Factors Affecting Audit Quality in the 2007 UK Regulatory Environment: Perceptions of Chief Financial Officers, Audit Committee Chairs and Audit Engagement Partners

In line with global changes, the UK regulatory regime for audit and corporate governance has changed significantly since the Enron scandal, with an increased role for audit committees and independent inspection of audit firms. UK listed company chief financial officers (CFOs), audit committee chairs (ACCs) and audit partners (APs) were surveyed in 2007 to obtain views on the impact of 36 economic and regulatory factors on audit quality. 498 usable responses were received, representing a response rate of 36%. All groups rated various audit committee interactions with auditors among the factors most enhancing audit quality. Exploratory factor analysis reduces the 36 factors to nine uncorrelated dimensions. In order of extraction, these are: economic risk; audit committee activities; risk of regulatory action; audit firm ethics; economic independence of auditor; audit partner rotation; risk of client loss; audit firm size; and, lastly, International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) and audit inspection. In addition to the activities of the audit committee, risk factors for the auditor (both economic and certain regulatory risks) are believed to most enhance audit quality. However, ISAs and the audit inspection regime, aspects of the ‘standards-surveillance compliance’ regulatory system, are viewed as less effective. Respondents commented that aspects of the changed regime are largely process and compliance driven, with high costs for limited benefits, supporting psychological bias regulation theory that claims there is overconfidence that a useful regulatory intervention exists.

THE INFLUENCE OF THE REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT ON THE DEFINITION OF PERFORMANCE: THE EXAMPLE OF THE SPORT BETTING AND LOTTERY SECTORS

This thesis examines the interplay between state regulation and the way organisations define performance. Performance is generally understood to be a multidimensional concept, but the extent to which its different facets are shaped by regulation remains an understudied question. This thesis aims to address this question and provide at least a partial answer to it. To do so, it examines whether the level of regulation amplifies or abates the multidimensionality of regulated entities' performance definition, i.e. the way they define the concept of performance. The leading question is whether an organisation's performance definition can be associated with the regulatory intensity its environment confronts it with. Moreover, the study explores whether the type of ownership-public or private-plays a role in regard to how a regulated entity defines performance. In order to undertake this investigation, the thesis focuses on the performance definitions of organisations in six different sport betting and lottery regulations. Qualitative data is gathered from primary and secondary documents as well as through semi-structured interviews with chief executive officers (CEO), members of executive management and gambling experts in each of these countries. The thesis concludes that the performance definitions of the organisations under study are indeed multidimensional, as well as clearly influenced by their respective regulatory environments. However, not all performance dimensions identified in the literature are present, nor can they all be estimated to be part of the performance definition. In addition, the public-private difference in defining performance-as conceptualised in the literature- seems to be abated in a regulated environment. The central role played by regulation in regard to the multidimensionality of the performance definition partially outweighs the effect of the nature of ownership.

An Enabling Regulatory Environment for Sustainable Investment: The Example of Trade Law

There is broad international agreement that investment flows to the agricultural sector in developing countries need to be increased. But there is also agreement that such investments need to be sustainable. For being sustainable, they must not only be beneficial to the public economy, but also to rural households and to the environment in the short and the long run. Whether sustainable investments take place, not least depends on the legal framework within which these investments are situated. This is true for the domestic legal frameworks of both the home country and of the host country of the investment. But also the international legal frameworks in which home and host states are embedded set either positive or negative incentives for investments to be sustainable. The paper presents an overview on regulatory frameworks which come to focus in this regard. It then elaborates on international agricultural trade regulation, by assuming that sustainable investments in agriculture presume a ‘sustainable trade regime’. By doing so, the paper presents parts of the debate about a sustainable agricultural trade regime, as it has been resumed and further developed by the author in recent years. Key words. Agricultural sector, sustainable investment, regulatory environment, sustainable trade regime.

The Legal and regulatory environment for Illinois aquaculture /

"February 1983."

The Regulatory environment for science.

"OTA-TM-SET-34"--P. [4] of cover.

The regulatory environment of the section of the non-standardized goods market - The findings of an interview research on Hungarian construction industry small enterprises

In this paper the behavior of economic actors shown in the uncertain quality goods markets is examined from the perspective of the sociology of markets. The analysis uses the findings of in-depth interviews conducted in 2011 and 2012 respectively amongst small and medium size entrepreneurs working in construction industry. In the Hungarian construction industry neither formal rules, nor vocational chambers, are able to create a safe environment for entrepreneurs. Nevertheless, networks created as a result of micro-selection steps might be able to enforce the quality of services, observe deadlines and what is more, ensure payment discipline. In this market, the typical high risk can be reduced by relationships. Networks reduce also the cost of transactions, since the important part of the services in this field could only be standardized at significant costs.

Prebiotics and the health benefits of fiber: current regulatory status, future research, and goals.

