Adoption Of International Standards Research Articles

Evolution of Occupational Safety and Health Disclosure Practices: Insights from 8 Years in Taiwan’s Construction Industry

Evolution of Occupational Safety and Health Disclosure Practices: Insights from 8 Years in Taiwan’s Construction Industry

Current practices, challenges and new advances in the collection and use of food composition data for Africa

High-quality food composition data are indispensable for improved decision-making in food security, health policy formulation, food labeling, diet formulation, agricultural policymaking, nutrition research, and many other nutrition-related activities. The optimisation of dietary patterns is a powerful tool to reduce the impact of malnutrition on a population’s health and well-being. Many countries in resource-poor settings lack a framework for developing and managing food composition data appropriate for these purposes. In the article, an overview of available food composition tables in Africa and the origin, use and limitations of theses tables are discussed. It is important that those working on any nutrition-related activity for resource-poor settings understand the limitations of current food composition data. Production of high-quality data requires the harmonization and adoption of international standards and guidelines across Africa. Moreover, continuity in the production, compilation and management of high-quality food composition data is challenged by suboptimal capacity building in terms of organizational, institutional and legal framework development. In this perspective article, the authors deliberate on challenges with a focus on Africa, while discussing new advances in food composition activities. Opportunities (such as the Internet of Things (IoT), wearable devices, natural language processing (NLP) and other machine learning techniques) to improve existing resources must be more actively explored and supported.

The Impact of Environmental Uncertainty on the Relationship between Standards Quality, Accounting Estations Quality and Share Prices: An Empirical Study

This study investigates the impact of environmental uncertainty (EU) on the relation between standards quality and accounting estimations quality (AEQ) and explores the impact of the interaction between EU and AEQ on stock prices. The study uses the quality of accounting regulations and the quality of the application of financial reporting standards as proxies of the quality of standards. The study also uses both auditing quality and chief executive officer (CEO) reputation as proxies for financial reporting standards application quality, and discretionary accrual as a proxy for AEQ. Data were collected from 107 companies registered on the Saudi Arabia Stock Exchange over seven years (from 2015 to 2021) and provides four empirical findings. First, AEQ was not significantly affected by the adoption of international standards (International Financial and Reporting Standards and International Auditing and Assurance Standards) instead of Saudi accounting and auditing standards. Second, there was a significant and direct association between audit quality and AEQ. On the other hand, the reputation of the CEO did not have a significant effect on AEQ. Third, in response to increasing EU, the reputation of the CEO and audit quality had a significant effect on enhancing AEQ. Finally, the interaction between the intensity of EU and AEQ was reflected in a firm’s share price.

Role of international, regional and country organizations in adapting to statistical standards and regional differences: The case of food and agriculture statistics

The adoption of international standards is essential to producing internationally comparable official statistics. However, as the particular case of the adoption of SDG indicators demonstrates, this is by no means a linear process. According to FAO’s SDG data gap assessment conducted in 2019 and other statistical capacity assessment reports (e.g., World Bank, AfDB…), financial, professional and technological capacities of national statistical agencies vary greatly between countries and regions, as does the level of political support and commitment to statistics. These differences call for more targeted interventions by international institutions to support the uptake of statistical standards. To face this challenge, FAO is increasingly building the capacity of its regional and country offices to better mainstream food and agricultural statistics in regional and national cooperation strategies and activities, while also stepping up its resource mobilization efforts. Regional roadmaps are currently being rolled out to support countries in adopting food- and agriculture-related SDG indicators and other statistical standards, taking into consideration regional particularities, the impact of UN reform, action plans developed by UN Regional Commissions and other relevant regional partnership opportunities. This paper will highlight some of the key regional differences in countries’ capacity to adapt to statistical standards, describe FAO’s regional targeted interventions in the context of food and agricultural statistics, and discuss the remaining main challenges.

