Pricing Initial Audit Engagements: A Test of Competing Theories

1999 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allen T. Craswell ◽  
Jere R. Francis

Two competing theories of initial engagement audit pricing are examined empirically. DeAngelo's (1981a) model predicts initial engagement discounts in all settings, while Dye's (1991) model specifically predicts discounting will not occur in settings where audit fees are publicly disclosed. Unlike the United States and most countries, audit fees are publicly disclosed in Australia. Our study examines initial engagement pricing in Australia during a time period when comparable U.S. studies report discounts of 25 percent (Ettredge and Greenberg 1990; Simon and Francis 1988). The Australian evidence finds initial engagement discounting only for upgrades from non-Big 8 to Big 8 auditors. Discounting for upgrades to Big 8 auditors is consistent with economic theories of discount pricing by sellers of higher-priced, higher-quality experience goods as an inducement to purchase when uncertainty about product quality is resolved through buying (experiencing) the goods. The evidence in our study is generally consistent with Dye's (1991) conclusion that public disclosure of audit fees precludes initial engagement discounting and the potential independence problems arising from such discounting.

Author(s):  
Sabrina Strings

Studies on the development of fat stigma in the United States often consider gender, but not race. This chapter adds to the literature on the significance of race in the propagation of fat phobia. I investigate representations of voluptuousness among “white” Anglo-Saxon and German women, as well as “black” Irish women between 1830 and 1890—a time period during which the value of a curvy physique was hotly contested—performing a discourse analysis of thirty-three articles from top newspapers and magazines. I found that the rounded forms of Anglo-Saxon and German women were generally praised as signs of health and beauty. The fat Irish, by contrast, were depicted as grotesque. Building on the work of Stuart Hall, I conclude that fat was a “floating signifier” of race and national belonging. That is, rather than being universally lauded or condemned, the value attached to fatness was related to the race of its possessor.


1993 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 148-151
Author(s):  
Debra H. Fiser

Definition Drowning is defined as death caused by submersion, whereas near-drowning connotes survival for some time period following submersion. The following remarks pertain to the near-drowning victim who presents for acute medical management. Epidemiology Because reporting of near-drowning incidents is incomplete, most of the available epidemiologic information focuses on drowning deaths, which number more than 6500 per year in the United States. Data from King County, Washington, however, suggest that near-drownings slightly out-number drownings. Drowning rates are highest for children under the age of 5 years and between the ages of 15 and 24 years. Males drown 4 times more frequently than females. African-Americans and low-income groups also are affected disproportionately, except for those drownings involving boats and residential swimming pools, which more often are owned by middle class groups. Drownings peak during the summer months and are most common in the southern and western United States and Alaska. Forty to 45% of all drownings occur while the victim is swimming and 12% to 29% are boat-related. Alcohol plays a substantial role in these deaths. Between one half and three quarters of all drownings occur in lakes, ponds, rivers, and the ocean. More than 40% of all submersions in these bodies of water involve older adolescents or young adults.


2021 ◽  
Vol 81 (319) ◽  
pp. 37
Author(s):  
Dulce Albarrán Macías ◽  
Pablo Mejía Reyes ◽  
Francisco López Herrera

