founding Fathers and modern lawyers) evaluate the risky choice involved in taking a position on the role of due process in American society. Utilizing contextual analysis and survey research, the thesis determines whether the groups hold a view of due process as paramount within society or as a danger to public safety, and the consistency of that viewpoint dependent on framing of situations. The results indicate that a mass-elite dichotomy does exist; the conclusion of the thesis suggests this as a possible explanation for why the masses can be swayed by ideological linguistics.

Inför ett företagsförvärv måste potentiella köpare göra en undersökning av det aktuella företaget. Denna process kallas för Due Diligence och syftar till att minska informationsasymmetrin mellan säljare och köpare. I denna uppsats beskrivs hur köpare genom Due Diligence kan identifiera och värdera det som döljer sig i informationsasymmetrin. Studien är genomförd som en tvärsnittsstudie bestående av personliga intervjuer med tre företagsförmedlare och sju aktörer som varit delaktiga vid företagsförvärv. Slutsatserna är att köparnas beteende huvudsakligen stämmer överens med teorin. Respondenterna förespråkar tillämpningen av Due Diligence, men processens omfattning och kunskapen kring den varierar. Den faktor som kan vara avgörande för en lyckad respektive misslyckad Due Diligence är köparens förståelse för sina egna begränsningar samt förmågan att ta hjälp av andra specialister under de områden som hen inte klarar av på egen hand. Företagsförmedlare, revisorer och jurister kan därför ha en stor betydelse för processens genomförande. Det finns områden som respondenterna väljer att studera särskilt noga under Due Diligence. Gemensamt för samtliga respondenter är att de studerar årsredovisningar. Andra områden varierar beroende på de involverades erfarenheter och berör bland annat företagskultur,externa relationer, kapacitetsutnyttjande och miljöfrågor. Tack vare den omfattande och i huvudsak goda användningen av Due Diligence kan det anses att det inte föreligger ett generellt marknadsmisslyckande på företagsmarknaden, trots att vissa överlåtelser är mindre lyckade. / Prior to acquisitions, potential investors must conduct a survey on the company of interest. This process is called Due Diligence and it aims to reduce the asymmetric information between sellers and investors. This essay describes how investors through Due Diligence canidentify and evaluate the information hidden within the asymmetric information. The study is conducted as a cross-sectional study consisting of personal interviews with three business brokers and seven actors who have participated in business transfers. The conclusions are that buyers’ behavior in general are consistent with the theoretical framework. All respondents recommend using Due Diligence, but the scope and knowledgeof the process differs. The factor that can be crucial for a successful or unsuccessful Due Diligence is the investors’ understanding of their own limitations and the ability to enlist thehelp from other specialists in the fields they cannot manage on their own. Consultants such as business brokers, accountants and lawyers are therefore of great importance for Due Diligence. There are some areas that the respondents choose to study with particular care during DueDiligence. The one area that is common to all respondents is the investigation of the data contained in Annual Reports. Other areas vary depending on the investors experiences and among others include the corporate culture, external relations, capacity utilization and environmental issues. Thanks to the extensive and overall good use of Due Diligence, it can be considered that thereis no general market failure in the corporate market, although some transfers are less successful.

<p>This paper presents an analysis on Due Diligence process as a tool to reduce the Mergers and Acquisition (M&A) risk of failure which is used by the acquirer to gather quantitative but also qualitative information about the target in the pre-merger deal, before to sign the agreement of the deal.</p><p>However, the process is sometimes unknown or underestimated since the executives sometimes want the deal to be closed as soon as possible, and neglect some critical factors which can be important to get a true vision of the target and therefore increase the chance of</p><p>success of the deal in future. In the view of the enormous economic significance in M&A transactions numbers and volume, it is alarming that more of half of all transactions do not lead to the desired objectives. To investigate in this problem, some studies have emphasized Due Diligence impact to increase M&A chance of success.</p><p>Indeed, Due diligence is viewed as the only way to find out as much information as possible on the target company. It is a way to conduct a comprehensive investigation into this</p><p>potential target.</p><p>In this thesis, we will focus on Financial Due Diligence which is an unavoidable way to evaluate the target to allow getting financial information, but show its limits.</p><p>That is the reason why, we will highlight the role of the Strategic Due Diligence in this paper, which fulfill the FDD limits since it allows the bidder to thinks strategically as each deal is unique in what its value drivers are. Finally, in this paper we concluded that the SDD is the way companies should perform the DD to increase the M&A chance of success since each deal is unique in what its value drivers are and that is what SDD is all about.</p><p>To support our paper, we have addressed two interviews with 2 financial analysts who work in audit companies located in Stockholm to gather their points of view on the subject.</p><p>Moreover, both of our case studies on BNP Paribas and HP provide illustrative example on how financial and strategic Diligence can be conduct.</p>

