Financial strategies for minimizing corporate income taxes under Brazil's new global tax system

In 1996, Brazil adopted a worldwide income tax system for corporations. This system represents a fundamental change in how the Brazílian government treats multinational transactions and the tax minimizing strategies relevant to businesses. In this article, we describe the conceptual basis for worldwide tax systems and the problem of double taxation that they create. Responses to double taxation by both the governments and the priva te sector are considered. Namely, the imperfect mechanisms developed by Brazil and other countries for mitigating double taxation are analyzed. We ultimately focus on the strategies that companies utilize in order not only to avoid double texetion, but also to take advantage of tax havens.

International transfer pricing restrictions: impact on corporate financial policy

Transfer pricing is a pervasive issue that presents significant tax savings potential concerning international enterprises. The authors discuss company incentives to manage transfer prices in an article appearing in the preceding issue of this journal. In response to these incentives, governments have increasingly enacted and enforced domestic restrictions on transfer prices. In this article, contemporary norms restricting transfer pricing are analyzed. The OEGO and US pricing standards are assessed and Brazil's recent application of these standards is considered. Transfer pricing methods are described and evidence of their use is presented. We conclude by describing an intercompany transfer pricing policy intended to facilitate internaI financiaI management and minimize externaI tax threats.

Fundos de pensão, mercados de capitais e Corporate Governance: lições para os mercados ermegentes

Nos seus vinte anos de existência, o sistema brasileiro de previdência complementar acumulou ativos de mais de 70 bilhões de reais. Existe um crescente debate sobre o papel que os fundos de pensão podem desempenhar na economia brasileira. Alimenta-se uma esperança de que eles possam contribuir em três áreas fundamentais: (a) financiamento do desenvolvimento, (b) expansão dos mercados de capitais e (c) democratização do capital (desconcentração da estrutura de propriedade corporativa). Este trabalho procura extrair da experiência dos países industrializados algumas perspectivas que possam contribuir para o debate em torno do crescimento e atuação de fundos de pensão nos mercados emergentes.

Gifted: the monolingualism of corporate social responsibility

Acts of Corporate Social Responsibility are more often than not portrayed as success-story narratives. A quasi-ethnographic study in Senegal shatters the underlying assumptions of these accounts. First a computer donation from a Northern country is described with all the usual incidents and related vocabulary. Later, during a visit to a Senegalese rubbish dump, the story starts to falter, as countless questions arise about what is actually going on there, and how we can know and represent it (both as a portrayal and as a voice). A tipping point in an interview serves to reveal the ambiguities of the position adopted and the difficulties of expressing oneself in a different language. The CSR language is described as a kind of monolingualism, which employs a particular vocabulary and grammar for what is said or thought. This is the monolingualism of the other. Some of the implications of this monolingualism are examined, and this leads to the conclusion that there is a need to take measures with regard to the CSR language and that more than one language is needed to speak about CSR.

Corporate social responsibility practices at brazilian firms

Corporate Social Responsibility practices have been on the rise in recent years in firms all over the world. Brazil, as one of the most important countries emerging on the international scene, is no exception to this, with more and more firms taking up these practices. The present study focuses on analyzing the corporate social responsibility practices that Brazilian companies engage into. The sample used is comprised of 500 firms grouped by geographical area; the theoretical framework is based on stakeholder and institutional theories; and the technique used for the analysis is the biplot, more specifically the HJ Biplot and cluster analysis. From the results obtained it is possible to infer that the CSR variables corresponding to environmental practices are more closely linked to companies located in the northern areas of Brazil. Social and community practices are related to companies primarily in the southern and northeastern regions of the country.

A new approach for measuring corporate reputation

This study describes the concept of corporate reputation and reviews some of the major points that exist when it comes to measuring it. It thus suggests a new index for measurement and its advantages and disadvantages are pointed out. The consistency of the seven key variables for the collecting indicator is described by the results of a factor analysis and correlations. Finally, the indicator is put to test by gathering the perception of corporate reputation of 1500 individuals for 69 companies belonging to 15 different industrial sectors, in Peru. The results indicate that the proposed index variables are not necessarily of greatest interest to the study sample in which companies have a better performance. Also greater memorial companies aren't necessarily those that enjoy a greater corporate reputation. Managerial implications for the organizations in the process of managing and monitoring the dimensions involved of this key asset are also referenced.

