Objective The aim of this study was to develop and validate a rapid psychosocial well-being screening tool for metastatic breast cancer patients(MBC-PsySoc-Well-being).Methods Applying a mixed method approach,the stud...Objective The aim of this study was to develop and validate a rapid psychosocial well-being screening tool for metastatic breast cancer patients(MBC-PsySoc-Well-being).Methods Applying a mixed method approach,the study was conducted in two phases.Phase 1,a focus group method was employed for item development,and three focus group sessions were conducted,with patients,caregivers,and medical professionals,respectively.Phase 2,validity and reliability testing were performed.Five experts reviewed items for content validity.Construct validity,criterion-related validity,internal consistency,and test-retest reliability were conducted among a sample of 53 patients with metastatic breast cancer.Results Six themes were qualitatively analyzed based on focus group participants’responses.Eight items were then developed based on these themes.The index of Item-Objective Congruence scored by the experts ranged from 0.6 to 1.0.An exploratory factor analysis yielded three factors:Being curious and active in information seeking,Enthusiasm to return to a normal life,and Adjusting to positive lifestyle.The total scores of MBC-PsySoc-Well-being and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer’s Quality of Life Core Questionnaire(EORTC QLQ-C30)were moderately correlated(r=0.404,P=0.003).Cronbach’sαcoefficient of the overall scale was 0.686.Pearson correlation coefficients of items between two tests within 14-day ranged from 0.410 to 0.673.Conclusion This study represents an initiative to develop a rapid psychosocial well-being screening tool for patients with metastatic breast cancer.The results from validity and reliability testing indicate that the scale is moderately suitable for application to patients with metastatic breast cancer.However,a larger scale study should be further administered to confirm the validity and reliability of the measurement.展开更多
Over the past decade the world banking industry has grown significantly and this has led to increasing sophistication and complexity in its practices.The industry has been affected by changes in the way in which it is...Over the past decade the world banking industry has grown significantly and this has led to increasing sophistication and complexity in its practices.The industry has been affected by changes in the way in which it is regulated and supervised,by changes in the nature of its products,by the way in which individual bank manages its own affairs and controls its assets and by the way in which it accounts to the outside world for its activities.These changes have probably been of more significance than those experienced in any other industry over the past few years.Hong Kong which is one of the foremost financial centres of the world,has experienced all of these changes,probably to a greater extent than most other parts of the world.Hong Kong is one of the world’s major international banking centres and has a thriving domestic banking community.There is a need to review our banking practices and their accounting and auditing implications.The BCCI and BCCHK events happened in mid—1991 should trigger us to further reassess the role of auditor(both external and internal)in this ever changing and fast moving industry in co—operation with local authorities such as the Banking Commission,Department of Monetary Affairs and Security Commission.A number of investigations and articles on the role of bank auditors have been done and written,these include the study of challenges faced by bank auditors in today’s environment (Seidman,1987),the examination of the changing role of the bank audit committee(Haugh and Bradley,1987)and new risks faced by bank auditors (Clark,1987).In this paper,we will try to identify some of the common problems which might have caused the banking crisis.We will examine the role of auditor and try to establish the responsibilities of auditor when performing an audit task in a banking environment with the view to reducing the chance of the crisis happening again,if not eliminated completely.The regulatory body will still be the Banking Commission,while auditor will assume a supporting role in the banking monitoring and reguatory functions.展开更多
Socially-responsible business and ethical behavior of companies have been of interest to academia and practice for decades, but the focus has almost exclusively been on large corporations, while small and medium-sized...Socially-responsible business and ethical behavior of companies have been of interest to academia and practice for decades, but the focus has almost exclusively been on large corporations, while small and medium-sized enterprises （SMEs） have not received as much attention （Hammann, et al., 2009）. Worthington, et al （2006） recognized the need to encourage socially-responsible business practices among the 90 per cent or more of the world＇s businesses that are classified as SMEs. Perrini, et al （2007） found that size explains the differences in firms＇ willingness to define and implement such specific corporate social responsibility （CSR） strategies, while Murillo and Lozano （2006） concluded that it still remains to be explored whether manufacturing companies tend to apply CSR more extensively, or whether businesses oriented to other business have a tendency to incorporate CSR into their management patterns to a higher degree. Moreover, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, in her 7 June, 2002 speech, recognized the importance of Chinese-Filipinos in helping improve the Philippine economy, and yet, not much research had been done on this sub-sector. Thus, this paper focuses on the effect of finn size and finn activities on the social responsibility practices of selected 30 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises （MSMEs） in Metro Manila which are owned by Chinese-Filipinos. Survey questionnaires and interview were used for gathering data, while a correlations test was used to analyze the data and to conclude whether finn size and finn activities have an effect on the sampled companies＇ CSR practices.展开更多
The paper addresses the question of optimal development of a developing economy. The framework presented, it is believed, can be of help in thinking about policies relating, inter alia, to population growth, inter-sec...The paper addresses the question of optimal development of a developing economy. The framework presented, it is believed, can be of help in thinking about policies relating, inter alia, to population growth, inter-sectoral migration, agriculture-industry relationship, wages in different sectors, and income distribution in an inter-connected way in the context of optimal development of an economy with an informal sector.展开更多