The significance of standard, patent and labour on import value: case study in Indonesia

Being a never-ending debate, the direction of developing standards has to be in the opposite direction in facilitating international trade. This study investigated the relationship of standard, patent, and labor on Indonesian import. This study found some differences and very diverse correlations between the components in the second factor, both positively and negatively correlated. Those studies are generally carried out by developed countries, where the infrastructure to support innovation and standards has developed rapidly. The analysis of this research was carried out using panel data regression and the Cobb-Douglas function. Estimation was carried out using the fix effect and the random effect models. The robust model found variables that impact Indonesian import performance, both simultaneous and partial tests. In addition, a significant impact of the contribution of national standards on the growth of import value and sectors was determined. The low growth rate of patents for the same sector shows the innovation sectors that contributed less to the import value when observed more deeply. In contrast to national standards tending to be domestic, the growth standard of a sector will be inversely proportional to the growth in the value of imports in that sector, except for sectors whose conformity assessment does not support infrastructure. Besides, this study found that labor had no significant impact on import value. However, there was a significant potential from developing national standards and adopting international standards for the growth of national import performance in Indonesia. In addition to functioning as an empirical investigation of the effect of the growth of national standards, the adoption of international standards, labor, and patents on the growth of import value, it also looks at the contribution to the knowledge of developing countries' import growth factors, especially those related to standardization. The analysis shows that national standard growth and adoption growth differently contribute to Indonesian import performance. The findings show that the two factors in standard development have different functions in import performance. This paper further contributed to the knowledge of import growth factors of a developing country, particularly those related to standardization.

Роль международно-правовых актов в формировании системы источников уголовно-исполнительного права России

The article aims at analysing the role of international legal norms in the system of sources of the Russian Federation, with a special stress on their importance among the sources of national law. To date, international legal acts directly affect the policy of legislation and are in its priority, thereby forming an independent legal system. This system brings domestic national policy, which includes penal legislation, in line with the acts. The author infers that, in Russian legal science, including penal science, international legal norms are of a national nature. In their own way, they are stable, since they are not exposed to possible influences of any economic, political, or criminological factors. Therefore, in recent decades, this direction has been the main guideline for the development of penal science, which directly affects the law enforcement practice. When analysing the current Penal Code of the Russian Federation, this trend can be traced in some norms whose content is based on the ideas of humanism and enshrines the basic rules for the treatment of various categories of convicts. Looking at Russia today, we can note that the country has created a legal framework that allows it to be classified as a great power that directs the development of the penal system in the modern world. The formation of a new better penal system is undoubtedly facilitated by the adoption of international standards that require the creation of the necessary conditions that in the future are to be implemented in legislation. After all, the recognition of international legal standards in penal legislation will bring Russia to a new level, with a more effective guarantor of the observance of the legality of human rights, and will also serve as an impeccable postulate in the law enforcement and law-making activities of our state in the future.

A Survey on Standards for Interoperability and Security in the Internet of Things

Recently, there has been an increase in studies relating to the Internet of Things (IoT) in various fields, such as smart cities, smart homes, smart factories, and healthcare. In an IoT environment, several entities, including users, devices, and information resources, are interconnected and interworked with services. Therefore, interoperability between different entities is essential to accomplish the goals of IoT systems. Further, security is another important aspect to achieve in an IoT environment to protect information resources and privacy when networking between different entities. Therefore, security and interoperability may be significant barriers in the implementation of IoT in the real world. Several studies have been conducted to investigate methods for accomplishing interoperability and security in IoT, but they address only specific problems. Hence, compatibility and generality must be considered to accomplish the goals of IoT systems. International standards provide general methods by listing protocols, rules, guidelines, and characteristics that are defined and approved by authorized organizations, helping develop and manage systems efficiently by applying these standards; interoperability and security are supported by adopting standards in development and management. Therefore, the adoption of international standards is required to overcome the barriers in IoT. Furthermore, international standard organizations are developing IoT-related standards that may provide a solution to interoperability and security. However, a study focusing on interoperability- and security-related standards has not yet been conducted. Therefore, in this paper, we focus on international standards related to interoperability and security for IoT environments. Moreover, we studied international standard organizations that have been developing standards for IoT. In this study, a systematic literature review is conducted, and international standards are analyzed. In addition, any remaining challenges related to interoperability and security for IoT standards are discussed.

Low-cost computational systems applied to physical architectures in public transportation systems of intermediate cities

Public transportation systems in many cities of Latin America must employ physical architectures of intelligent transportation systems for the operation and control of passenger transportation vehicles. However, the high cost of specialized computational systems for this physical architectures in one of the higher impediments to the integration of this systems in the vehicle network. For the purpose of this work, is necessary to ask what are the currently low-cost computational systems used in vehicular applications. In this paper we made a documentary research to analyse the current computational systems associated with the physical architecture for public transportation in intermediate cities. We analysed collected information following the three points of methodological development for a documentary researches. Results shows that the use of low-cost computational systems for data capture in vehicles, the use of millimetre waves in the electromagnetic spectrum for data transmission by means of mobile communication networks, and the adoption of international standards, are viable alternatives for the integration of technologies into physical architectures of vehicle networks, in order to improve the operation of public passenger transportation systems in intermediate cities in Latin America.

