bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The effect of gender composition in joint audits on earnings management
Authors: Kung Fan-Hua , Chang Yu-Shan , Zhou Minting 
Published: May 2019

Purpose
This paper aims to examine the association between gender composition of joint auditor pairs and the quality of reported financial information. More specifically, the authors attempt to assess whether and how these gender compositions affect the client firms’ earnings management behavior.

Design/methodology/approach
The authors utilized the unique institutional setting of Taiwan, where joint auditors are required by law. They studied the effect of gender in joint auditor pairs on accrual earnings management and real earnings management to achieve financial reporting objectives.

Findings
Empirical results indicate that engaging a woman as the lead auditor can constrain accrual earnings management, regardless of whether the joint auditor is male or female. The authors also found that all-male signing auditor pairs with industry expertise can significantly reduce accrual earnings management. The authors also documented that all-female signing auditor pairs and auditor industry expertise could drive clients to engage in real earnings management activities as an alternative to accrual earnings management.

Originality/value
The empirical results demonstrate that gender indeed plays a role in the quality of client’s reported financial information. Female auditors in a lead position and male auditors with industry expertise tend to be more successful in delivering better-quality audits.
Internal auditor communications: an experimental investigation of managerial perceptions
Authors: Farkas Maia , Hirsch Rina , Kokina Julia 
Published: May 2019

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine potential determinants of management’s agreement with internal auditor recommendations of an interim assurance engagement.

Design/methodology/approach
The experiment involved a 2 × 2 × 2 design with internal auditor gender, mode of communication and root cause variables randomly assigned to 228 experienced managers.

Findings
When the internal auditor includes a root cause for an identified deficiency in an internal audit report, management perceptions of the quality of that report improve. The gender of the internal auditor who communicates the audit finding with management does not significantly impact management’s perceptions. Additionally, communicating the internal audit report via e-mail instead of videoconference results in improved managerial perceptions of the quality of the internal auditor. While improvements in perceptions of internal auditor quality lead to greater agreement with internal auditor recommendations, improvements in perceptions of report quality lead to greater implementation of internal-auditor-recommended remediation strategies.

Research limitations/implications
The operationalization of the manipulated variables of interest (communication mode, gender and root cause) may limit the generalizability of the study’s results.

Practical implications
The paper includes managerial implications for internal auditors’ choice of communication mode and inclusion of a root cause in interim internal audit reports.

Originality/value
This study provides evidence on the factors that could improve management’s perceptions of internal auditors’ work. The findings can help organizations, such as the Institute of Internal Auditors, to better understand how to address the needs of those who communicate with internal auditors.
Earnings management, audit quality, and cost of debt: evidence from a Central Asian economy
Authors: Orazalin Nurlan , Akhmetzhanov Rassul 
Published: May 2019

Purpose
This study aims to examine the effects of earnings management and audit quality on cost of debt of listed companies in Kazakhstan. The study also investigates the effects of audit quality on earnings management and whether the relationship between earnings management and cost of debt is affected by audit quality in the context of a given emerging economy.

Design/methodology/approach
The study sample consists of public companies listed in the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) from 2011 to 2016, and all data were obtained from audited financial statements and annual reports downloaded from the webpage of KASE. The study uses the cross-sectional ordinary least squares technique to test the impact of audit quality and earnings management on cost of debt.

Findings
The collected empirical evidence shows that earnings management is negatively related to cost of debt. The findings also indicate that higher audit quality leads to a lower cost of debt. However, the results suggest that audit quality has no impact on earnings management and that the effect of earnings management on cost of debt is not different for the companies audited by the Big Four and for the companies audited by other audit firms.

Practical implications
The findings of the study can be of interest to policy-makers, regulators, investors and practitioners in emerging markets with an institutional environment similar to that of Kazakhstan.

Originality/value
The study throws more light on the impact of earnings management and audit quality on cost of debt in Kazakhstan, representing the Central Asian region. This study also extends the current literature by providing empirical evidence that the relationship between earnings management and cost of debt is not affected by audit quality.
Impact of a dementia-specific program of equine-assisted activities: providers’ perspectives
Authors: Fields Beth , Wood Wendy , Lassell Rebecca 
Published: May 2019

Purpose
Establishing acceptability of complex interventions to stakeholders is vital in early scientific development. The purpose of this paper is to ascertain the acceptability of a program of equine-assisted activities (EAAP) for people with dementia by elucidating programmatic practices needed to enhance their safety and quality of life (QoL) from the perspectives of service providers.

Design/methodology/approach
Semi-structured interviews with five providers were analyzed using a basic qualitative approach.

