A critical analysis of central bank independence and governance in Australia and Bangladesh

This study examines central bank independence and governance (CBIG) in Bangladesh and Australia. It applies a unique index model of Ahsan, Skully and Wickramanayake (2008) to assess their respective legal, political, price stability objectives, exchange rate policies, monetary policy and deficit financing practices, transparency and accountability positions from 1991 to 2008. While the model shows CBIG is much weaker in Bangladesh than in Australia, the Bangladesh Bank’s CBIG shown considerable improvement over the period. These findings suggest that the Government of Bangladesh might learn from Australia’s experience with Reserve Bank of Australia and delegate further power and authority to Bangladesh Bank as well as lessen its political interference.

Auditor independence : shared meaning between the demand and supply sides of the audit services market?

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to examine the extent to which there is shared meaning of the concept of auditor independence between the three major groups of parties on the demand and supply sides of the audit services market – auditors, financial report preparers and financial report users.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper utilises the measurement of meaning framework (semantic differential analysis) originally proposed by Osgood et al. in 1957. The framework is used to investigate the extent to which there is shared meaning (agreement in interpretations) of the independence concept, in response to alternative audit engagement case contexts, between key parties to the financial reporting communication process. The study's research data was collected in the period March 2004-May 2005.

Findings – Findings indicate a robust and stable single-factor cognitive structure within which the research participants interpret the connotative meaning of the auditor independence concept. An analysis of the experimental cases finds similarities in connotations (interpretations) of an audit firm's independence for the participant groups for most cases, with the exception of cases involving the joint provision of audit and non-audit (taxation) services.

Research limitations/implications – The usual external validity threat that applies to experimental research generally applies to the study. That is, the results may not be generalisable to settings beyond those examined in the study. An important implication of the study is that it emphasises the continuing problematic nature of the joint provision of audit and non-audit services, even in situations where the non-audit services comprise only traditional taxation services.

Originality/value – The study is the first to examine the concept of auditor independence by means of the Osgood et al. measurement of meaning research framework using, as research participants, the three major groups on the demand and supply sides of the audit services market.

The role of board independence in mitigating agency problem II in Australian family firms

We investigate the impact of board independence on earnings management on a sample of family controlled firms listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). Using panel data over the period 2000–2004, we find evidence of earnings management among family controlled firms in Australia, an environment of high investor protection and private benefits of control. Findings show that a higher proportion of independent directors on boards is effective in reducing earnings management, thereby mitigating agency problems associated with entrenchment and expropriation in family firms. We also find that managers of family firms are less aggressive in managing earnings via discretionary long-term accruals compared to non-family firms.

Additional Saturday rehabilitation improves functional independence and quality of life and reduces length of stay: a randomised controlled trial

Background

Many inpatients receive little or no rehabilitation on weekends. Our aim was to determine what effect providing additional Saturday rehabilitation during inpatient rehabilitation had on functional independence, quality of life and length of stay compared to 5 days per week of rehabilitation.

This was a multicenter, single-blind (assessors) randomized controlled trial with concealed allocation and 12-month follow-up conducted in two publically funded metropolitan inpatient rehabilitation facilities in Melbourne, Australia. Patients were eligible if they were adults (aged ≥18 years) admitted for rehabilitation for any orthopedic, neurological or other disabling conditions excluding those admitted for slow stream rehabilitation/geriatric evaluation and management. Participants were randomly allocated to usual care Monday to Friday rehabilitation (control) or to Monday to Saturday rehabilitation (intervention). The additional Saturday rehabilitation comprised physiotherapy and occupational therapy. The primary outcomes were functional independence (functional independence measure (FIM); measured on an 18 to 126 point scale), health-related quality of life (EQ-5D utility index; measured on a 0 to 1 scale, and EQ-5D visual analog scale; measured on a 0 to 100 scale), and patient length of stay. Outcome measures were assessed on admission, discharge (primary endpoint), and at 6 and 12 months post discharge.

We randomly assigned 996 adults (mean (SD) age 74 (13) years) to Monday to Saturday rehabilitation (n = 496) or usual care Monday to Friday rehabilitation (n = 500). Relative to admission scores, intervention group participants had higher functional independence (mean difference (MD) 2.3, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.5 to 4.1, P = 0.01) and health-related quality of life (MD 0.04, 95% CI 0.01 to 0.07, P = 0.009) on discharge and may have had a shorter length of stay by 2 days (95% CI 0 to 4, P = 0.1) when compared to control group participants. Intervention group participants were 17% more likely to have achieved a clinically significant change in functional independence of 22 FIM points or more (risk ratio (RR) 1.17, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.34) and 18% more likely to have achieved a clinically significant change in health-related quality of life (RR 1.18, 95% CI 1.04 to 1.34) on discharge compared to the control group. There was some maintenance of effect for functional independence and health-related quality of life at 6-month follow-up but not at 12-month follow-up. There was no difference in the number of adverse events between the groups (incidence rate ratio = 0.81, 95% CI 0.61 to 1.08).