This study attempts to investigate if and how students＇ perceptions regarding the first accounting course related with the selection of accounting as a major. Moreover, it examines students＇ initial perceptions and ...This study attempts to investigate if and how students＇ perceptions regarding the first accounting course related with the selection of accounting as a major. Moreover, it examines students＇ initial perceptions and course performance regarding the introductory accounting course. Participants in this study were 120 students from Technological Educational Institute of Kavala, School of Business and Economics （3 departments）, who were asked to complete a survey instrument. The instrument used eleven statements regarding students＇ perceptions （such as difficulty and motivation of the course） of the first accounting course. The main factors affect students＇ decisions to follow accounting and seem to be similar with other researchers＇ findings （Geiger ＆ Ogilby, 2000）. Future research could be used larger sample from different countries and the survey could also be used for a longer time period.展开更多
Overconfidence behavior,one form of positive illusion,has drawn considerable attention throughout history because it is viewed as the main reason for many crises.Investors’overconfidence,which can be observed as over...Overconfidence behavior,one form of positive illusion,has drawn considerable attention throughout history because it is viewed as the main reason for many crises.Investors’overconfidence,which can be observed as overtrading following positive returns,may lead to inefficiencies in stock markets.To the best of our knowledge,this is the first study to examine the presence of investor overconfidence by employing an artificial intelligence technique and a nonlinear approach to impulse responses to analyze the impact of different return regimes on the overconfidence attitude.We examine whether investors in an emerging stock market(Borsa Istanbul)exhibit overconfidence behavior using a feed-forward,neural network,nonlinear Granger causality test and nonlinear impulseresponse functions based on local projections.These are the first applications in the relevant literature due to the novelty of these models in forecasting high-dimensional,multivariate time series.The results obtained from distinguishing between the different market regimes to analyze the responses of trading volume to return shocks contradict those in the literature,which is the key contribution of the study.The empirical findings imply that overconfidence behavior exhibits asymmetries in different return regimes and is persistent during the 20-day forecasting horizon.Overconfidence is more persistent in the low-than in the high-return regime.In the negative interest-rate period,a high-return regime induces overconfidence behavior,whereas in the positive interest-rate period,a low-return regime induces overconfidence behavior.Based on the empirical findings,investors should be aware that portfolio gains may result in losses depending on aggressive and excessive trading strategies,particularly in low-return regimes.展开更多
The COVID-19 pandemic is a virus that has disastrous effects onhuman lives globally;still spreading like wildfire causing huge losses to humanityand economies. There is a need to follow few constraints like social dis...The COVID-19 pandemic is a virus that has disastrous effects onhuman lives globally;still spreading like wildfire causing huge losses to humanityand economies. There is a need to follow few constraints like social distancingnorms, personal hygiene, and masking up to effectively control the virus spread.The proposal is to detect the face frame and confirm the faces are properly covered with masks. By applying the concepts of Deep learning, the results obtainedfor mask detection are found to be effective. The system is trained using4500 images to accurately judge and justify its accuracy. The aim is to developan algorithm to automatically detect a mask, but the approach does not facilitatethe percentage of improper usage. Accuracy levels are as low as 50% if the maskis improperly covered and an alert is raised for improper placement. It can be usedat traffic places and social gatherings for the prevention of virus transmission. Itworks by first locating the region of interest by creating a frame boundary, thenfacial points are picked up to detect and concentrate on specific features. Thetraining on the input images is performed using different epochs until the artificialface mask detection dataset is created. The system is implemented using TensorFlow with OpenCV and Python using a Jupyter Notebook simulation environment. The training dataset used is collected from a set of diverse open-sourcedatasets with filtered images available at Kaggle Medical Mask Dataset by Mikolaj Witkowski, Kera, and Prajna Bhandary. To simulate MobilNetV2 classifier isused to load and pre-process the image dataset for building a fully connectedhead. The objective is to assess the accuracy of the identification, measuringthe efficiency and effectiveness of algorithms for precision, recall, and F1 score.展开更多
Today’s economic growth is not promising without air transport, up-to-date airports infrastructure, efficient and safe airline services and international air transport networks. According to WB [1], 40% of the world-...Today’s economic growth is not promising without air transport, up-to-date airports infrastructure, efficient and safe airline services and international air transport networks. According to WB [1], 40% of the world-wide tourists travel by air transport. The main aim of this study is to analyze the literatures of air transport and economic growth study. A systematic literature review (SLR) method was used in order to examine related articles from ABDC list journals which are ranked on A*, A or B, published in period 1992-2018. This study gives a summary of the trends and research themes which have been identified. Key scholars, as well as their approaches and locations and citations are also mapped. The findings of this study show that there is a growing interest in researching and publishing on Air transportation and economic growth. This study fills a deficiency in specialized literature concerning air transportation in developing countries and provides a foundation for future research in the field of air transportation.展开更多
When there is high information asymmetry between directors and managers,independent directors do not have enough information to perform their functions. Only when faced with a good internal information environment can...When there is high information asymmetry between directors and managers,independent directors do not have enough information to perform their functions. Only when faced with a good internal information environment can such directors acquire enough information to provide advice and monitor managers,and only under these conditions can increasing their proportion on the board effectively reduce agency problems, such as driving managers to disclose information to investors. Using a sample of Chinese listed firms that voluntarily disclose their auditors' reports on internal controls from 2007 to 2009, this study explores how the information acquisition costs of independent directors affect their monitoring effectiveness by investigating the disclosure decisions of their internal control audits. We find that when the information asymmetry between insiders and outside directors is low and the proportion of independent directors on a board is high, a firm is more likely to voluntarily disclose its internal control audit report.展开更多