This paper presents an analysis on Due Diligence process as a tool to reduce the Mergers and Acquisition (M&amp;A) risk of failure which is used by the acquirer to gather quantitative but also qualitative information about the target in the pre-merger deal, before to sign the agreement of the deal. However, the process is sometimes unknown or underestimated since the executives sometimes want the deal to be closed as soon as possible, and neglect some critical factors which can be important to get a true vision of the target and therefore increase the chance of success of the deal in future. In the view of the enormous economic significance in M&amp;A transactions numbers and volume, it is alarming that more of half of all transactions do not lead to the desired objectives. To investigate in this problem, some studies have emphasized Due Diligence impact to increase M&amp;A chance of success. Indeed, Due diligence is viewed as the only way to find out as much information as possible on the target company. It is a way to conduct a comprehensive investigation into this potential target. In this thesis, we will focus on Financial Due Diligence which is an unavoidable way to evaluate the target to allow getting financial information, but show its limits. That is the reason why, we will highlight the role of the Strategic Due Diligence in this paper, which fulfill the FDD limits since it allows the bidder to thinks strategically as each deal is unique in what its value drivers are. Finally, in this paper we concluded that the SDD is the way companies should perform the DD to increase the M&amp;A chance of success since each deal is unique in what its value drivers are and that is what SDD is all about. To support our paper, we have addressed two interviews with 2 financial analysts who work in audit companies located in Stockholm to gather their points of view on the subject. Moreover, both of our case studies on BNP Paribas and HP provide illustrative example on how financial and strategic Diligence can be conduct.

Abstract                “Due diligence - A resource demanding process” Date:                     June 8th 2012 Level:                    Master thesis in business economics, 15 ECTS Institution:           School of Sustainable development of society and technology, Mälardalen University Authors:                Erdinc Kirik                                  Pär Matsson                                11th January 1987                      31th May 1985 Title:                      Due diligence - A resource demanding process Tutor:                     Staffan Boström Keywords:             Due diligence, the acquisition process, acquisitions, business valuation Research questions:              What are the main factors that Bank X, Nordea and Almi is focused on an examination of a due diligence for an acquisition, focusing on private limited companies? Does the approach between the various banks and Almi differ? Purpose:                The purpose of this paper is to create a checklist for private limited companies to use in the context of application for funding Method:                 The study was based on a qualitative study, based on primary data in terms of interviews in the subject of due diligence. Secondary data used in the study consisted of relevant literature and scientific articles. Conclusion:            The study showed that the respondents in general focuses on the same areas within Due diligence. The most important point which the respondents agreed on was profitability and repayment capacity. In overall, all elements in a Due diligence process that has an impact on profitability is important to examine. Including management, especially in smaller private companies, has an important role. They must perform in the business plan and convince the respondents that there is a repayment capacity. / Sammanfattning    ”Due diligence – En resurskrävande process” Datum:                   24 maj, 2012 Nivå:                       Magisteruppsats i företagsekonomi, 15 ECTS Institution:            Akademin för hållbar samhälls- och teknikutveckling, HST, Mälardalens Högskola Författare:             Erdinc Kirik                                  Pär Matsson                                 11 januari 1987                          31 maj 1985 Titel:                       Due diligence – En resurskrävande process Handledare:            Staffan Boström Nyckelord:              Due diligence, förvärsprocessen, företagsförvärv, företagsvärdering Frågeställning:       Vilka är de viktigaste faktorerna som Bank X, Nordea och Almi fokuserar på vid granskning av en Due diligence inför ett företagsförvärv, med fokus på privata aktiebolag? Skiljer sig tillvägagångssättet mellan de olika bankerna och Almi? Syfte:                     Syftet med uppsatsen är att skapa en checklista som privata aktiebolag kan använda sig utav i samband med ansökan om finansiering. Metod:                    Uppsatsen gjordes utifrån en kvalitativ undersökning och baserades på primärdata i form av intervjuer inom ämnet Due diligence. Sekundärdata som använts i uppsatsen bestod av relevant litteratur samt vetenskapliga artiklar. Slutsats:                 Uppsatsen visade att respondenterna i stort fokuserar på samma områden inom Due diligence. Den allra viktigaste punkten som respondenter var eniga om var lönsamhet och återbetalningsförmåga. I det stora hela är, alla faktorer i en Due diligence som har en inverkan på lönsamheten viktiga att granska. Även företagsledningen, speciellt i mindre privata aktiebolag, har en viktig roll. De måste prestera i affärsplanen och kunna övertyga respondenterna om att återbetalningsförmågan finns.

