Accounting for Cultural Capital—Sustainability Agenda of Charities Serving the First Nations People towards Self-Determination—Evidence from the Northern Territory, Australia

This study examined the role of the First Nations beneficiary charities in contributing to the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the Northern Territory, Australia, as a way of attaining self-determination by closing the expectations gap between First Nations people and the mainstream Australians. Informed by the theory of self-determination (ethical and functional strands), a latent content analysis of 118 charities serving the First Nations people was conducted, coding the summary of their activities to ascertain their strategic engagement with the SDGs. A network analysis was also carried out to examine the charities’ connections with each other and their collective contribution towards the SDGs. The findings show that charities contribute to creating cultural capital through social capital, followed by intellectual capital dimensions. However, charities contributed little to building environmental capital dimension of the First Nations people. This study examined charities’ engagement with SDGs to build cultural capital in furtherance of self-determination of Australia’s First Nations people.

Academic dishonesty in stricto sensu postgraduate programs in accounting

ABSTRACT The aim of this article was to analyze academic dishonesty in stricto sensu postgraduate courses in accounting from the perspective of students, teachers, and teaching institutions. There is a gap in the research on academic dishonesty in stricto sensu postgraduate programs in accounting, especially from the analysis perspective of this study, which considers hypothetical situations classified into five categories of dishonesty: fraud/cheating, helping other students, plagiarism, fabricating information, and self-plagiarism/similarities. The study is important due to the role of stricto sensu postgraduate courses not only in training professionals who work or will work in public and private institutions, but also and primarily in training teachers and researchers. Dishonest behaviors can influence the professional lives of those involved, who are predominantly motivated by opportunistic interests that cause damage to the image of professionals in the area and to society. The data were collected through applying two questionnaires adapted from the studies of Braun and Stallworth (2009) and Oliveira and Chacarolli (2013). Mann-Whitney U and Wilcoxon statistical tests were used to analyze the data. The findings indicated the existence of an expectations gap between teachers and students regarding academic dishonesty in stricto sensu postgraduate programs in accounting. The significant differences found in perceptions regarding cases of dishonesty underline the difficulty for students and teachers to evaluate what is dishonest or not in situations of fraud/cheating and helping other students to engage in academic dishonesty. The differences in students’ and teachers’ perceptions may occur due to a lack of clear rules in the teaching institutions. Therefore, universities could undertake actions to address/prevent dishonest behaviors by establishing internal regulations and promoting discussions involving the whole academic community.

Ethical Rules of the Audit Profession and the Role of Compliance in Narrowing the Expectations Gap between Auditors and Financial Statements Users

The aim of the study is to identify the ethical rules of the audit profession and the role of its commitment in narrowing the expectation gap from the point of view of auditors in Jordan. For the purposes of collecting information related to the subject of the study, the researcher used a questionnaire directed to a sample of 44 auditors all subjected to analysis, and the researcher used descriptive statistical methods, and tested (T-test) for a single sample to test hypotheses. One of the results of the study included the role of auditors to adhere to the ethical rules of the audit profession (integrity, propriety, independence, competence, due professional care, and confidentiality of information) and to a high degree in narrowing the expectation gap. The researcher provided a range of recommendations, the most important of which are: the need for supervisors and regulators of the audit profession to hold conferences, training courses, workshops and seminars with the aim of increasing communication, educating and sensitizing users of financial statements on the nature of the work and duties of auditors to reduce the expectation gap. The need to strengthen the auditors' commitment to audit standards in general and the ethics of the audit profession and the rules of professional conduct in particular through the development of scientific curricula and study plans in the accounting departments of Jordanian universities

A Hybrid Methodology for Dental Hospital Quality Performance Gap Using HOQ and Process Analysis

A hybrid methodology is described to identify a quality gap in a dental hospital. The research case study illustrates how to implement quality improvement in a real-life context. A combination of an ethnographic, narrative, and phenomenological approach in data collection and observations within the dental hospital validates the case findings. A unique method based on systems study and Taguchi loss function is shown to reduce the service quality gap in a dental hospital. A house of quality (HOQ) combines the correlation between “patient's expectations” and the hospital's “technical” characteristics. The correlation between service quality and technical characteristics measures a patient's expectations gap. Factor analysis helps to group service and technical factors for better patient management. A strategy map correlation analysis is generated to manage the quality gap. The correlation analysis between patient expectations and the hospital's technical characteristics identify areas of immediate attention.