We examine the association between auditor choice and the accruals patterns of Chinese listed firms that cross-list in Hong Kong.Our evidence suggests that the clients of Big 4 auditors report lower unsigned discretio...We examine the association between auditor choice and the accruals patterns of Chinese listed firms that cross-list in Hong Kong.Our evidence suggests that the clients of Big 4 auditors report lower unsigned discretionary accruals relative to the clients of non-Big 4 auditors.Further,we find that cross-listed firms with non-Big 4 auditors are more likely to understate their earnings and experience larger reversals of accruals in the future than cross-listed firms with Big 4 auditors.These findings suggest that Big 4 auditors play a meaningful role in improving earnings quality for cross-listed firms,which helps to explain why crosslisted firms have higher earnings quality than their domestic counterparts,as documented in the previous literature.展开更多
We construct a new measure to capture corporate political connections, which is based on the amount a corporation spends on socializing with government officials. We examine the validity of this measure using the exog...We construct a new measure to capture corporate political connections, which is based on the amount a corporation spends on socializing with government officials. We examine the validity of this measure using the exogenous turnover of top local officials and find that firms increase their political networking expenditures when top local officials are replaced. Compared to state-owned enterprises(SOEs), non-state-owned enterprises(non-SOEs) react more aggressively to changes in local officials, which implies that non-SOEs have stronger incentives to build political connections with officials through social intercourse. We also find that firms located in regions with low levels of marketization react more aggressively to the turnover of local politicians. In addition, we find a positive effect of corporate political socializing expenditures on corporate performance and valuation, which suggests that political connections built through social intercourse benefit corporations.展开更多
Running a social enterprise(SE) is more difficult than running a small or medium-sized enterprise because SEs have to achieve both economic sustainability as business enterprises and their social mission for the benef...Running a social enterprise(SE) is more difficult than running a small or medium-sized enterprise because SEs have to achieve both economic sustainability as business enterprises and their social mission for the benefit of society.After a few years of operation, many SEs fail or struggle for survival. In this study, we examine some of the factors that affect an SE’s profitability, financial management, and business planning and management. Based on in-depth interviews with 22 social enterprises in Hong Kong, we find that SEs with the dual investment objectives of social mission and financial return are more sustainable and competitive than SEs with social impact as their sole objective. Furthermore, SEs managed by non-owner managers have better financial planning and performance than those managed by owner managers. In addition, SEs with an oversight/advisory committee are more competitive and have better management practices than those without such a committee. Our findings have policy implications for government, SEs, funding bodies, and non-profit organizations to enhance and promote the development of the social enterprise sector.展开更多
Utilizing CO_(2) in an electro-chemical process and synthesizing value-added chemicals are amongst the few viable and scalable pathways in carbon capture and utilization technologies.CO_(2) electro-reduction is also c...Utilizing CO_(2) in an electro-chemical process and synthesizing value-added chemicals are amongst the few viable and scalable pathways in carbon capture and utilization technologies.CO_(2) electro-reduction is also counted as one of the main options entailing less fossil fuel consumption and as a future electrical energy storage strategy.The current study aims at developing a new electrochemical platform to produce low-carbon e-biofuel through multifunctional electrosynthesis and integrated co-valorisation of biomass feedstocks with captured CO_(2).In this approach,CO_(2) is reduced at the cathode to produce drop-in fuels(e.g.,methanol)while value-added chemicals(e.g.,selective oxidation of alcohols,aldehydes,carboxylic acids and amines/amides)are produced at the anode.In this work,a numerical model of a continuous-flow design considering various anodic and cathodic reactions was built to determine the most techno-economically feasible configurations from the aspects of energy efficiency,environment impact and economical values.The reactor design was then optimized via parametric analysis.展开更多
After issuing the 1998 Accounting Standards, Chinese regulators implemented additional regulations in 2001 governing write-downs of impaired assets and required assessment of recoverable amounts for four additional as...After issuing the 1998 Accounting Standards, Chinese regulators implemented additional regulations in 2001 governing write-downs of impaired assets and required assessment of recoverable amounts for four additional asset categories. As the recoverable value cannot be obtained objectively, management can discretionally assess the magnitude of write-downs to affect bottom-line profit. This study used 7258 firm-year observations in China from 1998 to2005 to examine whether the percentage of asset write-downs by statecontrolled firms differs from non-state-controlled firms, conditional upon more conservative financial reporting rules, and investigate whether local auditors support managerial decisions on asset write-downs. The empirical findings support the tendency of state-controlled ownerships to have lower asset write-downs. Local auditors also support managerial decisions on asset write-downs, especially when the companies are controlled by local governments.展开更多