Providing an additional day of rehabilitation improved functional independence and health-related quality of life at discharge and may have reduced length of stay for patients receiving inpatient rehabilitation. 

Review of Post-CLERP 9 Australian auditor independence research

The Corporate Law Economic Reform Program (Audit Reform & Corporate Disclosure) Act 2004 (CLERP 9) added substantial new provisions pertaining to auditor independence, and followed in the wake of financial reporting scandals during 2000 to 2003. Many of the regulatory changes were framed in the earlier Ramsay Report, which drew on independence concerns raised in the academic literature. This review paper reviews Australian academic research investigating auditor independence, framed by our conceptual understanding of auditor independence, to assess what we have learned about the impact of CLERP 9 on auditor independence. Our review of Australian auditor independence research published post-CLERP 9 reveals little evidence of the impact of the regulatory changes on auditor behaviour (independence in fact) and perceptions (independence in appearance). We conclude there are substantial needs for further research on the impact of the CLERP 9 amendments on auditor independence and any enduring independence issues. We identify particular areas for future research that may better inform policy development and argue that the prospect of high-quality relevant research will increase if regulatory agencies, the accounting profession and audit practitioners engage more with academics in the research process. We identify several ways in which this might occur.

The distortion of currencies misalignments on trade Instruments: or why currencies wars are not over

The negotiations of mega agreements between the US and the Pacific countries (TPP) and between the US and the EU (TTIP) are raising the attention of experts on international trade law and economics. TPP and TTIP are proclaimed to be the designers of the rules for the XXI Century. Old trade instruments such as tariffs are said to be no more important for TTIP because tariffs are negligible among those partners but significant to for TPP. Another relevant agreement in negotiation is between the EU and Mercosul, where tariffs are the most important issue in discussion. The main purpose of this paper is to shows that tariff are important for all these agreements, not because of its nominal value, but because the impacts of exchange rate misalignments on tariffs are so significant that all concessions can be distorted by overvalued and by devaluated currencies. The article is divided into several sections: the first gives an introduction to the issue; the second explains the methodologies used to determine exchange rate misalignments and also presents some results for Brazil, US and China; the third summarizes the methodology applied to calculate the impacts of exchange rate misalignments on the level of tariff protection through an exercise of “misalignment tariffication” and examines the effects of exchange rate variations on tariffs and their consequences for the multilateral trading system; the fourth creates a methodology to estimate exchange rates against a basket of currencies (a virtual currency of the World) and a proposal to deal with persistent and significant misalignments related to trade rules. The fifth presents some estimates for the main PTAs. The conclusions are present in the last section

Correlation between balance and the level of functional independence among elderly people

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

MODEL INDEPENDENCE OF SCATTERING OF 3 IDENTICAL BOSONS IN 2 DIMENSIONS

Within the framework of scattering integral equations in momentum space, we present numerical results of scattering of three identical bosons at low energies in two dimensions for short-range separable potentials. An analysis of the present numerical results reveals the three-particle scattering observables to be independent of potential shape provided the low-energy two-particle binding energy and scattering length are held fixed throughout the investigation. We think that the present conclusion of model independence will be valid for any potential, local or nonlocal, whose range is much smaller than the size of the two-particle bound state.

Effects of Water-Based and Callisthenic Exercise on Freezing of Gait, Postural Control, and Functional Independence in Patients With Mild to Moderate Parkinson Disease

Objective: This study aimed to analyze and compare the role of a water-based exercise program versus a combination of water and callisthenic exercises on postural control, functional independence, and freezing of gait (FOG) in patients with mild to moderate Parkinson disease.Methods: Twenty-five community-dwelling participants with idiopathic Parkinson disease were recruited. Of these, 9 participants took part in a water-based program of physical exercises and the other 16 participants took part in a combined program that consisted of callisthenic exercises plus an aquatic exercise session. Both programs were 16 weeks in duration. The clinical evaluation assessed the festination by means of the FOG score test; postural control was verified by means of the balance test of the short physical performance battery, and the Spanish validated version of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale part 2 was used to assess functional independence. Participants were evaluated before and after 16 weeks of both proposed programs.Results: The results showed improvement in FOG for both groups, although a significant main effect was observed only in the patients who performed the callisthenic exercise plus an aquatic exercise program. Postural control did not show significant improvements after both proposed physical exercise programs as soon as functional autonomy. Our preliminary results suggest that training sessions with the combination of water plus callisthenic exercises may be a useful physical rehabilitation strategy for individuals with mild to moderate Parkinson disease who have FOG.

