Measuring Audit Firms＇ Intellectual Capital as a Determinant of Audit Quality： A Suggested Model

The intellectual capital is a main source of competing advantage. Many studies developed measure（s） of intellectual capital of industrial and service firms. Few studies have tried to develop a reliable measure of intellectual capital in audit firms. This study extends the current models to provide more insight into the role of intellectual capital in audit firms. The aim of this study is to develop a quantitative model to measure audit firms＇ intellectual capital. The suggested model can be used to explore the relationship between the intellectual capital in audit firms and audit quality. The model combines the main components of intellectual capital （human capital, structural capital, and relational capital）. The suggested model provides a tool that may help to better manage the intellectual capital in audit firms. As this is a theoretical study, a number of hypotheses are presented for testing in the future.     

Association Between Independent Auditor Fees and Firm Value： A Study of Brazilian Public Companies

This article investigates the relationship between fees for audit and non-audit services with Tobin＇s Q. Using a sample of Brazilian public companies in the period from 2009 to 2011, we estimate the association between Tobin＇s Q and the auditors＇ remuneration scaled by total assets. Additionally, to strengthen the conclusions, we present a second model with the remuneration of the auditors in absolute terms. The results suggest a significant relationship between Tobin＇s Q and audit and non-audit fees, positive and negative, respectively. Specifically, increases in audit fees and non-audit fees respectively increase and decrease the Tobin＇s Q of the audited company. The results of this study have important implications for those interested in good corporate governance practices. Managers and board members concerned with value carefully evaluate the remuneration and nature of services creation, when engaging independent auditors, should provided.     

Does the reputation matter？ Corporate reputation and earnings quality

Good corporate reputations are critical not only because of the potential for value creation, but also because their intangible character makes replication by competing firms considerably more difficult. This paper tests the relationship between the reputation and the earnings quality. Through a partial correlation test and a regression test, I do find the evidence that the reputation is not only positively correlated with superior earnings quality, but also does have positive effect on superior earnings quality, as well as the superior total sales do in Chinese public companies.     

Working capital management and corporate performance： Case of Malaysia

Working capital always being disregard in financial decision making since it involve investment and financing in short term period. However, it is an important component in firm financial management decision. An optimal working capital management is expected to contribute positively to the creation of firm value. To reach optimal working capital management firm manager should control the trade off between profitability and liquidity accurately. The intention of this study is to examine the relationship between working capital management and firm profitability. Cash conversion cycle is used as measure of working capital management. This study is used panel data of 1628 firm-year for the period of 1996-2006 that consist of six different economic sectors which are listed in Bursa Malaysia. The coefficient results of Pooled OLS regression analysis provide a strong negative significant relationship between cash conversion cycle and firm profitability. This reveals that reducing cash conversion period results to profitability increase. Thus, in purpose to create shareholder value, firm manager should concern on shorten of cash conversion cycle till optimal level is achieved.     

Pressure of Competition to Listed Companies in Commodity Market and Selection of Financial Leverage

As revealed by some competition of commodities supplied foreign experts, the financial leverage has an impact on the market by different listed companies, and low financial leverage implies a competitive edge but high financial leverage is liable to fail in business operation. Viewing from such an angle, the low financial leverage is in fact a conservative financial behavior, which means a reasonable selection. Generally, Chinese listed companies prefer financing from offering equity shares, which is regarded as a reasonable selection weighing both gains and risks. However, based on an analysis of the pressure of market competition to the listed companies of various industries and how they select their own fit/ancial leverage, it is found that there is an extremely unmatched phenomenon in China＇s capital market, i.e., the keener the commodity market competition is, the higher the financial leverage of listed companies will be. Therefore, the over-financing from offering equity shares is coexisting with under-financing from offering equity shares in China＇s capital market at present, and both lead listed companies to low efficiency.     

Accounting variables and stock returns： Evidence from Istanbul stock exchange

The fundamental relationship between accounting variables and stock returns is a recurring theme in financial research. One of the major purposes of accounting is to help investors provide reliable, comparable and accurate information. If accounting data are informative about fundamental values and changes in values, they should be correlated with stock price changes. This study provides theory and evidence showing how accounting variables explain stock returns and examines the relationship between the stock returns and accounting variables of listed non financial companies in ISE-100 Indice for 2006-2008 period by using panel data methodology. Empirical analysis consists of 192 observations of 64 companies in years 2006-2008 to examine the effects of inventory, accounts receivable, gross margin, operating expense, return on assets, cash flow, leverage, liquidity, price/earnings, return on equity on stock returns. The results of the study confirm that the predicted roles of fundamental factors and stock returns are significantly related to gross margin, cash flow, leverage and equity variables. The model explains about 13.35 % of the variation of annual stock returns with the leverage variable with most of the significant power.     

