An accountability framework to promote healthy food environments

Objective
To review the available literature on accountability frameworks to construct a framework that is relevant to voluntary partnerships between government and food industry stakeholders.

Design
Between November 2012 and May 2013, a desk review of ten databases was conducted to identify principles, conceptual frameworks, underlying theories, and strengths and limitations of existing accountability frameworks for institutional performance to construct a new framework relevant to promoting healthy food environments.

Setting
Food policy contexts within high-income countries to address obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases.

Subjects Eligible resources (n 26) were reviewed and the guiding principles of fifteen interdisciplinary frameworks were used to construct a new accountability framework.

Results
Strengths included shared principles across existing frameworks, such as trust, inclusivity, transparency and verification; government leadership and good governance; public deliberations; independent bodies recognizing compliance and performance achievements; remedial actions to improve accountability systems; and capacity to manage conflicts of interest and settle disputes. Limitations of the three-step frameworks and ‘mutual accountability’ approach were an explicit absence of an empowered authority to hold all stakeholders to account for their performance.

Conclusions
We propose a four-step accountability framework to guide government and food industry engagement to address unhealthy food environments as part of a broader government-led strategy to address obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases. An independent body develops clear objectives, a governance process and performance standards for all stakeholders to address unhealthy food environments. The empowered body takes account (assessment), shares the account (communication), holds to account (enforcement) and responds to the account (improvements).

Perceptions of investors and stockbrokers on corporate social responsibility : a stakeholder perspective from India

This paper aims to understand the perceptions of shareholders and brokers regarding corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives by Indian companies. The research, presented in this paper, employs stakeholder theory to examine the perceptions of investors and sharebrokers on CSR in the context of a fast growing country, India. The data has been collected by using semistructured survey instrument. The findings of the study highlight that the respondents in both categories of stakeholder groups agree that CSR-oriented companies enjoy higher levels of investor confidence, which is reflected in higher stock prices, and leads to enhanced reputation and corporate goodwill. The research demonstrates that Indian companies are in fact implementing CSR initiatives and that stakeholders have a considerable interest in such initiatives. Both the groups expect higher CSR disclosures from large corporations and multinational companies operating in India. Educational initiatives have received maximum attention from the both the groups of stakeholders followed by the environmental issues. Investors are least aware of healthcare and rural development initiatives possibly because of the relatively low penetration of Indian financial markets into the rural areas. This study demonstrates that the stakeholder theory is a useful tool for collecting and evaluating CSR data and explains that the stakeholder perception of CSR performance determines corporate initiatives to a certain level. The findings would help in building consensus on strengthening the implementation and establishing the future CSR framework in emerging economies and other parts of the world. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Firm characteristics, board diversity and corporate social responsibility: evidence from Bangladesh

Purpose – This study aims to purport to investigate the relationship between firm size, profitability, board diversity (namely, director gender and nationality) and the extent of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures within a developing nation context.
Design/methodology/approach – The dataset comprises 116 listed Bangladeshi non-financial companies for the period of 2005-2009. A CSR disclosure checklist was used to measure the extent of CSR disclosures in the annual reports and a multiple regression analysis to examine its association with firm characteristics and two board diversity features – female and foreign directorship.

Findings – Results indicate that large and more profitable firms provide more CSR disclosures. It was also found that female directorship has a negative association with CSR disclosures, while foreign directorship has a positive impact on such disclosures. This paper documents that CSR disclosures decrease further when family ownership is higher and there are more female directors on the board.

Originality/value – This study extends empirical evidence on the association between firm characteristics, board diversity and CSR disclosure practices from a developing nation context. Furthermore, this study also reveals that female directors’ impact on firm disclosures may differ between developing and developed nations, and somewhat impeded in the latter. This paper also provides empirical evidence on the importance of appointment of foreign nationals on the boards of developing countries to influence CSR practices.

