Search results for: global financial reporting

Authors: Shpetim Rezniqi

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Over the years has increased, and increasingly has become necessary to make audit of financial statements. An auditor to perform an audit, should plan its audit in order to provide a high-quality audit and to be performed in an economic, efficient, effective and timely. This phase of the audit is also important stages of reach to the final goal of an audit to be professional and based in Kosovo and International Standards on Auditing. Always considering Kosovo as a new state and once out of war, where everything in its entrepreneurship started from the lowest stage of economic development and aim at development and regional and European integration, planning and performing audit becomes even more important.

Keywords: control, accounting, planning, analysis

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Authors: Arezou Javadi

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The use of algorithmic models dependent on software calculations and simulation of new government management assays with the help of specialized software had increased the productivity and efficiency of the government management system recently. This has caused the management approach to change from the old bitch & fix model, which has low efficiency and less usefulness, to the capable management model with higher efficiency called the partnership with resident model. By using Govpilot TM software, the relationship between people in a system and the government was examined. The method of two tailed interaction was the outsourcing of a goal in a system, which is formed in the order of goals, qualified executive people, optimal executive model, and finally, summarizing additional activities at the different statistical levels. The results showed that the participation of people in a financial implementation system with a statistical potential of P≥5% caused a significant increase in investment and initial capital in the government system with maximum implement project in a smart government.

Keywords: machine learning, financial income, statistical potential, govpilot

Procedia PDF Downloads 89

Authors: Arezou Javadi

Abstract:

The use of algorithmic models dependent on software calculations and simulation of new government management assays with the help of specialized software had increased the productivity and efficiency of the government management system recently. This has caused the management approach to change from the old bitch & fix model, which has low efficiency and less usefulness, to the capable management model with higher efficiency called the partnership with resident model. By using Govpilot TM software, the relationship between people in a system and the government was examined. The method of two tailed interaction was the outsourcing of a goal in a system, which is formed in the order of goals, qualified executive people, optimal executive model, and finally, summarizing additional activities at the different statistical levels. The results showed that the participation of people in a financial implementation system with a statistical potential of P≥5% caused a significant increase in investment and initial capital in the government system with maximum implement project in a smart government.

Keywords: machine learning, financial income, statistical potential, govpilot

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Authors: Mark E. Lokanan, Liz Lee

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This paper aims to examine the role of accountants as gatekeepers in anti-money laundering compliance in real estate transactions. The paper seeks to answer questions on ways in which accountants are involved in real estate transactions and mandatory compliance with regulatory authorities in Canada. The data for the study came from semi-structured interviews with accountants, lawyers, and government officials. Preliminary results reveal that there is a conflict between accountants’ obligation to disclose and loyalty to their clients. Accountants often do not see why they are obligated to disclose their clients' information to government agencies. The importance of the client in terms of the amount of revenue contributed to the accounting firm also plays a significant role in accountants' reporting decision-making process. Although the involvement of accountants in real estate purchase and sale transactions is limited to lawyers or notaries, they are often involved in designing financing schemes, which may involve money laundering activities. The paper is of wider public policy interests to both accountants and regulators. It is hard not to see Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) Canada and government regulators using the findings to better understand the decision-making processes of accountants in their reporting practices to regulatory authorities.

Keywords: money laundering, real estate, disclosure, legislation, compliance

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Authors: Oguzhan Cepni, Doruk Kucuksarac, M. Hasan Yilmaz

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Risk premium of emerging markets are moving altogether depending on the momentum and shifts in the global risk appetite. However, the magnitudes of these changes in the risk premium of emerging market economies might vary. In this paper, we focus on how global risk factor affects credit default swaps (CDS) premiums of emerging markets using principal component analysis (PCA) and rolling regressions. PCA results indicate that the first common component accounts for almost 76% of common variation in CDS premiums of emerging markets. Additionally, the explanatory power of the first factor seems to be high over sample period. However, the sensitivity to the global risk factor tends to change over time and across countries. In this regard, fixed effects panel regressions are employed to identify the macroeconomic factors driving the heterogeneity across emerging markets. There are two main macroeconomic variables that affect the sensitivity; government debt to GDP and international reserves to GDP. The countries with lower government debt and higher reserves tend to be less subject to the variations in the global risk appetite.