HR and firm performance at companies in Turkey： Correlative analysis

Aim of this study is to discuss matters with HR and finn performance. Therefore, we used HR and firm performance questionnaire from Delaney and Huselid （1996）. HR variables include recruitment, training, compensation and promotion. Firm performance divided into organizational and market performance. Therefore, correlation analysis demonstrates that HR has positive and significant relationship with organizational performance, and HR has positive but weak relationship with market performance. Therefore, we can propose that HR is partly correlated with firm performance for those companies in sample. Therefore, since we didn＇t realize demography of companies in study, it is arguable, findings of this study can be generalized to other companies in Turkey.     

Annual risk reporting of listed companies in Malaysia

This study examines risk reporting in annual reports of Malaysian listed companies. The mandatory and voluntary disclosures of risk information are analyzed and the authors examine whether a relationship exists between company size, leverage, and industry type and risk disclosure levels. 150 listed companies from five industries are selected as sample. Content analysis and risk disclosure index of dichotomous measurement are used in data collection. Overall the results indicate that level of risk information disclosed in the annual reports is still minimal. OLS （Ordinary least squares） regression analysis indicates that the level of risk information disclosure is positively associated with size and not with leverage. However, a mixed result has been found for industry type; where only property industry shows a significant relationship with level of risk disclosure, and not for the other industries. This study contributes to financial reporting literature in relation to risk reporting, particularly the practice of Malaysian companies. Findings from this study are also useful to regulators and accounting standard setting body to assess the level of compliance to regulations and standards relating to risk reporting by these companies. More studies are required to further understand the importance of risk information disclosure, such as risk disclosure within specific industry, cross-country studies and usefulness of risk information disclosure from the stakeholders＇ perspectives.     

Determinants of market price of stock： A study on bank leasing and insurance companies of Bangladesh

Financial firms make up a substantial fraction of the domestic equity market. A number of studies subsequently used different conceptual and methodological approaches to model equity return of financial services firms. Movement of the stock price as the consequence of the movement of the micro and macroeconomic factors is strongly supported by the literature review. Dhaka Stock Exchange in Bangladesh is inefficient in weak form. Multiple regression analysis is conducted to find out the relationship microeconomic factors with the stock price. In this study found a significant linear relationship among market return and some microeconomic factors such as net asset value per share, dividend percentage, earning per share of bank leasing and insurance companies. Also found non-linear relationship among the variables is insignificant at 95 percent level of significance.     

Audit Partner Rotation,Audit Quality,and Dynamic Industry Structure

Previous research on the relationship between audit partner tenure and audit quality assumed that auditors conducted auditing works in a stable external environment where the corporate and management behavior was highly predictable. This study uses the joint tenure between audit partners and management to explain audit quality, because corporate directors would consider an appropriate adjustment in the management to deal with a dramatic change in the external environment. First, we examined whether there is a significant association between audit partner tenure and audit quality after the implementation of mandatory audit partner rotation by using the auditor tenure only. We addressed this issue by using a sample of Taiwanese companies and found no significant association between audit partner tenure and the magnitude of discretionary accruals （DA）, a common proxy for audit quality. Second, we tested the relationship between audit partner tenure and audit quality under the consideration of industry structure stability. The result exhibits a negative relation between audit partner tenure and audit quality under the control of industry structural stability which is measured by a proxy variable, the joint tenure between audit partner and management. Third, we investigated whether the association does exist between joint tenure of auditors and management and audit quality. We also addressed this issue by using Taiwanese data and found a significant association between the joint tenure of auditor and management and the magnitude of DA. Our findings provide evidence that the use of a mandatory rotation rule is an ineffective way to improve audit quality.     

A system dynamics model for the assessment of the effects of advertising and sales promotion on profitability

Advertising and sales promotion have significant impact on raising customer awareness. They are tools by which customers become acquainted with new and innovative products and services of the companies. Despite the importance of these tools in increasing sales, it is not easy to evaluate their effect on sales. One of the problems confronted by the marketing managers is the determination of a clear relationship between the effectiveness of advertising and sales promotion on profitability. In this article, considering the relationship between these tools and brand equity, we have attempted to determine the relationship between effectiveness of these two factors and profitability. Next, a system dynamics model for representing the effects of marketing communication tools on company profitability is offered. Finally, using the data from a corporation and the numeric values related to each of the elements in the model, an attempt has been made to determine a number representing the magnitude of the effect of advertising and sales promotion on the corporation＇s revenue and profitability and to draw the respective curves related to the effects of these two factors.     

