Intersection crashes accounted for 47 percent of the total number of crashes in the State of Georgia from 2000-2005, and as a location where crashes occur, represent the largest number of crash locations in the state. Federal legislation requires states to implement statewide safety plans to reduce fatalities, crashes, and improve safety. Intersections vary in different ways and there are individual factors that can cause an intersection to be safer or more dangerous than another. Acquiring better, uniform, and more updated information with regard to intersection crashes will enable transportation officials to prescribe policies for improving safety in an easier and more expedited manner. This thesis recommends a five-part program for intersection safety that will enable Georgia transportation officials to better analyze, identify, and implement countermeasures at intersections that are determined to be the most hazardous. The plan consists of: 1. Standardized Hazardous Intersection Identification Method 2. Statewide Public Involvement task force 3. Automated Police Crash Reporting Through Improved Technologies 4. Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) Intersection Safety Strategies (8 State Comparison) 5. Statewide Minimal Intersection Safety Equipment The five parts of this plan lead to a statewide standard method of analyzing intersections based on uniform collection methods and uniform equipment statewide.

This paper examines the association between individual managers and corporate reporting and operating decisions. To examine this question, I develop a dataset of 241 individual CEOs and CFOs, as well as audit committee chairs, covering the period of 1988 to 2009. Although audit committee chairs are tasked with monitoring insiders and not actually preparing the financial results, research suggests that each of these management groups could exert their individual "styles" on the reporting and operating decisions. Using this dataset, I find that each of these groups significantly influence accounting- and non-accounting-based corporate decisions. Also, I examine whether the influence of these individuals is impacted by characteristics of the corporation's operating environment. Using individual proxies for managerial discretion and job demands, as well as developing index measures for each of these constructs, I find that the influence of these particular managers is not impacted by the amount of discretion they have or their perceived job demands. Last, I find evidence that observable demographic measures explain some of the managers' decisions. These results add to the literature concerning the importance of individual managers to corporate decisions because they suggest that managers besides the CFO can significantly influence reporting and operating decisions, and the influence of these managers extends beyond accrual-based techniques to include real activities management decisions.

Comparability is a desirable qualitative characteristic of financial information and critical for financial statement users' ability to identify and understand similarities and differences in financial results among reporting entities. Yet, little research explicitly considers either the determinants or benefits of comparability because of difficulty in identifying and measuring the theoretical construct of comparability. Further, the widespread global adoption of IFRS, a relatively homogenous set of accounting standards, is expected to increase comparability among companies that operate in different national jurisdictions. However, prior studies that examine the average impact of mandatory IFRS adoption on comparability find mixed results. I hypothesized that the impact of mandatory IFRS adoption on comparability varies with managers' reporting incentives and differences between countries' domestic standards and IFRS. Using listed firms from 34 countries, I documented that comparability under non-IFRS domestic standards is higher in countries that provide strong reporting incentives (i.e. countries with strict enforcement regimes or high earnings transparency). Additionally, I found an increase in comparability following IFRS adoption (relative to a control sample of non-adopters) in countries that provide strong reporting incentives or with large domestic GAAP-IFRS differences. In contrast, I found evidence of a decrease following IFRS adoption (relative to a control sample of non-adopters) in countries with weak reporting incentives or with small domestic GAAP-IFRS differences. Finally, I showed that changes in comparability surrounding adoption are positively associated with changes in the quality of firms' information environments.

The establishment of corporate objectives regarding economic, environmental, social, and ethical responsibilities, to inform business practice, has been gaining credibility in the business sector since the early 1990’s. This is witnessed through (i) the formation of international forums for sustainable and accountable development, (ii) the emergence of standards, systems, and frameworks to provide common ground for regulatory and corporate dialogue, and (iii) the significant quantum of relevant popular and academic literature in a diverse range of disciplines. How then has this move towards greater corporate responsibility become evident in the provision of major urban infrastructure projects? The gap identified, in both academic literature and industry practice, is a structured and auditable link between corporate intent and project outcomes. Limited literature has been discovered which makes a link between corporate responsibility; project performance indicators (or critical success factors) and major infrastructure provision. This search revealed that a comprehensive mapping framework, from an organisation’s corporate objectives through to intended, anticipated and actual outcomes and impacts has not yet been developed for the delivery of such projects. The research problem thus explored is ‘the need to better identify, map and account for the outcomes, impacts and risks associated with economic, environmental, social and ethical outcomes and impacts which arise from major economic infrastructure projects, both now, and into the future’. The methodology being used to undertake this research is based on Checkland’s soft system methodology, engaging in action research on three collaborative case studies. A key outcome of this research is a value-mapping framework applicable to Australian public sector agencies. This is a decision-making methodology which will enable project teams responsible for delivering major projects, to better identify and align project objectives and impacts with stated corporate objectives.