Findings
Providers perceived the EAAP as acceptable and revealed potential mechanisms of change supporting well-being, including aspects related to the physical and social environment and person with dementia. Linkages identified among the EAAP and its physical and social context support its complexity. Providers explicated program practices that promoted safety and QoL, such as implementing staff trainings and tailoring activities to each person’s preferences and needs. These practices aligned with best dementia care approaches, underscoring that the EAAP is a promising complex intervention that merits further scientific development.

Originality/value
This work is novel and adds to the literature by illuminating the role of a community-based, animal-assisted program for enhancing the QoL of older adults with dementia residing in institutional care facilities.
The paradox of embedded agency from a strong structuration perspective
Authors: Kholeif Ahmed Othman Rashwan , Jack Lisa 
Published: May 2019

PurposeThis paper aims to use Stones’ strong structuration theory (SST) that combines Giddens’ duality and Archer’s analytical dualism to deal with the paradox of embedded agency, focussing on resistance, in the budgeting literature. It also applies this framework to an illustrative case study that examines a failed attempt to implement performance-based budgeting (PBB) in the Egyptian Sales Tax Department (ESTD).Design/methodology/approachThe authors have used SST as an analytical framework. Longitudinal case study data were collected from interviews, observations, discussions and documentary analysis and from publicly available reports and other media issued by the World Bank.FindingsThe SST framework identifies the circumstances in which middle managers as embedded agency have limited possibilities to change their dispositions to act and identify opportunities for emancipation in the wider social context in which they are embedded. The official explanation for the failure to implement PBB in Egypt was obstruction by middle managers. The findings of this study provide an alternative explanation to that published by the World Bank for the failure to institutionalise PBB in Egypt. It was found that the middle managers were the real supporters of PBB. Other parties and existing laws and regulations contributed to the failure of PBB.Research limitations/implicationsAs a practical implication of the study, the analysis presented here offers an alternative interpretation of the failure of the Egyptian project for monitoring and evaluation to that published by the World Bank. This case and similar cases may enhance the understanding of how and when monitoring and evaluation technologies should be introduced at the global level to manage conflicts of interest between agencies and beneficiaries.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the extant management accounting literature on the use of ST in addressing the paradox of embedded agency in making or resisting structural change. It uses SST to integrate Giddens’ ST with critical realist theory, incorporating duality and dualism in a stronger model of structuration. The SST framework offers a means of analysing case studies that result from interactions and conjunctures between different groups of actors at different ontological levels. The paper also examines the issue of embedded agency in budgeting research using an illustrative case study from a developing country, Egypt.
A combined approach based on robust PCA to improve bankruptcy forecasting
Authors: Succurro Marianna , Arcuri Giuseppe , Costanzo Giuseppina Damiana 
Published: May 2019

PurposeStarting from a series of financial ratios analysis, this paper aims to build up two indices which take into account both the firm’s debt level and its sustainability to investigate if and to what extent the proposed indices are able to correctly predict firms’ financial bankruptcy probabilities.Design/methodology/approachThe research implements a statistical approach (tandem analysis) based on both an original use of principal component analysis (PCA) and logit model.FindingsThe econometric results are compared with those of the popular Altman Z-score for different lengths of the reference period and with more recent classifiers. The empirical evidence would suggest a good performance of the proposed indices which, therefore, could be used as early warning signals of bankruptcy.Practical implicationsThe potential application of the model is in the spirit of predicting bankruptcy and aiding companies’ evaluation with respect to going-concern considerations, among others, as the early detection of financial distress facilitates the use of rehabilitation measures.Originality/valueThe construction of the indebtedness indices is based on an original use of Robust PCA for skewed data.
Scrub typhus caused by Shimokoshi type Orientia tsutsugamushi showing variant 56‐kDa type‐specific antigen gene sequence in Tohoku region, Japan
Authors: Seto Junji , Tanaka Shizuka , Murakata Toshihiko , Sato Hiroko , Monma Naota , Arai Reiko , Ikeda Tatsuya , Mizuta Katsumi 
Published: May 2019

AbstractIn 2018, a patient was diagnosed with Shimokoshi type scrub typhus in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. The causative pathogen was likely a variant type because 43 (8.3%) of 521 deduced amino acid sequences of the 56‐kDa type‐specific antigen (TSA) were different from those of the Shimokoshi prototype strain. The patient's paired sera showed low antibody titers against the Shimokoshi prototype strain. Two cases of scrub typhus reported in the Tohoku region during 2011–2012 also involved the same 56‐kDa TSA gene sequence. These findings suggest the presence of diversity in Shimokoshi type Orientia tsutsugamushi, which may impede the laboratory diagnosis of scrub typhus.
Genetic and phenotypic responses to genomic selection for timing of breeding in a wild songbird
Authors: Verhagen Irene , Gienapp Phillip , Laine Veronika N. , van Grevenhof Elizabeth M. , Mateman Andrea C. , van Oers Kees , Visser Marcel E. 
Published: May 2019

Abstract

The physiological mechanisms underlying avian seasonal timing of reproduction, a life‐history trait with major fitness consequences, are not well understood. Comparing individuals that have been selected to differ in their timing of breeding may prove to be a promising in studying these mechanisms, making selection lines a valuable tool.