Keywords: emerging markets, principal component analysis, credit default swaps, sovereign risk

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Authors: Krish Batra

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The advent of open banking has revolutionized the financial services industry by fostering innovation, enhancing customer experience, and promoting competition. However, this paradigm shift towards more open and interconnected banking ecosystems has introduced complex cybersecurity challenges. This research paper delves into the multifaceted cybersecurity landscape of open banking, highlighting the vulnerabilities and threats inherent in sharing financial data across a network of banks and third-party providers. Through a detailed analysis of recent data breaches, phishing attacks, and other cyber incidents, the paper assesses the current state of cybersecurity within the open banking framework. It examines the effectiveness of existing security measures, such as encryption, API security protocols, and authentication mechanisms, in protecting sensitive financial information. Furthermore, the paper explores the regulatory response to these challenges, including the implementation of standards such as PSD2 in Europe and similar initiatives globally. By identifying gaps in current cybersecurity practices, the research aims to propose a set of robust, forward-looking strategies that can enhance the security and resilience of open banking systems. This includes recommendations for banks, third-party providers, regulators, and consumers on how to mitigate risks and ensure a secure open banking environment. The ultimate goal is to provide stakeholders with a comprehensive understanding of the cybersecurity implications of open banking and to outline actionable steps for safeguarding the financial ecosystem in an increasingly interconnected world.

Keywords: open banking, financial services industry, cybersecurity challenges, data breaches, phishing attacks, encryption, API security protocols, authentication mechanisms, regulatory response, PSD2, cybersecurity practices

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Authors: Hasibul Kabir, Samin Shahriar Tokey, Md. Tofazzal Hossain

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One of the most necessary things in the present time is raising social awareness about global warming and climate change among the people. Though many types of mediums and techniques have been used to teach people about this global phenomenon, there are still more effective ways to reach people with useful information about global warming. As many traditional methods to teach people about global warming and climate change did not work well, video games were overdue. To learn how effective a video game can be in this regard, we developed a Video game, "Historia's Nightmare," that teaches people about Global warming and climate change. The game was designed to entertain people and give them an idea about the reasons and consequences of global warming and climate change while not being like traditional educational games. The game threw a mini quiz consisting of two MCQs based on the information shown in the game, where a gamer had to pass the quiz to reach the next level. We published the game on different platforms to let all types of people play and complete our experiment effectively. The game continuously communicated with our server to send data about gamers' performance. We observed the data, including the participants' performance, time spent, quiz score, and the in-game feedback on a regular basis, and finally came to a verdict. In our experiment, we have found that most participants positively accepted the game and learned something new. The participants who spent more on our game performed better in both quiz and the game. Our experiment's result demonstrates that video games can be a great way to teach people something, particularly to raise social awareness about global warming and climate change. It also demonstrates that the game can be a significant element in education and learning improvement.

Keywords: video game, global warming, social awareness, climate change, education, feedback

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Authors: Aman Guru, Chiron Singhi

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The Earth’s climate is being changed at an unrivalled rate since beginning of the evolution of the Earth, 4–5 billion years back, but presently it gained pace due to unintentional anthropogenic disturbances and also increased global warming since the mid-20th century, and these incessant changes in the climatic pattern may bring unpropitious effect on global health and security. Today, however, it is not only the air, or water that are polluted, but the whole atmosphere is prone to pollution and this resulted in other cascading ramification in the form of change in the pattern of rainfall, melting of ice, the rise in the sea level etc. Human activities like production, transport, burning of fuels are adding umpteen dangerous pollutants to the atmosphere which in turn gives rise to global warming. Agriculture plays an imperative part in India's economy. Agriculture, along with fisheries and forestry, is one of the largest contributors to the Gross Domestic Product in India. Research on the effect of climate change and vulnerability of agriculture is a high need in India. A steady increase of CO2 is a primary cause of climate change and global warming and which in turn have a great impact on Indian agriculture. The research focuses on the effect of climate change on Indian agriculture and the proceedings and legal control of legislative measures on such issues and the ways to implement such laws which can help to provide a solution to these problems which can prove beneficial to Indian farmers and their agricultural produce.

Keywords: agriculture, climate change, global warming, India laws, legislative measures

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Authors: S. Cowley, M. Lawrance, D. Bick, R. McCord

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Technology that automates manual handling (musculoskeletal disorder or MSD) risk assessments is increasingly available to ergonomists, engineers, generalist health and safety practitioners alike. The risk assessment process is generally based on the use of wearable motion sensors that capture information about worker movements for real-time or for posthoc analysis. Traditionally, MSD risk assessment is undertaken with the assistance of a checklist such as that from the SafeWork Australia code of practice, the expert assessor observing the task and ideally engaging with the worker in a discussion about the detail. Automation enables the non-expert to complete assessments and does not always require the assessor to be there. This clearly has cost and time benefits for the practitioner but is it an improvement on the assessment by the human. Human risk assessments draw on the knowledge and expertise of the assessor but, like all risk assessments, are highly subjective. The complexity of the checklists and models used in the process can be off-putting and sometimes will lead to the assessment becoming the focus and the end rather than a means to an end; the focus on risk control is lost. Automated risk assessment handles the complexity of the assessment for the assessor and delivers a simple risk score that enables decision-making regarding risk control. Being machine-based, they are objective and will deliver the same each time they assess an identical task. However, the WHS professional needs to know that this emergent technology asks the right questions and delivers the right answers. Whether it improves the risk assessment process and results or simply distances the professional from the task and the worker. They need clarity as to whether automation of manual task risk analysis and reporting leads to risk control or to a focus on the worker. Critically, they need evidence as to whether automation in this area of hazard management leads to better risk control or just a bigger collection of assessments. Practitioner experienced determinants of this automated manual task risk analysis and reporting being a benefit or distraction will address an understanding of emergent risk assessment technology, its use and things to consider when making decisions about adopting and applying these technologies.

