Increase In Fees Research Articles

Meal provision in early childhood education and care programs: Association with geographic disadvantage, social disadvantage, cost, and market competition in an Australian population

BackgroundAcross developed economies, most children attend early childhood education and care (ECEC) programs attending up to 10,000 h prior to school. These programs present significant opportunity for public health nutrition interventions through provision of healthy food. We sought to identify whether this opportunity is being taken through analysis of population data from Queensland, Australia. Specifically, we asked if meal provision occurs in locations where risk of food insecurity is high and how economic functioning of ECEC services is associated with meal provision. MethodsOf ECEC services in Queensland, (N = 1623) administrative data on meal provision (2020) was available for 947 ECEC services (58.4% of cohort). We assessed the association of meal provision in these services with area indices of social disadvantage (geographic location, social disadvantage, proportion of child developmental vulnerability) and ECEC service economic functioning (fee structure, market competition). FindingsECEC services in remote and rural communities were less likely to provide meals. A similar but weaker trend was evident in socio-economically disadvantaged metropolitan communities. In these locations market competition increased likelihood of meal provision but without fee increase. InterpretationThe competitive market works contrary to the potential for ECEC services to support child nutrition and promote public health. Children living in disadvantaged communities, where food insecurity is inevitably higher, are less likely to have meals provided by their ECEC service. Market competition increases the likelihood of meal provision, yet in disadvantaged communities, parents’ ability to pay constrains fees that can be charged raising concern about food quality and effects on quality of provision more broadly. Systemic public supports to enable high quality food provision without compromising other aspects of quality, particularly in the most disadvantaged communities, should be a public health priority.

Perancangan Aplikasi Administrasi SPP Online Berbasis Web Pada Sekolah Dasar

This research aims to design a web-based online tuition fee administration application for use in Adhyaksa Elementary School located in Jambi City. The development of this application aims to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of managing tuition fee administration and increase parental involvement in the payment process. The research will utilize a software development research method, comprising phases of needs analysis, application design, implementation, and testing. Data will be collected through interviews with the school authorities and relevant literature study concerning tuition fee administration and web-based applications. The results of the needs analysis will be used to design the online tuition fee administration application that suits the requirements and characteristics of Adhyaksa Elementary School in Jambi City. Subsequently, the application will be implemented using web technologies and programming languages that are appropriate for the purpose. In conclusion, the research has successfully developed the Web-Based Online Tuition Fee Administration Application for Adhyaksa Elementary School in Jambi City. The system functions well and includes features such as generating tuition fee invoices, recording fee payments, and sending payment notifications to parents/guardians.

Getting more third-party participants on board: Optimal pricing and investment decisions in competitive platform ecosystems

In two-sided markets, hardware/software platforms meet the unified and personalized demands of consumers through hardware and software products respectively, forming their own ecosystems. For platform enterprises, how to drive third-party value creation through interface extensibility investment (typically on application programming interfaces, or APIs) under different pricing schemes, has become a critical issue under intensified competition. In this paper, we build game theoretic models in four platform competition scenarios (NR, NRT, IR, IRT) considering both investment decisions—no investment (N), investment (I), and pricing decisions—registration fee only (R), registration fee and transaction fee (RT), and analyze the competitive equilibrium in each scenario. Our results show that: (1) Although “reducing price” and “enhancing investment” are partial substitutes, platforms are still incentivized to implement both strategies. Contrary to the traditional wisdom, when platforms with investment charge both registration and transaction fees, the strengthening of cross-side network effect may lead to an increase in registration fee on both sides. (2) The improvement of interface extension effectiveness (cost reduction for developers per unit of investment from platforms) shifts more developers from single-homing to multi-homing, leading to fiercer market competition and thus lower platform profit in equilibrium. (3) Although implementing investment may not be optimal from the profit perspective, it does help platforms in securing a larger market share on the developer side. (4) The existence of same-side network effect enhances both side users’ incentive to enter the market; however, for the platforms, they should carefully mind the irrational price competition to avoid falling into profit-hurting traps.

