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- An assessment of the stakeholders' participation and view in IPSASB due processesPublication . Albuquerque, Fábio; Paiva da Penha, Maria Eugênia; Gomes dos Santos, PaulaDespite being an international reference, the majority of countries did not fully adopt international public sector accounting standards (IPSAS). Given the importance of due processes to the IPSAS Board (IPSASB) legitimation, this chapter uses the comment letters sent by different stakeholders within its due processes to assess their level of participation and agreement with the IPSASB position concerning their distinctive characteristics. For this purpose, seven ongoing projects in August 2021 are used as a source of information, and contingency tables and the chi-square test as statistical analysis techniques. The findings show, as matters of constraint to the IPSASB legitimacy, a low level of responses overall, as well as a lower level of agreement by government entities and national standards setters. The study provides inputs to the understanding of the limited implementation of IPSAS, proposing as a future avenue the inclusion of some elements that can be particularly useful to explain stakeholders' engagement and interests in IPSASB public consultation processes.
- An exploratory study on the accounting choices of European listed entities under IAS 27Publication . Ribeiro, Maria; Gomes dos Santos, Paula; Albuquerque, FábioEntities with securities traded on regulated markets within the European Union (EU) that prepare separate financial statements and adopt International Accounting Standards (IAS) and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) should follow IAS 27. Under IAS 27, entities can use three different accounting methods to recognise and measure their interests in subsidiaries, associates, and joint ventures: the cost method, the equity method under IAS 28, and fair value under IFRS 9. The purpose of this exploratory paper is to identify the accounting methods used for these financial investments under IAS 27. The study sample consists of entities from the major indices of EU countries, resulting in data from 267 entities. The findings indicate that the cost method is predominantly used by entities, with other methods collectively not exceeding 20%. Additionally, differences by country and sector were observed. These results contribute to the discussion on accounting choices in separate financial statements where these interests are reported.
- Effects of innovation, total quality management, and internationalization on organizational performance of higher education institutionsPublication . Texeira-Quiros, Joaquín; Justino, Maria do Rosário; Godinho Antunes, Marina; Ribeiro Mucharreira, Pedro; Trindade Nunes, António deThe aim of this research is to analyze the effects of innovation strategies, Total Quality Management (TQM) dimensions, and internationalization strategies that Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) might adopt, and their effects on their organizational performance. Due to globalization and the constant changes and demands that have taken place today, HEIs are forced to seek new quality assurance instruments in higher education, to ensure greater competitiveness in the markets and their survival. To examine the association between the independent variables, namely, TQM dimensions, innovation strategies, and internationalization strategies with the dependent variable, that is organizational performance of HEIs, we have chosen to use multiple linear regression analysis. A nine-predictor multiple linear regression model was proposed. The nine predictor variables are Communication, Involvement/teacher empowerment, Development/Teacher training, Continuous improvement, Leadership/Administration’s Commitment, Data analysis/Measurement of results, Focus on students, Innovation Strategies, and Internationalization strategy. We conclude that some TQM variables have a significant association with the organizational performance of HEIs, namely, Involvement/teacher empowerment, and Development/teacher training. On the other hand, also the Innovation strategies and Internationalization strategy have a significant association with the organizational performance of HEIs. This research is of enormous importance for the study of HEIs, considering their role in the development of any country and its impact on society as creators of knowledge and science. Since these institutions increasingly must deal with extremely competitive market environments, knowledge of the factors that can assist in increasing the organizational performance of HEIs is of great relevance.
- Effects of innovation, total quality management, and internationalization on organizational performance of higher education institutionsPublication . Texeira-Quiros, Joaquín; Justino, Maria do Rosário; Godinho Antunes, Marina; Ribeiro Mucharreira, Pedro; Trindade Nunes, António deThe aim of this research is to analyze the effects of innovation strategies, Total Quality Management (TQM) dimensions, and internationalization strategies that Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) might adopt, and their effects on their organizational performance. Due to globalization and the constant changes and demands that have taken place today, HEIs are forced to seek new quality assurance instruments in higher education, to ensure greater competitiveness in the markets and their survival. To examine the association between the independent variables, namely, TQM dimensions, innovation strategies, and internationalization strategies with the dependent variable, that is organizational performance of HEIs, we have chosen to use multiple linear regression analysis. A nine-predictor multiple linear regression model was proposed. The nine predictor variables are Communication, Involvement/teacher empowerment, Development/Teacher training, Continuous improvement, Leadership/Administration’s Commitment, Data analysis/Measurement of results, Focus on students, Innovation Strategies, and Internationalization strategy. We conclude that some TQM variables have a significant association with the organizational performance of HEIs, namely, Involvement/teacher empowerment, and Development/teacher training. On the other hand, also the Innovation strategies and Internationalization strategy have a significant association with the organizational performance of HEIs. This research is of enormous importance for the study of HEIs, considering their role in the development of any country and its impact on society as creators of knowledge and science. Since these institutions increasingly must deal with extremely competitive market environments, knowledge of the factors that can assist in increasing the organizational performance of HEIs is of great relevance.
