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Selected AbstractsNonaudit Services and Earnings Management: UK Evidence,CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNTING RESEARCH, Issue 4 2004MICHAEL J. FERGUSON Abstract Using a sample of UK firms for the period 1996-98, we provide empirical evidence on the relation between nonaudit services (NAS) purchase and three proxies for earnings management: (1) the likelihood that client firm accounting practices during the sample period were publicly criticized or subject to regulatory investigation; (2) the likelihood that client firms were required to restate prior financial statements or adjust current year results upon adoption of Financial Reporting Standard (FRS) No. 12, which was intended to curb opportunistic use of provisions; and (3) the mean absolute value of client discretionary working capital accruals over the sample period. The level of NAS purchase is measured, alternatively, as (1) the ratio of nonaudit to total auditor fees, (2) the natural log of NAS fees, and (3) the decile rank of a particular client's NAS fees given all NAS fees received by the audit firm practice office. With one exception, we find that all three measures of earnings management are positively and significantly associated with the three measures of NAS purchase. [source] Establishing climate,growth relationships for yelloweye rockfish (Sebastes ruberrimus) in the northeast Pacific using a dendrochronological approachFISHERIES OCEANOGRAPHY, Issue 5 2008BRYAN A. BLACK Abstract We applied dendrochronology (tree-ring) methods to develop multidecadal growth chronologies from the increment widths of yelloweye rockfish (Sebastes ruberrimus) otoliths. Chronologies were developed for the central California coast, a site just north of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and at Bowie Seamount west of the Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia. At each site, synchronous growth patterns were matched among otoliths via the process of cross-dating, ensuring that the correct calendar year was assigned to all increments. Each time series of growth-increment measurements was divided by the values predicted by a best-fit negative exponential function, thereby removing age-related trends. These detrended time series were averaged into a master chronology for each site, and chronologies were correlated with monthly averages of sea surface temperatures, upwelling, the Northern Oscillation Index, and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. The two northern growth chronologies positively correlated with indices of warm ocean conditions, especially from the prior summer through the spring of the current year. During the same period, the California chronology positively correlated with indices of cool ocean conditions, indicating an opposing productivity regime for yelloweye rockfish between the California Current and the Gulf of Alaska. Overall, this study demonstrates how tree-ring techniques can be applied to quickly develop annually resolved chronologies and establish climate,growth relationships across various temporal and spatial scales. [source] A practical method for predicting the short-time trend of bivoltine populations of Ips typographus (L.) (Col., Scolytidae)JOURNAL OF APPLIED ENTOMOLOGY, Issue 1 2006M. Faccoli Abstract:,Ips typographus is the main spruce pest of European forests. In most areas of the Italian Alps there are two generations per year; overwintering adults fly in May looking for trees suitable for breeding, their offspring emerge in summer, 7,8 weeks after tree colonization, and the adults of the second generation emerge in spring of the following year after overwintering under the bark or in the litter. A long-term population monitoring was carried out in north-east Italy with the aim at developing a prediction model able to estimate the population density of the following year. Between 1996 and 2004, pheromone traps monitored populations of I. typographus annually. Monitoring lasted 4 months (May,August), with replacement of pheromone dispensers after 8 weeks. Insects trapped before dispenser change were called ,spring captures' (May,June), and included both overwintering and re-emerging adults. Beetles caught after dispenser change were called ,summer captures' (July,August), and included the adults of the first generation. The results show a high positive correlation between the ratio of summer and spring captures of one year (Summerx/Springx), and the ratio of total captures of the following year (Yx+1) and those of the current year (Yx) (Yx+1/Yx). Summerx/Springx lower than 0.62 indicate decreasing populations in the following year (Yx+1/Yx <1), whereas Summerx/Springx higher than 0.62 indicate increasing populations (Yx+1/Yx >1). The applicability of the model in the study of I. typographus risk of outbreak and in the forest management is discussed. The prediction of the short-time trend of the population allows assessing its density in the following year, and therefore the risk of outbreak. [source] Comparison of two non-parametric models for daily traffic forecasting in Hong KongJOURNAL OF FORECASTING, Issue 3 2006William H. K. Lam Abstract The most up-to-date annual average daily traffic (AADT) is always required for transport model development and calibration. However, the current-year AADT data are not always available. The short-term traffic flow forecasting models can be used to predict the traffic flows for the current year. In this paper, two non-parametric models, non-parametric regression (NPR) and Gaussian maximum likelihood (GML), are chosen for short-term traffic forecasting based on historical data collected for the annual traffic census (ATC) in Hong Kong. These models are adapted as they are more flexible and efficient in forecasting the daily vehicular flows in the Hong Kong ATC core stations (in total of 87 stations). The daily vehicular flows predicted by these models are then used to calculate the AADT of the current year, 1999. The overall prediction and comparison results show that the NPR model produces better forecasts than the GML model using the ATC data in Hong Kong. