Report on applying agreed-upon procedures to the Villisca Municipal Power Plant’s accounting procedures, cash and investment balances and compliance with Code of Iowa requirements for the period February 1, 2007 through December 31, 2010

Report on applying agreed-upon procedures to the Villisca Municipal Power Plant’s accounting procedures, cash and investment balances and compliance with Code of Iowa requirements for the period February 1, 2007 through December 31, 2010

Consumer Advisory Bulletin, Giving Wisely: A Guide to Charitable Giving and Avoiding Charity Fraud, November 2012

The Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division receives hundreds of calls and consumer complaints every year. Follow these tips to avoid unexpected expense and disappointments. This record is about: Giving Wisely: A Guide to Charitable Giving and Avoiding Charity Fraud

Building a Social Accounting Matrix within the ESA95 Framework: Obtaining a Dataset for Applied General Equilibrium Modelling

This research provides a description of the process followed in order to assemble a "Social Accounting Matrix" for Spain corresponding to the year 2000 (SAMSP00). As argued in the paper, this process attempts to reconcile ESA95 conventions with requirements of applied general equilibrium modelling. Particularly, problems related to the level of aggregation of net taxation data, and to the valuation system used for expressing the monetary value of input-output transactions have deserved special attention. Since the adoption of ESA95 conventions, input-output transactions have been preferably valued at basic prices, which impose additional difficulties on modellers interested in computing applied general equilibrium models. This paper addresses these difficulties by developing a procedure that allows SAM-builders to change the valuation system of input-output transactions conveniently. In addition, this procedure produces new data related to net taxation information.

Structural development accounting

We construct and estimate a unified model combining three of the main sources ofcross-country income disparities: differences in factor endowments, barriers to technologyadoption and the inappropriateness of frontier technologies to local conditions. The keycomponents are different types of workers, distortions to capital accumulation, directedtechnical change, costly adoption and spillovers from the world technology frontier. Despiteits parsimonious parametrization, our empirical model provides a good fit of GDP data forup to 86 countries in 1970 and 122 countries in 2000. Removing barriers to technologyadoption would increase the output per worker of the average non-OECD country relativeto the US from 0.19 to 0.61, while increasing skill premia in all countries. Removing barriersto trade in goods amplifies income disparities, induces skill-biased technology adoptionand increases skill premia in the majority of countries. These results are reverted if tradeliberalization is coupled with international IPR protection.

A comparative study of difficulties in accounting preparation and judgement in agriculture using fair value and historical cost for biological assets valuation

Este estudio realiza un investigación empírica comparando las dificultades que se derivan de la utilización del valor razonable (VR) y del coste histórico (CH) en el sector agrícola. Se analiza también la fiabilidad de ambos métodos de valoración para la interpretación de la información y la toma de decisiones por parte de los agentes que actúan en el sector. Mediante un experimento realizado con estudiantes, agricultores y contables que operan en el sector agrícola, se halla que estos tienen más dificultades, cometen mayores errores e interpretan peor la información contable realizada a CH que la realizada a VR. Entrevistas en profundidad con agricultores y contables agrícolas desvelan prácticas contables defectuosas derivadas de la necesidad de aplicar el CH en el sector en España. Dadas las complejidades del cálculo del coste de los activos biológicos y el predominio de pequeñas explotaciones en el sector en los países occidentales avanzados, el estudio concluye que la contabilidad a VR constituye una mejoría de utilización y desarrollo de la contabilidad en el sector que la confeccionada a CH. Asimismo, el CH transmite una peor representación de la situación real de las explotaciones agrícolas.

Application of European accounting standards to the public healthcare sector: a comparative study on the application of the European System of Accounts ESA-95 to healthcare centres in the United Kingdom, France and Germany

This report aims to analyse how European accounting standards (European System of Accounts ESA-95) are interpreted and applied to the public healthcare sector, from the standpoint of comparative law. Specifically, the study focuses on the application of ESA-95 to healthcare centres in the United Kingdom, France and Germany, with the aim of reaching useful conclusions for the Public Companies and Consortia (EPIC, for their initials in Catalan) in the Catalan Public Healthcare System.