Online Retailer’s Contingent Free-Shipping Decisions under Large-Scale Promotions Considering Delayed Delivery

Large-scale promotions lead to a huge number of orders, and the quantity of deliveries grows sharply, which puts considerable strain on cities’ logistics and imposes high related shipping costs. To alleviate these consequences, in this paper we provide a new contingent free shipping policy with delayed delivery (DD-CFS) for an online retailer during large-scale promotions and study its CFS threshold decisions, considering consumers’ different sensitivities to delivery time delays.We start by analyzing a consumer’s purchasing decision based on consumer utility theory. Next, we establish a mathematical model to help the online retailer find the optimal CFS threshold to maximize its expected profit. Finally, we analyze the benefit of delayed delivery to the online retailer and conduct a sensitivity analysis to examine the impacts of important parameters on the online retailer’s CFS threshold decisions, profit, and the value of the delayed delivery. We find that the DD-CFS policy can lead to more profits during the large-scale promotions period compared with the traditional CFS policy. As the delayed delivery time and the consumer’s negative attitude towards delayed delivery time increase, the online retailer should reduce the low CFS threshold value. On the other hand, as the shipping fee and the consumer’s negative attitude towards the shipping fee increase, the online retailer should raise the high and low CFS threshold values.

The Association Between Audit Committee Financial Expert Characteristics and Audit Fees

Using a sample of 136 Fortune 500 companies for the year 2011 (Post-Dodd Frank Act of 2010 has increased additional scrutiny on the monitoring activities of the audit committee members), we investigate whether certain characteristics of ACFE (number of financial experts, tenure, age, education, and gender) have contributed to increase in audit fees. We assume that audit efficiencies occur in audits of firms with certain ACFE characteristics, possibly contributing to increases in audit coverage and subsequent increase in audit fees. We find that older female ACFE tend to ask for higher audit coverage leading to increased audit fees thereby influencing audit quality.

Predict the Future Price Movements of Gold and Bitcoin Based on The Long Short-Term Memory Neural Network Model

Market traders often buy and sell volatile assets to maximize their returns, usually with Bitcoin or gold commissions. We started from November 9, 2016, to predict the future price movements of gold and bitcoin, based on the long short-term memory neural network model. First, we preprocessed the data for outliers and added the prices of gold and bitcoin to the training. At the same time, based on the price of the day, we also established a strategy model based on the Sharpe ratio and particle swarm algorithm. Then, through the sensitivity analysis, we found that as the transaction fee increases, the number of transactions of gold and Bitcoin decreases significantly, and the value decreases. On the contrary, there is the same theory, which proves that our model is perfect.

Research on The Comprehensive Planning Model of Gold and Bitcoin

In this paper, we preprocessed the data for outliers and added the prices of gold and bitcoin to the training. At the same time, based on the price of the day, we also established a strategy model based on the Sharpe ratio and particle swarm algorithm. We established a comprehensive planning model for cash, gold, and Bitcoin through the planning process. A particle swarm algorithm simulated the optimization process, and the optimal solution was found. Finally, through the sensitivity analysis, we found that as the transaction fee increases, the number of transactions of gold and Bitcoin decreases significantly, and the value decreases.

Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on the Financial Performance of the Banking Sector of Bangladesh

Covid-19 pandemic has affected both real and nominal sectors of all countries in the world. The paper has examined the impact of this pandemic on the banking sector of Bangladesh. Using ratio and correlation analysis on 2019 and 2020 data some interesting findings are invented. Pandemic has incurred devastating and homogeneous impacts for all type of banks in Bangladesh. Profitability and efficiency have decreased sharply. The analysis shows that if the provision criteria had not been relaxed, the profit rate would have been decreased further. Negative growth of profitability and interest earning by the most banks are very glaring. Aggregate profit of the banking system has fallen about 4 percent. Further, evidence of investment scope shrinking is also manifested. Hence, sheer income rearrangement is also detected by the banks in pandemic situation. The loss caused by the decrease of interest earning was attempted to offset by the increase of fee based income. However, productivity is remained largely unchanged during the pandemic. Additionally, drastic fall of major balance sheet items in 2020 are also noticed. Banks were desperate to save themselves from the tsunami of losses by searching alternative sources of business too. Additionally, profit fall and international linkage of individual banks have very high association. The paper has very high stake particularly for crisis management of the banking system of developing countries where banks are suffering from the less variety of product and lending activities.