- The role of artificial neural networks (ANNs) in supporting strategic management decisionsPublication . Texeira Fernandes Justino, Maria do Rosário; Texeira-Quirós, Joaquín; Gonçalves, António José; Godinho Antunes, Marina; Ribeiro Mucharreira, PedroNowadays, the dynamism caused by constant changes to strategic decisions in markets poses an additional difficulty in an organization’s management. The strategic decisions made by managers can easily become obsolete. One of the major difficulties in managing a commercial organization is predicting, with some precision, the impact some strategic decisions have on the financial results. Business intelligence (BI) is widely used to help managers make strategic decisions. However, the methods used to achieve the conclusions are kept secret by BI company-based services. Modeling the environment may help predict the impact of an action in a real environment. A good model should provide the most accurate result of an applied action in a given environment. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are proven to be excellent in modeling environments with very high data noise. The same strategic action can have different results when applied to different organizations. A tool that allows the evaluation of an applied strategic action in an environment will be of great importance in the field of management. Modeling the environment will save time and money for the organization, allowing the performance of the strategic plan to be improved. If one evaluates the state of the environment after a certain strategic action is applied, it can be possible to mitigate its risk of failure. As we will verify, it is possible to use ANNs to model strategic environments, allowing precision in the prediction of sales and operating results using particular strategies.
- Survey data preprocessing for optimal modelling through ANNs applied to management environmentsPublication . Texeira Quirós, Joaquín; Texeira Justino, Maria do Rosário; Gonçalves, António José; Godinho Antunes, Marina; Ribeiro Mucharreira, PedroSurveys are one of the most important tasks to be executed to get valued information. One of the main problems is how the data about many different persons can be processed to give good information about their environment. Modelling environments through Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) is highly common because ANN’s are excellent to model predictable environments using a set of data. ANN’s are good in dealing with sets of data with some noise, but they are fundamentally surjective mathematical functions, and they aren’t able to give different results for the same input. So, if an ANN is trained using data where samples with the same input configuration has different outputs, which can be the case of survey data, it can be a major problem for the success of modelling the environment. The environment used to demonstrate the study is a strategic environment that is used to predict the impact of the applied strategies to an organization financial result, but the conclusions are not limited to this type of environment. Therefore, is necessary to adjust, eliminate invalid and inconsistent data. This permits one to maximize the probability of success and precision in modeling the desired environment. This study demonstrates, describes and evaluates each step of a process to prepare data for use, to improve the performance and precision of the ANNs used to obtain the model. This is, to improve the model quality. As a result of the studied process, it is possible to see a significant improvement both in the possibility of building a model as in its accuracy.
- Recent trends in accounting and information system research: a literature review using textual analysis toolsPublication . Albuquerque, Fábio; Gomes dos Santos, PaulaAccounting has been evolving to follow the latest economic, political, social, and technolog ical developments. Therefore, there is a need for researchers to also include in their research agenda the emerging topics in the accounting area. This exploratory paper selects technological matters in accounting as its research object, proposing a literature review that uses archival research as a method and content analysis as a technique. Using different tools for the assessment of qualitative data, this content analysis provides a summary of those papers, such as their main topics, most frequent words, and cluster analysis. A top journal was used as the source of information, namely The International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, given its scope, which links accounting and technological matters. Data from 2000 to 2022 was selected to provide an evolutive analysis since the beginning of this century, with a particular focus on the latest period. The findings indicate that the recent discussions and trending topics in accounting, including matters such as international regulation, the sustainable perspective in accounting, as well as new methods, channels, and processes for improving the entities’ auditing and reporting, have increased their relevance and influence, enriching the debate and future perspectives in combination with the use of new technologies. Therefore, this seems to be a path to follow as an avenue for future research. Notwithstanding, emerging technologies as a research topic seem to be slower or less evident than their apparent development in the accounting area. The findings from this paper are limited to a single journal and, therefore, this limitation must be considered in the context of those conclusions. Notwithstanding, its proposed analysis may con tribute to the profession, academia, and the scientific community overall, enabling the identification of the state of the art of literature in the technological area of accounting.