Whether proportionate consolidation(PC) or the equity method(EM) provides more informative financial statements is a controversial issue. This study uses data from listed companies in Hong Kong to investigate the valu...Whether proportionate consolidation(PC) or the equity method(EM) provides more informative financial statements is a controversial issue. This study uses data from listed companies in Hong Kong to investigate the value relevance of the EM compared with PC during 2005–2008 when the local wordfor-word equivalent HKAS 31 offered the same options. The results of this study provide evidence that PC does not offer higher value relevance than the EM. PC's horizontal aggregation of a portion of the operations, assets and liabilities of the jointly controlled entities with those of the venturer is less informative to investors than the EM's vertical aggregation.展开更多
In this study,we take a machine learning-based approach to measure institutional investor attention to corporate social responsibility(CSR)issues when communicating with firms during site visits.We find that instituti...In this study,we take a machine learning-based approach to measure institutional investor attention to corporate social responsibility(CSR)issues when communicating with firms during site visits.We find that institutional investors can effectively enhance CSR performance through CSR-related communication.This effect remains robust to various checks and is more pronounced for non-state-owned enterprises and firms with lower levels of institutional ownership and in periods following the issuance of Green Investment Guidelines.We also identify information asymmetry and financing constraints as the two mechanisms underlying this effect.Overall,our findings highlight the importance of private interactions between management and institutional investors in promoting CSR.展开更多
Using a large sample of firms listed on the Korea Stock Exchange over 1998–2007, this study investigates whether and how trading by foreign and domestic institutional investors improves the extent to which firm-speci...Using a large sample of firms listed on the Korea Stock Exchange over 1998–2007, this study investigates whether and how trading by foreign and domestic institutional investors improves the extent to which firm-specific information is incorporated into stock prices, captured by stock price synchronicity. We find,first, that stock price synchronicity decreases significantly with the intensity of trading by foreign investors and domestic institutional investors. Second,trading by foreign investors facilitates the incorporation of firm-specific information into stock prices to a greater extent than trading by aggregate domestic institutions. Third, among domestic institutions with differing investment horizons, short-term investing institutions, such as securities and investment trust companies, play a more important role in incorporating firm-specific information into stock prices via their trading activities, compared with long-term investing institutions, such as banks and insurance companies.Finally, we provide evidence suggesting that trading by foreign and domestic short-term institutions reduces the extent of accrual mispricing. Our results are robust to a variety of sensitivity checks.展开更多
The existing literature on audit opinion shopping provides inconsistent evidence on whether such shopping has any association with abnormal audit fees. In this paper, we hypothesize that firms engage in audit opinion ...The existing literature on audit opinion shopping provides inconsistent evidence on whether such shopping has any association with abnormal audit fees. In this paper, we hypothesize that firms engage in audit opinion shopping and pay an abnormal audit fee only when their degree of accounting quality is low. To examine the issue, we group firms on the basis of their change in return on assets(ROA), and show that abnormal audit fees improve audit opinions only among firms that engage local auditors and have a low degree of ROA, but report a large increase in ROA, especially when the ROA change is the result of abnormal accruals. We find no association between abnormal audit fees and audit opinion improvement for other firms.展开更多
The extant literature offers extensive support for the significant role played by institutions in financial markets,but implicit regulation and monitoring have yet to be examined.This study fills this void in the lite...The extant literature offers extensive support for the significant role played by institutions in financial markets,but implicit regulation and monitoring have yet to be examined.This study fills this void in the literature by employing unique Chinese datasets to explore the implicit regulation and penalties imposed by the Chinese government in regulating the initial public offering(IPO) market.Of particular interest are the economic consequences of underwriting IPO deals for client firms that violate regulatory rules in China's capital market.We provide evidence to show that the associated underwriters' reputations are impaired and their market share declines.We further explore whether such negative consequences result from a market disciplinary mechanism or a penalty imposed by the government.To analyze the possibility of a market disciplinary mechanism at work,we investigate(1) the market reaction to other client firms whose IPO deals were underwritten by underwriters associated with a violation at the time the violation was publicly disclosed and(2) the under-pricing of IPO deals undertaken by these underwriters after such disclosure.To analyze whether the government imposes an implicit penalty,we examine the application processing time for future IPO deals underwritten by the associated underwriters and find it to be significantly longer than for IPO deals underwritten by other underwriters.Overall,there is little evidence to suggest that the market penalizes underwriters for the rule-violating behavior of their client firms in China.Instead,the Chinese government implicitly penalizes them by imposing more stringent criteria on and lengthening the processing time of the IPO deals they subsequently underwrite.展开更多
We investigate whether foreign institutional investors facilitate firm-specific information flow in the global market. Specifically, using annual institutional ownership data from firms across 40 countries, we find th...We investigate whether foreign institutional investors facilitate firm-specific information flow in the global market. Specifically, using annual institutional ownership data from firms across 40 countries, we find that foreign institutional ownership is negatively associated with excess stock return comovement. Our results are more pronounced when foreign institutional investors originate from common-law countries and hold a large equity stake in invested firms; and when the invested firms are located in civil-law countries. Overall, the evidence suggests that foreign institutional investors from countries with strong investor protection play an important informational role in mitigating excess stock return comovement around the world.展开更多
基金This study was financially supported by the 90th anniversary of Chulalongkorn University Fund(Ratchadaphiseksomphot Endow-ment Fund)partially supported by the Behavioral Research and Informatics in Social Science Research Unit,Chulalongkorn University,Thailand.