Audit committee members’ proximity to corporate headquarters and audit fees

PurposeThis study aims to investigate how audit committee members’ geographical location relative to corporate headquarters affects audit fees. The motivation for the paper rests on the observation that regulatory and market trends have significantly affected the composition of boards of directors and audit committees. To ensure that audit committees play their monitoring role, regulations now require directors’ independence and some level of financial expertise. The need to find directors who meet these requirements, as well as the advent of globalization and technological improvements lead firms to expand their reach when looking for directors.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use a sample of 1,517 firm-year observations of Canadian firms from 2008 to 2017. The study relies on multivariate analyses.FindingsThe results show that, among nonlocal audit committee members, the presence of foreign directors is associated with higher audit fees. In contrast, other nonlocal audit committee members do not have a differential impact on audit fees. This effect is more prevalent in large firms. Moreover, having a foreign chair of the audit committee as well as foreign audit committee members who are not accounting experts appear to accentuate the increase in audit fees. A possible explanation for the finding is that, from the supply side, auditors assign a higher risk to firms with a higher percentage of foreign audit committee members. Alternatively, from the demand side, firms with foreign audit committee members may ask for more audit effort. Further analysis indicates that having a higher percentage of foreign audit committee members is associated with a higher likelihood of restatements, an indication of low audit quality.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to document that auditors price the location of audit committee members and consider it when planning for their audit.

The Cause of Drop of the Water Level of Underground Quaternary Aquifer of a Mine under Mining Influence

Water outburst on the coal mining face will result in the shutdown of the working face, tense mine connection, a sharp increase in mine drainage fee, and serious impact on normal production. In severe cases, it will give rise to mine flooding and endanger state property and life safety. Hydrogeochemical evolution characteristics of groundwater in different aquifers of the test mine were studied using the hydrogeochemical method, especially the source of chemical constituents of groundwater in different aquifers (type of water-rock interaction). Meanwhile, the GMS model was built, and change law of the stratigraphic texture of the gob overlying rock was studied based on site geological conditions. Specific to a sharp drop in Quaternary aquifer of the second west mining area of the test mine, the cause was analyzed based on site geological conditions and using hydrogeochemistry and geologic modeling method to ensure high yield and high efficiency of mine and provide references for production safety of mines of the same kind.

Business Strategy, Financial Reporting Violations, and Audit Pricing in an Emerging Market—Evidence from China

ABSTRACTWe examine whether a firm's business strategy is associated with financial reporting violations and audit fees in an emerging market setting. We follow the typology of Miles and Snow (1978, 2003) that describes a strategy continuum with the innovative “prospector” strategy and the cost-leadership “defender” strategy at the two ends. Using data from China, we find that prospectors are associated with more financial reporting violations and higher audit fees than defenders. Specifically, prospectors are positively associated with the occurrence of inadvertent reporting violations. Further analysis reveals that the increase in audit fees for prospectors is not different among firms exposed to different levels of business risk (proxied by ownership structure, auditor size, and leverage). We conjecture that the associations between business strategy and financial reporting violations and audit fees in China are due to firm financial reporting risks arising from accounting complexity.Data Availability: Data used are available from public sources indicated in the text.

Research and Development Expenditure, Audit Fees, and Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure: Evidence from Chinese Listed Firms*

AbstractThis study of Chinese listed firms from 2008 to 2018 shows that research and development (R&D) expenditure is associated with increased audit fees. However, corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure can attenuate this fee increase, especially in firms with an opaque information environment, high risks, and non‐high‐ and new‐technology enterprises. These findings are robust to the use of proxies and instrumental variables, propensity score matching, and controlling for firm fixed effects and CSR performance. This study contributes to the understanding of the economic consequences of R&D activities, determinants of audit fees, and CSR disclosure.