- A discourse analysis of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by listed European entities from the energy-related sectorsPublication . Albuquerque, Fábio; Gomes dos Santos, PaulaRussia invaded Ukraine in March 2022, reinitiating a military conflict. Since Europe relied on Russian energy imports, entities in the energy sector may be affected. Based on content analysis, this exploratory paper assesses the disclosures by listed European entities in the energy sector in 2022 regarding Russia´s invasion of Ukraine, since the impacts of this event should at least be reported under International Accounting Standard (IAS) 10. The impression management (IM) strategies behind the entities´ disclosures are explored by using financial or integrated reporting as a source of information for the period ending in 2021. The findings mostly indicate a lower disclosure level among the entities that reported this event. Further, figures are often missing, and the entities´exposure to this non-adjustable event and its likely future impacts are usually unclear and vague within the notes on the subsequent events. Finally, messages´tone and readability might be aligned with concealment strategies. To the best of the authors´knowledge, this is the first research that uses this theme and IAS 10 notes as the object and source of analysis, respectively. The paper contributes to the literature by providing insights into the different patterns revealed by the entities concerning a current topic that has relevant social and economic impacts globally, as well as the characteristics of the entities´IAS 10 disclosures.
- Strengths and weaknesses of emergency remote teaching in higher education from the students’ perspective: the Portuguese casePublication . Albuquerque, Fábio; Gomes dos Santos, Paula; Martinho, CarlaMotivated by the COVID-19 pandemic, most students of higher education institutions (HEIs) in Portugal experienced online learning from March 2020 to July 2020. Based on the answers obtained from students to a set of two open questions included in a questionnaire, this article aims to identify the positive (strengths) and negative (weaknesses) aspects of online learning during this period, which is also known as emergency remote teaching (ERT). A total of 2,107 valid answers were gathered. Issues related to comfort and time management were the topics most frequently mentioned by students as strengths, particularly for those who are simultaneously workers. In contrast, the assessments, interaction, and self-confidence comprised the set of the most frequently mentioned by students as weaknesses. In this latter context, the most evident differences were found by age, type of course, and students’ status. The breakdown by gender did not show any relevant difference, regardless of the item under analysis. These findings may be useful for decision-makers to plan their actions, particularly regarding the new challenges for the future of higher education programs. Those actions may include the options regarding the most proper learning model among face-to-face, online, or blended learning by case, as well as the measures to improve the overall quality of the online learning to increase the students’ satisfaction.
- Does the average payment period play a relevant role in explaining the portuguese municipalities’ financial distress?Publication . Gomes dos Santos, Paula; Albuquerque, FábioThe average payment period (APP) is an important measure to monitor public sector liquidity and commercial debt sustainability. In the European Union, the relevance of APP as an indicator to mitigate those concerns was settled by the issuance of a Directive on this topic. Then, considering the likely relationship between the APP and financial distress (FD), this paper aims to assess if the current and historical APP plays a relevant role in explaining the data for 308 Portuguese municipalities’ FD. Regression analysis, including panel data and simple linear regression models, is used for the period between 2011 and 2019 (the last year available for APP). The findings show that the number of municipalities that exceed the debt limit has been reducing. Some of them comply with the 30 days threshold being, nonetheless, in a financial distress situation and subject to recovery mechanisms. By APP levels, the findings identify that the APP significantly predicts FD for those entities that do not comply with the threshold. By size, the FD seems to be better explained by historical APP within the smaller entities. Finally, the robustness test and further analyses performed indicate the likely relevance of macroeconomic factors for predicting FD using APP as an explanatory variable. This paper contributes to previous studies on the municipalities’ financial condition, namely by considering the APP in the analysis of the financial situation of the municipalities. As a novelty, this study considers a new proxy for municipal FD and panel data analysis.