Information Resilience: the nexus of responsible and agile approaches to information use

The appetite for effective use of information assets has been steadily rising in both public and private sector organisations. However, whether the information is used for social good or commercial gain, there is a growing recognition of the complex socio-technical challenges associated with balancing the diverse demands of regulatory compliance and data privacy, social expectations and ethical use, business process agility and value creation, and scarcity of data science talent. In this vision paper, we present a series of case studies that highlight these interconnected challenges, across a range of application areas. We use the insights from the case studies to introduce Information Resilience, as a scaffold within which the competing requirements of responsible and agile approaches to information use can be positioned. The aim of this paper is to develop and present a manifesto for Information Resilience that can serve as a reference for future research and development in relevant areas of responsible data management.

A comprehensive study on the quality of sustainability reporting disclosure between Indonesia and other countries

The shift in the business paradigm towards a more sustainable one has placed a balance between people, profit and the planet as a corporate culture. However, based on previous empirical studies, very few companies have put sustainability as the soul of their business, especially in the types of industries that are not obliged to report their social responsibility activities. This study aims to compare the quality of the sustainability report based on the GRI G4 indicator for foreign and domestic companies engaged in construction services. The data was taken using a purposive method on construction service companies that published their 2017 sustainability reports and found 30 companies. The quality of the report is compared between the three indicators, namely economic, social and environmental. The results showed that in terms of quality of disclosure, there was no difference between domestic and foreign construction service companies, whether tested per category or tested collectively. The results of this study reinforce the previous finding that companies are still very dependent on the regulatory compliance approach only in implementing sustainability, especially in the construction service industry.

An Ontology Based Approach for Regulatory Compliance of EU Reg. No 995/2010 in Greece

Illegal logging has always been considered as a major environmental and social global concern, as it is directly associated with deforestation and climate change. Nowadays, EU Regulation No 995/2010 has been successfully enforced to impede the placement of illegally produced timber within the EU market and therefore to efficiently enhance sustainable forest management and restore ecosystem balance. However, EU 995 regulatory compliance and enforcement itself is quite complex, since it requires long-term conformity, on a common basis for various heterogeneous groups and communities of stakeholders, in a global, even beyond EU, rule regulation framework. To make things worse, such a framework must be applied to the entire supply distribution chain and a wide variety of wood products, ranging from paper pulp to solid wood and flooring. Hence, in such complex and multivariate information environments, an ontological approach can more efficiently support regulatory compliance and knowledge management, due to its openness and richness of semantics for representing, analyzing, interpreting and managing such kind of information. In this paper, a rule-based regulatory compliance ontology is proposed, which fully captures EU Regulation No 995/2010 concepts and compliance rules and guidelines, as well as Greek legislations governing wood trade. The proposed ontology can be the basis for a computerized system providing automated support for illegal wood trade and monitoring EU regulation information provision and audit information storage and analysis.

Contingency E-Learning for Accounting: Effective Communication in the New Normal Era

Objective - The purpose of this research article is to examine the structural aspects of the contingent variables from the user side and the provider side of e-learning in accounting education and to explore and develop insights on how it can be applied to the changing ways of communication today in the new normal era. Methodology/Technique – We conducted research on e-learning users through 359 (three hundred and fifty nine) students majoring in accounting by using path analysis to obtain measurement results from 2 (two) structural equations. Findings - From the expectations of students as users of e-learning, it showed, first, there are no significance from relevant learning-teaching methods, students self-interest, outcome- based education (OBE) curriculum base, towards implementation of contingency e-learning . Otherwise, engagement within regulatory compliance as the only variable that can be used as an antecedent to predict the implementation of contingency e-learning. Second, relevant learning - teaching methods, and OBE curriculum base play a role in predicting the achievement of learning outcomes effectiveness. Novelty - This research provides insight and contribution to support the accounting education process that takes place in the new normal era after the Covid-19 crisis. Effective communication leads to the achievement of effective learning outcomes. This is explained by the role of engagement within regulatory compliance from students towards contingency e-learning in the accounting department as well as with the role of relevant teaching and learning, and the role of OBE curriculum as new insights from the facts of this research. Type of Paper: Empirical. JEL Classification: Keywords: Accounting E-Learning; Effectiveness of Learning Outcomes; Engagement of Regulatory Compliance; Learning Teaching Method; OBE Curriculum Base; Student Self Interest

Regtech: Bits and Bytes of Financial Regulation

Global Financial Crisis of 2008 has caused dramatic structural changes in the financial sector and financial services worldwide. Technological disruption has changed the dimension of finance around the world. Increasing threats of cyber-attacks has raised a serious concern for the banking and financial sector across the entire world. Supervisory mechanisms, compliances and regulations have become the key factors of consideration. The paper stresses out an importance of stringent financial regulations and regulatory compliance in the recent era of technological changes and innovations towards financial stability. This paper attempts to establish a strong theoretical overview of the promise and potential of the Regulatory Technologies (RegTech) for the wider financial ecosystem based on existing academic research and also publicly available practice-oriented insights from industry sources. The purpose of this paper is to develop an insight about the implications of RegTech for financial institutions and regulation. This study will help regulatory standard setters, bankers, investors, national & international financial institutions and other academicians to envisage the future of disruptive potential in financial technology.

Soy dairy performance metrics

Soybean (Glycine max (L. Merr.) has been a crop of interest to address both poverty and malnutrition in the developing world because of its high levels of both protein and oil, and its adaptability to grow in tropical environments. Development practitioners and policymakers have long sought value added opportunities for local crops to move communities out of poverty by introducing processing or manufacturing technologies. Soy dairy production technologies sit within this development conceptual model. To the researchers’ knowledge, no research to date measures soy dairy performance, though donors and NGOs have launched hundreds of enterprises over the last 18 years. The lack of firm-level data on operations limits the ability of donors and practitioners to fund and site sustainable dairy businesses. Therefore, the research team developed and implemented a recordkeeping system and training program first, as a 14-month beta test with a network of five dairies in Ghana and Mozambique in 2016-2017. Learning from the initial research then supported a formal research rollout over 18 months with a network of six different dairies in Malawi and key collaboration from USAID’s Agricultural Diversification activity. None of the beta or rollout dairies kept records prior to the intervention. The formal rollout resulted in a unique primary dataset to address the soy dairy performance knowledge gap. The results of analysis show that the dairies, on average, achieve positive operating margins of 61%, yet cannot cover the fixed costs associated with depreciation, amortization of equipment and infrastructure, working capital, marketing and promotion, and regulatory compliance. The enterprises in our sample operate only at 9% of capacity, which limits their ability to cover the normal fixed costs associated with the business. The challenge is not the technology itself, as when operated, it produces a high-quality dairy product. The challenges involve a business that requires too much capital for normal operations relative to a nascent and small addressable market.