Investor Relations （IR） in Business Communication on the Example of Poland

This paper focuses on investor relations （IR） as an element of companies＇ communication with the external environment. It shows the place and role of IR in communication with the general market, and the stock exchange market in particular. The study is illustrated with an example of IR in Poland, a relatively new European Union （EU） member state and an emerging market. As can be seen, IR goes beyond the traditionally understood maintenance of communication with the capital market. It is also shown that the main role of IR ought to be the reduction of investment risk and enhancement of the companies＇ value, which is of particular significance in light of the current globalization of capital markets. It has been found that Polish companies, especially those listed on the Warsaw Securities Exchange （WSE）, commonly rely on IR as a means of communication with the environment. And yet, as the results of the analysis show, the quality of that communication is still far from satisfactory, despite efforts undertaken by various external entities to encourage more focus on the development of IR, or understanding of the company＇s relevant staff of its important role.     

Human Resource Management in the Building Industry： International Comparison

This paper summarizes the results of the international questionnaire survey which took place at the start of 2013 in order to examine, judge, and compare the implemented concept and procedures of human resource management in the questioned building companies operating in the Visegrad Four countries （the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and the Slovak Republic） and the Federal Republic of Germany, and proposes an optimal approach to human resource management in the context of the current and expected economic development. The questionnaire survey was based on the assumption that effective human resource management is a condition of the successful function of each building company and that human resource management is that area of management which distinguishes the successful building companies from the unsuccessful ones. In total, 202 companies from the Czech Republic, 105 companies from Hungary, 100 companies from Poland, 102 companies from the Slovak Republic, and 99 companies from the Federal Republic of Germany took part in the questionnaire survey. The results of the questionnaire survey showed that among the building companies questioned in individual countries, there was no substantial difference in the overall concept and in the partial procedures of human resource management. The implemented concept and procedures in the questioned building companies show significant merits and surprising shortcomings, whereas it is difficult to prove an unequivocal connection between the efficiency of human resource management and the success of building companies. This relationship is determined by a series of other political, economic, legal, social, cultural, technical, demographic, and natural effects which are not related to the efficiency of human resource management or to the performance of the workforce of building companies.     

Dividend policy determinants of Indian FMCG sector： A factorial analysis

Profitability has always been considered as a primary indicator of dividend payout by a company. There are factors other than profitability namely cash flows, debt equity ratio, retained earnings, sales growth, share prices of a company, capital expenditure and beta etc. that also affect dividend decisions of an organization. Existing literature suggests that dividend payout is positively related to profits, cash flows while CAPEX （capital expenditure） retained earnings, sales growth, share prices, beta, interest paid and debt equity ratio have inverse relationship. A set of 21 key variables have been identified that affect the dividend payout of a firm. Researchers in the past have used several proxies to represent these determinants. Authors have tried to find out which proxy variable is most relevant in the present scenario. The paper attempts to give a focused overview of the important dividend theories and empirically analyze the determinants of dividend behavior of Indian FMCG （Fast moving consumer goods） sector. The relationship between key variables has been explored with the aid of statistical techniques of factor analysis. Thus, the main theme of this study is to examine the various factors that influence the dividend policy decisions of FMCG firms in India.     

Effects of Mandatory Audit Firm Rotation Upon Quality of Audit： The Perception of Audit Firms Evidence From Bahrain

The objectives of this study are： （1） to explore current audit appointment practices by audit firms in Bahrain; （2） to look into the opinions of audit firms in Bahrain on potential effects provided by implementing mandatory audit firm rotation （audit quality）; and （3） to investigate audit firms＇ views in implementing mandatory audit firm rotation in Bahrain. To achieve these objectives, a questionnaire was developed and distributed to respondents that consist of all auditors working in audit firms in Bahrain. The findings indicated that there is a significant relationship between mandatory audit firm rotation and quality of audit. The study also indicated that longer partner tenure makes the auditor＇s performance lack the quality in the auditing process. The average mean for all questions of the hypothesis together is 2.73 with average standard deviation of 0.94 which is less than half of the mean. This means that there is no dispersion among respondents about the questions of the hypothesis. Also, the analysis shows that the t-value is 29.922, which is greater than the table critical value of t （1.66）, and the p-value obtained is 0.000 which is less than the value of significance at p 〈 0.05. These results confirm statistically that there is a significant relationship, so the null hypothesis is rejected and the alternative hypothesis is accepted.     