The current status of greenhouse gas reporting by Chinese companies: a test of legitimacy theory

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors driving greenhouse gas reporting by Chinese companies.
Design/methodology/approach – Content analysis of annual reports and corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports for the year 2010 of the top 100 A-share companies listed on Shanghai Stock Exchange was conducted to investigate the extent of greenhouse gas reporting. Multiple regression analysis was performed to determine the factors driving these companies’ greenhouse gas reporting.
Findings – It was found that most Chinese companies reported neutral and good news. The results also indicate larger companies operating in an industry which has higher level of carbon dioxide emissions tend to have higher levels of greenhouse gas disclosures, consistent with the expectation of legitimacy theory. However, profitability and overseas listing were not significantly related to greenhouse gas reporting. This is consistent with the findings of previous literature. Finally, contrary to expectations, state-owned companies report less greenhouse gas information than private companies.
Originality/value – The paper contributes towards theory development by testing legitimacy theory in the context of greenhouse gas reporting by Chinese companies and contributes to existing literature on greenhouse gas reporting by focussing on the large emerging economy of China. The practical contribution of the paper rests in the area of accounting practice. The results outline the dearth in greenhouse gas reporting by Chinese companies, suggesting there needs to be future development of accounting standards in this area.

Information ratings and capital structure

We examine the impact of information asymmetry on a firm's capital structure decisions with a unique information rating scheme that draws from 114 measures over five dimensions of information disclosures on each firm from 2006 to 2012. We find that a firm with high (low) information rating is related to low (high) debt financing and leverage. In particular, a firm that moves from the lowest to the highest information rating experiences a 7.8% reduction in firm leverage on average. This relationship is robust to firm characteristics, incentive conflicts, and the agreement theory of Dittmar and Thakor (2007). Our results suggest that information asymmetry is in-fluential on a firm's pecking order behavior independent of these effects.

Stakeholders’ perspectives on the role of regulatory reform in integrated reporting

This paper reports on an exploratory study of the preferences of users of non-financial reporting for regulatory or voluntary approaches to integrated reporting (IR). While it is well known that companies prefer voluntary approaches to non-financial reporting, considerably less is known about the preferences of the users of non-financial information. IR is the latest development in attempts over 30 or more years to broaden organisational non-financial reporting and accountability to include the wider social and environmental impacts of business. It promises to provide a more cohesive and efficient approach to corporate reporting by bringing together financial information, operational data and sustainability information to focus only on material issues that impact an organisation’s ability to create value in the short, medium and long term. The study found more support for voluntary approaches to IR as the majority of participants thought that it was too early for regulatory reform. They suggested that IR will become the reporting norm over time if left to market forces as more and more companies adopt the IR practice. Over time IR will be perceived as a legitimate practice, where the actions of integrated reporters are seen as desirable, proper, or appropriate. While there is little appetite for regulatory reform, half of the investors support mandatory IR because, in their experience, voluntary sustainability reporting has not led to more substantive disclosures or increased the quality of reporting. There is also evidence that IR privileges financial value creation over stewardship, inhibiting IR from moving beyond a weak sustainability paradigm.

The effect of complainant age on outcomes in the criminal justice system: case tracking from report to conviction

 The thesis explored child sexual abuse in the criminal justice system and how victim age predicted case outcomes, including disclosures, charges and convictions. The findings highlighted that adolescent victims may experience unique challenges. Further, the relationships between victim age, case characteristics and evidence are crucial to explaining case outcomes.