We created selection lines for early and late timing of breeding in great tits (Parus major) using genomic selection, that is selection based on multi‐marker genotypes rather than on the phenotype. We took in nestlings (F1 generation) from wild broods of which the mother was either an extremely early (“early line”) or extremely late (“late line”) breeder. These chicks were then genotyped and, based on their “genomic breeding values” (GEBVs), we selected individuals for early and late line breeding pairs to produce the F2 generation in captivity. The F2 offspring was hand‐reared, genotyped and selected to produce an F3 generation, which were then again genotyped and selected. This way we obtained laying dates in aviaries for F1, F2 and F3 birds.

We studied the genetic response to the artificial selection and found increased genetic differentiation between the early and late reproducing selection lines over generations (F1–F3), indicated by both diverging GEBVs and increased fixation indices (FST).

We studied the phenotypic response to selection for birds breeding in outdoor breeding aviaries. We found that early line birds laid earlier than late line birds, and this difference increased over the generations (F1–F3), with non‐significant line effects for the F1 and F2, but highly significant line differences for the F3.

We also assessed whether there was correlated selection on two traits that are potentially part of the mechanisms underlying seasonal timing: the endogenous free‐running period of the day/night clock (tau) and basal metabolic rate, but found no correlated selection.

We have successfully created selection lines on seasonal timing in a wild bird species and obtained an instrument for future studies to investigate the physiological mechanisms underlying timing of breeding, and the genetic variation in these mechanisms, an essential component for evolutionary change in timing of reproduction.

A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.
Prokaryotic and viral community of the sulfate‐rich crust from Peñahueca ephemeral lake, an astrobiology analogue
Authors: Martin‐Cuadrado Ana‐Belen , Senel Ece , Martínez‐García Manuel , Cifuentes Ana , Santos Fernando , Almansa Cristina , Moreno‐Paz Mercedes , Blanco Yolanda , García‐Villadangos Miriam , del Cura María Ángeles García , Sanz‐Montero María Esther , Rodríguez‐Aranda Juan Pablo , Rosselló‐Móra Ramon , Antón Josefa , Parro Víctor 
Published: May 2019

SummaryPeñahueca is an athalassohaline hypersaline inland ephemeral lake originated under semiarid conditions in the central Iberian Peninsula (Spain). Its chemical composition makes it extreme for microbial life as well as a terrestrial analogue of other planetary environments. To investigate the persistence of microbial life associated with sulfate‐rich crusts, we applied cultivation‐independent methods (optical and electron microscopy, 16S rRNA gene profiling and metagenomics) to describe the prokaryotic community and its associated viruses. The diversity for Bacteria was very low and was vastly dominated by endospore formers related to Pontibacillus marinus of the Firmicutes phylum. The archaeal assemblage was more diverse and included taxa related to those normally found in hypersaline environments. Several ‘metagenome assembled genomes’ were recovered, corresponding to new species of Pontibacillus, several species from the Halobacteria and one new member of the Nanohaloarchaeota. The viral assemblage, although composed of the morphotypes typical of high salt systems, showed little similarity to previously isolated/reconstructed halophages. Several putative prophages of Pontibacillus and haloarchaeal hosts were identified. Remarkably, the Peñahueca sulfate‐rich metagenome contained CRISPR‐associated proteins and repetitions which were over 10‐fold higher than in most hypersaline systems analysed so far.
Behavioral evidence for contextual olfactory‐mediated avoidance of the ubiquitous phytopathogen Botrytis cinerea by Drosophila suzukii
Authors: Cha Dong H. , Hesler Stephen P. , Brind'Amour Gabrielle , Wentworth Karen S. , Villani Sara , Cox Kerik D. , Boucher Matthew T. , Wallingford Anna , Park Shinyoung K. , Nyrop Jan , Loeb Gregory M. 
Published: May 2019