Corporate governance and financing decisions by Saudi companies

This paper aims to contribute to the corporate governance literature in emerging economies by examining the effect of some corporate governance mechanisms on financing decisions in Saudi Arabian listed companies. A multiple regression model is used to examine the association between financing decisions and corporate governance mechanisms for a sample of 37 listed Saudi companies. In particular, we examine the effect of board size, ownership concentration and corporate governance reporting on the debt-to-equity ratio. Corporate governance reporting is measured by the content analysis approach. After controlling for companies＇ profitability and their growth opportunities, we found that both board size and ownership concentration are positively associated with debt-to-equity ratio. We limit our analysis to a small sample of firms that use the internet to communicate corporate governance information between October 2005 and January 2006. The findings suggest that managers are likely to choose higher financial leverage when they have stronger corporate governance （large number of directors on the board and higher ownership concentration）. However, we did not find any statistical association between corporate governance disclosure and debt-to-equity ratio. This suggests that firm＇s asymmetric information is not an important driver of the financing decision of Saudi Arabian companies. This might be due to the nature of the Saudi business environment. We strongly believe that this paper provides a novel contribution to the existing literature as we are the first to examine this issue in Saudi Arabia.     

The effect of earnings forecast precision on firm value and insider trading under voluntary disclosure in Taiwan

Taiwan changed its earnings forecast policy from mandatory to voluntary disclosure in 2005. In this study, the inferences of voluntary earnings forecast are examined based on forecasts issued by listed firms. This study suspects that insiders have a temptation to strategically manipulate financial forecast information to influence markets and thus receive extra rents. Under the new earnings forecast disclosure policy, the number of disclosing firm decreases but the precision of earnings forecast increases. The empirical result from dynamic panel data evidences the forecast error of voluntary disclosure may negatively impact firm values. Furthermore, there is a positive relationship between insiders＇ trading profit and manipulation of earnings forecasts. As volatility in insider manipulation increases, it is difficult for the investors to predict the real intention of insiders, and insiders may achieve greater benefits from trading. This study also observes that many listed companies hold investor conferences to provide earnings guidance in Taiwan. The reason may be that investor conference is more flexible and has less forecast error cost than the formal financial forecast. This study provides important insights into earnings forecast policy in emerging markets. The competent authority should improve corporate governance and develop monitoring functions to abate forecast manipulation.     

Incentive and Entrenchment Effects of Large Shareholdings： Evidence from Chinese Public Corporation

This paper studies incentive effect and entrenchment effect of the largest shareholder. Author investigates 763 listed companies in SHSE, explores the statistical relationship between the largest shareholding and corporate performance. Author observes that the largest shareholder has the incentive effect and entrenchment effect on corporate valuation. Empirical relationship between the largest shareholding and corporate valuation shows that the firm value decreases with the equity ownership of the largest shareholders, consistent with a negative entrenchment effect, when the largest equity ownership is below 40.28% of the whole share. Then firm value rises when the proportion of the largest shareholder＇s rights was increased to 69.29%, being consistent with a positive incentive effect. But with the increase of the share of the largest shareholding, firm value falls again.     

The Role of Comprehensive Income as Financial Performance Predictor： Panel Evidence From Italy

The aim of this study is to investigate whether the comprehensive income （CI） and its individual components are useful in assessing the future cash flows for Italian listed companies. In addition, we verify whether the recent requirement of International Accounting Standard （IAS） 1 （r2011） of providing the other comprehensive income （OCI） separates in two sub-totals （recycling and non-recycling items groups） is useful to explain the expected cash flows. We consider a sample of 121 Italian non-financial companies listed on the Italian Stock Exchange for the testing period of 2008-2011, employing a fixed-effect regression model, and we test the relationship between the changes in the variables considered and not the relative absolute value reducing, in this way, the risk of not grasping a report if the independent variable and the response variable do not have the same sign. Our results stress that CI and the two new sub-aggregates are not relevant to explain future cash flows, while net income （NI） and OC1 as a whole seem to be more relevant to make explicit the future financial position. The study contributes, as a sort of post-implementation review, to the current debate on the ability of Cl to predict the future cash flows and on the real usefulness of the CI and the sub-aggregate identified by the IAS 1 revised as well.