Keywords: automated, manual-handling, risk-assessment, machine-based

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Authors: Carlo Gozzelino

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Since the early 2000s, the phenomenon of the two-sided markets has been of growing interest in academic literature as such kind of markets differs by having cross-side network effects and same-side network effects characterizing the transactions, which make the analysis different when compared to traditional seller-buyer concept. Due to such externalities, pricing strategies can be based on subsidizing the participation of one side (i.e. considered key for the platform to attract the other side) while recovering the loss on the other side. In recent years, several players of the Italian financial intermediation industry moved from an integrated landscape (i.e. selling their own products) to an open one (i.e. intermediating third party products). According to academic literature such behavior can be interpreted as a merchant move towards a platform, operating in a two-sided market environment. While several application of two-sided market framework are available in academic literature, purpose of this paper is to use a two-sided market concept to suggest a new framework applied to financial intermediation. To this extent, a model is developed to show how competitors behave when vertically integrated and how the peculiarities of a two-sided market act as an incentive to disintegrate. Additionally, we show that when all players act as a platform, the dynamics of a two-sided markets can allow at least a Nash equilibrium to exist, in which platform of different sizes enjoy positive profit. Finally, empirical evidences from Italian market are given to sustain – and to challenge – this interpretation.

Keywords: financial intermediation, network externalities, two-sided markets, vertical differentiation

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Authors: Tyler D. Cesarone, Tatiana M. Wugalter

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The movement of patients from the Global North to the Global South in pursuit of inexpensive healthcare and touristic experiences dominates the academic discourse on international medical travel (IMT). However, medical travel exists in higher numbers between Global South countries as patients who lack trust in, and feel disenfranchised by, their national healthcare systems seek treatment in nearby countries. Through a review of the existing literature, this paper examines patterns of IMT in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Southern Africa, distinguishing North-South medical tourism from South-South intra-regional medical mobility (IRMM). Evidence from these case studies demonstrates that notions of medical distrust and disenfranchisement, rooted in low-resourced and poor quality healthcare systems, are key drivers of IRMM in the Global South. The movement of patients from lower income to proximate higher income countries not only reveals tensions between patients and their healthcare systems but widens gaps in the quality of healthcare between departing and destination countries. In analyzing these cross-regional similarities, the paper moves beyond the current literature’s focus on singular case studies to expose global patterns of South-South IRMM. This presents a shift from the traditional focus on North-South medical tourism, demonstrating how disparities in healthcare systems both influence and are influenced by IRMM.

Keywords: global South, healthcare quality, international medical travel (IMT), intra-regional medical mobility (IRMM), medical disenfranchisement, medical distrust, medical tourism

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Authors: M. Khasro Miah, Chowdhury Hossan Golam, Muhammed Siddique Hossain

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Recently, financial institution brand image is turning out to be pretty weak due to the presence of strong local competitors and this in term is affecting their firm performance also. In this study, four major HR practices, namely employee commitment, empowerment, loyalty, and engagement are considered in order to measure its effects on the brand and financial performance of banking organization. This study finds that the banking institutions of Bangladesh are more customer oriented rather than internal employee oriented, which makes it quite obvious that the internal HR practices will have little or no effect on the banks brand performance. Employee Commitment has emerged out to be the most important predictor, followed by employee loyalty and empowerment. The employees are well-empowered, engaged, and shows loyalty towards the organization, but their activities are not well linked with the brand. Firms should concentrate to create a congenial working atmosphere and employees should feel like a part of the organization.

Keywords: HR in bank, employee commitment, empowerment, finance, employee commitment, loyalty and engagement

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Authors: Muhammad Rifqi Hafizhudin Arif, Mukhamad Zulfal Faradis, Ahmad Hidayatullah

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Indonesia is the country that uses conventional financial system adopted from European countries as a form of finance in the national banking system. Many of the derivative products of conventional banks either investment, buy and sell, saving and loan, which is not in accordance with Islamic Ethics. While the majority population in Indonesia are belief in Islam, which Islam has had financial management guide is written in the Quran, the Hadith, as well as the opinions of experts who strongly prohibits the use of interest in each transaction activities. Many different expert opinions on the application of the Islamic financial system in Indonesia. However, as the majority of the population of Indonesia, Islamic community have not been able to get the opportunities to choose the Islamic financial system that has mutual benefit between consumers and banks, particularly fairness in transactions, ethical investment, uphold the values of solidarity and brotherhood in every transaction activities, and avoid speculation. In this paper, we will discuss the reasons for the importance of providing an option for Islamic community as the majority of the population of Indonesia to use the banking system which adopted the Islamic ethical values that have been much discussed by other researchers in various countries. The existence of this research is expected to Government, academia and the general public aware of the urgency of Islamic economic system implementation in Indonesian banking as the solution and justice especially for the Islamic community to use the values which they held.