文摘Objective The aim of this study was to develop and validate a rapid psychosocial well-being screening tool for metastatic breast cancer patients(MBC-PsySoc-Well-being).Methods Applying a mixed method approach,the study was conducted in two phases.Phase 1,a focus group method was employed for item development,and three focus group sessions were conducted,with patients,caregivers,and medical professionals,respectively.Phase 2,validity and reliability testing were performed.Five experts reviewed items for content validity.Construct validity,criterion-related validity,internal consistency,and test-retest reliability were conducted among a sample of 53 patients with metastatic breast cancer.Results Six themes were qualitatively analyzed based on focus group participants’responses.Eight items were then developed based on these themes.The index of Item-Objective Congruence scored by the experts ranged from 0.6 to 1.0.An exploratory factor analysis yielded three factors:Being curious and active in information seeking,Enthusiasm to return to a normal life,and Adjusting to positive lifestyle.The total scores of MBC-PsySoc-Well-being and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer’s Quality of Life Core Questionnaire(EORTC QLQ-C30)were moderately correlated(r=0.404,P=0.003).Cronbach’sαcoefficient of the overall scale was 0.686.Pearson correlation coefficients of items between two tests within 14-day ranged from 0.410 to 0.673.Conclusion This study represents an initiative to develop a rapid psychosocial well-being screening tool for patients with metastatic breast cancer.The results from validity and reliability testing indicate that the scale is moderately suitable for application to patients with metastatic breast cancer.However,a larger scale study should be further administered to confirm the validity and reliability of the measurement.
文摘Over the past decade the world banking industry has grown significantly and this has led to increasing sophistication and complexity in its practices.The industry has been affected by changes in the way in which it is regulated and supervised,by changes in the nature of its products,by the way in which individual bank manages its own affairs and controls its assets and by the way in which it accounts to the outside world for its activities.These changes have probably been of more significance than those experienced in any other industry over the past few years.Hong Kong which is one of the foremost financial centres of the world,has experienced all of these changes,probably to a greater extent than most other parts of the world.Hong Kong is one of the world’s major international banking centres and has a thriving domestic banking community.There is a need to review our banking practices and their accounting and auditing implications.The BCCI and BCCHK events happened in mid—1991 should trigger us to further reassess the role of auditor(both external and internal)in this ever changing and fast moving industry in co—operation with local authorities such as the Banking Commission,Department of Monetary Affairs and Security Commission.A number of investigations and articles on the role of bank auditors have been done and written,these include the study of challenges faced by bank auditors in today’s environment (Seidman,1987),the examination of the changing role of the bank audit committee(Haugh and Bradley,1987)and new risks faced by bank auditors (Clark,1987).In this paper,we will try to identify some of the common problems which might have caused the banking crisis.We will examine the role of auditor and try to establish the responsibilities of auditor when performing an audit task in a banking environment with the view to reducing the chance of the crisis happening again,if not eliminated completely.The regulatory body will still be the Banking Commission,while auditor will assume a supporting role in the banking monitoring and reguatory functions.
文摘Socially-responsible business and ethical behavior of companies have been of interest to academia and practice for decades, but the focus has almost exclusively been on large corporations, while small and medium-sized enterprises （SMEs） have not received as much attention （Hammann, et al., 2009）. Worthington, et al （2006） recognized the need to encourage socially-responsible business practices among the 90 per cent or more of the world＇s businesses that are classified as SMEs. Perrini, et al （2007） found that size explains the differences in firms＇ willingness to define and implement such specific corporate social responsibility （CSR） strategies, while Murillo and Lozano （2006） concluded that it still remains to be explored whether manufacturing companies tend to apply CSR more extensively, or whether businesses oriented to other business have a tendency to incorporate CSR into their management patterns to a higher degree. Moreover, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, in her 7 June, 2002 speech, recognized the importance of Chinese-Filipinos in helping improve the Philippine economy, and yet, not much research had been done on this sub-sector. Thus, this paper focuses on the effect of finn size and finn activities on the social responsibility practices of selected 30 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises （MSMEs） in Metro Manila which are owned by Chinese-Filipinos. Survey questionnaires and interview were used for gathering data, while a correlations test was used to analyze the data and to conclude whether finn size and finn activities have an effect on the sampled companies＇ CSR practices.