Crypto-assets: Legal Characterisation and Challenges under Private Law

This article defines the new phenomenon of crypto-assets and its complex relationship with existing and established legal concepts. It then deals with (i) how the courts have characterised crypto-assets and the rights they are considered to confer; (ii) how these rights can be enforced; and (iii) the actions the judiciary and especially the legislator could undertake to allow our legal systems to adapt and ensure that crypto currencies prosper without shifting risk on society. The article concludes that, given the global nature of the crypto-assets phenomenon, only an international agreement, or at least the adoption of international standards, will be able to tackle this challenge.

Theoretical aspects of the civil society phenomenon

The article analyzes idealistic views on the phenomenon of "civil society". The authors emphasize that civil society is a society of justice and civil consensus, where each citizen is guaranteed civil, political and socio-economic rights and explores the basic features (features) of civil society. First, it is a society of justice. The next major feature is civic consent, that is, the establishment of a new social order through dialogue and spiritual and political consensus.According to the authors, human rights are guaranteed in every democratically organized society, and the state claiming to be legal has no right, but is obliged in its legislation to foresee and actually guarantee by legal and other means those rights which are due to the state recognitions acquire the character of subjective legal rights. As a result of the adoption of international standards by states, the very concept of a person and in domestic law becomes legal and designates citizens of that state, as well as foreigners and stateless persons who reside in its territory. And human rights are those rights that belong to every person regardless of their nationality.The authors conclude that no sharp and insurmountable boundary can be drawn between human rights and citizens' rights. Human rights are a social category. They are formed objectively as a result of the development and improvement of social production and the system of public administration of society in the form of social opportunities to enjoy various economic, political and spiritual benefits, and exist before their state recognition. And citizens' rights are those human rights that are under the protection and protection of the state.

The role of culture on the adoption of International Standards on Auditing in the developing countries: An institutional perspective

This paper examines the role played by the culture on the adoption of the International Standards on Auditing (referred to as ISA henceforth) that intends to stimulate establishing an efficient auditing regime in Libyan auditing practice. The current research conducted interviews with 43 participants across five Libyan key stakeholders in the auditing environment. The methodology employed was in line with the relevant literature and it serves to achieve the aims and to answer the questions of this study (Ménacère, 2016). Institutional isomorphism produces a greater impact on Libya accounting and auditing practices (Phillips & Jiao, 2016). Therefore, this study examines that the cultural factor systematically and consistently assesses the level of ISA adoption, commitment, and associated harmonisation. Given the growing interest in harmonising the auditing practice, not only by scholars but also by policy and decision-makers, this study is aimed at contributing to improve and develop an under-researched topic in Africa, by expanding the literature on the importance of harmonising auditing practices. It also provides fresh insights into auditing practices in a politically unstable country. Awareness is also raised about other relevant drivers of adopting ISA.

Adoption of International Standards on Auditing by Small and Medium-Sized Practices in Tanzania: An Examination of Critical Factors

Tanzania, like many countries in the world, adopted international standards on auditing (ISAs) in 2004, which made it mandatory for all auditing firms to use to ensure high audit quality. Although several studies have been conducted to explore factors behind the adoption of ISAs, these studies have concentrated on large auditing firms ignoring small and medium practices (SMPs). Moreover, these studies have not focused on successful adoption as a multi-dimensional concept. Based on these gaps, this study seeks to examine the relationship between factors and successful adoption of ISAs by SMPs in Tanzania. The study employs canonical correlation analysis (CCA) as suggested by Fornell and Larcker (1980) to analyse primary data collected using self-administered questionnaire to 113 auditors working in SMPs. Empirical results show that the availability of resources, regulatory enforcement, client capacity, organizational culture, and organizational structure are positively related with successful adoption of ISA. The findings suggest that policies on the adoption of ISA should not only focus on compliance but also on resources availed to SMPs and capacity of clients involved in the auditing process.
 JEL Codes: M40, M41, M42