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley _ Sons, Ltd. [source] Choice of Accounting Method for Valuation of Investment Securities: Evidence from Hong Kong FirmsJOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTING, Issue 2 2003Bikki Jaggi This study examines whether Hong Kong managers choose "benchmark" or "alternative" valuation method for investment securities, after the Hong Kong SSAP 24 became effective starting with fiscal-year ending December 31, 1999. Tests are conducted on a sample of 292 firms, out of which 155 Hong Kong firms reported unrealized gains and losses and 128 firms that did not report holding gains/losses, but reported investment securities. The findings indicate that firms with strong relative performance, i.e. current year's EPS higher than that of the last year, chose the alternative valuation method when the investment securities had holding gains and recognized the unrealized holding gains in the equity section of the balance sheet. This finding is consistent with the Cookie Jar hypothesis because these holding gains would be used in the income statement in future periods, when needed. With regard to firms with strong relative performance and holding losses, the findings indicate that the benchmark valuation was used. The losses were reported in the income statement to the extent that they did not reduce the EPS below that of the last year. This finding is consistent with the Income Smoothing Hypothesis, because the use of benchmark valuation reduced EPS of the current year to bring it in line with that of the last year. Evidence on firms with weak economic performance and holding gains or losses provided weak support to the Income Smoothing Hypothesis and Big Bath Hypothesis. Additionally, the results indicate that the firms with high debt-equity ratio preferred the benchmark method and recorded securities at cost. This treatment provided managers with an opportunity to liquidate or reclassify the securities in future periods and use the accrued gains, when needed. The findings are inconclusive with regard to the impact of bonus plan on the choice of valuation method. [source] Light rings in Chinese pine (Pinus tabulaeformis) in semiarid areas of north China and their palaeo-climatological potentialNEW PHYTOLOGIST, Issue 4 2006Eryuan Liang Summary ,,Light rings in conifer trees are characterized by a light-coloured, narrow latewood band of thin-walled tracheids. Most reports on light rings have been for subarctic and subalpine regions, and little is known about their occurrence in semiarid areas. ,,Dendrochronological methods were used to date the occurrence of light rings in Chinese pine (Pinus tabulaeformis) in the semiarid region of north China. The anatomical and chemical characteristics and the potential environmental controls of their formation were investigated. ,,Light rings in Chinese pine were dated to the year of their formation. The wall thickness and lumen diameter of the wood cells of light rings and reference rings were distinctly different. However, the configuration of the light-ring latewood cell walls was normal, although they were thinner than average, and their lignification had been completed normally. ,,The climate characteristics that result in light-ring formation appear to be ongoing severe drought from the previous autumn to July of the current year in conjunction with a warm summer, suggesting that light rings can be used as indicators for past drought events. [source] Prevalence, incidence and persistence of antipsychotic drug prescribing in the Italian general population: retrospective database analysis, 1999,2002,PHARMACOEPIDEMIOLOGY AND DRUG SAFETY, Issue 6 2006Mersia Mirandola StatD Abstract Purpose To investigate the prevalence, incidence and persistence with antipsychotic drug therapy in a large and geographically defined catchment area of Italian general population. Methods All antipsychotic drug prescriptions dispensed during 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002 were extracted from an administrative prescription database covering a population of 2,640,379 individuals. Antipsychotic drug users were defined as patients who had at least one recorded prescription in the current year. New users were defined as patients receiving a first prescription without any recorded antipsychotic drug treatment in the previous 12 months. Prevalence data were calculated by dividing users by the total number of male and female residents in each age group. Incidence data were calculated as the number of new users divided by the person-time free from antipsychotic drugs in the current