文摘The paper addresses the question of optimal development of a developing economy. The framework presented, it is believed, can be of help in thinking about policies relating, inter alia, to population growth, inter-sectoral migration, agriculture-industry relationship, wages in different sectors, and income distribution in an inter-connected way in the context of optimal development of an economy with an informal sector.
文摘This study attempts to investigate if and how students＇ perceptions regarding the first accounting course related with the selection of accounting as a major. Moreover, it examines students＇ initial perceptions and course performance regarding the introductory accounting course. Participants in this study were 120 students from Technological Educational Institute of Kavala, School of Business and Economics （3 departments）, who were asked to complete a survey instrument. The instrument used eleven statements regarding students＇ perceptions （such as difficulty and motivation of the course） of the first accounting course. The main factors affect students＇ decisions to follow accounting and seem to be similar with other researchers＇ findings （Geiger ＆ Ogilby, 2000）. Future research could be used larger sample from different countries and the survey could also be used for a longer time period.
基金support for the research,authorship,and/or publication of this article.
文摘Overconfidence behavior,one form of positive illusion,has drawn considerable attention throughout history because it is viewed as the main reason for many crises.Investors’overconfidence,which can be observed as overtrading following positive returns,may lead to inefficiencies in stock markets.To the best of our knowledge,this is the first study to examine the presence of investor overconfidence by employing an artificial intelligence technique and a nonlinear approach to impulse responses to analyze the impact of different return regimes on the overconfidence attitude.We examine whether investors in an emerging stock market(Borsa Istanbul)exhibit overconfidence behavior using a feed-forward,neural network,nonlinear Granger causality test and nonlinear impulseresponse functions based on local projections.These are the first applications in the relevant literature due to the novelty of these models in forecasting high-dimensional,multivariate time series.The results obtained from distinguishing between the different market regimes to analyze the responses of trading volume to return shocks contradict those in the literature,which is the key contribution of the study.The empirical findings imply that overconfidence behavior exhibits asymmetries in different return regimes and is persistent during the 20-day forecasting horizon.Overconfidence is more persistent in the low-than in the high-return regime.In the negative interest-rate period,a high-return regime induces overconfidence behavior,whereas in the positive interest-rate period,a low-return regime induces overconfidence behavior.Based on the empirical findings,investors should be aware that portfolio gains may result in losses depending on aggressive and excessive trading strategies,particularly in low-return regimes.
文摘The COVID-19 pandemic is a virus that has disastrous effects onhuman lives globally;still spreading like wildfire causing huge losses to humanityand economies. There is a need to follow few constraints like social distancingnorms, personal hygiene, and masking up to effectively control the virus spread.The proposal is to detect the face frame and confirm the faces are properly covered with masks. By applying the concepts of Deep learning, the results obtainedfor mask detection are found to be effective. The system is trained using4500 images to accurately judge and justify its accuracy. The aim is to developan algorithm to automatically detect a mask, but the approach does not facilitatethe percentage of improper usage. Accuracy levels are as low as 50% if the maskis improperly covered and an alert is raised for improper placement. It can be usedat traffic places and social gatherings for the prevention of virus transmission. Itworks by first locating the region of interest by creating a frame boundary, thenfacial points are picked up to detect and concentrate on specific features. Thetraining on the input images is performed using different epochs until the artificialface mask detection dataset is created. The system is implemented using TensorFlow with OpenCV and Python using a Jupyter Notebook simulation environment. The training dataset used is collected from a set of diverse open-sourcedatasets with filtered images available at Kaggle Medical Mask Dataset by Mikolaj Witkowski, Kera, and Prajna Bhandary. To simulate MobilNetV2 classifier isused to load and pre-process the image dataset for building a fully connectedhead. The objective is to assess the accuracy of the identification, measuringthe efficiency and effectiveness of algorithms for precision, recall, and F1 score.
文摘Today’s economic growth is not promising without air transport, up-to-date airports infrastructure, efficient and safe airline services and international air transport networks. According to WB [1], 40% of the world-wide tourists travel by air transport. The main aim of this study is to analyze the literatures of air transport and economic growth study. A systematic literature review (SLR) method was used in order to examine related articles from ABDC list journals which are ranked on A*, A or B, published in period 1992-2018. This study gives a summary of the trends and research themes which have been identified. Key scholars, as well as their approaches and locations and citations are also mapped. The findings of this study show that there is a growing interest in researching and publishing on Air transportation and economic growth. This study fills a deficiency in specialized literature concerning air transportation in developing countries and provides a foundation for future research in the field of air transportation.
