Despite the vital role that statutory auditing plays in enhancing trust or credibility over the financial statements of business entities, most member states in the European Union community have decided to grant a waiver or exempt small companies from the service in order to reduce administrative burden and cost for these companies. In Sweden this is still a proposal that will be in effect by 2010. Since accounting has become the way firms measure their performance, auditing has also become an increasing need for users of accounting information such as stakeholders. This paper presents an investigation on the banks opinion and reactions about the new proposal or legislation concerning small companies in Sweden that will be exempted from statutory auditing. The study is focused on the banks perspective since banks are key players in providing funds to small companies and enabling their survival. In granting loans to companies, banks always require them to provide audited financial statements for assurance and credibility purpose. Thus our empirical findings have been carried out through the inductive research method based on three interviews undertaken with some personnel of the management of three major banking institutions in the city of Umea and Skelleftea. From this study we found that though statutory audit will be removed for small companies by government, banks will still require these companies to provide them with audited financial statements when it comes to granting loans to companies. Unfortunately, this policy may backfire as it opens the floodgates for companies to manipulate by keeping low figures to avoid tax or high to increase credibility.

It is important to develop and assess student learning outcomes in order to determine whether academic department goals and standards are being reached. One aspect of this process involves alignment of learning outcomes with stakeholder criteria (expectations, beliefs) for assessment. The Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences at Texas A&M University has not previously developed a program assessment of student learning outcomes. However, a survey has been administered to undergraduate students enrolled in a mandatory class, Conservation and Management (WFSC 201). Among other questions, the survey asked students to provide information about their curriculum choice, agreement with value statements about wildlife and conservation issues, career interests, graduate school plans, and importance of issues related to wildlife and fisheries management and conservation. To evaluate alignment of student choice of curriculum with expectations and beliefs related to their choice of career, I tested the student responses to curriculum choice for relationships to responses to survey questions about career interests, gender, and graduate school plans for surveys administered in 2000 and 2008. For these same surveys, I also tested responses to value statements for relationships to responses for importance of issues, in addition to career interests, gender, and graduate school plans. Similar percentages (24%) of the total variation in curriculum choice and in agreement with value statements were explained: Career interests explained 18% of the variation related to curriculum choice and 8% of variation related to value statements. Year and gender combined explained only 2% of the variation in either dependent variable. Responses to important issues explained 11% of the variation in responses to value statements. Choice of curriculum was most strongly related to career interests and graduate school plans. Students who chose the teaching curriculum option were interested in careers in public school education and planned on attending graduate school. Students who chose curriculum options in aquaculture and fish ecology and management were interested in careers in aquaculture and as government fisheries biologists and conservation officers and planned on attending graduate school. Students who chose the curriculum options in wildlife ecology and management and other options were interested in a broad range of careers and were undecided about graduate school. Although importance of issues and career interests explained 19% of the variation in student agreement with value statements, this relationship was not statistically significant. Issues of greatest importance to females were endangered species, habitat destruction, water availability, loss of biodiversity, and water pollution. Females in 2000 tended to choose careers in public school education and as government wildlife biologists, and in 2008 chose careers in nature center education and as urban wildlife biologists. Issues of greatest importance to males were landowner rights to resources, such as high fences to enclose wildlife, access to rivers, water availability, and hunting of wildlife. Males in 2000 tended to choose careers as conservation officers, and in 2008 chose careers in ranch management, private consulting, and as government fish biologists and urban wildlife biologists. This data provides the Wildlife and Fisheries Department at Texas A&M University with information about its students and how they responded to curriculum options, career interests, value statements, and important issues.

No description available.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1985.

This report is a case study of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that was prepared by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Fort Worth District for the Upper Trinity River Central City Fort Worth, Texas EIS. It utilizes a system of best practices focused on four areas of concern: adequacy of the EIS public involvement and comment process, adequacy of the EIS content considerations, adequacy of analysis considerations, and adequacy of document quality. The basic premise of this report is that Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) should be analyzed outside of the Federal government in order to ensure that the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) remains a healthy statute that continues to serve the public. This particular EIS was chosen because of the magnitude of the project and the potential ramifications it poses for the City of Fort Worth. An important goal of this report is to not only evaluate this particular EIS, but to use it as a means for answering some general questions about the employment of NEPA in the Dallas and Fort Worth (DFW) Metroplex. Perhaps this report can also be of some assistance to individuals participating with the Corps’ preparation of the EIS for the Trinity River Corridor project in Dallas. / text