year. The cumulative persistence of each medication was calculated by dividing the total prescribed amount of antipsychotic drug by the recommended daily dose, according to each agent's defined daily dose (DDD). Results A progressive rise in prevalence and incidence rates was observed during the 4-year period. In each census year, the prevalence and incidence of prescribing was higher in females than males, and progressively rose with age, with the highest rates in old and very old subjects. The analysis of persistence with therapy revealed that 3176 individuals (78.5%) were occasional antipsychotic drug users, and that occasional use was more frequent among individuals receiving conventional antipsychotic drugs than among individuals receiving novel antipsychotic drugs. This difference was not explained by differences in the occurrence of neurologic adverse reactions, as shown by the concurrent prescribing of anticholinergic drugs, which was fairly similar between the two groups of new drug users. Additionally, we found that conventioal antipsychotic drugs were more often used in older individuals, where occasional use is very frequent, while novel antipsychotic drugs were more often prescribed in young and adult individuals, where regular use is more frequent. Conclusions An epidemiologically relevant proportion of everyday individuals is annually exposed to antipsychotic drugs. The distribution of prevalence and incidence rates by age highlighted an emerging public health issue related to the adverse and beneficial consequences of antipsychotic drug exposure in the elderly. The finding that persistence with therapy was longer in new users of novel antipsychotic drugs compared with new users of conventional agents might be explained by the different demographic and clinical characteristics of individuals receiving these two drug classes and not by the different tolerability profile of these two drug classes. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] No evidence for simultaneous pollen and resource limitation in Aciphylla squarrosa: A long-lived, masting herbAUSTRAL ECOLOGY, Issue 4 2007ROWAN H. BROOKES Abstract For successful reproduction animal pollinated plants must provide resources for both pollinator attraction and offspring production, and theory suggests that resources and pollen delivery limit reproduction simultaneously. We conducted a series of experiments involving supplemental pollination, flower removal, fertilizer addition and foliage removal to investigate the interaction of resources and pollen on fruit-set of Aciphylla squarrosa, a long-lived, dioecious, masting herb in Wellington, New Zealand. Reducing floral display decreased open-pollinated fruit-set, suggesting that display size is a reflection of an optimal investment between attraction and fecundity. In combination with supplemental pollination, resource reduction and fertilization addition did not alter fruit-set, suggesting that changes in resource availability did not limit reproduction in the current year. In addition, supplemental pollination of non-manipulated treatments did not increase fruit-set, demonstrating that plants were not naturally pollen limited. While we found that simultaneous pollen and resource limitation did not occur within a season, this is possibly mitigated by life history patterns including mast flowering and a storage taproot. Multiple year studies are required to further examine simultaneous resource and pollen limitation. [source] Climate, size and flowering history determine flowering pattern of an orchidBOTANICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY, Issue 4 2006MARION PFEIFER The flowering pattern of plant species, including orchid species, may fluctuate irregularly. Several explanations are given in the literature to explain that pattern, including: costs associated with reproduction, herbivory effects, intrinsically triggered unpredictable variation of the system, and external conditions (i.e. weather). The influence of age is discussed, but is difficult to determine because relevant long-term field observations are generally absent in the literature. The influence of age, size, reproductive effort and climatic conditions on flowering variability of Himantoglossum hircinum are examined using data collected in a long-term project (1976,2001) in Germany. PCA and multiple regression analysis were used to analyse variability in flowering pattern over the years as a function of size and weather variability. We studied future size after flowering to quantify costs of reproduction. Flowering probability was strongly determined by plant size, while there was no significant influence of age class on flowering probability of the population. Costs associated with reproduction resulted in a decrease in plant size, causing reduced flowering probability of the plants in the following year. The weather explained about 50% of the yearly variation in the proportion of large plants and thus had an indirect, strong influence on the flowering percentage. We conclude that variability in flowering is caused mainly by the variability of weather conditions in the previous and current year, whereby reproductive effort causes further variability in flowering at the individual and, consequently, the population levels. © 2006 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2006, 151, 511,526. [source] | |||||||||||||