The Costs of Waiving Audit Adjustments CHOUDHARY, PREETI; MERKLEY, KENNETH; SCHIPPER, KATHERINE
Journal of accounting research,
December 2022, Letnik:
60, Številka:
5
Journal Article
Recenzirano
ABSTRACT
We analyze the disposition of auditor‐proposed adjustments to financial statements. Our analyses address concerns, expressed by regulators and others, that auditors and their clients fixate ...on quantitative thresholds and overlook qualitative factors in assessing the materiality of discovered misstatements. Using a large sample of Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB)‐inspected audits, we examine the frequency with which management records versus waives auditor‐proposed adjustments and whether waiving‐proposed adjustments ha consequences for reporting reliability and the audit process. We find waived adjustments are linked to lower financial reporting quality measured by material misstatements, to incentives to meet/beat earnings targets, and to the audit process, as measured by higher next‐period audit effort and fees and higher next‐period proposed adjustments. These effects on the audit process are consistent with auditors responding to the increased risk associated with waived adjustments. In an exploratory analysis, we find that controlling for the amount of proposed adjustments, auditor resignations are negatively associated with waived adjustments.
Summary
Frequent observations of higher mortality in larger trees than in smaller ones during droughts have sparked an increasing interest in size‐dependent drought‐induced mortality. However, the ...underlying physiological mechanisms are not well understood, with height‐associated hydraulic constraints often being implied as the potential mechanism driving increased drought vulnerability. We performed a quantitative synthesis on how key traits that drive plant water and carbon economy change with tree height within species and assessed the implications that the different constraints and compensations may have on the interacting mechanisms (hydraulic failure, carbon starvation and/or biotic‐agent attacks) affecting tree vulnerability to drought. While xylem tension increases with tree height, taller trees present a range of structural and functional adjustments, including more efficient water use and transport and greater water uptake and storage capacity, that mitigate the path‐length‐associated drop in water potential. These adaptations allow taller trees to withstand episodic water stress. Conclusive evidence for height‐dependent increased vulnerability to hydraulic failure and carbon starvation, and their coupling to defence mechanisms and pest and pathogen dynamics, is still lacking. Further research is needed, particularly at the intraspecific level, to ascertain the specific conditions and thresholds above which height hinders tree survival under drought.
In some real-world decision processes, decision makers may prefer to provide their opinions using linguistic expressions instead of a single linguistic term. Particularly, they may hesitate between ...several linguistic terms. In this paper, we deal with the consensus issue in the hesitant linguistic group decision making (GDM) problem. Firstly, a novel distance-based consensus measure is proposed. Then, using this consensus measure we develop an optimization-based consensus model in the hesitant linguistic GDM, which minimizes the number of adjusted simple terms in the consensus building. Furthermore, a two-stage model is displayed to further optimize the solutions to the proposed consensus model, through which we obtain the unique optimal adjustment suggestion to support the consensus reaching process in the hesitant linguistic GDM. Finally, several desirable properties are proposed to justify the proposal, and two examples are used to demonstrate the validity of the models.
•Postural preparations differ prior to interactions with another person and with inanimate object.•Co-activation about the ankle joint during early postural adjustments defines success in the ...hand-pushing game.•The results point at the importance of co-activation for postural stability organized at the level of neural commands.
Ensuring stability of the human vertical posture is a complex task requiring both anticipatory and compensatory postural strategies when a standing person performs fast actions and interacts with the environment, which can include other persons. How people adjust their preparatory and compensatory postural adjustments in situations when they interact with an active partner is still poorly understood. In this study we investigated the postural adjustments while two healthy persons played a traditional childhood game. While standing facing each other, they were asked to push with their hands against the hands of the opponent only, and to make the opponent to take a step. We explored strategies when pushing the opponent’s hands generated perturbations to the posture of both players and when one of the players withdrew the arms to neutralize the opponent’s pushing action. Electromyograms were recorded from the leg and trunk muscles and used to quantify early (EPAs), anticipatory (APAs) and compensatory (CPAs) postural adjustments, as well as the co-activation and reciprocal changes in the activity of agonist–antagonist pairs. Results showed higher indices of muscle co-activation during EPAs during the game compared to the control conditions. We found that postural preparation strategies defined whether a participant kept or lost balance during the game. Our results highlight the importance of muscle co-activation, the role of anticipation, and the difference in strategies while interacting with an active partner as compared to interactions with passive objects.
Qualitative Data Auerbach, Carl; Silverstein, Louise B
2003, Letnik:
21
eBook
Qualitative Data is meant for the novice researcher who needs guidance on what specifically to do when faced with a sea of information. It takes readers through the qualitative research process, ...beginning with an examination of the basic philosophy of qualitative research, and ending with planning and carrying out a qualitative research study. It provides an explicit, step-by-step procedure that will take the researcher from the raw text of interview data through data analysis and theory construction to the creation of a publishable work.
The volume provides actual examples based on the authors' own work, including two published pieces in the appendix, so that readers can follow examples for each step of the process, from the project's inception to its finished product. The volume also includes an appendix explaining how to implement these data analysis procedures using NVIVO, a qualitative data analysis program.
•Postural threat modulates anticipatory and compensatory postural adjustments.•The APA are modified under different threats at different joints of lower extremity.•Reciprocal agonist antagonist ...activations predominate during APA phase while co-activation during CPA phase.