Report on the Peace Officers’ Retirement, Accident and Disability System, Schedule of Employer Pension Amounts required to implement Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Statement No. 68, Accounting and Financial Reporting for Pensions for the year ended June 30, 2015

Report on the Peace Officers’ Retirement, Accident and Disability System, Schedule of Employer Pension Amounts required to implement Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Statement No. 68, Accounting and Financial Reporting for Pensions for the year ended June 30, 2015

A performance lower bound for quadratic timing recovery accounting for the symbol transition density

The symbol transition density in a digitally modulated signal affects the performance of practical synchronization schemes designed for timing recovery. This paper focuses on the derivation of simple performance limits for the estimation of the time delay of a noisy linearly modulated signal in the presence of various degrees of symbol correlation produced by the varioustransition densities in the symbol streams. The paper develops high- and low-signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) approximations of the so-called (Gaussian) unconditional Cramér–Rao bound (UCRB),as well as general expressions that are applicable in all ranges of SNR. The derived bounds are valid only for the class of quadratic, non-data-aided (NDA) timing recovery schemes. To illustrate the validity of the derived bounds, they are compared with the actual performance achieved by some well-known quadratic NDA timing recovery schemes. The impact of the symbol transitiondensity on the classical threshold effect present in NDA timing recovery schemes is also analyzed. Previous work on performancebounds for timing recovery from various authors is generalized and unified in this contribution.

Accounting system for activity standard costs formulation in ERP environment

Toiminnanohjausjärjestelmän implementointi ja sen mukanaan tuomat muutokset tuotekustannuslaskentaan asettavat haasteita yritykselle. Metallitoimialalla toimivassa yrityksessä on havaittu samat haasteet implementoitaessa SAP R/3 toiminnanohjausjärjestelmää ja sen tuotekustannuslaskentatoiminnallisuutta. SAP R/3 tuotekustannuslogiikka tarvitsee tietoa järjestelmän ulkopuolelta, minkä huomioimatta jättäminen vaikuttaa suoraan laskentatarkkuuteen. Diplomityössä kehitetään sekä standardoitu prosessi että laskentajärjestelmä, joiden avulla pystytään laskemaan tarvittavat niin toimintokustannukset eri teräspalvelukeskuksen kuormituspisteille kuin kustannustenvyörytysarvot. Lasketut arvot muodostavat tarvittavat tekijät SAP R/3 tuotekustannuslaskennan master dataan. Tavoitteena on edesauttaa läpinäkyvän kustannustiedon muodostumista. Diplomityö pohjautuu ns. vesiputousmalliin (SDLC). Ensin tunnistetaan reunaehdot ympäristöstä, jossa tuotekustannuslaskenta toteutetaan. Tämä asettaa joustamattomia komponentteja kehitettävälle laskentajärjestelmälle. Joustavat komponentit sen sijaan antavat vapautta laskentajärjestelmälle. Yhdistämällä joustamattomat ja joustavat komponentit saavutetaan järjestelmä, jolla voidaan täydentää SAP R/3 tuotekustannuslaskennan puutteellisuutta.

Effective corporate governance : experimental evidence on international auditors'judgments and the contribution of financial accounting education