Combined trading strategy of bitcoin and gold

Market traders buy and sell volatile assets frequently, with a goal to maximize their total return. We have been asked to develop a model that uses only the past stream of daily prices to date to determine each day if the trader should buy, hold, or sell their assets in their portfolio. The assets that can be traded are Bitcoin and gold. We will start with $1000 on 9/11/2016 and try to maximize the total return until 9/10/2021. We will start from forecasting prices and developing trading strategies. In terms of price prediction, we use MSE and Trend_Acc as indicators, and use XGBoost, a representative strong learning algorithm in traditional machine learning, and LSTM, which is good at time series prediction in deep learning, to fit and forecast the data respectively. At first glance, the curve fitting MSE are satisfactory , but, a closer look reveals that the model either firmly remembers the data of the training set, resulting in a lack of generalization ability for unknown data (XGBoost), or tends to take the previous day's results as the predicted results, resulting in a significant lag in the prediction curve (LSTM), all of which are reflected in the models' poor performance in predicting whether prices will rise or fall in the future. In our view, since a large number and complexity of factors affecting prices, it is unrealistic to predict future prices accurately from past prices alone, unless we can get rid of the limitation of the problem, use additional data to assist the prediction, or use all the data as a training set for fitting, we cannot achieve good results in the prediction, but such behavior is inconsistent with our original intention. We established restricted trading model based on composite index judgment. The model not only applies the traditional economic Relative Strength Index and Stochastics Oscillator Index, but also introduces the K-Lipschitz limitation in deep learning into the model. The model dynamically adjusts each transaction strategy according to the changes of working capital and total assets, purchase cost, selling profit and other factors, and the total income of the model is $132433.1. In the horizontal comparison, the profit of our model is more than 39.6%-283.6% than that of the traditional moving average strategy and RSI-STC strategy, and 51.3% higher than that of the random walk model using Montmarlowe algorithm. In addition, we collected the transaction data of bitcoin and gold from 2012-01-01 to 2022-02-21, and applied the model to the historical data, and received good returs. For example, from 2012-1-1 to 2022-2-21, the return was $8418074.9. It is proved that the model has high generalization performance and strong stability. To test the sensitivity of the model to transaction costs, we also analyze the changes in trading strategies that should occur when fees rise. The analysis shows that the traders' single trading volume decreases first and then increases with the increase of the commission fee. The results of sensitivity analysis show that the return change is less than 3%, which proves the robustness of the model. Finally, we made a memo to summarize our work.

기업형 민간임대주택의 운영 안정성에 미치는 요인 분석

This study analyzed the factors affecting the actual residence period of tenants using limited data, based on the recognition that the supply of private rental housing can play an important role in establishing housing stability for the middle-income class. The most important result confirmed by the empirical analysis is that the larger the amount of Jeonse-Deposit, which can be understood as the size of total housing services, the longer the period of residence becomes in the private rental housing markets. From the perspective of private rental housing management, it is understood that an increase in the total rental fee (Jeonse-Deposit) will help bring stability to management because it means an increase in sales volume as far as other conditions are the same. On the other hand, among the same size of total rental fee (Jeonse-Deposit), the higher the proportion of the monthly rent is, the shorter the residence period becomes. The size of the deposit and monthly rent are both related to the creditworthiness of the lessor and the lessee, so it is very important to properly adjust the proportion of monthly rent and deposit. Results of the empirical analysis also show that corporate tenants have longer tenancy than individual tenants, and that as the size of private rental housing increases, the tenancy period decreases.

Enhancing Student Employability in Collaboration with the Industry: Case Study of a Partnership with Amazon Web Services Academy

The continuous increase in tuition fees in high education in many countries requires justification by the university authorities of what students receive from them in return. One of the key factors of student recruitment is values for money and quality learning experiences including hands-on industry training that can guarantee immediate employment for the graduates. This article describes redesigning the curriculum of a cloud computing undergraduate module in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) Academy. Industry-based practical hands-on labs were incorporated into this module for engineering students to improve their practical knowledge and skills related to the Internet of Things. Through an innovative approach, this practitioner research introduces industry best practices and hands-on labs in cloud computing. In this approach, academic theories were incorporated in cloud computing with their applications through industry attachment. It enables students to have both the theoretical and practical knowledge and skills for ensuring their careers in the field of cloud computing. The study finds that students tend to be more engaged and learn better when theoretical knowledge and understanding are combined with real-world applications through the attachment with the industry.