The consequences of the auditor’s choice in group companies and expectations gap

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the consequences of the auditor’s choice in group companies and the expectation gap of listed firms on the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE). Design/methodology/approach In this study, 128 companies (768 observations) listed on the TSE during the period 2012 to 2017 have been investigated. To test the hypotheses, logistic regression has been used. Findings The results showed that companies that are members of business groups are more likely to choose their auditors from large audit firms. The research findings also showed no significant relationship between the business group firms that have used the large auditor and the financial reporting quality. The results showed a positive and meaningful relationship between the member firms that use the large auditor and the audit fees. The results showed a negative and significant relationship between membership in business groups and the audit expectations gap. Originality/value Despite the importance of the audit performance, defining auditors’ roles most acceptably has always been challenging to create a gap through the diverse understanding of auditors’ role, which is the distance of perception between users’ auditors. For this reason, over the past years, the audit expectation gap and how to reduce it have focused on academics, professional accounting firms and users of financial statements. As any unmet expectations from the community will reduce the audit firm’s credibility and ability to gain and be widely detrimental to stakeholders, the audit study’s expectation gap in performing audit study is critical. Although there are extensive studies on the gap in auditing expectations in developed economies, most conclusions cannot be attributed to developing countries such as Iran due to cultural and legal differences. Besides, the audit environment in Iran and existing laws can have different results. This research also helps to bridge this gap by providing additional guidance to regulators. Besides, as all recent studies on the expectation gap were qualitative, the present study measures the expectation gap through quantitative statistical methods.

Gender roles produce divergent economic expectations

Expectations about economic variables vary systematically across genders. In the domain of inflation, women have persistently higher expectations than men. We argue that traditional gender roles are a significant factor in generating this gender expectations gap as they expose women and men to different economic signals in their daily lives. Using unique data on the participation of men and women in household grocery chores, their resulting exposure to price signals, and their inflation expectations, we document a tight link between the gender expectations gap and the distribution of grocery shopping duties. Because grocery prices are highly volatile, and consumers focus disproportionally on positive price changes, frequent exposure to grocery prices increases perceptions of current inflation and expectations of future inflation. The gender expectations gap is largest in households whose female heads are solely responsible for grocery shopping, whereas no gap arises in households that split grocery chores equally between men and women. Our results indicate that gender differences in inflation expectations arise due to social conditioning rather than through differences in innate abilities, skills, or preferences.

THE EU’S COMMON SECURITY AND DEFENCE POLICY IN THE CASE OF THE EULEX MISSION IN KOSOVO

The article considers whether the EU’s CSDP missions are a suitable crisis management mechanism for post-conflict situations, along with the EU’s relevance in crisis management at all. For this purpose, the EU’s biggest CSDP civilian mission EULEX was chosen as a research case study. The research results reveal that EULEX has not implemented its mandate, not met the expectations of security consumers, not made any difference on the ground, and cannot be seen as an example the EU should rely on in its future missions. Further, EULEX shows that CSDP missions suffer from many shortfalls and the EU CFSP from a capability–expectations gap. The article concludes that the EULEX mission does not show the EU’s relevance in the crisis management of post-conflict situations.

Mind the gap: the reality of remote learning during COVID-19

Purpose Students, faculty staff and universities thrive and reach their full potential through planning and a sense of community. In a few short weeks, COVID-19 unravelled months of planning, separated the university community and shifted tertiary education to remote learning. This created a triangulated expectations–performance gap as to what could be reasonably implemented to support student learning, support educators and provide a continued sense of community. The purpose of this paper is to consider how educators could implement strategies to close the expectations gap created by COVID-19 remote learning. Design/methodology/approach The authors consider the expectations gap through pre-COVID-19 pedagogical strategies and teaching methods, then outline how we modified them into COVID-19 teaching approaches and designs. Findings The authors found that although expectations differ between university administration, students and faculty staff, there are a number of paths educators can take to close the expectations gap, facilitate interaction and engagement while gently encouraging self-driven student learning in a difficult time. Originality/value The practical exemplars identify steps educators can take as support mechanisms for student learners to embrace and take control of their own education in the remote learning environment and convey the importance of maintaining a sense of belonging. This creates an improved teaching environment for educators and an enhanced learning environment for students.

The anti-money laundering expectations gap in Iran: auditor and judiciary perspectives

Purpose This study aims to compare judicial and auditor expectations of audit in the detection and reporting of money laundering in Iran. It also aims to assess the implications of expectations gap for the reliability of data provided to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in its blacklisting policy. Design/methodology/approach Questionnaires were administered to auditors to determine perceptions of their anti-money laundering (AML) reporting obligations. These were also completed by Iranian judges who hear money laundering prosecutions and who agreed to participate in the research. The group was created through the “snowballing” technique. Findings There is significant divergence between judges and auditors regarding the latter’s AML reporting obligations. Self-perception among auditors regarding investigative duties is insufficiently aligned with expectations of the FATF, particularly where there is use of corporate structures, charities and trusts in which identity of true owners, of payers and payees of funds cannot be accurately verified. This gap presents a significant terrorist financing risk. Practical implications The expectations gap makes training in forensic accounting, as well as compliance with international reporting expectations, a matter of urgency for the Iranian auditing profession. The judiciary needs to be more aware of international expectations. Originality/value Data regarding judicial expectations of auditors’ AML reporting obligations is difficult to obtain and of a highly sensitive nature. This research has obtained such data which has relevance to the FATF blacklisting policy, and to international organisations tasked with disrupting terrorist financing networks.