Decrease in the Value Relevance of Accounting Information in Electric Distributors after the Brazilian IFRS adoption

Purpose – The present study evaluated whether there were reductions in the relevance of the accounting information of Brazilian energy distributors in the post-IFRS period. Design/methodology/approach – The rationale for such a conjecture stems from the fact that after the adoption of international accounting standards, energy distributors were unable to register regulatory assets and liabilities concerning their activities. Besides, the same hypothesis was also evaluated for Canadian electricity incumbents. The inclusion of the Canadian companies in this study was the result of the permission given by the IASB, through IFRS 14, so that adopters of international standards from 2015, could continue to register the regulatory items. Findings – Using a value relevance model it was possible to conclude that there was a reduction in the relevance of the accounting information in the Brazilian case and that this decrease is very potentially related to the write-off of regulatory assets after IFRS. It was also observed that the same effect did not occur in the Canadian companies after the adoption of this normative set. It was also verified that before the IFRS, both the regulatory assets of Brazilian companies and of Canadian firms, were from the statistical perspective also incorporated into the market value of the companies analyzed, denoting similar behavior on the part of investors. Originality/value – That is, although the economies of these jurisdictions are distinct, investors incorporated such accounting assets into stock prices because they could potentially verify realization rates on such items. Thus, it is concluded that the adoption of international standards did not benefit Brazilian energy distributors by distancing the book value from their market value.

Regulatory Convergence in the Financial Periphery: How Interdependence Shapes Regulators’ Decisions

Abstract We examine the processes by which regulations prevailing in countries at the core of the global economy spread to countries outside this small group. We show how specific cross-border relationships between banks, regulators, and investors generate regulatory interdependence that drives the diffusion of international standards from the standard-setting countries at the core of the financial system to the financial periphery. We argue that regulatory decisions in the financial periphery are shaped by the prior choices of regulators in other countries, mediated through four specific cross-border relationships associated with banking globalization. We draw on a new dataset of Basel II adoption in over ninety jurisdictions in the financial periphery. Using spatial lag models we show that regulators’ decisions over the adoption of international standards are shaped by the choices of regulators to whom they are connected through the cross-border operations of individual banks, international professional networks, and competition for capital. Our analysis underscores the value of parsing out the relevant actor-level linkages that connect countries: while international considerations shape regulatory decisions, what matters is not the extent to which countries are connected to the global economy but rather the nature of these connections.

Do globalisation and adoption of IFRS by banks in Africa lead to less earnings management?

PurposeThis paper aims to analyse the implications of globalisation and the adoption of international standards (International Financial Reporting Standards [IFRS]) for accounting information quality.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses a sample of 329 banks across 29 countries leading up to and beyond the implementation of IFRS to test for related hypotheses.FindingsFirst, banks’ financial statements are prepared on the basis of international standards as national economies are integrated when social norms are diffused. Building on these results, the second test suggests that the relatively high-quality earnings among banks in Africa during the period is attributable to the adoption of and interaction of IFRS with globalisation and the strategy of banks to diversify within and across interest and non-interest income.Originality/valueThe authors investigate how globalisation and the adoption of IFRS affect accounting information quality.

Winds of Change: How Up-To-Date Forecasting Methods Could Help Change Brazilian Wind Energy Policy and Save Billions of US$

This paper proposes a revaluation of the Brazilian wind energy policy framework and the energy auction requirements. The proposed model deals with the four major issues associated with the wind policy framework that are: long-term wind speed sampling, wind speed forecasting reliability, energy commercialization, and the wind farm profitability. Brazilian wind policy, cross-checked against other countries policies, showed to be too restrictive and outdated. This paper proposes its renewal, through the adoption of international standards by Brazilian policy-makers, reducing the wind time sampling necessary to implement wind farms. To support such a policy change, a new wind forecasting method is designed. The method is based on fuzzy time series shaped with a statistical significance approach. It can be used to forecast wind behavior, by drawing the most-likely wind energy generation intervals given a confidence degree. The proposed method is useful to evaluate a wind farm profitability and design the biding strategy in auctions.