Keywords: Islamic economic system, conventional system, Islamic value, banking

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Authors: Sabrina Jafralie

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This proposed chapter explains how civic religious literacy is a means to promote social justice in Canada. It will first present the specific conception of global citizenship education that will undergird the discussion in the chapter. Then, it will offer a conception of civic religious literacy that explains how it promotes social justice as a form of global citizenship education. To illustrate this point, I will list specific examples of social and political inequities in Canada, such as hate crime statistics from 2013-2018 across the country and in specific provinces and cities. I will also highlight different types of discrimination, such as that towards religious minorities, Indigenous peoples, and those that conflate race and religion, and other intersections of identity that civic religious literacy can address. To conclude this initial section of the chapter, I will cite international studies that discuss religious literacy as a means to promote characteristics and aims of global citizenship education.

Keywords: Civic Literacy, Pedagogy, Quebec, Social Justice

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Authors: Kari M. Solomon

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Companies with a culture accepting of change management and performance excellence are better suited to determine their sustainability performance and impacts. A mature corporate culture supportive of performance excellence is better positioned to integrate sustainability management tools into their standard business strategy. Companies use various sustainability management tools and reporting standards to communicate levels of sustainability performance to their stakeholders, more often focusing on shareholders and investors. A research gap remains in understanding how companies adapt business excellence models to define corporate sustainability performance. A content analysis of medium-sized enterprises using corporate sustainability reports and business excellence models reveals the challenges and opportunities of reporting sustainability performance in the context of organizational excellence. The outcomes of this content analysis contribute knowledge on the resources needed for companies to build sustainability performance management systems integral to existing management systems. The findings of this research inform academic research areas of corporate sustainability performance, the business community contributing to sustainable development initiatives, and integrating sustainable development issues into business excellence models. There are potential research links between sustainability performance management and the alignment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) when organizations promote a culture of performance or business excellence.

Keywords: business excellence, corporate sustainability, performance excellence, sustainability performance

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Authors: Melvin Mothoa

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Small Micro and Medium Enterprises are very significant for the development of their market economies. They are the main creators of the new working places, and they present a vital core of the market economy in countries across the globe. Access to finance is identified as crucial for small, micro, and medium-sized enterprises for their growth and innovation. This paper is conceived to propose a perception-based SMME framework to aid in access to financial support. Furthermore, the study will address issues that impede SMMEs in South Africa from obtaining finance from financial institutions. The framework will be tested against data collected from 200 Small Micro & Medium Enterprises in the Gauteng province of South Africa. The study adopts a quantitative method, and the delivery of self-administered questionnaires to SMMEs will be the primary data collection tool. Structural equation modeling will be used to further analyse the data collected.

Keywords: finance, small business, growth, development

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Authors: K. V. Venugopalan

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Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) have been accepted as the engine of economic growth and for promoting equitable development. The major advantage of the sector is its employment potential at low capital cost. The labour intensity of the MSME sector is much higher than that of the large enterprises. The MSMEs constitute over 90% of total enterprises in most of the economies and are credited with generating the highest rates of employment growth and account for a major share of industrial production and exports. Kerala is a small state in India with the limited land area with high potential in educated human resources need micro, small and medium enterprises for development. Kerala has the highest Physical Quality of Life Index (PQLI) in India and the highest Human Development Index (HDI) at par with the developed countries SME play an important role in alleviating poverty and contribute significantly towards the growth of developing economies. Financial institutions can play a vital role for the promotion of micro, small and medium enterprises in Kerala. The study entitled “Financial Institutions and its role in the promotion of Small and Medium Enterprises in Kerala “examine the progress of MSME in Kerala and India and also the role of financial institutions and the problems faced by entrepreneurs for getting advances with reference to ‘Kerala Financial Corporation’-an agency set up by the government for promoting small and medium enterprises in the state. This study is based on both secondary and primary data. Primary data for the study was collected from those entrepreneurs who availed advances from financial institutions. The secondary data include the investment made, goods and services provided, the employment generated and the number of units registered in MSME sector for the last 10 years in Kerala. The study concluded that financial institutions providing finance with simple procedures and charging smaller interest rates will increase the number of MSME's and also contribute gross state domestic product and reduce the unemployment problem and poverty in the economy.