Um estudo sobre o nível de evidenciação nas demonstrações financeiras em casos de combinações de negócios no Brasil nos anos de 2010 e 2011

Este estudo de natureza qualitativa busca por meio de uma pesquisa exploratória e descritiva analisar se as divulgações nas notas explicativas de Combinação de Negócios, transações de aquisições e vendas de empresas, estão em conformidade com os requisitos normativos de divulgação de informações do CPC 15 (R1) – Combinação de Negócios, inspirado nas normas contábeis internacionais, notadamente o IFRS 3 (R) - Business Combinations. Utilizaram-se informações sobre transações ocorridas nos anos de 2010 e 2011, envolvendo empresas brasileiras de capital aberto, cujas informações financeiras são divulgadas trimestralmente ou anualmente. O primeiro fator que torna a pesquisa relevante é que o tema Combinação de Negócios tem se tornado cada vez relevante devido ao aumento do número de transações de aquisição entre empresas no Brasil e do aumento do valor das transações globalmente. O segundo fator é que com o advento da lei 11.638/07, alterada pela lei 11.941/08, determinou-se que o Brasil deve ter suas normas contábeis convergidas para os padrões do International Financial Report Standards (IFRS) até o final de 2010.

O olhar que revela o desenvolvimento emocional de um bebê abrigado

O presente trabalho consiste em uma pesquisa qualitativa que se propôs a observar e analisar sob o enfoque psicanalítico, o desenvolvimento emocional de um bebê institucionalizado. Para isso realizou-se um estudo de caso, cujo instrumento metodológico consistiu na adaptação do método Bick de Observação de Bebês. As adaptações versam sobre o ambiente que é institucional, à redução do tempo de observação para o período de quatro meses, ao contexto das supervisões que, devido à escassez de pesquisadores que utilizam este método em Belém, restringiu a maioria das supervisões ao par observador e supervisor, sendo que este último exerceu a função paralela de orientador deste estudo. Realizou-se a pesquisa em um abrigo estadual que acolhe crianças de zero a seis anos, onde vivia Miguel, um bebê que foi abandonado por motivo de dificuldades financeiras justificadas pela mãe. Miguel foi observado desde os seus 20 dias de vida até os quatro meses, através de observações semanais, com duração de uma hora, totalizando 20 observações, as quais foram registradas e submetidas às supervisões. Os resultados foram organizados em três capítulos principais: 1) Sobre o desenvolvimento emocional de bebês que remonta ao campo teórico da psicanálise de crianças 2) Sou visto, logo existo que esboça a relação bebê-observadora, com enfoque nos aspectos transferenciais e contratransferenciais que permearam essa relação 3) Colo bom, colo mau que aborda o ambiente de cuidados vivenciados por Miguel no contexto de acolhimento institucional e 4) O colorido afetivo de Miguel que abrange os aspectos marcantes do desenvolvimento emocional de Miguel no abrigo. Ao final desta jornada, Miguel revelou-se um bebê que durante os primeiros meses experimentou ansiedades catastróficas, que demandavam acolhimento e contenção, usava o choro e o olhar para atrair contato, todavia, raras vezes era atendido por motivos diversos inerentes ao contexto de institucionalização; posteriormente mostrou-se mais familiarizado com o ambiente, utilizando recursos como vocalizações e sorrisos para relacionar-se. Apesar da instabilidade e inconstância dos cuidados, Miguel foi interpretado como símbolo do bebê que vencendo obstáculos e enfrentando um mundo ambivalente em sua máxima expressão, revelou que não existe situação ideal para o desenvolvimento emocional.

Jornalismo econômico como exercício da cidadania: uma análise da divulgação econômica na mídia oficial e nos veículos Universo Online e O Estado de São Paulo

The present study had the intention to demonstrate how the language used by official sources of economy helps to keep the limitation and lack of accessibility of economic journalism to non-specialist readers. Over two weeks, we compared the disclosures in the economics editorial office of the site Universo Online and the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo to those cited in official reports. From this analysis of more than 50 issues selected for the sample, was observed how the technical language used by the official press makes more difficult the access to information and citizenship. Besides the comparison and description of the reports, the study involved the content analysis employed in the media. It was noted the presence of biased approaches and materials poorly cleared. The language used in many cases was not appropriate to the type of audience for which the news was heading. One of the most serious problems, perhaps, was the copy and paraphrase of press releases. The reports, most are limited to the specialist showed, contrary to the duty of public transparency, while highlighting the problems, the study also showed well-written texts that indicate a promising future for citizen and economic journalism

