Even before firms report internal control weaknesses under the Sarbanes–Oxley Act (SOX), they are characterized by structural problems, are prone to internal control weaknesses, and have low ...financial reporting quality. If the stock market incorporates much of this information during the pre‐disclosure years, investors are less surprised when firms subsequently report internal control weaknesses under SOX. We find that for the pre‐disclosure period, firms reporting internal control weaknesses under SOX, (1) had structural problems, (2) were prone to internal control problems, and (3) had low financial reporting quality. Further, we provide direct evidence that stock prices during pre‐disclosure years incorporate much of the information about structural problems, the likelihood of internal control weaknesses, and low reporting quality. Finally, we find that many of these value‐relevant factors are not related to announcement period returns when firms eventually disclose such problems under SOX and that limited new information about structural problems is generated around this date. Our results provide a compelling explanation for the muted stock price reaction around the mandatory disclosure date.
► We compared SPE and QuEChERS methods to determine seven cephalosporins in cow muscle. ► An experimental design was used to optimize the two clean-up methods. ► The validation of the two methods was ...done according to the Directive 2002/657/EC. ► The separation and detection of the cephalosporins was carried out by LC–MS/MS. ► Comparable results were found for two methods in terms of quality parameters.
This work was focused on the comparison of two clean-up methods to be used for the simultaneous determination of seven cephalosporins in cow muscle. In particular, the performance of novel dispersive solid phase extraction (d-SPE) procedures based on QuEChERS methodologies was assessed and compared with conventional SPE. The separation and detection of the analytes using both methods was carried out by LC–MS/MS to reach enough sensitivity to be compatible with the detection of the maximum residue limits (MRL) of cephalosporins as regulated by EU directives. The optimization of the clean-up step relied on experimental design in order to find the most suitable conditions with a reduced number of assays. Besides, multi-objective responses were used to reach an overall compromise in the recovery of all analytes simultaneously. The validation of the two methods was done according to the Directive 2002/657/EC. Linearity, decision limit, detection capability, detection and quantification limits (4–50μgkg−1), precision (RSD less than 15% except for PIR) and recoveries were determined and adequate results with comparable values using QuEChERS and SPE methodologies. LOQ were better for SPE method (0.1–10μgkg−1) but both methods show LOQ below MRL values. Precision was slightly better for the QuEChERS method, that also presents better recoveries, higher than 85% except for cephalexin.
Does the introduction of corporate transparency and disclosure rules in emerging economies affect compliance, and therefore earnings quality and firm performance? We explore these questions for an ...important emerging economy, Russia, using a natural experiment, the 2002 introduction of Russian corporate governance code. We exploit the exogenous variation in voluntary disclosure and find a significant increase in corporate disclosure among the domestic Russian firms over the period 2003-2007 when firms gradually adopted some but not all disclosure rules. The immediate effect of the introduction was a drop in reported earnings. Market valuation, however, only improved for domestic firms after 2007, when all domestic firms had complied. However, cross-listed firms, which were already satisfying international standards, remained largely unaffected. Though average compliance by domestic firms was only 53%, average firm value of treated domestic firms, relative to cross-listed ones, went up by about 10%. Results are robust, confirm external validity and offer important policy implications for other emerging/ transition economies.
This study examines the extent to which corporate responsibility influences the demand for shares by institutions. The study follows Bushee (Account Rev 73(3):305-333, 1998) in categorising ...institutions as dedicated or transient. The demand for shares is organised according to three factors: a long-term factor, corporate responsibility; a short-term factor, market liquidity; and a time-independent factor, portfolio theory. The rank and importance of the factors for the different types of institutional investor are analysed. For one of two types of dedicated institution, corporate responsibility is as important as portfolio theory in influencing the demand for shares. For all dedicated institutions, corporate responsibility influences the demand for shares more than market liquidity. For two of the three types of transient institution, market liquidity is the most important factor in share selection. For all transient institutions, the least important factor is corporate responsibility. Findings suggest that corporate responsibility positively and significantly influences the demand for shares by dedicated institutions. The discussion considers the extent to which these trends are constitutive of significant shifts in ethicality within the context of institutional investment. Looking at this from within a highly institutionalised Anglo market model, dedicated institutions' commitment to broader and longer-term concerns could be interpreted as a small but significant step towards a more axiologically informed ethical business practice. Such a form of engagement calls for sensitive attention to a fuller range of features deemed to be relevant to investment decisions, as opposed to more narrow reliance on legislation, codes of practice and fiduciary principles.