基金the China National Natural Science Foundation "Internal Control of Listed Companies and Investors Protection" (Project No. 70972076)Humanities Social Science Foundation of the Ministry of Education "Internal Control, Overinvestmentand Financial Crisis" (Project No. 09YJA790199)+2 种基金The Key Research Institutions of Humanities and Social Science Foundation of Guangdong Province "Internal Control and Value Creation–An Empirical Study Based on China’s Capital Market"(Project No. 11JDXM79004)National Social Science Foundation Youth Project (Project No.10CGL041)Academic New Distinguished Scholar Prize 2011 for PhD candidates offered by the Ministry of Education (14000-3191033)
文摘When there is high information asymmetry between directors and managers,independent directors do not have enough information to perform their functions. Only when faced with a good internal information environment can such directors acquire enough information to provide advice and monitor managers,and only under these conditions can increasing their proportion on the board effectively reduce agency problems, such as driving managers to disclose information to investors. Using a sample of Chinese listed firms that voluntarily disclose their auditors' reports on internal controls from 2007 to 2009, this study explores how the information acquisition costs of independent directors affect their monitoring effectiveness by investigating the disclosure decisions of their internal control audits. We find that when the information asymmetry between insiders and outside directors is low and the proportion of independent directors on a board is high, a firm is more likely to voluntarily disclose its internal control audit report.
基金The National Natural Science Foundation of China supported this study(ProjectNos.70802067,71002026,and 70772080)
文摘We examine the association between auditor choice and the accruals patterns of Chinese listed firms that cross-list in Hong Kong.Our evidence suggests that the clients of Big 4 auditors report lower unsigned discretionary accruals relative to the clients of non-Big 4 auditors.Further,we find that cross-listed firms with non-Big 4 auditors are more likely to understate their earnings and experience larger reversals of accruals in the future than cross-listed firms with Big 4 auditors.These findings suggest that Big 4 auditors play a meaningful role in improving earnings quality for cross-listed firms,which helps to explain why crosslisted firms have higher earnings quality than their domestic counterparts,as documented in the previous literature.
基金Founded by Sun Yat-sen University and City University of Hong Kong
文摘We construct a new measure to capture corporate political connections, which is based on the amount a corporation spends on socializing with government officials. We examine the validity of this measure using the exogenous turnover of top local officials and find that firms increase their political networking expenditures when top local officials are replaced. Compared to state-owned enterprises(SOEs), non-state-owned enterprises(non-SOEs) react more aggressively to changes in local officials, which implies that non-SOEs have stronger incentives to build political connections with officials through social intercourse. We also find that firms located in regions with low levels of marketization react more aggressively to the turnover of local politicians. In addition, we find a positive effect of corporate political socializing expenditures on corporate performance and valuation, which suggests that political connections built through social intercourse benefit corporations.
基金fully supported by a grant from UGC Knowledge Transfer Earmarked Fund
文摘Running a social enterprise(SE) is more difficult than running a small or medium-sized enterprise because SEs have to achieve both economic sustainability as business enterprises and their social mission for the benefit of society.After a few years of operation, many SEs fail or struggle for survival. In this study, we examine some of the factors that affect an SE’s profitability, financial management, and business planning and management. Based on in-depth interviews with 22 social enterprises in Hong Kong, we find that SEs with the dual investment objectives of social mission and financial return are more sustainable and competitive than SEs with social impact as their sole objective. Furthermore, SEs managed by non-owner managers have better financial planning and performance than those managed by owner managers. In addition, SEs with an oversight/advisory committee are more competitive and have better management practices than those without such a committee. Our findings have policy implications for government, SEs, funding bodies, and non-profit organizations to enhance and promote the development of the social enterprise sector.
基金This work is jointly supported by the UK Supergen Bioenergy Hub and the Department for Transport via grant number SGBHFF Feb20191.
文摘Utilizing CO_(2) in an electro-chemical process and synthesizing value-added chemicals are amongst the few viable and scalable pathways in carbon capture and utilization technologies.CO_(2) electro-reduction is also counted as one of the main options entailing less fossil fuel consumption and as a future electrical energy storage strategy.The current study aims at developing a new electrochemical platform to produce low-carbon e-biofuel through multifunctional electrosynthesis and integrated co-valorisation of biomass feedstocks with captured CO_(2).In this approach,CO_(2) is reduced at the cathode to produce drop-in fuels(e.g.,methanol)while value-added chemicals(e.g.,selective oxidation of alcohols,aldehydes,carboxylic acids and amines/amides)are produced at the anode.In this work,a numerical model of a continuous-flow design considering various anodic and cathodic reactions was built to determine the most techno-economically feasible configurations from the aspects of energy efficiency,environment impact and economical values.The reactor design was then optimized via parametric analysis.
基金funded by grants from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University,Lingnan University,Hang Seng Management College and the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region,China(Project No.UGC/IDS14/15)
文摘After issuing the 1998 Accounting Standards, Chinese regulators implemented additional regulations in 2001 governing write-downs of impaired assets and required assessment of recoverable amounts for four additional asset categories. As the recoverable value cannot be obtained objectively, management can discretionally assess the magnitude of write-downs to affect bottom-line profit. This study used 7258 firm-year observations in China from 1998 to2005 to examine whether the percentage of asset write-downs by statecontrolled firms differs from non-state-controlled firms, conditional upon more conservative financial reporting rules, and investigate whether local auditors support managerial decisions on asset write-downs. The empirical findings support the tendency of state-controlled ownerships to have lower asset write-downs. Local auditors also support managerial decisions on asset write-downs, especially when the companies are controlled by local governments.