Acute Conjunctivitis with Episcleritis and Anterior Uveitis Linked to Adiaspiromycosis and Freshwater Sponges, Amazon Region, Brazil, 2005

Medscape, LLC is pleased to provide online continuing medical education (CME) for this journal article, allowing clinicians the opportunity to earn CME credit. This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the Essential Areas and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education through the joint sponsorship of Medscape, LLC and Emerging Infectious Diseases. Medscape, LLC is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide CME for physicians. Medscape, LLC designates this educational activity for a maximum of 0.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. All other clinicians completing this activity will be issued a certificate of participation. To participate in this journal CME activity: (1) review the learning objectives and author disclosures; (2) study the education content; (3) take the post-test and/or complete the evaluation at http://www.medscape.com/cme/eidExternal Web Site Icon; (4) view/print certificate. Learning Objectives Upon completion of this activity, participants will be able to: Describe the mechanism of infection for adiaspiromycosis. Identify the age group most susceptible to ocular adiaspiromycosis. Describe presenting symptoms associated with ocular adiaspiromycosis. Describe the frequency of ocular lesions associated with adiaspiromycosis. Identify risk factors for ocular adiaspiromycosis.

Distress Disclosure and Personality in College Students

This study examined distress disclosure, the tendency to confide unpleasant feelings and experiences to others. Other factors under consideration were gender, personality factors (such as extraversion and one's general tendency to disclose), and the identity of the person to whom individuals were asked to disclose. The subject pool included 22 male and 34 female volunteers from Bucknell University. Participants were asked to complete a measure of basic demographics, the Distress Disclosure Index, and the NEO-FFI measure of personality. They were then asked to disclose about an aspect of their lives that they personally found stressful, as if they were confiding in a best friend, a parent, or a professor, respectively. The transcriptions of those recordings were coded for length, depth, and breadth of the disclosure. The researcher hypothesized that greater length, depth, and breadth would be disclosed by females who scored highly on the Distress Disclosure Index, had high extraversion scores on the NEO-FFI, and had been asked to disclose to a best friend. The study found positive associations between openness and depth, neuroticism and depth, and gender with length, such that males were more likely to have longer disclosures. Negative associations were found between extraversion and depth, neuroticism and length, and openness and breadth. Personality factors, gender, and the disclosure target may act as better predictors of the tendency to disclose, rather than of the particular dimensions of disclosure, since every instance is unique.

Insider Trading in Germany - Do Corporate Insiders Exploit Inside Information?

Our study focuses on the question whether corporate insiders in Germany exploit inside information while trading in their company’s stock. In contrast to prior international studies, which are not able to link insider transactions to a formal definition of inside information, we relate insider transactions to subsequent releases of inside information via ad-hoc news disclosures. We find evidence that corporate insiders as a group seem to trade on inside information. Moreover, members of the supervisory board seem to be most active in exploiting inside information, since they realize exceptionally high profits with their frequent front-running transactions.

Discursive constructions of social and environmental accounting in Brazil: the case of Petrobras.

