Rationale, aims and objectives The randomized controlled trial (RCT) is considered the gold standard methodology for determining the efficacy and tolerability of new treatments. However, RCTs cannot ...provide information on the effectiveness of interventions as they are used in real life. This study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of montelukast, a leukotriene receptor antagonist, in the real‐world management of asthma, through a large‐scale, retrospective, observational study: the National Montelukast Survey.
Methods In order to ensure a robust methodology for the National Montelukast Survey we performed three pilot studies involving a total of almost 400 patients. During the pilots, the design of the study was extensively modified from a simple prescriber questionnaire used in the first pilot to the ‘triangulated’ methodology encompassing the perspectives of patient, prescriber and independent observer used in the National Montelukast Survey. Good levels of interobserver agreement confirmed the robustness of the final methodology.
Conclusions Achieving a robust methodology was dependent on the extensive piloting. It is possible to collect reliable observational data relating to treatment outcomes. We believe our methods are likely to have more widespread applicability and offer a potential improvement over postmarketing surveillance.
In this review, aspects of the ways in which Ca2+ is transported and regulated within muscle cells have been considered, with particular reference to crustacean muscle fibres. The large size of these ...fibres permits easy access to the internal environment of the cell, allowing it to be altered by microinjection or microperfusion. At rest, Ca2+ is not in equilibrium across the cell membrane, it enters the cell down a steep electrochemical gradient. The free Ca2+ at rest is maintained at a value close to 200 nM by a combination of internal buffering systems, mainly the SR, mitochondria, and the fixed and diffusible Ca(2+)-binding proteins, as well as by an energy-dependent extrusion system operating across the external cell membrane. This system relies upon the inward movement of Na+ down its own electrochemical gradient to provide the energy for the extrusion of Ca2+ ions. As a result of electrical excitation, voltage-sensitive channels for Ca2+ are activated and permit Ca2+ to enter the cell more rapidly than at rest. It has been possible to determine both the amount of Ca2+ entering by this step, and what part this externally derived Ca2+ plays in the development of force as well as in the free Ca2+ change. The latter can be determined directly by Ca(2+)-sensitive indicators introduced into the cell sarcoplasm. A combination of techniques, allowing both the total and free Ca2+ changes to be assessed during electrical excitation, has provided valuable information as to how muscle cells buffer their Ca2+ in order to regulate the extent of the change in the free Ca2+ concentration. The data indicate that the entering Ca2+ can only make a small direct contribution to the force developed by the cell. The implication here is that the major source of Ca2+ for contraction must be derived from the internal Ca2+ storage sites within the SR system, a view reinforced by caged Ca2+ methods. The ability to measure the free Ca2+ concentration changes within a single cell during activation has also provided the opportunity to analyse, in detail, the likely relations between free Ca2+ and the process of force development in muscle. The fact that the free Ca2+ change precedes the development of force implies that there are delays in the mechanism, either at the site of Ca2+ attachment on the myofibril, or at some later stage in the process of force development that were not previously anticipated.
Integrated reporting () is an emerging international corporate reporting initiative to address limitations to extant corporate reporting approaches, which are commonly criticized for being both ...voluminous and disjointed. While is gaining in popularity, current momentum has been limited due to a lack of clear evidence of its benefits. Utilizing the most suitable setting currently available, being discretionary disclosures made by listed companies on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, this study provides evidence that analyst forecast error reduces as a company's level of alignment with the framework increases. Further, the improved alignment is associated with a subsequent reduction in the cost of equity capital for certain reporting companies. The results are obtained after controlling for factors relating to financial transparency and the issuance of standalone non‐financial reports, which suggests that is providing incrementally useful information to the capital market over and above existing reporting mechanisms.
SUMMARY
This paper describes the current environment for assurance services for corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance. It then discusses opportunities for research, and highlights areas ...that are evolving as significant research opportunities and areas of significance that have been under-researched in the past. Finally, the paper reviews the five papers in the forum and highlights how multiple methodologies may be appropriate to examine different aspects of assuring CSR reporting from both internal and external assurance perspectives.