An Ardent Flame: Witness to Distant Suffering, Human Rights and Unworthy Victims in the Coverage by The New York Times and Two Journals of the Religious Left of the 1980s Civil Wars in El Salvador and Nicaragua

Scholars have investigated witness to distant suffering (WTDS) almost entirely in visual media. This study examines it in print. This form of reporting will be examined in two publications of the religious left as contrasted with the New York Times. The thesis is that, more than any technology, WTDS consists of the journalist’s moral commitment and narrative skills and the audience’s analytical resources and trust. In the religious journals, liberation theology provides the moral commitment, the writers and editors the narrative skills and trust and the special vision of the newly empowered poor the analytical foundation. In bearing witness to those who have suffered state or guerilla terrorism in El Salvador and Nicaragua during the 1980s, we will investigate a distinction between “worthy” and “unworthy victims.” This last issue has a special ethical and political significance. Media witnessing to the suffering of strangers can help them become known, and so “worthy.” It can help them, and their plight and cause, become better recognized. This is the power of the media.

Parental Ethnotheories of Child Development: Looking Beyond Independence and Individualism in American Belief Systems

Over the past several decades, the topic of child development in a cultural context has received a great deal of theoretical and empirical investigation. Investigators from the fields of indigenous and cultural psychology have argued that childhood is socially and historically constructed, rather than a universal process with a standard sequence of developmental stages or descriptions. As a result, many psychologists have become doubtful that any stage theory of cognitive or socialemotional development can be found to be valid for all times and places. In placing more theoretical emphasis on contextual processes, they define culture as a complex system of common symbolic action patterns (or scripts) built up through everyday human social interaction by means of which individuals create common meanings and in terms of which they organize experience. Researchers understand culture to be organized and coherent, but not homogenous or static, and realize that the complex dynamic system of culture constantly undergoes transformation as participants (adults and children) negotiate and re-negotiate meanings through social interaction. These negotiations and transactions give rise to unceasing heterogeneity and variability in how different individuals and groups of individuals interpret values and meanings. However, while many psychologists—both inside and outside the fields of indigenous and cultural psychology–are now willing to give up the idea of a universal path of child development and a universal story of parenting, they have not necessarily foreclosed on the possibility of discovering and describing some universal processes that underlie socialization and development-in-context. The roots of such universalities would lie in the biological aspects of child development, in the evolutionary processes of adaptation, and in the unique symbolic and problem-solving capacities of the human organism as a culture-bearing species. For instance, according to functionalist psychological anthropologists, shared (cultural) processes surround the developing child and promote in the long view the survival of families and groups if they are to demonstrate continuity in the face of ecological change and resource competition, (e.g. Edwards & Whiting, 2004; Gallimore, Goldenberg, & Weisner, 1993; LeVine, Dixon, LeVine, Richman, Leiderman, Keefer, & Brazelton, 1994; LeVine, Miller, & West, 1988; Weisner, 1996, 2002; Whiting & Edwards, 1988; Whiting & Whiting, 1980). As LeVine and colleagues (1994) state: A population tends to share an environment, symbol systems for encoding it, and organizations and codes of conduct for adapting to it (emphasis added). It is through the enactment of these population-specific codes of conduct in locally organized practices that human adaptation occurs. Human adaptation, in other words, is largely attributable to the operation of specific social organizations (e.g. families, communities, empires) following culturally prescribed scripts (normative models) in subsistence, reproduction, and other domains [communication and social regulation]. (p. 12) It follows, then, that in seeking to understand child development in a cultural context, psychologists need to support collaborative and interdisciplinary developmental science that crosses international borders. Such research can advance cross-cultural psychology, cultural psychology, and indigenous psychology, understood as three sub-disciplines composed of scientists who frequently communicate and debate with one another and mutually inform one another’s research programs. For example, to turn to parental belief systems, the particular topic of this chapter, it is clear that collaborative international studies are needed to support the goal of crosscultural psychologists for findings that go beyond simply describing cultural differences in parental beliefs. Comparative researchers need to shed light on whether parental beliefs are (or are not) systematically related to differences in child outcomes; and they need meta-analyses and reviews to explore between- and within-culture variations in parental beliefs, with a focus on issues of social change (Saraswathi, 2000). Likewise, collaborative research programs can foster the goals of indigenous psychology and cultural psychology and lay out valid descriptions of individual development in their particular cultural contexts and the processes, principles, and critical concepts needed for defining, analyzing, and predicting outcomes of child development-in-context. The project described in this chapter is based on an approach that integrates elements of comparative methodology to serve the aim of describing particular scenarios of child development in unique contexts. The research team of cultural insiders and outsiders allows for a look at American belief systems based on a dialogue of multiple perspectives.