Keywords: gross state domestic product, human development index, micro, small and medium enterprises

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Authors: Matthew Heidman, Susan Dallabrida, Analice Costa

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Background:Accuracy of caregiver reported outcomes is essential for infant growth and tolerability study success. Crying/fussiness, stool consistencies, and other gastrointestinal characteristics are important parameters regarding tolerability, and inter-caregiver reporting can see a significant amount of subjectivity and vary greatly within a study, compromising data. This study sought to elucidate how caregiver reported questions related to stool frequency are answered before and after a short amount of training and how training impacts caregivers’ understanding, and how they would answer the question. Methods:A digital survey was issued for 90 daysin the US (n=121) and 30 days in Mexico (n=88), targeting respondents with children ≤4 years of age. Respondents were asked a question in two formats, first without a line of training text and second with a line of training text. The question set was as follows, “If your baby had stool in his/her diaper and you changed the diaper and 10 min later there was more stool in the diaper, how many stools would you report this as?” followed by the same question beginning with “If you were given the instruction that IF there are at least 5 minutes in between stools, then it counts as two (2) stools…”.Four response items were provided for both questions, 1) 2 stools, 2) 1stool, 3) it depends on how much stool was in the first versus the second diaper, 4) There is not enough information to be able to answer the question. Response frequencies between questions were compared. Results: Responses to the question without training saw some variability in the US, with 69% selecting “2 stools”,11% selecting “1 stool”, 14% selecting “it depends on how much stool was in the first versus the second diaper”, and 7% selecting “There is not enough information to be able to answer the question” and in Mexico respondents selected 9%, 78%, 13%, and 0% respectively. However, responses to the question after training saw more consolidation in the US, with 85% of respondents selecting“2 stools,” representing an increase in those selecting the correct answer. Additionally in Mexico, with 84% of respondents selecting “1 episode” representing an increase in the those selecting the correct response. Conclusions: Caregiver reported outcomes are critical for infant growth and tolerability studies, however, they can be highly subjective and see a high variability of responses without guidance. Training is critical to standardize all caregivers’ perspective regarding how to answer questions accurately in order to provide an accurate dataset.

Keywords: infant nutrition, clinical trial optimization, stool reporting, decentralized clinical trials

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Authors: Wafa Unus

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Science journalism has been vanishing from America’s national newspapers for decades. Reportage on scientific topics is limited to only a handful of newspapers and of those, few employ dedicated science journalists to cover stories that require this specialized expertise. News organizations' lack of readiness to convey complex scientific concepts to a mass populace becomes particularly problematic when events like the Covid-19 pandemic occur. The lack of coverage of Covid-19 prior to its onset in the United States, suggests something more troubling - that the deprioritization of reporting on hard science as an educational tool in favor of political frames of coverage, places dangerous blinders on the American public. This research looks at the disparity between voices of health and science experts in news articles and the voices of political figures, in order to better understand the approach of American newspapers in conveying expert opinion on Covid-19. A content analysis of 300 articles on Covid-19 by major newspapers in the United States between January 1st, 2020 and April 30th, 2020 illuminates this investigation. The Boston Globe, the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times are included in the content analysis. Initial findings reveal a significant disparity in the number of articles that mention Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute Allergy and Infectious Disease, and the number that make reference to political figures. Covid-related articles in the New York Times that focused on health topics (as opposed to economic or social issues) contained the voices of 54 different politicians who were mentioned a total of 608 times. Only five members of the scientific community were mentioned a total of 24 times (out of 674 articles). In the Boston Globe, 36 different politicians were mentioned a total of 147 times, and only two members of the scientific community, one being Anthony Fauci, were mentioned a total of nine times (out of 423 articles). In the Los Angeles Times, 52 different politicians were mentioned a total of 600 times, and only six members of the scientific community were included and were mentioned a total of 82 times with Fauci being mentioned 48 times (out of 851 articles). Results provide a better understanding of the frames in which American journalists in Covid hotspots conveyed information of expert analysis on Covid-19 during one of the most pressing news events of the century. Ultimately, the objective of this study is to utilize the exploratory data to evaluate the nature, extent and impact of Covid-19 reporting in the context of trustworthiness and scientific expertise. Secondarily, this data will illuminate the degree to which Covid-19 reporting focused on politics over science.

Keywords: science reporting, science journalism, covid, misinformation, news

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Authors: Nandita Chaube, S. S. Nathawat

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Sleep paralysis is a state of sleep disturbance in which people experience hypnogogic or hypnopompic hallucinations marked by an inability to move their bodies or speak out while reporting the consciousness about their surroundings. Philosophical explanation of sleep paralysis has been quoted in the ancient texts in terms of incubus and succubus. However, pathologically, it has been linked to several disorders including narcolepsy, migraines, anxiety disorders, and obstructive sleep apnea but it can also occur in isolation. Some other significant factors may include perceived stress, spiritual and paranormal beliefs, etc. Hence, a qualitative analysis of five such cases reporting symptoms of sleep disturbances with the criterion of sleep paralysis has been reported here. The study considered various psychological factors like stressful life events, feelings of inadequacy, spirituality, and paranormal beliefs. Results disclosed that four of the five cases were inclined towards the paranormal beliefs and the entire sample indicated a noticeably augmented level of spirituality and feelings of inadequacy. Furthermore, three cases reported experiencing greater stress following life events. Among other factors, all the cases were characterized with sleeping in the supine position, sleeping alone, an experience of fear, a sense of pressure on their chest, a presence of someone in the room and increased level of feelings of inadequacy.