The Perceptions and Determinants of Auditing and Reporting Quality in the Asia‐Pacific Region

AbstractA country's institutional environment significantly influences perceptions of auditing and reporting quality (ARQ) at the national level. Relying on a relatively unique measure of ARQ, collated by the World Economic Forum, we evaluate the influence of nine key isomorphic pressures on the ARQ in 26 Asia‐Pacific countries. The results suggest that six of these (the efficacy of the corporate board, securities exchange regulations, reliance on professional management, protection of minority interests, adoption of international financial reporting and prevalence of foreign ownership) have a highly significant influence on the perception of ARQ whereas adoption of international standards on auditing is only moderately significant. However, contrary to expectations, our findings do not support the argument that the efficiency of legal frameworks and political systems significantly influences the perceptions of auditing and reporting quality in the Asia‐Pacific region. These results should be of use to investors and the accounting profession in evaluating economic environments.

Empowering Australia in the global oil and gas standardisation initiative

The World Economic Forum has identified the oil and gas industry’s poor productivity performance as a significant barrier to the sanction of large capital projects. 75% of large exploration and production projects between 2010 and 2014 exceeded their budget by 50% on average and 50% of these projects exceeded schedule by almost 40%. A major cause of these poor productivity outcomes is the lack of standardisation. In Australia, the Productivity Commission raised similar concerns about Australian projects. In 2015, the government launched its competitiveness agenda that saw the formation of six industry growth centres, including National Energy Resources Australia (NERA) for oil and gas, coal and uranium. In 2017, NERA, as part of the global standardisation initiative being pursued through the International Oil and Gas Producers Association, successfully delivered a project to elevate Australia to full participating member status of the International Standards Organisation’s Technical Committee for oil and gas, petrochemicals and energy. Australia’s participation is coordinated through Standards Australia’s committee, ME-092, that also oversees several working groups progressing specific initiatives to enhance Australia’s competitiveness. This paper describes Australia’s position within the global oil and gas standardisation initiative, highlights the strategy being pursued to maximise productivity through the adoption of international standards and discusses areas being led by Australian initiatives as part of the international program. Information will be provided on how opportunities can be realised through this initiative and on the role of professionals in supporting Australia’s drive to build a regional oil and gas hub that will attract capital investment for decades to come.

Convergência ao padrão IFRS e suavização de resultados em empresas de energia elétrica

The objective of this research is to analyze if there has been an increase in earnings management level (GR) using the income smoothing method in the electricity sector companies listed on the B3 with the adoption of the accounting standards of the IASB. The proposal is timely, since, due to the greater flexibility of the rules, there is the possibility of a greater GR. On the other hand, it is a heavily regulated industry, prompting, in turn, the possibility of this factor inhibiting such practices. Were analyzed the financial statements from 2003 to 2007 as the preconvergence period, and 2010 to 2014 as the post-convergence period. As GR proxy, the variance of waste equation proposed by Chen et al. (2010) and Barth et al. (2008) was considered, with adaptations, where a smaller variability in net profit is seen as practice for greater smoothing results and higher GR. The research findings show a reduction in the level of income smoothing after the adoption of IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards). In fact, the findings indicate that the adoption of international standards for companies in that sector can improve the quality of accounting information and therefore reduce the earnings management levels, mainly due to the demand for greater disclosure and quality of financial reporting, corroborating with the results of the researches of Barth et al. (2008), Iatridis (2010) and Chen et al. (2010). Keywords: income smothing, electricity sector, international standards.

Opacity of financial information, adoption of international standards and legal origins

Purpose – The goal of this study was to investigate the relationship between the level of Earnings Opacity and a company’s informational environment, specifically considering accounting standards and the legal origins of the system. Design/methodology/approach – The sample consisted of publicly traded companies from 20 countries classified as emerging, based on agency Standard & Poor’s index. The sample included data from 2004 to 2013. In order to compare the indicators among the group of countries, taking into account their institutional characteristics, the Mann-Whitney test and the Kruskal-Wallis test were performed. Findings – The assessment of the informational environment measures’ behavior in emerging countries revealed that these measures were correlated, suggesting that, despite different behaviors, opacity proxies share information. The fact that earnings opacity was lower in countries that had already adopted international standards during the analyzed period was also observed. In the same sense, a higher level of income smoothing was detected in countries of French code law origins. Originality/value – This article contributes to the understanding of the relationship between the characteristics of an accounting informational environment and the levels of opacity of the information emitted by accounting. Thus, this article has helped managers, investors and regulators to understand users’ needs and how country-specific characteristics change their perspectives.