<p>El objetivo de este documento es analizar la sincronización de los ciclos económicos de México y Estados Unidos durante el periodo 1981-2017 mediante la estimación de un coeficiente de correlación condicional dinámica que permite tener una estimación para cada periodo de tiempo. Los resultados, obtenidos a partir de distintos indicadores de producción y métodos de eliminación de tendencia, muestran un aumento desde la apertura de la economía mexicana a mediados de la década de 1980, especialmente durante las recesiones de 2001-2002 y 2008-2009 y también una serie de descensos aislados, explicados por diferencias en los ritmos de crecimiento de ambas economías, y una declinación sostenida en la fase pos-Gran Recesión que se explica principalmente por reducciones en el comercio exterior.</p><p> </p><p align="center">SYNCHRONIZATION OF THE BUSINESS CYCLES OF MEXICO AND THE UNITED STATES: A DYNAMIC CORRELATION APPROACH</p><p align="center"><strong>ABSTRACT</strong></p><p>The objective of this paper is to analyze the business cycle synchronization of Mexico and the United States over the period 1981-2017 by estimating a dynamic conditional correlation coefficient that allows us to have an estimate for each time period. The results, obtained from different production indicators and different de-trending methods, show an increase in this synchronization after the opening of the Mexican economy in the mid-eighties, especially during the common recessions of 2001-2002 and 2008-2009, and some isolated drops explained by differences in the growth rates of both economies as well as a sustained decline in the post-Great Recession phase resulting from the decline of international trade.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan Maassel ◽  
Abbie Saccary ◽  
Daniel Solomon ◽  
David Stitelman ◽  
Yunshan Xu ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Despite a national decrease in emergency department visits in the United States during the first 10 months of the pandemic, preliminary Consumer Product Safety Commission data indicate increased firework-related injuries. We hypothesized an increase in firework-related injuries during 2020 compared to years prior related to a corresponding increase in consumer firework sales. Methods The National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) was queried from 2018 to 2020 for cases with product codes 1313 (firework injury) and narratives containing “fireworks”. Population-based national estimates were calculated using US Census data, then compared across the three years of study inclusion. Patient demographic and available injury information was also tracked and compared across the three years. Firework sales data obtained from the American Pyrotechnics Association were determined for the same time period to examine trends in consumption. Results There were 935 firework-related injuries reported to the NEISS from 2018 to 2020, 47% of which occurred during 2020. National estimates for monthly injuries per million were 1.6 times greater in 2020 compared to 2019 (p < 0.0001) with no difference between 2018 and 2019 (p = 0.38). The same results were found when the month of July was excluded. Firework consumption in 2020 was 1.5 times greater than 2019 or 2018, with a 55% increase in consumer fireworks and 22% decrease in professional fireworks sales. Conclusions Firework-related injures saw a substantial increase in 2020 compared to the two years prior, corroborated by a proportional increase in consumer firework sales. Increased incidence of firework-related injuries was detected even with the exclusion of the month of July, suggesting that the COVID-19 pandemic may have impacted firework epidemiology more broadly than US Independence Day celebrations.


Knygotyra ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 72 ◽  
pp. 206-232
Author(s):  
Remigijus Misiūnas