Keywords: genesis, inadequacy, paranormal, sleep-paralysis, spiritual, stress

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Authors: Sanghamitra Sadhu

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A paradigm shift from capitalism to information technology is discerned in the era globalisation. The idea of public sphere, which was theorized in terms of its decline in the wake of the rise of commercial mass media has now emerged as a transnational or global sphere with the discourse being dominated by the ‘network society’. In other words, the dynamic of globalisation has brought about ‘a spatial turn’ in the social and political sciences which is also manifested in the public sphere, Especially the global public sphere. The paper revisits the Habermasian concept of the public sphere and focuses on the various social networking sites with their plausibility to create a virtual global public sphere. Situating Habermas’s notion of the bourgeois public sphere in the present context of global public sphere, it considers the changing dimensions of the public sphere across time and examines the concept of the ‘public’ with its shifting transformation from the concrete collective to the fluid ‘imagined’ category. The paper addresses the problematic of multimodal self-portraiture in the social networking sites as well as various online diaries/journals with an attempt to explore the nuances of the networked self.

Keywords: globalisation, network society, public sphere, self-fashioning, identity, autonomy

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Authors: Melaku Tsehay

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The Consortium of Christian Relief and Development Associations (CCRDA), and the CORE Group Polio Partners (CGPP) Secretariat have been working with Global Alliance for Vac-cines and Immunization (GAVI) to improve the immunization data quality in Afar and Somali Regional States. The main aim of this study was to compare the quality of immunization data before and after the above interventions in health facilities in the pastoralist communities in Ethiopia. To this end, a comparative-cross-sectional study was conducted on 51 health facilities. The baseline data was collected in May 2019, while the end line data in August 2021. The WHO data quality self-assessment tool (DQS) was used to collect data. A significant improvment was seen in the accuracy of the pentavalent vaccine (PT)1 (p = 0.012) data at the health posts (HP), while PT3 (p = 0.010), and Measles (p = 0.020) at the health centers (HC). Besides, a highly sig-nificant improvment was observed in the accuracy of tetanus toxoid (TT)2 data at HP (p < 0.001). The level of over- or under-reporting was found to be < 8%, at the HP, and < 10% at the HC for PT3. The data completeness was also increased from 72.09% to 88.89% at the HC. Nearly 74% of the health facilities timely reported their respective immunization data, which is much better than the baseline (7.1%) (p < 0.001). These findings may provide some hints for the policies and pro-grams targetting on improving immunization data qaulity in the pastoralist communities.

Keywords: data quality, immunization, verification factor, pastoralist region

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Authors: Natalia M. Acevedo, Luis M. Jimenez, Erick Lambis

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Imperfections in the capital market are used to argue the relevance of the corporate risk management function. With corporate hedge, the value of the company is increased by reducing the volatility of the expected cash flow and making it possible to face a lower bankruptcy costs and financial difficulties, without sacrificing tax advantages for debt financing. With the propose to avoid exchange rate troubles over cash flows of Colombian exporting firms, this dissertation uses financial options, over exchange rate between Peso and Dollar, for realizing a financial hedge. In this study, a strategy of hedge is designed for an exporting company in Colombia with the objective of preventing fluctuations because, if the exchange rate down, the number of Colombian pesos that obtains the company by exports, is less than agreed. The exchange rate of Colombia is measured by the TRM (Representative Market Rate), representing the number of Colombian pesos for an American dollar. First, the TMR is modelled through the Geometric Brownian Motion, with this, the project price is simulated using Montecarlo simulations and finding the mean of TRM for three, six and twelve months. For financial hedging, currency options were used. The 6-month projection was covered with financial options on European-type currency with a strike price of $ 2,780.47 for each month; this value corresponds to the last value of the historical TRM. In the compensation of the options in each month, the price paid for the premium, calculated with the Black-Scholes method for currency options, was considered. Finally, with the modeling of prices and the Monte Carlo simulation, the effect of the exchange hedging with options on the exporting company was determined, this by means of the unit price estimate to which the dollars in the scenario without coverage were changed and scenario with coverage. After using the scenarios: is determinate that the TRM will have a bull trend and the exporting firm will be affected positively because they will get more pesos for each dollar. The results show that the financial options manage to reduce the exchange risk. The expected value with coverage is approximate to the expected value without coverage, but the 5% percentile with coverage is greater than without coverage. The foregoing indicates that in the worst scenarios the exporting companies will obtain better prices for the sale of the currencies if they cover.

