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published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

Title: Local and global analytical reports on results of data mining Author: Zdeněk Reischig Department: Department of Software Engineering Supervisor: doc. RNDr. Jan Rauch, CSc. Supervisor's e-mail address: rauch@vse.cz Abstract: Thesis focuses on automatized support of local analytical reports creation, utilization of these reports as data sources for global analytical questions and creation of global analytical reports. In the thesis are suggested methods for comparison of rules. These methods are suitable for solving global analytical questions and can also help with composing of local analytical reports. Thesis also describes different kinds of background knowledge. One of them can be used for elimination of uninteresting rules or for finding data matrices with unusual relations. Other is necessary for solving global analytical questions, when rules are created over data matrices describing the same properties with different measures etc. Another important part of the thesis lies on providing a XML structure template for saving outputs of global analysis. It is also possible to use this XML structure for automatized generation of global analytical reports. Last part of the thesis is based on case study which shows how to use the guidelines and methods suggested in previous chapters. Case study...

Many environmental behavior models have been proposed to predict or explain environmental behavior in the past two decades. Due to limitations in practice, these models were mostly tested on a basis of self-reported measures of environmental behavior. How would these models perform if an observed measure of environmental behavior was used? What are the differences between the results of testing a model with a self-reported environmental behavior (SB) measure and the same model with an other-reported environmental behavior (OB) measure? And, what do these differences imply? A major model, Ajzen¡¦s (1985) theory of planned behavior (TPB), was tested with SB and OB measures respectively with structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis. Data were collected through questionnaires and participant observation in which students living in dormitories in a university were trained to observe their 172 roommates¡¦ five environmental behaviors. The other-reports of these roommates¡¦ environmental behavior made by the observers were based on their observation as well as experiences in living with and understanding of their roommates. Results showed that there existed significant frequency gaps between behavioral intention (BI) and SB and between SB and OB. The difference between SB and OB frequency was about 1.25 points on a 7-point scale. The BI-SB correlation (.87) was much larger than BI-OB correlation (.31) implying that SB was better predicted than OB was by BI. It was found that the subjects¡¦ SB tended to be conservative compared with BI and that OB was provided even more conservatively by the observers. BI could be the common cause of both SB and OB or SB could intervene in the relationship between BI and OB. A few significant differences were found in the results of testing the TPB model with SB and OB. The preference for the behavior might have played an essential role in predicting one¡¦s SB. The model had a very large proportion of variance explained (.814) because of the strong connection between BI and SB. It also seemed to have a better model fit when SB was used while the model¡¦s capability in predicting behavior was greatly reduced due to the large disparity between BI and OB when OB was used. Finally, it seemed that social desirability was a not cause of the SB-OB gap.

This study examined validity of the Life History Calendar by comparing retrospective and prospective reports of adolescent substance use. Agreement was calculated using kappa and phi coefficients for dichotomous variables, and Bivariate correlations for average substance use. Effects of potential personality, psychopathology, and demographic moderators on agreement were assessed through hierarchical regression analyses and curvilinear relations determined. Results reflected moderate agreement between retrospective and prospective reports of substance use, moderated by personality and psychopathology variables, particularly Agreeableness, symptoms of antisocial personality disorder, and symptoms of substance abuse. Agreement between retrospective and prospective reports was adequate for reports of alcohol and marijuana use for at least six years after initial reports of use. Agreement for cigarette reports was adequate a year after initial reporting.