AbstractHerbivorous insects may benefit from avoiding the smell produced by phytopathogens infecting plant host tissue if the infected tissue reduces insect fitness. However, in many cases the same species of phytopathogen can also infect host plant tissues that do not directly affect herbivore fitness. Thus, insects may benefit from differentiating between pathogen odors emanating from food and nonfood tissues. This is based on the hypothesis that unnecessarily staying attentive to pathogen odor from nonfood tissue may incur opportunity costs associated with not responding to other important survival functions. In this study adults of Drosophila suzukii Matsumura, an invasive larval frugivore, showed reduced attraction to the odor of raspberry fruit, a food tissue, when infected with Botrytis cinerea Pers., a ubiquitous phytopathogen, in favor of odors of uninfected raspberry fruit. Moreover, D. suzukii oviposited fewer eggs on infected raspberry fruit relative to uninfected raspberry fruit. Larval survival and adult size after eclosion were significantly reduced when reared on B. cinerea‐infected raspberry relative to uninfected fruit. Interestingly, when the behavioral choice experiment was repeated using Botrytis‐infected vs. ‐uninfected strawberry leaves, a nonfood tissue, in combination with fresh raspberry fruit, odor from B. cinerea‐infected leaves did not reduce D. suzukii attraction to raspberries relative to raspberries with uninfected leaves. These behavioral results illustrate the important role context can play in odor‐mediated interactions between insects, plants and microbes. We discuss implications of our findings for developing a repellent that can be useful for the management of D. suzukii.
Illiquidity and the Measurement of Stock Price Synchronicity
Authors: Gassen Joachim , Skaife Hollis A. , Veenman David 
Published: May 2019

ABSTRACTThis paper demonstrates that measures of stock price synchronicity based on market model R2s are predictably biased downward as a result of stock illiquidity, and that previously employed remedies to correct market model betas for measurement bias do not fix R2. Using a large international sample of firm‐years, we find strong negative and nonlinear relations between illiquidity and R2 across countries, across firms, and over time. Because variables of interest frequently relate to illiquidity as well, we illustrate the consequences of not controlling for illiquidity in synchronicity research. More generally, we demonstrate the importance of using nonlinear control variable methods. Overall, we conclude that the illiquidity‐driven measurement bias in R2 provides an explanation for why prior research finds low‐R2 firms to have weak information environments, and suggest future research carefully evaluate the sensitivity of its results to nonlinear controls for illiquidity.
Are Audit Firms' Compensation Policies Associated with Audit Quality?
Authors: Ernstberger Jürgen , Koch Christopher , Schreiber Eva Maria , Trompeter Greg 
Published: May 2019

ABSTRACTWe examine how compensation policies of audit firms are associated with audit quality. Specifically, we investigate the effects of the ratio of variable to fixed compensation and the size of the basis for profit sharing (i.e., whether partners share profits in a small or in a large profit pool). For our analyses, we use detailed mandatory disclosure of the compensation policies in German audit firms. We document that compensation policies vary considerably across audit firms. We find that profit sharing in a small profit pool and high variable compensation are two characteristics of auditor compensation associated with lower audit quality. We also find some evidence suggesting that audit quality may be most at risk in cases in which partners rely more heavily on variable compensation to divide a relatively small profit pool. In additional analyses, we find that these associations are more pronounced in medium‐sized audit firms. We argue that this finding may result from these firms being too large for audit partners to directly monitor each other effectively, yet simultaneously too small to have sophisticated centralized monitoring systems in place. Finally, we find that integrating partner‐specific, nonprofit‐related performance metrics into the compensation structure mitigates the adverse effects of small profit pools and high variable compensation.
Alcohol Drinking and the Risk of Chronic Kidney Damage: A Meta‐Analysis of 15 Prospective Cohort Studies
Authors: Li Deming , Xu Jiuhong , Liu Fang , Wang Xinjing , Yang Huanhuan , Li Xinli 
Published: May 2019

The relationship between alcohol drinking and chronic kidney damage, mainly including declined glomerular filtration rate (GFR), proteinuria, and end‐stage renal disease, was conflicting. Thus, a meta‐analysis was conducted to investigate their potential associations. PubMed and Web of Science were searched to identify prospective studies assessing the associations between alcohol drinking and chronic kidney damage published up to March 2019. Random‐effects model was employed to pool the relative risks (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Subgroup meta‐analyses stratified by the basic characteristics of subjects were performed. A total of 15 cohort studies were included in the present study, with 268,723 participants and 31,766 incident cases. Participants with low (<13 g/d), moderate (13 to 26 g/d), and high (26 to 60 g/d) dose of alcohol drinking had 12% (RR: 0.88, 95% CI: 0.83 to 0.93), 24% (RR: 0.76, 95% CI: 0.70 to 0.83), and 21% (RR: 0.79, 95% CI: 0.71 to 0.88) lower risk of chronic kidney damage compared with the reference group (non‐ or occasional drinkers), respectively. The lower risk for chronic kidney damage remained significant for the declined GFR, or in men, or for participants aged less than 55 yrs, or studies with longer than 8 yrs of follow‐up, while severe alcohol drinking (≥60 g/d) insignificantly increased 7% risk of chronic kidney damage (RR: 1.07, 95% CI: 0.53 to 2.15). No obvious heterogeneity and no publication bias were observed. Based on our meta‐analysis, participants with alcohol drinking less than 60 g/d were at lower risk of declined GFR, especially in men or participants aged less than 55 yrs. Much more prospective cohort studies are required to confirm our present findings.