First defined in the mid-1990s, prebiotics, which alter the composition and activity of gastrointestinal (GI) microbiota to improve health and well-being, have generated scientific and consumer interest and regulatory debate. The Life Sciences Research Organization, Inc. (LSRO) held a workshop, Prebiotics and the Health Benefits of Fiber: Future Research and Goals, in February 2011 to assess the current state of the science and the international regulatory environment for prebiotics, identify research gaps, and create a strategy for future research. A developing body of evidence supports a role for prebiotics in reducing the risk and severity of GI infection and inflammation, including diarrhea, inflammatory bowel disease, and ulcerative colitis as well as bowel function disorders, including irritable bowel syndrome. Prebiotics also increase the bioavailability and uptake of minerals and data suggest that they reduce the risk of obesity by promoting satiety and weight loss. Additional research is needed to define the relationship between the consumption of different prebiotics and improvement of human health. New information derived from the characterization of the composition and function of different prebiotics as well as the interactions among and between gut microbiota and the human host would improve our understanding of the effects of prebiotics on health and disease and could assist in surmounting regulatory issues related to prebiotic use.

EPA's Council for Regulatory Environmental Modeling : a case study of science policy implementation

As environmental problems became more complex, policy and regulatory decisions become far more difficult to make. The use of science has become an important practice in the decision making process of many federal agencies. Many different types of scientific information are used to make decisions within the EPA, with computer models becoming especially important. Environmental models are used throughout the EPA in a variety of contexts and their predictive capacity has become highly valued in decision making. The main focus of this research is to examine the EPA’s Council for Regulatory Modeling (CREM) as a case study in addressing science issues, particularly models, in government agencies. Specifically, the goal was to answer the following questions: What is the history of the CREM and how can this information shed light on the process of science policy implementation? What were the goals of implementing the CREM? Were these goals reached and how have they changed? What have been the impediments that the CREM has faced and why did these impediments occur? The three main sources of information for this research came from observations during summer employment with the CREM, document review and supplemental interviews with CREM participants and other members of the modeling community. Examining a history of modeling at the EPA, as well as a history of the CREM, provides insight into the many challenges that are faced when implementing science policy and science policy programs. After examining the many impediments that the CREM has faced in implementing modeling policies, it was clear that the impediments fall into two separate categories, classic and paradoxical. The classic impediments include the more standard impediments to science policy implementation that might be found in any regulatory environment, such as lack of resources and changes in administration. Paradoxical impediments are cyclical in nature, with no clear solution, such as balancing top-down versus bottom-up initiatives and coping with differing perceptions. These impediments, when not properly addressed, severely hinder the ability for organizations to successfully implement science policy.

The Protection and Promotion of Cultural Diversity in a Digital Networked Environment : Mapping Possible Advances to Coherence

The present paper is the result of a four-year-long project examining the concept and the policies of cultural diversity and the impact of digital media upon the regulatory environment where the goal of cultural diversity is to be achieved. The focus of the project was primarily on the international level and in particular on the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which also epitomise the often framed as opposing pair of trade and culture. In the broad context of the project, we sought to pinpoint the essential elements of an international trade-and-culture conducive framework that can also overcome the existing fragmentation in the field of international law and move towards more coherent solutions. In a narrower context, we sketched some possible improvements to the WTO law that can make it more suitable to the digital networked environment and to the objective of diverse media that some states aspire. . Our key messages are: (1) Neither the WTO nor UNESCO currently offers appropriate solutions to the trade and culture predicament and allows for efficient protection and promotion of cultural diversity; (2) The trade and culture discourse is overly politicised and due to the related path dependencies, a number of feasible solutions appears presently blocked; (3) The digital networked environment has profoundly changed the ways cultural content is created, distributed, accessed and consumed, and may thus offer good reasons to reassess and readjust the present models of governance; (4) Access to information appears to be the most appropriate focus of the discussions with view to protecting and promoting cultural diversity in the new digital media setting, both in local and global contexts; (5) This new focal point demands also broadening and interconnecting the policy discussions, which should go beyond the narrow scope of audiovisual media services, but cautiously account for the developments at the network and applications levels, as well as in other domains, such as most notably intellectual property rights protection; (6) There are various ways in which the WTO can be made more conducive to cultural policy considerations and these include, among others, improved and updated services classifications; enhanced legal certainty with regard to digitally transferred goods and services; incorporation of rules on subsidies for services and on competition.

Plant transformation: Problems and strategies for practical application

Plant transformation is now a core research tool in plant biology and a practical tool for cultivar improvement. There are verified methods for stable introduction of novel genes into the nuclear genomes of over 120 diverse plant species. This review examines the criteria to verify plant transformation; the biological and practical requirements for transformation systems; the integration of tissue culture, gene transfer, selection, and transgene expression strategies to achieve transformation in recalcitrant species; and other constraints to plant transformation including regulatory environment, public perceptions, intellectual property, and economics. Because the costs of screening populations showing diverse genetic changes can far exceed the costs of transformation, it is important to distinguish absolute and useful transformation efficiencies. The major technical challenge facing plant transformation biology is the development of methods and constructs to produce a high proportion of plants showing predictable transgene expression without collateral genetic damage. This will require answers to a series of biological and technical questions, some of which are defined.