Bakgrund och problem: Jämställdhet är ett aktuellt ämne som diskuteras bland både forskare och medier. Revisionsbranschen anses som en jämställd bransch samtidigt som undersökningar visar att kvinnor i de större företagen inte uppfattar den så jämställd som den genom könsfördelningen verkar vara. Forskare menar att det är viktigt att följa hur information om kvinnor och män redovisas i företags års- och hållbarhetsredovisningar för att se hur uppfattningar förändras över tid. Studier har genomförts i syfte att se hur företag redovisar sociala faktorer, såsom jämställdhet, men dessa finnes underrepresenterade i Sverige vilket leder fram till studiens problemformulering:   Vad redovisar större svenska revisionsbyråer om jämställdhet i sina års- och hållbarhetsredovisningar och hur har denna redovisning förändrats från räkenskapsår 2007/2008 till och med räkenskapsår 2011/2012?   Syfte: Syftet med studien är att identifiera och beskriva vad större revisionsbyråer i Sverige redovisar om jämställdhet i sina års- och hållbarhetsredovisningar för att få bättre insikt i denna redovisning. Delsyftet är även att beskriva hur denna redovisning har förändrats från räkenskapsår 2007/2008 till och med räkenskapsår 2011/2012 för att se hur engagemanget i frågan utvecklats. Metod: Års- och hållbarhetsredovisningar från de fyra största revisionsbyråerna i Sverige studerades från räkenskapsår 2007/2008 till och med räkenskapsår 2011/2012. Den metod som användes för att samla in informationen var en kvalitativ innehållsanalys där en undersökningsmall som följde Weberprotokollet utformades. Resultat och slutsatser: Endast ett av företagen redovisade ett uppsatt mål om jämställdhet i sina rapporter men företagen uttryckte istället jämställdhet som en strävan eller utmaning. Företagen redovisade lagstadgad könsuppdelad statistik och frivilliga upplysningar om jämställdhet. Däremot var redovisningen om jämställdhet bristfällig hos några av företagen vilket gjorde att det var svårt att identifiera tydliga förändringar. De redovisade frivilliga upplysningar vilket skulle kunna förklaras med att de redovisar detta i syfte att skapa legitimitet gentemot sina intressenter. Nyckelord: Jämställdhet, legitimitet, intressenter, redovisning, årsredovisningar, hållbarhetsredovisningar / Background and problem: Gender equality is a current topic discussed among researchers and the media. The audit industry is considered as an equal branch while surveys show that women in the larger companies do not perceive it as equal as gender balance appears to be. Researchers believe that it is important to monitor how information about women and men is reported in the company's annual and sustainability reports to see how perceptions change over time. Research has been carried out to see how companies report on social factors such as gender, but these studies are underrepresented in Sweden, which leads to the study´s question: What do major Swedish auditing firms report about gender equality in their annual and sustainability reports and how has this reporting changed between 2007/2008 – 2011/2012?   Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify and describe what the major auditing firms in Sweden report on gender equality in their annual and sustainability reports to gain a better understanding of this reporting. Another purpose is to describe how this report has changed between 2007/2008 – 2011/2012 to see how the involvement has developed. Method: Annual and sustainability reports from the four largest auditing firms in Sweden were studied between 2007/2008 – 2011/2012. The method used to collect the information was a qualitative content analysis where a list that followed the Weber protocol was created. Results and conclusions: Only one company reported a goal of equality in its reports, but all companies expressed equality as an ambition or challenge. The companies reported statutory gender statistics and voluntary disclosures. The results showed, however, that the reporting of equality was deficient in some of the companies that made it difficult to identify changes. They reported voluntary disclosures, which could be explained by that they report this in order to create legitimacy to their stakeholders. Keywords: Gender equality, legitimacy, stakeholders, accounting, annual reports, sustainability reports

Thesis (B.Comm. (Hons.)) -- University of Adelaide, School of Commerce, 2000. / Bibliography: leaves 110-113.

Thesis (M.S.W.)--University of Hong Kong, 1993.

The purpose of this study was to identify company characteristics associated with the presence of disclosures regarding internal control in the annual report. Gibbins, Richardson and Waterhouse [1990] have developed a framework from which to examine financial disclosure,. These authors define two dimensions of a company's disclosure position; opportunism and ritualism. I examined the association between variables representing the dimensions identified by these authors and a company's decision regarding disclosure of a management report on internal control. I compared specific characteristics of companies disclosing this information to those of companies not disclosing. The dependent variable represented the presence or absence of disclosure. I used logit analysis to test the significance of the chosen characteristics relative to the decision to include or exclude a management report on internal control in the annual report. My results were consistent with the existence of ritualism with respect to this issue. Reporting on internal controls was associated with membership in the Financial Executives Institute, auditor choice, certain industry designations and prior inclusion of such a report. FEI membership was closely related to initial reporting decisions as well'. I found evidence of opportunism as well. The likelihood of reporting on internal controls was related to company size (and presumably control strength), and growth rates. I also found an association between reporting and the issuance of publicly traded securities in the succeeding year and more moderate levels of debt relative to an industry average. In addition, I found that initial reporting decisions were associated with external events relating to potential legislation of the reporting issue. This research provides insight into the corporate response to reporting on internal controls.