Regulatory intervention and audit quality: new evidence from audit firm suspension

PurposeThis paper aims to examine how auditors respond through audit fees and audit quality following disciplinary actions imposed by audit regulators in an emerging market setting.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses the disciplinary actions in 2017 against two major audit firms in China as an exogenous shock to examine the effect of tougher enforcement actions on auditor behavior as reflected in their emended audit fees and audit quality. This paper sampled from publicly listed firms in China with requisite data for the period 2015 through 2018. Using a difference-in-differences model, this paper examines whether the enforcement action (i.e. the suspension of audit firms) significantly impacted the audit fees and audit quality for clients of the disciplined audit firms (hereafter, suspended audit firms) in the two-year period postsuspension relative to audit firms that were not disciplined (hereafter, nonsuspended audit firms).FindingsThis paper finds evidence of increased audit fees and improved audit quality by the suspended audit firms relative to the nonsuspended audit firms in the two-year period postsuspension. These findings suggest that in contrast to symbolic disciplinary actions such as public censures documented in prior literature (Boone et al.,2015), tougher punitive disciplinary actions are followed by an increase in audit fees and an improvement in audit quality by the suspended audit firms. This paper also finds that the deterrent effect from the audit firm suspension is exclusive to the penalized audit firms and had no positive spillover effects on their peers.Research limitations/implicationsA limitation of this study is the focus on the effect of audit firm suspension against two large local audit firms in China. Given the unique characteristics of the Chinese audit market and the Chinese regulatory environment, our findings may not be generalizable to audit firms in other countries and jurisdictions, especially where the audit market is dominated by the international Big 4 auditors that possess greater brand name capital than second-tier local audit firms.Originality/valueThis paper provides novel evidence on the impact of strengthened enforcement on auditor behavior in an emerging market setting. This paper contributes to the existing literature examining the impact of regulatory interventions on financial reporting outcomes and audit quality. While there is evidence on how regulations affect financial statement preparers’ demand for high audit quality, there is limited research on how regulatory interventions affect auditor’s incentive to supply higher audit quality. This paper also contributes to the scant existing evidence on the effect of disciplinary actions against audit firms in emerging economies.

Auditor pricing of abnormal income from sales of available for sale securities: evidence from the banking industry

We examine the relationship between abnormal income from sales of available for sale (AFS) securities and bank external auditor fees. Prior research finds that income from sales of AFS securities is used to achieve financial and regulatory reporting objectives, helpful in predicting future bank income, and assigned a persistent valuation multiple by investors. Building on prior research that suggests real activities management leads to negative outcomes, we predict and find that auditors respond to abnormal income from AFS securities sales with increases in audit fees and the effect is stronger among high risk (i.e. higher stock return and earnings volatility) banks relative to low risk banks. In additional analyses concerning a bank’s limited flexibility to achieve regulatory capital objectives through managing loan loss provisions, we find evidence of higher audit fees for banks with low regulatory capital and aggressive income-increasing AFS security sales. Among other robustness tests, we find higher audit fees as abnormal income from sales of AFS securities increases among banks with liquidity concerns and those approaching failure. Our findings suggest that auditors interpret abnormal income from AFS securities sales as an indicator of increased client business risk.