Keywords: currency hedging, futures, geometric Brownian motion, options

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Authors: I. Diaz Sanchez, I. M. Martinez-Conesa, M. Illueca

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Accounting conservatism is a desirable quality of earnings that is positively associated with the stridency of regulatory and supervisory regimen and high market discipline. But how these three pillars interact each other is the main research question that is not empirically solved. We analyze how regulatory and supervisory regimes interact with the market discipline measures, such as listing status, ownership and market concentration using a sample of 14,651 bank-year observations covering 54 countries over the period 1997-2009. We evidence that regulation a supervision and extend on which they are enforcement is a strong mechanism to achieved accounting conservatism in those countries or situations where the market discipline fails. Generally, the supervisory power reinforces the effect of listing status, ownership and concentration on conservatism, while capital regulatory mitigates the effect of market discipline on conservatism. This paper may contribute to debate about the mechanism introduced by Basel III that strongly increases the regulation, his enforcement, and the supervisory power after long deregulation period. Although Market discipline is relevant to achieve the financial stability, strong Pillar I and II can ensure the quality of the accounting earnings to prevent bank failures.

Keywords: accounting conservatism, bank regulation, bank supervision, loan loss recognition, market discipline

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Authors: Ranjith Ihalanayake, Lalith Seelanatha, John Breen

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In this study, we explored the current working capital management practices as applied in small businesses in Victoria, filling an existing theoretical and empirical gap in literature in general and in Australia in particular. Amidst the current global competitive and dynamic environment, the short term insolvency of small businesses is very critical for the long run survival. A firm’s short-term insolvency is dependent on the availability of sufficient working capital for feeding day to day operational activities. Therefore, given the reliance for short-term funding by small businesses, it has been recognized that the efficient management of working capital is crucial in respect of the prosperity and survival of such firms. Against this background, this research was an attempt to understand the current working capital management strategies and practices used by the small scale businesses. To this end, we conducted an internet survey among 220 small businesses operating in Victoria, Australia. The survey results suggest that the majority of respondents are owner-manager (73%) and male (68%). Respondents participated in this survey mostly have a degree (46%). About a half of respondents are more than 50 years old. Most of respondents (64%) have business management experience more than ten years. Similarly, majority of them (63%) had experience in the area of their current business. Types of business of the respondents are: Private limited company (41%), sole proprietorship (37%), and partnership (15%). In addition, majority of the firms are service companies (63%), followed by retailed companies (25%), and manufacturing (17%). Size of companies of this survey varies, 32% of them have annual sales $100,000 or under, while 22% of them have revenue more than $1,000,000 every year. In regards to the total assets, majority of respondents (43%) have total assets $100,000 or less while 20% of respondents have total assets more than $1,000,000. In regards to WCMPs, results indicate that almost 70% of respondents mentioned that they are responsible for managing their business working capital. The survey shows that majority of respondents (65.5%) use their business experience to identify the level of investment in working capital, compared to 22% of respondents who seek advice from professionals. The other 10% of respondents, however, follow industry practice to identify the level of working capital. The survey also shows that more than a half of respondents maintain good liquidity financial position for their business by having accounts payable less than accounts receivable. This study finds that majority of small business companies in western area of Victoria have a WCM policy but only about 8 % of them have a formal policy. Majority of the businesses (52.7%) have an informal policy while 39.5% have no policy. Of those who have a policy, 44% described their working capital management policies as a compromise policy while 35% described their policy as a conservative policy. Only 6% of respondents apply aggressive policy. Overall the results indicate that the small businesses pay less attention into the management of working capital of their business despite its significance in the successful operation of the business. This approach may be adopted during favourable economic times. However, during relatively turbulent economic conditions, such an approach could lead to greater financial difficulties i.e. short-term financial insolvency.

Keywords: small business, working capital management, Australia, sufficient, financial insolvency

Procedia PDF Downloads 354

Authors: Valean Maria

Abstract:

Construction and demolition waste management is a timely topic, due to the urgency of its transition to sustainability. This sector is responsible for over a third of the waste generated in the E.U., while the legislation requires a proportion of at least 70% preparation for reuse and recycle, excluding backfilling. To this end, the E.U. Commission has provided the Level(s) methodology, allowing for the standardized planning and reporting of waste quantities across all levels of the construction process, from the architecture, to the demolition, from the estimation stage, to the actual measurements at the end of the operations. We applied Level(s) for the first time to the Romanian context, a developing E.U. country in which illegal dumping of contruction waste in nature and landfills, are still common practice. We performed the desk study of the buildings’ documents, followed by field studies of the sites, and finally the insertion and calculation of statistical data of the construction and demolition waste. We learned that Romania is far from the E.U. average in terms of the initial estimations of waste, with some numbers being higher, others lower, and that the price of evacuation to landfills is significantly lower in the developing country, a possible barrier to adopting the new regulations. Finally, we found that concrete is the predominant type waste, in terms of quantity as well as cost of disposal. Further directions of research are provided, such as mapping out all of the alternative facilities in the region and the calculation of the financial costs and of the CO2 footprint, for preparing and delivering waste sustainably, for a more sound and locally adapted model of waste management.