1 Summary This dissertation deals with two major aspects of corporate governance that grew in importance during the last years: the internal audit function and financial accounting education. In three essays, I contribute to research on these topics which are embedded in the broader corporate governance literature. The first two essays consist of experimental investigations of internal auditors' judgments. They deal with two research issues for which accounting research lacks evidence: The effectiveness of internal controls and the potentially conflicting role of the internal audit function between management and the audit committee. The findings of the first two essays contribute to the literature on internal auditors' judgment and the role of the internal audit function as a major cornerstone of corporate governance. The third essay theoretically examines a broader issue but also relates to the overall research question of this dissertation: What contributes to effective corporate governance? This last essay takes the perspective that the root for quality corporate governance is appropriate financial accounting education. r develop a public interest approach to accounting education that contributes to the literature on adequate accounting education with respect to corporate governance and accounting harmonization. The increasing importance of both the internal audit function and accounting education for corporate governance can be explained by the same recent fundamental changes that still affect accounting research and practice. First, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX, 2002) and the 8th EU Directive (EU, 2006) have led to a bigger role for the internal audit function in corporate governance. Their implications regarding the implementation of audit committees and their oversight over internal controls are extensive. As a consequence, the internal audit function has become increasingly important for corporate governance and serves a new master (i.e. the audit committee) within the company in addition to management. Second, the SOX (2002) and the 8th EU Directive introduced additional internal control mechanisms that are expected to contribute to the reliability of financial information. As a consequence, the internal audit function is expected to contribute to a greater extent to the reliability of financial statements. Therefore, effective internal control mechanisms that strengthen objective judgments and independence become important. This is especially true when external- auditors rely on the work of internal auditors in the context of the International Standard on Auditing (ISA) 610 and the equivalent US Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) 65 (see IFAC, 2009 and AICPA, 1990). Third, the harmonization of international reporting standards is increasingly promoted by means of a principles-based approach. It is the leading approach since a study of the SEC (2003) that was required by the SOX (2002) in section 108(d) was in favor of this approach. As a result, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) commit themselves to the development of compatible accounting standards based on a principles-based approach. Moreover, since the Norwalk Agreement of 2002, the two standard setters have developed exposure drafts for a common conceptual framework that will be the basis for accounting harmonization. The new .framework will be in favor of fair value measurement and accounting for real-world economic phenomena. These changes in terms of standard setting lead to a trend towards more professional judgment in the accounting process. They affect internal and external auditors, accountants, and managers in general. As a consequence, a new competency set for preparers and users of financial statements is required. The basil for this new competency set is adequate accounting education (Schipper, 2003). These three issues which affect corporate governance are the initial point of this dissertation and constitute its motivation. Two broad questions motivated a scientific examination in three essays: 1) What are major aspects to be examined regarding the new role of the internal audit function? 2) How should major changes in standard setting affect financial accounting education? The first question became apparent due to two published literature reviews by Gramling et al. (2004) and Cohen, Krishnamoorthy & Wright (2004). These studies raise various questions for future research that are still relevant and which motivate the first two essays of my dissertation. In the first essay, I focus on the role of the internal audit function as one cornerstone of corporate governance and its potentially conflicting role of serving both management and the audit committee (IIA, 2003). In an experimental study, I provide evidence on the challenges for internal auditors in their role as servant for two masters -the audit committee and management -and how this influences internal auditors' judgment (Gramling et al. 2004; Cohen, Krishnamoorthy & Wright, 2004). I ask if there is an expectation gap between what internal auditors should provide for corporate governance in theory compared to what internal auditors are able to provide in practice. In particular, I focus on the effect of serving two masters on the internal auditor's independence. I argue that independence is hardly achievable if the internal audit function serves two masters with conflicting