The Lithuanian national movement of the 19th c. had mostly manifested itself in the literature, which, under the Lithuanian press ban, was being published both in East Prussia and in Lithuanian communities in the United States, and which was being distributed likewise in Lithuania, East Prussia, and the United States. That same time period saw the forming of a new system designed to inform readers of new releases, which was utilized to help any members of the Lithuanian diaspora to keep updated on the newest literature affairs. This system had encompassed the press of both East Prussia and the United States, and it would inform the readers of the newest publications both from the location of where the newspaper was being released and about the new books and periodicals that were being published in foreign countries; thus, it had created a reflection of Lithuanian literature as a whole. The aim of this article is to analyze the circumstances surrounding the informing of readers about the newest publications as it had occurred in the American Lithuanian press up to 1904; main focus is paid here to the information regarding Lithuanian and Lithuanistic publications released in East Prussia and elsewhere in Europe. The basis of this study is a list of 322 Lithuanian and Lithuanistic publications released in Europe; the list itself took shape after overviewing 11 Lithuanian newspapers published in the United States. The 322 publications had been distributed in Lithuanian communities in the United States and were announced by the local Lithuanian press.This study has showed that the first announcements about the new books appeared in the US Lithuanian press in the late 1890s, and in the early 20th c., designated columns for publishing news became an ordinary practice. Unfortunately, a lack of authors capable of writing critical reviews of the new publications forced the émigré press to be content with mostly annotations and very laconic commentaries about the pros and cons of new publications. The fact that announcements were made about books (mostly publications released in Europe) that were not part of the American salespeople’s repertoire allows us to believe that the editorial boards of the newspapers behaved thus acting upon the informational mission of their newspapers, their societal role, and in seeking to support the national movement and the dissemination of its ideas as well as the mission of its consolidation. In evaluating the repertoire of the introduced publications, we may speak not only of the dissemination of information on these works but also of a particular perspective that the editorial boards of these periodicals had and which was based on a particular set of values. Attention is paid to Lithuanian literature, its growth and place in the society of that time, and how it matches the needs of the readers. The introduced literature repertoire was dominated by secular works that had reflected the growth of Lithuanian literature and answered the demands of education. The books were oftentimes evaluated first and foremost based on the aspect of how much practical information could they provide – this had to do with the restricted possibilities of Lithuanian education; for example, the amount of information these works could give on the topics of farming, medicine, craftsmanship, and the natural sciences was an important aspect. With time, more attention began to be paid to societal-political literature, which was associated to the dissemination of the ideologies of those times, and Lithuanistic works written by foreign (not Lithuanian) authors. The works were also increasingly evaluated based on the political views of the editorial boards, which had also determined the fact that the readers were urged to buy some books while others were introduced as no good. Yet at the same time it may be observed that attention was being paid to publishing culture, the linguistic aspects especially, prompted by the changes that were happening in written Lithuanian. Attempts were made to limit the distribution of books that had not met the standards of the written languages; however, owing to the poorness of literature, the practical value of the book was of the most importance. The perspective regarding the importance of some books can also be seen based on how many newspapers had referenced those books in their news and how well were these works met. In understanding that the system designed to inform the readership of the books did not meet the standards of even its contemporaries, it must still be said that during those times, a tradition had taken shape to introduce publishing news in the periodicals. This tradition was developed and perfected during later times, but its proper evaluation would require the continuation of its study.


2000 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 173-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
JAMES C. GARAND ◽  
MARCI GLASCOCK LICHTL

In recent years the study of divided government has been a growth industry. Numerous scholars have sought to explain patterns of divided government in the United States, while others have attempted to explore the consequences of the phenomenon. No doubt this scholarly interest in the subject is due in large part to the attention paid by the political media to divided control of the presidency and Congress during the 1980s, as well as the resulting ’gridlock‘ that dominated policy making in Washington during that time period.


1975 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 491-506 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheldon Goldman

In an earlier study of voting behavior of U.S. appeals courts judges, attitudinal patterns were investigated along with an analysis of the relationship of judges' backgrounds to their decisions. In this revisit, the earlier findings were treated as hypotheses and tested with a new case population covering a subsequent and longer time period. In all, 2,115 cases decided nonunanimously were coded on one or more issues. Most cases could be classified under ten broad issue categories which were then utilized for most of the analyses. Although the research design was similar to that of the earlier study, a wider variety of methods was employed including nonparametric and parametric intercorrelations of voting behavior on the ten issues and stepwise multiple regression and partial correla-tion analyses of seven background variables and their relationships to voting behavior on the issues. The principal findings were similar to those found earlier but it was possible to map voting behavior with some-what more precision and to uncover some unexpected relationships such as those concerning the potency of the age variable particularly for voting on political liberalism issues.


Author(s):  
Marvin Zalman ◽  
Robert J. Norris

What is the rate of wrongful conviction? This question may be implicit in Blackstone’s ratio: “It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer.” Scholarship designed to provide an empirical answer, however, emerged only with the rise of the “innocence movement” in the United States. This article does not provide another study estimating the rate of wrongful felony conviction either for a specified sample, such as death sentences within a specified time period, or for an entire jurisdiction. Instead, we evaluate the rate question itself and assess its importance to innocence scholarship and action. We first trace the question’s intellectual lineage, and its historical and ideological roots among innocence believers and innocence skeptics. We then describe and evaluate all or most of the published studies attempting to estimate the wrongful conviction rate. Next, we discuss a reoccurring limitation of this published work, namely, its failure to account for or its unsubstantiated assumptions about guilty pleas and misdemeanor convictions among innocent defendants. Finally, we question the continued importance of the rate question in light of the modern innocence movement and its growing accomplishments.


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