Företagsförvärv är i dagens samhälle vanligt förekommande när företag har som målsättning att växa. Det finns en del tidigare forskning kring detta området, däremot finns det inte lika mycket forskat kring aktiva aktörer vid förvärvsprocessen. Vi har valt att inrikta oss på en specifik aktör i denna studien, revisorn. Detta för att revisoryrket kan innebära flera olika roller och arbetsuppgifter, till exempel revisorn som granskare, revisorn som rådgivare samt en roll där revisorn har en legitimerande funktion. I denna studie är det framförallt revisorn som rådgivare som behandlas och det vi vill undersöka är var i förvärvsprocessen revisorn är delaktig samt vad den då bidrar med. Syftet med denna studie är att öka förståelsen för processen vid ett företagsförvärv samt vad revisorn bidrar med i denna. I denna studie har fem fallstudier genomförts där semistrukturerade intervjuer har gjorts med revisorer som har eller har haft koppling till företagsförvärv. Teorin från referensramen användes vid vår analys av de empiriska resultaten, detta gjordes för att se hur tidigare teori förhåller sig till vår empiri. Studiens resultat visar att revisorns roll under förvärvsprocessen fungerar som en rådgivare, det är däremot ovanligt att revisorn är delaktig under hela processen. Den del i processen där revisorn bidrar med mest är vid företagsbesiktningen, som även kan nämnas som due diligence. Vidare kan vi konstatera att ett företagsförvärv oftast innebär en väldigt stor och komplex process där det kan uppstå problem dock är det väldigt ovanligt att ett företagsförvärv avbryts. / Background: Acquisitions are a common occurance today as a means for corporation growth. Various research has previously been conducted in this field, however a focus on the actors participating in the acquistation process is uncommon. In this study we focus on one specific actor, the auditor. Our focus on the auditor is due to this actor's variety of roles and assignments, e.g. the auditor as a reviewer , as an advisor or the auditor with a legimitising role. In this study we are predominately concerned with the auditor as an advisor, thus what we examine is at which point in the acquistion process the auditor partakes and how the controller contributes to the process. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to increase the understanding of the acquistion process and the auditor's role in this process. Method: In this study we have conducted five case studies based on semi-structured interviews with auditors who currently are or previously have been involved with acquisitions. We have applied the theory from our frame of reference in the analysis of our findings in order to examine how our findings relate to this theory. Conclusions: This study's results indicate that the auditor's role during the acquisition process is mainly as an advisor and that it is rare for the auditor to partake during the entire process. The part of the process where the auditor contributes the most is in the due diligence process. Furthermore we can conclude that an acquisition in most cases is an extensive and complex process where various problems can arise. Despite these aggravating factors it is very rare for an acquisition to be cancelled.

Universiẗat, Diss.--Freiburg, 2006.

Univ., Diss.--Freiburg im Breisgau, 2004. / Literaturverz. S. [309] - 333.

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