Purpose
– This paper aims to provide insights into salient issues in the development of the Integrated Reporting () Framework, and emerging issues in the implementation of this Framework, with the ...aim of identifying opportunities for future research. The International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) has recently produced a reporting framework for the preparation of a concise, user-oriented corporate report which expands the scope of a company’s reporting using a multiple capitals concept and requires a description of a company’s business model, allowing a better communication of its value creation proposition. To gain international acceptance, the market-based benefits of adopting the framework must be demonstrated.
Design/methodology/approach
– The paper takes the form of an archival analysis of the responses to the IIRC’s public consultation phases, providing insights into arguments for and against salient aspects of the framework, and identifying issues that would benefit from future research.
Findings
– Identifying issues that arose during the framework preparation, this paper identifies a range of future research opportunities and outlines the research approaches by which academics can assess the costs and benefits of companies reporting in accordance with the Framework and assuring this information.
Research limitations/implications
– Research opportunities associated with the International ) Framework and associated assurance are identified.
Practical implications
– This paper provides insights and details of the process of adoption of and has implications for adopters and assurance providers of integrated reports, standard setters and regulators. The development of a sophisticated business case informed by rigorous research will be critical to the further uptake of .
Social implications
– Research opportunities identified include the expansion of the Framework to reporting entities other than corporations, including government and not-for-profit organisations, as well as measurement and assurance of a broader array of capitals, including social capital.
Originality/value
– The paper identifies research opportunities from an archival analysis of the responses to the IIRC’s public consultation phases, providing insights into arguments for and against salient aspects of the framework that would benefit from future research.
Rotation of audit partners is one of the main policy initiatives that has been implemented in many jurisdictions around the world to deal with concerns about audit quality. The basis of any ...requirement limiting the tenure of audit partners is that there is a reduction in audit quality associated with long periods of tenure. Using data from Australia, where the audit partner can be identified and for a period where partner rotation was not mandatory, we examine the association between audit quality and long audit partner tenure. The three measures of audit quality examined are the auditor's propensity to issue a going-concern audit opinion for distressed companies, the direction and amount of abnormal working capital accruals, and just beating (missing) earnings benchmarks. For long tenure observations we find a lower propensity to issue a going-concern opinion and some evidence of just beating (missing) earnings benchmarks, consistent with deterioration in audit quality associated with long audit partner tenure. There is no evidence of an association of long audit tenure with abnormal working capital accruals.
Integrated Reporting is a new reporting paradigm that is holistic, strategic, responsive, material and relevant across multiple time frames. Emphasising enhanced disclosure of the value drivers for ...today's organisations, Integrated Reporting represents a journey to more meaningful reporting that can be instrumental for Australia's reporting organisations, including not‐for‐profits. With momentum behind the concept of Integrated Reporting building and contemporaneous local regulatory reform on the agenda, there are nascent opportunities for Integrated Reporting to guide the future of not‐for‐profit reporting in Australia.
SUMMARY One of the challenges associated with emerging forms of external reporting is finding efficient and effective means to enhance the credibility of these reports (IAASB 2016). This study ...examines a novel credibility-enhancing mechanism, combined assurance (CA), where the credibility-enhancing processes of the internal auditor, the external auditor, and the effectiveness of risk management and internal controls and processes are publicly reported by the company (audit committee). We identify the most appropriate setting currently available (Integrated Reporting in South Africa) to examine whether there are benefits associated with communicating the details of CA within companies' integrated reports. We find that communicating the details of CA is beneficial in reducing both analysts' forecast errors and dispersion, and also in reducing the bid–ask spread for companies where the information environment is weaker. The implications of these findings for regulators, standard-setters, assurance providers, and users of extended external reports are discussed.
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