In the 29 years following \"Our Common Future\" by the United Nations, there is considerable debate among governments, civil society, interest groups and business organisations about what constitutes sustainable development, which constitutes evidence for a contested discourse concerning sustainability. The purpose of this study is to understand this debate in the developing economic context of Brazil, and in particular, to understand and critique the social and environmental accounting [SEA] discursive constructions relating to the State-owned, Petrobras as well as to understand the Brazilian literature on SEA. The discourse theory [DT]-based analysis employs rhetorical redescription to analyse twenty-two reports from Petrobras from 2004-2013. I investigate the political notions by employing the methodological framework of the Logics of Critical Explanation [LCE]. LCE engenders five methodological steps: problematisation, retroduction, logics (social, political and fantasmatic), articulation and critique. The empirical discussion suggests that the hegemony of economic development operates to obfuscate, rhetorically, the development of sustainability, so as to maintain the core business of Petrobras conceived as capital accumulation. Equally, these articulations also illustrate how the constructions of SEA operate to serve the company\'s purpose with few (none) profound changes in integration of sustainability. The Brazilian literature on SEA sustains the status quo of neo-liberal market policies that operate to protect the dominant business case approach to maintain an agenda of wealth-creation in relation to social and environmental needs. The articulations of the case manifested in policies regarding, for example, corruption, which involved over-payments for contracts and unsustainable practices relating to the use of fossil fuels and demonstrated that there was antagonism between action and disclosure. The corruption scandal that emerged after SEA disclosures highlighted the rhetorical nature of disclosure when financial resources were subtracted from the company for political parties and engineering contractors hid facts through incomplete disclosures. The articulations of SEA misrepresent a broader context of the meanings associated with sustainability, which restricted the constructions of SEA to principally serve and represent the intention of the most powerful groups. The significance of SEA, then is narrowed to represent particular interests. The study argues for more critical studies as limited Brazilian literature concerning SEA kept a \'safe distance\' from substantively critiquing the constructions of SEA and its articulations in the Brazilian context. The literature review and the Petrobras\' case illustrate a variety of naming, instituting and articulatory practices that endeavour to maintain the current hegemony of development in an emerging economy, which allows Petrobras to continue to exercise significant profit at the expense of the social and environmental. The constructed idea of development in Petrobras\' discourses emphasises a rhetoric of wider development, but, in reality, these discourses were the antithesis of political, social and ethical developmental issues. These constructions aim to hide struggles between social inequalities and exploitation of natural resources and constitute excuses about a fanciful notion of rhetorical and hegemonic neo-liberal development. In summary, this thesis contributes to the prior literature in five ways: (i) the addition of DT to the analysis of SEA enhances the discussion of political elements such as hegemony, antagonism, logic of equivalence/difference, ideology and articulation; (ii) the analysis of an emerging economy such as Brazil incorporates a new perspective of the discussion of the discourses of SEA and development; (iii) this thesis includes a focus on rhetoric to discuss the maintenance of the status quo; (iv) the holistic structure of the LCE approach enlarges the understanding of the social, political and fantasmatic logics of SEA studies and; (v) this thesis combines an analysis of the literature and the case of Petrobras to characterise and critique the state of the Brazilian academy and its impacts and reflections on the significance of SEA. This thesis, therefore, argues for more critical studies in the Brazilian academy due to the persistence of idea of SEA and development that takes-for-granted deep exclusions and contradictions and provide little space for critiques.

Mass Surveillance of Personal Data by EU Member States and its Compatibility with EU Law. CEPS Liberty and Security in Europe No. 61, 6 November 2013

In the wake of the disclosures surrounding PRISM and other US surveillance programmes, this paper assesses the large-scale surveillance practices by a selection of EU member states: the UK, Sweden, France, Germany and the Netherlands. Given the large-scale nature of these practices, which represent a reconfiguration of traditional intelligence gathering, the paper contends that an analysis of European surveillance programmes cannot be reduced to a question of the balance between data protection versus national security, but has to be framed in terms of collective freedoms and democracy. It finds that four of the five EU member states selected for in-depth examination are engaging in some form of large-scale interception and surveillance of communication data, and identifies parallels and discrepancies between these programmes and the NSA-run operations. The paper argues that these programmes do not stand outside the realm of EU intervention but can be analysed from an EU law perspective via i) an understanding of national security in a democratic rule of law framework where fundamental human rights and judicial oversight constitute key norms; ii) the risks posed to the internal security of the Union as a whole as well as the privacy of EU citizens as data owners and iii) the potential spillover into the activities and responsibilities of EU agencies. The paper then presents a set of policy recommendations to the European Parliament.