This dissertation investigates whether firms strategically disclose accounting restatements by coordinating restatement announcements with earnings releases, delaying the announcement of income-decreasing restatements, or obscuring restatement announcements by failing to disclose news of a restatement on a Form 8-K filing. I examine restatements announced after a Securities and Exchange Commission rule (effective August 24, 2004) that mandates a unique 8-K filing for restatements. Consistent with an attempt to lessen the negative impact of a restatement announcement, I find that when firms package restatement announcements with earnings releases they most often pair small income-decreasing restatements with positive earnings surprises. I also find that monitoring by the SEC decreases the probability of firms' mixing restatement and earnings news. On average, firms delay announcements of income-decreasing restatements longer than announcements of income-increasing restatements, and institutional ownership is positively associated with more timely disclosures of restatement news. I show that firms with weak corporate governance or less external monitoring are more likely to make news of a restatement difficult to find. Restatements performed without a Form 8-K filing are much less likely to be disclosed in a company-issued press release or to receive attention in the business press, and I find some evidence that the initial market reaction to obscure restatement announcements is less negative than the reaction to restatements disclosed transparently. Collectively, these results suggest that even in the presence of strict disclosure requirements, some firms attempt to strategically manage the timing and transparency of restatement announcements and investors do not appear to undo the effects of firms' strategic behavior. / text

No description available.

In 1999, the Federal Government sued the tobacco companies in an attempt to recover expenses used to treat diseases caused by smoking. The 2006 verdict required the dissemination of corrective statements intended to inform the public of the dangers of smoking. This study analyzes smokers' perceptions of these statements. Statements were tested from November 5 to December 5, 2007. Results indicate: (1) messages created by public health intervenors and tobacco companies tended to have higher mean scores than those created by the DOJ, (2) statements on nicotine being addictive had significantly higher mean scores than the other two sets tested, (3) that all statements were rated higher in terms of believability than in terms of other factors, and (4) light smokers rated statements higher in terms of motivating and likelihood to quit than did medium or heavy smokers. These results will be used to refine the development of corrective statements.

Literature suggests that countries should adopt the International Financial Reporting Standards and the worldwide recommended narrative reporting in annual reports. However, in developing countries, a range of prerequisites have to be put in place to ensure compliance therewith. This study has two main aims: firstly, to identify the way Rwandan companies report and to compare their reporting system with international requirements, and secondly to establish how aware Rwandan companies are of narrative reporting. This study uses a basic research and a mixed methods approach. A mixed method approach is used when the researcher supplements qualitative information with a quantitative approach to provide a more comprehensive analysis of the problem. A sample of 24 companies formed the subject of this study. Data were collected using a questionnaire which was supplemented in some cases with interviews. This study revealed that although Rwandan companies report annually, they do not all comply with International Financial Reporting Standards. While Rwandan companies do not totally ignore narrative reporting and are aware of its importance, some preparers lack some knowledge towards the preparation and presentation of such reports. Some of the reasons for this were the lack of a properly constituted accounting board, the lack of sound regulation in the accounting profession and the absence of enough qualified accountants Based on the current study’s findings, it is recommended that the accounting profession in Rwanda should be strengthened. This can be achieved with the help of the government of Rwanda and the international community. The current study also revealed the necessity for Rwanda to adopt the International Financial Reporting Standards. To achieve this, an incremental adoption approach is recommended which could lead the way to the full adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards. / Thesis (M.Acc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2009.

This study investigates doctors’ and patients’ usage of three speech functions; namely statements, questions and commands in the American medical drama series House M.D. Furthermore, the study investigates interruptions between doctors and patients. The aim of the study was to ascertain whether the claim that doctors practice power over patients can be verified. The data comprises transcripts of 16 video recorded sessions of doctors and patient interacting where the material was personally collected and analyzed. In their interactions, doctors were found to dominate in making statements, asking questions and uttering commands. In addition, it was detected that the doctors’ and patients’ way to communicate differed given the fact that doctors are trained in their roles as doctors while patients are not. However, both interactants were found to perform the different speech functions similarly. The study also revealed that doctors interrupted more as compared to patients. Furthermore, gendered interruptions were found in the data, all of which came from male participants and it was concluded that the findings could be linked to the social and cultural roles of the participants. Overall, it was concluded that there exists a power relationship between doctors and patients.