Keywords: construction, waste, management, levels, EU

Procedia PDF Downloads 77

Authors: K. Debkowska

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The aim of this article is presenting the possibilities of using Fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) in researches concerning business models of enterprises. FsQCA is a bridge between quantitative and qualitative researches. It's potential can be used in analysis and evaluation of business models. The article presents the results of a study conducted on the basis of enterprises belonging to different sectors: transport and logistics, industry, building construction, and trade. The enterprises have been researched taking into account the components of business models and the financial condition of companies. Business models are areas of complex and heterogeneous nature. The use of fsQCA has enabled to answer the following question: which components of a business model and in which configuration influence better financial condition of enterprises. The analysis has been performed separately for particular sectors. This enabled to compare the combinations of business models' components which actively influence the financial condition of enterprises in analyzed sectors. The following components of business models were analyzed for the purposes of the study: Key Partners, Key Activities, Key Resources, Value Proposition, Channels, Cost Structure, Revenue Streams, Customer Segment and Customer Relationships. These components of the study constituted the variables shaping the financial results of enterprises. The results of the study lead us to believe that fsQCA can help in analyzing and evaluating a business model, which is important in terms of making a business decision about the business model used or its change. In addition, results obtained by fsQCA can be applied by all stakeholders connected with the company.

Keywords: business models, components of business models, data analysis, fsQCA

Procedia PDF Downloads 172

Authors: S. Sadallah

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In this paper, dynamic programming is used to determine the optimal management of financial resources in company. Solution of the problem by consider into simpler substructures is constructed. The optimal management of internal capital of company are simulated. The tools applied in this development are based on graph theory. The software of given problems is built by using greedy algorithm. The obtained model and program maintenance enable us to define the optimal version of management of proper financial flows by using visual diagram on each level of investment.

Keywords: management, software, optimal, greedy algorithm, graph-diagram

Procedia PDF Downloads 285

Authors: Yosra Mefteh Rekik

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A computational agent-based model of financial markets stresses interactions and dynamics among a very diverse set of traders. The growing body of research in this area relies heavily on computational tools which by-pass the restrictions of an analytical method. The main goal of this research is to understand how the stock market operates and behaves how to invest in the stock market and to study traders’ behavior within the context of the artificial stock markets populated by heterogeneous agents. All agents are characterized by adaptive learning behavior represented by the Artificial Neuron Networks. By using agent-based simulations on artificial market, we show that the existence of heterogeneous agents can explain the price dynamics in the financial market. We investigate the relation between market diversity and market efficiency. Our empirical findings demonstrate that greater market heterogeneity play key roles in market efficiency.

Keywords: agent-based modeling, artificial stock market, heterogeneous expectations, financial stylized facts, computational finance

Procedia PDF Downloads 438

Authors: Muhammad Izzam Bin Mohd Khazar, Nur Adibah Binti Zainudin

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Islamic banking as one of the financial institutions is highly required to maintain a prudent approach to ensure that any financing given is able to generate income to their respective shareholders. As the default payment of customers is probably occurred in the financing, having a prudent approach in the recovery process is a must to ensure that financing losses are within acceptable limits. The objective of this research is to provide the best practice of recovery which is anticipated to benefit both bank and customers. This study will address arising issue on the current practice of recovery process and followed by providing humanising recovery solutions in the light of the Maqasid Shariah. The study identified main issues pertaining to Islamic recovery process which can be categorized into knowledge crisis, process issues, specific treatment cases and system issues. Knowledge crisis is related to direct parties including judges, solicitors and salesperson, while the recovery process issues include the process of issuance of reminder, foreclosure and repossession of asset. Furthermore, special treatment for particular cases also should be observed since different contracts in Islamic banking products will need different treatment. Finally, issues in the system used in the recovery process are still unresolved since the existing technology is still young in this area to embraced Islamic finance requirements and nature of calculation. In order to humanize the financial services in Islamic banking recovery process, we have highlighted four main recommendation to be implemented by Islamic Financial Institutions namely; 1) early deterrent by improving the awareness, 2) improvement of the internal process, 3) reward mechanism, and 4) creative penalty to provide awareness to all stakeholders.

Keywords: humanizing financial services, Islamic Finance, Maqasid Syariah, recovery process

Procedia PDF Downloads 205