基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China(project number:71790603,71302036,71332004)
文摘Whether proportionate consolidation(PC) or the equity method(EM) provides more informative financial statements is a controversial issue. This study uses data from listed companies in Hong Kong to investigate the value relevance of the EM compared with PC during 2005–2008 when the local wordfor-word equivalent HKAS 31 offered the same options. The results of this study provide evidence that PC does not offer higher value relevance than the EM. PC's horizontal aggregation of a portion of the operations, assets and liabilities of the jointly controlled entities with those of the venturer is less informative to investors than the EM's vertical aggregation.
基金supported by the Major Program of National Fund of Philosophy and Social Science of China(No.19ZDA105).
文摘In this study,we take a machine learning-based approach to measure institutional investor attention to corporate social responsibility(CSR)issues when communicating with firms during site visits.We find that institutional investors can effectively enhance CSR performance through CSR-related communication.This effect remains robust to various checks and is more pronounced for non-state-owned enterprises and firms with lower levels of institutional ownership and in periods following the issuance of Green Investment Guidelines.We also identify information asymmetry and financing constraints as the two mechanisms underlying this effect.Overall,our findings highlight the importance of private interactions between management and institutional investors in promoting CSR.
文摘Using a large sample of firms listed on the Korea Stock Exchange over 1998–2007, this study investigates whether and how trading by foreign and domestic institutional investors improves the extent to which firm-specific information is incorporated into stock prices, captured by stock price synchronicity. We find,first, that stock price synchronicity decreases significantly with the intensity of trading by foreign investors and domestic institutional investors. Second,trading by foreign investors facilitates the incorporation of firm-specific information into stock prices to a greater extent than trading by aggregate domestic institutions. Third, among domestic institutions with differing investment horizons, short-term investing institutions, such as securities and investment trust companies, play a more important role in incorporating firm-specific information into stock prices via their trading activities, compared with long-term investing institutions, such as banks and insurance companies.Finally, we provide evidence suggesting that trading by foreign and domestic short-term institutions reduces the extent of accrual mispricing. Our results are robust to a variety of sensitivity checks.
文摘The existing literature on audit opinion shopping provides inconsistent evidence on whether such shopping has any association with abnormal audit fees. In this paper, we hypothesize that firms engage in audit opinion shopping and pay an abnormal audit fee only when their degree of accounting quality is low. To examine the issue, we group firms on the basis of their change in return on assets(ROA), and show that abnormal audit fees improve audit opinions only among firms that engage local auditors and have a low degree of ROA, but report a large increase in ROA, especially when the ROA change is the result of abnormal accruals. We find no association between abnormal audit fees and audit opinion improvement for other firms.
基金supported by the National Social Science Fund(Grant No.08CJY009)the National Natural Science Fund(Grant Nos.70732002 and 70602011)+1 种基金support from the IAPHD Project of Nanjing Universitythe Institute of Accounting and Finance of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics,Research Project 985 of the Institute of Economic Transition and Development of Nanjing University,and the discussion at the 2009 winter seminar at City University of Hong Kong
文摘The extant literature offers extensive support for the significant role played by institutions in financial markets,but implicit regulation and monitoring have yet to be examined.This study fills this void in the literature by employing unique Chinese datasets to explore the implicit regulation and penalties imposed by the Chinese government in regulating the initial public offering(IPO) market.Of particular interest are the economic consequences of underwriting IPO deals for client firms that violate regulatory rules in China's capital market.We provide evidence to show that the associated underwriters' reputations are impaired and their market share declines.We further explore whether such negative consequences result from a market disciplinary mechanism or a penalty imposed by the government.To analyze the possibility of a market disciplinary mechanism at work,we investigate(1) the market reaction to other client firms whose IPO deals were underwritten by underwriters associated with a violation at the time the violation was publicly disclosed and(2) the under-pricing of IPO deals undertaken by these underwriters after such disclosure.To analyze whether the government imposes an implicit penalty,we examine the application processing time for future IPO deals underwritten by the associated underwriters and find it to be significantly longer than for IPO deals underwritten by other underwriters.Overall,there is little evidence to suggest that the market penalizes underwriters for the rule-violating behavior of their client firms in China.Instead,the Chinese government implicitly penalizes them by imposing more stringent criteria on and lengthening the processing time of the IPO deals they subsequently underwrite.
文摘We investigate whether foreign institutional investors facilitate firm-specific information flow in the global market. Specifically, using annual institutional ownership data from firms across 40 countries, we find that foreign institutional ownership is negatively associated with excess stock return comovement. Our results are more pronounced when foreign institutional investors originate from common-law countries and hold a large equity stake in invested firms; and when the invested firms are located in civil-law countries. Overall, the evidence suggests that foreign institutional investors from countries with strong investor protection play an important informational role in mitigating excess stock return comovement around the world.