The economic powerhouse of China is increasingly showing characteristics of a market style economy. The country’s media is also heading this way with all of its newspapers, which are entirely owned by the Chinese Government, now becoming more commercially driven, especially due to subsidy cuts in 2003. This study looks at a collection of data which display a rapid growth of private enterprise in China since 1989. The data results also show Chinese newspapers to have a narrower range of sources in financial reporting than do non-Chinese newspapers – those foreign language papers in China and newspapers from another country. This narrow sourcing of stories is taken to be an indicator of the quality of the Chinese financial reporting. It finds that the sample of Chinese newspapers was far more likely to use Chinese Government sources than non-Chinese newspapers. This study suggests then, that the non-Chinese press is more likely to display quality reporting based on their use of non-government sources, and that this outcome is likely to benefit both their own economic interests and those who consume that press content.

Community welfare organisations (CWOs)¹ perform an important role in society. They are founded on religious or social values that are given expression through their mission statements. In undertaking their work, many command significant economic resources. While the literature shows an increasing use of performance reporting by CWOs, little is known about the processes through which performance reports are developed and deployed. This thesis attempts to fill this lacuna by investigating the structure and process of, and rationale for, performance reporting by a CWO. The research was undertaken through a single organisation case study of performance reporting in a large, multi-service CWO. The study employed an interpretive methodology, which was informed by Strategic Choice Theory, using data that was obtained through interviews, observation of meetings and document analysis. The study found that performance reporting by the organisation was extensive, being undertaken within two distinct but related frameworks: a voluntary system that had been developed within the organisation, and a mandatory system of external reporting. It concluded that performance reporting was essentially the strategic response of a decidedly purposeful, voluntary organisation that chose to operate in a highly regulated welfare system. The contributions to knowledge from this thesis arise from a comprehensive explanation of practice, and a demonstration of the applicability of Strategic Choice Theory to understanding organisational behaviour in a CWO. ¹ See Appendix 1 for a definition of the term Community Welfare Organisation. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1374549 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Business School, 2009

Community welfare organisations (CWOs)¹ perform an important role in society. They are founded on religious or social values that are given expression through their mission statements. In undertaking their work, many command significant economic resources. While the literature shows an increasing use of performance reporting by CWOs, little is known about the processes through which performance reports are developed and deployed. This thesis attempts to fill this lacuna by investigating the structure and process of, and rationale for, performance reporting by a CWO. The research was undertaken through a single organisation case study of performance reporting in a large, multi-service CWO. The study employed an interpretive methodology, which was informed by Strategic Choice Theory, using data that was obtained through interviews, observation of meetings and document analysis. The study found that performance reporting by the organisation was extensive, being undertaken within two distinct but related frameworks: a voluntary system that had been developed within the organisation, and a mandatory system of external reporting. It concluded that performance reporting was essentially the strategic response of a decidedly purposeful, voluntary organisation that chose to operate in a highly regulated welfare system. The contributions to knowledge from this thesis arise from a comprehensive explanation of practice, and a demonstration of the applicability of Strategic Choice Theory to understanding organisational behaviour in a CWO. ¹ See Appendix 1 for a definition of the term Community Welfare Organisation. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1374549 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Business School, 2009

Zugl.: Düsseldorf, Univ., Diplomarbeit, 2007

Thesis (M.A.)--Hong Kong Baptist University, 2005. / Dissertation submitted to the School of Communication. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 44-46).

Zugl.: Hamburg, Univ. der Bundeswehr, Diss., 2006