RELATION BETWEEN BACKGROUND VARIABLES, VALUES AND CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

ABSTRACT Consumer perception of corporate social responsibility (CSR) can be directly influenced by individual value structures. This research aims to provide new knowledge regarding the relationship between basic human values and the public's perception of CSR. It focuses on the values of higher education students and their views regarding a particular corporate social initiative. The study reveals that social, educational, and economic circumstances influence human values. Those values in turn influence why different students perceive CSR differently. These findings are relevant to companies as they provide a more detailed understanding of why certain consumer groups perceive certain CSR initiatives the way that they do. They also suggest that universities should increase their awareness of the importance of integrating human values and CSR in the curricula of future business managers and social leaders.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE: THE SPANISH CASE

ABSTRACT The enormous interest aroused by corporate social responsibility both in the academic and the business worlds forms the background for this study. Its objective is to analyze the relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance in view of the debate in the literature on the subject. The study focuses on a sample of Spanish companies taken from the IBEX 35 stock market index, using panel data methodology, which offers advantages in comparison to methodologies used in other studies. We analyzed the period from 2003 to 2010. Our findings suggest that there is no obvious relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial results, at least in the case of Spain.

Knowledge, attitude and practice of mammography among women users of public health services

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate knowledge, attitude and practice related to mammography among women users of local health services, identifying barriers to its performance. METHODS: A total of 663 women were interviewed at 13 local health centers in a city of Southeastern Brazil, in 2001. Interviewees were randomly selected at each center and they were representative from different socioeconomic conditions. The number of interviewees at each center was proportional to monthly mean appointments. For data analysis, answers were described as knowledge, attitude, practice and their respective adequacies and then they were correlated with control variables through the chi-square test. RESULTS: Only 7.4% of the interviewees had adequate knowledge on mammography, while 97.1% of women had an adequate attitude. The same was seen for the practice of mammography that was adequate in 35.7% of the cases. The main barrier to mammography was lack of referral by physicians working at the health center (81.8%). There was an association between adequacy of attitude and five years or more of education and being married. There was also an association between adequacy of mammography practice and being employed and family income up to four minimum wages. CONCLUSIONS: Women users of local health services had no adequate knowledge and practice related to mammography despite having an adequate attitude about this exam.

Locus of control and contraceptive knowledge, attitude and practice among university students

OBJECTIVE: To assess the relationship between locus of control and knowledge, attitude and practice regarding pill and condom use among university students. METHODS: The inquiry was developed in Campinas, a city in Southeastern Brazil, in 2006. A total of 295 adolescent newcomers to a public university answered a structured questionnaire and Levenson's multidimensional locus of control scale. The scores of the dimensions of locus of control were calculated and Spearman's correlation coefficient was used to assess their correlation with knowledge and practice concerning pill and condom use. In order to assess the relationship between the dimensions of locus of control and sociodemographic variables and variables related to the individuals' sex life, Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests were used. RESULTS: Male adolescents had higher scores of powerful others externality when compared to female adolescents (p=0.01). Students living alone had lower internality (p=0.01). When locus of control was compared to condom use in the first intercourse, considering only the 102 students who informed the age of the beginning of sexual activity, greater internality was found among male adolescents who did not use condoms (p<0.05). When the locus of control scores were correlated with contraceptive knowledge and practice, it was found that the higher the powerful others externality locus, the lower the adequate use of contraceptive methods (r = -0.22, p=0.03). CONCLUSIONS: The powerful others externality locus influences the practice of contraceptive use in this group of adolescents.

Validation of the Disordered Eating Attitude Scale for adolescents

ABSTRACT Objective To perform the psychometric evaluation of the Disordered Eating Attitude Scale (DEAS) for adolescents. Methods Sample consisted of 1,119 Brazilian adolescents (12-18 years old; 59.6% female) studying at technical schools in São Paulo state-Brazil, who answered an online survey with the DEAS, the Eating Attitude Test (EAT-26), and the Restraint Scale (RS). The internal consistency of the DEAS was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha. The convergent validity of DEAS was evaluated by means of Pearson’s coefficient correlation with EAT-26 and RS. The test-retest reliability was evaluated using a sub-sample of 61 adolescents. Known-groups validity was determined by comparing female student mean scores with scores of 33 female adolescents with eating disorders. Results The reliability of the DEAS was 0.79. EAT-26 and RS scores were positively correlated with DEAS scores (EAT: 0.78 for females and 0.59 for males, p < 0.001; RS: 0.63 for females and 0.48 for males, p < 0.001). The DEAS total and subscale scores differentiated students and patients with eating disorders (p < 0.001). The intra-class correlation coefficient for test-retest reliability was 0.87. Conclusion Results indicate that the DEAS adolescent version showed good internal consistency, convergent validity, known-groups validity, and test-retest reliability, suggesting its potential in identifying disordered eating attitudes among adolescents. It could also be helpful in identifying adolescents at risk from eating disorders, assisting in prevention programs.