Fear of falling increases conscious control of balance and postural threat warrants accurate anticipatory motor commands for keeping a safe body posture. This study examines the anticipatory (APAs) and compensatory (CPAs) postural adjustments generated in response to an external perturbation while individuals are positioned at two different altitudes (2 cm and 80 cm) from the floor level. The main result indicates that due to the perceived emotional threat, different agonist and antagonist muscles synergies (R and C-Indexes) are manifested, particularly during the anticipatory phase. The results suggest that the CNS sends central commands for anticipating postural adjustments by adopting primarily a muscle reciprocal activation instead of a muscle co-activation strategy. Interestingly, the APAs strategies were modified under different postural threats by controlling the agonist–antagonist muscles at different joints of lower extremity. For CPAs the reciprocal activation was less applied compared to muscles co-activation to unsure larger margin for compensatory adjustments as needed and re-establish the postural stability. The results indicate that when facing to a postural threat, the CNS modulates the anticipatory and compensatory phases of postural adjustments to minimize the risk of falling.
A large literature has assessed the impacts of climate change on agricultural production by estimating reduced‐form models of crop yields conditionally on weather and individual fixed effects. The ...estimates obtained are usually interpreted as the weather impacts on yields once farmers have adapted. Yet, few attempts have documented that farmers do adapt to weather, and none have verified that these adjustments actually impact crop yields. Our objective here is to unpack how weather affects agricultural production by developing a structural model that explicitly accounts for both the plants' biophysical and farmers' behavioral responses to weather. Considering adaptation during the growing season through fertilizer and pesticide applications, our approach allows us to distinguish the “direct” weather effects (i.e., the agronomic impacts of weather changes on plant growth per se) from the “indirect” weather effects via farmers' input choices (i.e., the adaptation impacts). We estimate the underlying structural model using farm‐level data from the Meuse French department, which provides details of fertilizer and pesticide uses by crop. We show that the reduced‐form and structural estimates indicate similar weather impacts on crop yields, for a large range of sensitivity analyses. Our structural estimates indicate that the adaptation effects are sizable and that farmers' adjustments reduce projected damage from climate change. In our illustrative case, farmers' adaptation offsets between one‐quarter to two‐thirds of the negative agronomic impacts of future warming on crop yields. Our analyses exhibit that commonly used reduced‐form models of crop yields inherently capture these within‐season behavioral responses to weather.
Air pollution represents a complex phenomenon defined by the presence of various gases and particulate matter, leading to intricate spatio-temporal fluctuations. This study aims to enhance our ...understanding of how meteorological factors influence trace gases and aerosols, exacerbating air pollution in various geographical locations, specifically in Beijing's Fengtai (BJFT), Taiyuan City (SXTY), and Hefei's Science Island (HFDP). The study employs 2D-MAX-DOAS observations and utilizes the Random Forest (RF) model to decouple the influence of meteorological conditions from pollutant data. The vertical profile of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), formaldehyde (HCHO), and aerosols at each study site was classified into four distinct layers, followed by conducting a meteorological decoupling analysis on each layer. This decoupling analysis demonstrates that meteorology significantly influences aerosols across all sites, with reductions ranging from 75 % to 95 % after de-weathering. SO2 shows minimal susceptibility, with the changes ranging from ±20 % to ±60 % after de-weathering. Among all sites, BJFT's pollutants exhibit less susceptibility overall, while pollutants at HFDP are more susceptible. The findings further reveal significant meteorological interventions in pollutants in surface layers (0.05 km and 0.2–0.4 km) at BJFT, with some exceptions at SXTY. However, pollutants, particularly NO2 and aerosols in higher layers (0.6–0.8 km and 1.0–1.2 km) at HFDP, also experience significant meteorological interferences. The findings at HFDP and SXTY reveal that removing meteorological influence also adjusts the profile shape of pollutants. For instance, the NO2 profile at HFDP during the winter season shifted from a bimodal to an exponential shape after de-weathering. Overall, this study sheds light on the complex interplay between meteorological factors and trace gases at various altitudes across different geographic locations, offering insights crucial for holistic and effective pollution mitigation strategies.
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•Meteorological impacts on pollutants vary by location and altitude.•Fengtai's pollutants resist weather changes more than those in Hefei and Taiyuan.•≈95 % aerosols reduction after de-weathering, while SO2 remains largely unaffected.
This study aimed to investigate the purification of radioactive thorium (Th4+) by Chlorella vulgaris in aquatic environments. Single-factor experiments and response surface optimization tests ...identified optimal purification conditions. The purification and metabolic response mechanisms of Chlorella to Th4+ were elucidated using physiological and biochemical analyses, three-dimensional excitation-emission matrix (3D-EEM) analysis, and metabolomic profiling. Increases in the Th4+ concentration caused Chlorella to self-flocculate, significantly improving the Th4+ purification efficiency. Under optimal conditions, the Th4+ purification efficiency for Th4+ in wastewater by Chlorella stabilized between 94.3 % and 98.2 %. Morphological analysis revealed that the purified Th4+ existed mainly in a stable residual state. Chlorella efficiently purified wastewater during treatment by regulating environmental pH, performing redox reactions, and utilizing extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) to interact with Th4+. Metabolomic analysis indicated that Chlorella adapted to the Th4+-contaminated environment and enhanced its purification function by adjusting the synthesis of metabolites, such as carbohydrates, nucleotides, and amino acids. Chlorella demonstrated a remarkable self-flocculation phenomenon and a high-efficiency purification capability for Th4+, offering new possibilities for environmental remediation. Its purification mechanism involves environmental regulation, redox reactions, and complex metabolic adjustments. The results presented here provide theoretical support for environmental remediation using Chlorella.
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•Chlorella highly efficient purification of radioactive thorium in water (94.3 %−98.2 %).•Chlorella effectively cleans wastewater by interacting with Th4+ through EPS.•Thorium is in a stable residue state, which is safe and reliable to handle.•Chlorella shows strong Th purification ability by adjusting metabolite synthesis.