priorities. The second essay provides evidence on the effectiveness of accountability as an internal control mechanism. In general, internal control mechanisms based on accountability were enforced by the SOX (2002) and the 8th EU Directive. Subsequently, many companies introduced sub-certification processes that should contribute to an objective judgment process. Thus, these mechanisms are important to strengthen the reliability of financial statements. Based on a need for evidence on the effectiveness of internal control mechanisms (Brennan & Solomon, 2008; Gramling et al. 2004; Cohen, Krishnamoorthy & Wright, 2004; Solomon & Trotman, 2003), I designed an experiment to examine the joint effect of accountability and obedience pressure in an internal audit setting. I argue that obedience pressure potentially can lead to a negative influence on accountants' objectivity (e.g. DeZoort & Lord, 1997) whereas accountability can mitigate this negative effect. My second main research question - How should major changes in standard setting affect financial accounting education? - is investigated in the third essay. It is motivated by the observation during my PhD that many conferences deal with the topic of accounting education but very little is published about what needs to be done. Moreover, the Endings in the first two essays of this thesis and their literature review suggest that financial accounting education can contribute significantly to quality corporate governance as argued elsewhere (Schipper, 2003; Boyce, 2004; Ghoshal, 2005). In the third essay of this thesis, I therefore focus on approaches to financial accounting education that account for the changes in standard setting and also contribute to corporate governance and accounting harmonization. I argue that the competency set that is required in practice changes due to major changes in standard setting. As the major contribution of the third article, I develop a public interest approach for financial accounting education. The major findings of this dissertation can be summarized as follows. The first essay provides evidence to an important research question raised by Gramling et al. (2004, p. 240): "If the audit committee and management have different visions for the corporate governance role of the IAF, which vision will dominate?" According to the results of the first essay, internal auditors do follow the priorities of either management or the audit committee based on the guidance provided by the Chief Audit executive. The study's results question whether the independence of the internal audit function is actually achievable. My findings contribute to research on internal auditors' judgment and the internal audit function's independence in the broader frame of corporate governance. The results are also important for practice because independence is a major justification for a positive contribution of the internal audit function to corporate governance. The major findings of the second essay indicate that the duty to sign work results - a means of holding people accountable -mitigates the negative effect of obedience pressure on reliability. Hence, I found evidence that control .mechanisms relying on certifications may enhance the reliability of financial information. These findings contribute to the literature on the effectiveness of internal control mechanisms. They are also important in the light of sub-certification processes that resulted from the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the 8th EU Directive. The third essay contributes to the literature by developing a measurement framework that accounts for the consequences of major trends in standard setting. Moreovér, it shows how these trends affect the required .competency set of people dealing with accounting issues. Based on this work, my main contribution is the development of a public interest approach for the design of adequate financial accounting curricula. 2 Serving two masters: Experimental evidence on the independence of internal auditors Abstract Twenty nine internal auditors participated in a study that examines the independence of internal auditors in their potentially competing roles of serving two masters: the audit committee and management. Our main hypothesis suggests that internal auditors' independence is not achievable in an institutional setting in which internal auditors are accountable to two different parties with potentially differing priorities. We test our hypothesis in an experiment in which the treatment consisted of two different instructions of the Chief audit executive; one stressing the priority of management (cost reduction) and one stressing the priority of the audit committee (effectiveness). Internal auditors had to evaluate internal controls and their inherent costs of different processes which varied in their degree of task complexity. Our main results indicate that internal auditors' evaluation of the processes is significantly different when task complexity is high. Our findings suggest that internal auditors do follow the priorities of either management or the audit committee depending on the instructions of a superior internal auditor. The study's results question whether the independence of the internal audit function is actually achievable. With our findings, we contribute to research on internal auditors' judgment and the internal audit function's independence in the frame of corporate governance.