To determine when risk for Buruli ulcer is highest, we examined seasonal patterns in a highly disease-endemic area of Cameroon during 2002-2012. Cases peaked in March, suggesting that risk is highest ...during the high rainy season. During and after this season, populations should increase protective behaviors, and case detection efforts should be intensified.
SYNOPSIS This paper analyzes the degree to which material weaknesses (MWs) in internal control reported under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) affect the future reporting of MWs. Particularly, we ...examine information technology (IT) and non-IT MWs and their breakdown into specific IT-related entity-level, non-IT-related entity-level, and account-level deficiencies. Analysis reveals that most account-level and entity-level deficiencies occur at a significantly higher rate in SOX 404 reports with at least one IT MW than in MW reports with only non-IT MWs. Further, the presence and count of both types of MWs and all three types of deficiencies are associated with increased future MWs, as are lower profitability, non-Big 6 auditor, and firm complexity. Specific control deficiencies related to senior management, training, and IT control environment have the strongest impact on future MWs. These results indicate that effective corporate governance of both the IT and non-IT domains is pivotal in establishing and maintaining strong internal controls over financial reporting. Data Availability: Data are available from the public sources identified in the paper.
In the aftermath of anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat, India, in 2002, NGOs and activists encouraged survivors to testify against Hindu perpetrators in court. Through an ethnographic analysis of a ...criminal trial in the lower courts of Ahmedabad, I show how state officials and perpetrators used legal procedures to transform Muslim survivors into unreliable witnesses in the courtroom. These formal and informal techniques to destabilize Muslim witnesses are best understood not as byproducts of the law’s failure to address mass violence, but as a legal performance of Hindu supremacy. Procedural and positivistic approaches to the rule of law failed to address the law as a performance embedded in the context of Hindu nationalism in Gujarat. Not only do such trials discredit witnesses of mass violence, but they also give a legal form to the subordinate status of religious minorities within a majoritarian political regime.
Purpose: The objective of this study was to measure the environmental impact of five different laboratory-scale constructed wetland (CW) treatment systems with varying design approaches, which have ...been employed to treat different types of wastewater. Moreover, the present study also assessed the feasibility of treating landfill leachate using four different hybrid wetlands built outdoors, and analyzed the environmental viability based on the life cycle assessment (LCA). Primarily, the choice of media materials has been the focus of evaluating the sustainability of the systems, as for each system the media materials cover major material consumption and define treatment performance. Methods: This study applied a life cycle assessment using the SimaPro software tool to quantify the environmental impacts from the constructed wetland systems. Primarily, the LCA has been applied by adopting the ReCiPe 2016 method with cross-validation using the Impact 2002+ method. Moreover, an uncertainty analysis has been performed to determine any uncertainties involved in the datasets, along with sensitivity analysis on the inventory. Results and discussions: As the results suggest, the systems employed for wastewater treatment using cement mortar have the highest environmental burden. In contrast, the natural media choices, sugarcane bagasse and coco-peat, have proved to be environmentally favorable. Media employment from recycled materials like brick and steel slag could significantly redeem the previous environmental burdens of these materials, providing treatment efficiency. However, the systems employed for landfill leachate treatment revealed the CW using brick chips as the most vulnerable system with regards to environmental concerns, implying that the media brick chips are certainly the major contributor behind this high leap in the scale. However, both the systems worked very well in the carcinogenic category, providing good treatment performance, and eventually exerting lesser impact. Conclusion: The overall assessments suggested choice of media materials are essential to deciding the sustainability of a CW design. However, the CW is more beneficial and environmentally friendly than the other treatment methods, until the design scale has a high capacity. Nevertheless, the choice of the LCA method is also significant, while measuring impact scales.
Based on his experience as a scholar and diplomat stationed in China, Jean-Luc Domenach consults a wealth of archival and contemporary materials to examine China's place in the world. A sympathetic ...yet critical observer, Domenach brings his intimate knowledge of the country to bear on a range of crucial issues, such as the growth (or deterioration) of China's economy, the government's ever-delayed democratization, the potential outcomes of a national political crisis, and the possible escalation of a revamped authoritarianism. Domenach ultimately reads China's current progress as a set of easy accomplishments presaging a more difficult era of development. His finely nuanced analysis captures the difficult decisions now confronting China's elite, who are under tremendous pressure to support an economy based on innovation and consumption, establish a political system based on law and popular participation, rethink their national identity and spatial organization, and define a more positive approach to the world's problems. These leaders are also besieged by corruption among their ranks, an increasingly restless urban population, and a sharp decline in the country's demographic growth. Domenach taps into these anxieties and the attempt to alleviate them, revealing a China much less confident and secure than many would believe.
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