The role of financial and accounting methods as estimators of intrinsic value: the Tubacex case

En aquest treball estudiem si el valor intrínsec de Tubacex entre 1994-2013 coincideix amb la seva tendència bursàtil a llarg termini, tenint en compte part de la teoria defensada per Shiller. També verifiquem la possible infravaloració de l’acció de Tubacex a 31/12/13. A la primera part expliquem els principals mètodes de valoració d’empreses y a la segona part fem una anàlisi del sector en el que opera Tubacex (acer inoxidable) i calculem el valor de l’acció de Tubacex per mitjà de tres mètodes de valoració (Free Cash Flow, Cash Flow i Valor en Llibres). Apliquem aquests tres mètodes de valoració per verificar si com a mínim algun d’ells coincideix amb la tendència bursàtil a llarg termini.

Managing Human Factor in Accounting Change - Introducing Activity Based Costing System to Organization

Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on identifioida yleisimmät toimintolaskennan implementointiin liittyvät ongelmat ja muutosprojektin onnistumiseen vaikuttavat tekijät. Tavoitteena on myös saada kokonaisvaltainen kuva siitä, miksi laskentatoimen muutokset ovat vaikeita implementoida ja miten ihmisten käyttäytyminen vaikuttaa muutosprosessin onnistumiseen. Sekä laskentatoimen että muutosjohtamisen teorioita tarkastellaan laaja-alaisen kuvan saamiseksi siitä, miten ihmisiin ja heidän käyttäytymiseensä liittyvät tekijät vaikuttavat muutosprojektin onnistumiseen tai epäonnistumiseen. Tutkielma käyttää empiirisiä tutkimustuloksia pohjana aiheen tarkastelulle. Tutkielma tarjoaa ehdotuksia tulevaisuuden tutkimukselle liittyen laskentatoimen muutoksen kriittisiin tekijöihin. Kiinnostavimpia alueita tulevaisuuden tutkimukselle on pohtia tarkemmin, miten työntekijöiden oletukset johtajien motiiveista muutoksen takana vaikuttavat muutosvastarintaan sekä miten organisaation rakenne ja muutosvastarintavaikuttavat muutoksen institutionaalistamiseen.

Integration and Implementation of Accounting Information Systems in Global Companies Case: The UPM-Kymmene Group

Tämän tutkielman tavoitteena on perehtyä globaalin yrityksen laskentatoimen tietojärjestelmien yhtenäistämiseen ja käyttöönottoon esimerkkinä UPM-Kymmene konsernin projekti. Tutkielmassa sovelletaan hermeneuttista tutkimusotetta. Teoreettisesti aihetta tarkastellaan globalisoitumisen ja laskentatoimen tietojärjestelmille asetettavien vaatimusten pohjalta, sekä järjestelmän muutosprosessin eri vaiheissa huomioon otettavien muuttujien perusteella. Yhtenäisen laskentatoimen tietojärjestelmän tuomat edut globaalille yritykselle ovat ilmeisiä. Ennen yhtenäisen projektin kehittelyä on olennaista tutkia lähtökohdat projektin onnistumiselle ja suunnitella projektin eri vaiheet huolella. Tutkielmassa havaitaan myös, että globaalissa yrityksessä tulee huomioida eri yrityskulttuurit sekä tulosyksiköiden erilaiset toimintatavat. Johtopäätöksenä todetaan, että sekä yritysjohdon että tulosyksiköiden sitoutuneisuus projektiin ja yhtenäiset tavoitteet ovat oleellisia projektin onnistumisen kannalta.

Wage differentials between native and immigrant women in Spain: accounting for differences in support

Purpose: The objective of the study is to quantify the wage gap between native and immigrant women in Spain, taking into account differences in their characteristics and the need to control for common support. If immigrant women are segregated in occupations with few native women, it is important to take this into account to analyse wage differentials between both collectives. Methodology: We use microdata from the Continuous Sample of Working Histories (Muestra Continua de Vidas Laborales) on wages and other personal characteristics such as gender, country of origin, and age to apply the matching procedure and the decomposition of the wage gap along the lines of Ñopo (2008) for the analysis of wage differentials between native and immigrant women. The advantage of this procedure is that we can simultaneously estimate the common support and the mean counterfactual wage for the women on the common support (i.e., comparing native and immigrant women with similar observable characteristics). In addition, we can describe differences not only at the mean but also along the entire wage distribution. Findings: The results obtained indicate that, on average, immigrant women earn less than native women in the Spanish labour market. This wage gap is bigger when we consider immigrant women from developing countries, but our main finding is that an important part of this wage gap is related to differences in common support (i.e., immigrant women are segregated in certain jobs with low wages different from those occupied by native women). If the need to control for common support is neglected, estimates of the wage gap will be biased. Originality: Studying the case of Spain is particularly interesting because it is a country with abundant and recent immigration. Immigrant women account for more than half of the total immigrants in Spain, and unlike other host countries, they come from a highly varied range of countries, with origins as diverse as Latin America, the Maghreb and Eastern Europe. To our knowledge, no other study has explicitly focused on the analysis of the wage differential of immigrant women in the Spanish labour market by taking into account the need to control for common support. Moreover, published papers illustrating the potentiality of Ñopo"s (2008) methodology are also very scarce.