Analisis Pengelolaan Keuangan Untuk Melihat Kinerja Sekolah Menegah Kejuruan Di SMK Negeri 1 Sukasada

The purpose of this study was to analyze the planning and realization of the budget in the management of school finances at SMK Negeri 1 Sukasada. Direct costs and direct routine costs at SMK Negeri 1 Sukasada in 2017 to 2020 where the average tuition fee for students in the last 4 years has increased and decreased, in 2017 the average student tuition fee per month was Rp. 167.094, in 2018 the average monthly tuition fee for students is Rp. 193,666, where there was an increase in the average tuition fee of students in 2018 of Rp. 26,572, while in 2019 the average monthly tuition fee for students is Rp. 175,551, and in 2020 the average monthly tuition fee of students again increased by Rp. 182,375. Realization and budget at SMK Negeri 1 Sukasada in 2017 to 2020 where the budget ratio in the last 4 years has increased and decreased, in 2017 and 2018 the budget ratio was 0.99, where there was an increase in the budget ratio in 2019 of 0.01 to 1.00, while in 2020 the budget ratio again decreased by 0.07. When viewed from the ratio of income to expenditure at SMK Negeri 1 Sukasada in 2017 to 2020 where the ratio of income to expenditure in the last 4 years has increased and decreased, in 2017 and 2018 the budget ratio was 1.01, where there was a decrease in the ratio of income to expenditure in 2019 by 0.01 to 1.00, while in 2020 the expenditure income ratio again increased by 0.08.

The effect of the availability of paying places on the regularity of paying the National Health Insurance (NHI) contributions of independent NHI participants post the policy of increasing contributions in Muna district, southeast Sulawesi province

Currently, Social Security Administrator (SSA) Health is still facing big problems in the form of non-compliance and regularity in paying public health insurance contributions. The low compliance with paying NHI contributions will have an impact on the availability of funds in health services. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of the availability of a place to pay with the regularity of paying dues for independent NHI participants after the increase in fees in Muna Regency, Southeast Sulawesi. This type of research is quantitative research using a cross sectional study design. This research was conducted in Muna Regency in 2021, with a total sample of 98 people. Sampling using side purposive technique. Data analysis was carried out univariate and bivariate. Presentation of data in the form of frequency distribution accompanied by explanations. The results showed that there was no effect of the availability of payment facilities on the regularity of paying dues for independent NHI participants after the contribution increase policy in Muna Regency, Southeast Sulawesi Province with a value of p = 0.095 (p>0.05). Conclusion; there is no effect of the availability of payment places on the regularity of paying the contributions of independent NHI participants. Recommendation; the need for SSA to increase cooperation with service providers for payment of contributions so that the community does not have difficulty paying NHI contributions.

Considering the recent increase in license fees in Turkey, how can the negative effect of the fees on the mining operating costs be reduced?

In Turkey, for mining enterprises to realize their activities and conduct mining production, they are obliged to pay operating license fees annually. This obligation starts from the date of operating license application, about 1–1.5 years before the enterprises obtain a production permit. In recent years, an increase in the operating license fees has occurred as a result of the amendments made in the mining legislation. These increases made in the fees might become revenue loss in the forthcoming years despite creating an increase in the revenues of the state. In Turkey, according to Law No.7164 came into force in 2019, mineral groups, operating license areas and periods are considered in the calculation of operating license fee. In this direction, these factors in the fee calculation were used in the calculations by means of the answers given by enterprises through SurveyMonkey program. These fees paid to start from the mining operating license application to obtaining an operation permit are included in the investment cost. These costs were proportioned to the investment costs of the enterprises. Fees paid after obtaining an operation permit are operating costs. And, these fees were proportioned to the operating costs of the enterprises. Also, operating license fees per hectare were calculated. All these data were compared for the legislation periods 2005–2015, 2016–2019, 2020 and after in Turkey. An increase of 98% on average on US$ basis has arisen in these fees in 2020 compared to the legislation period 2016–2019 due to the new formula foreseen particularly in the calculation of operating license fees. Also, mining enterprises paid these fees 3.5% more on US$ basis in 2021 compared to 2020 due to the license period being considered in the new calculation formula. Although the rate of increase decreases every year, increases close to this rate will emerge. Mining enterprises should be responsible for the calculation method and conditions of operating license fee that is valid on the date when operating licenses are obtained. And, they should annually pay operating license fees according to this method. Considering that enterprises pay high fees for other land uses too, the increasing license fees should be demanded from enterprises in the direction that they will not create mining cost risk and that the state will charge the optimum fee. If there will not be discounts in the other fees required from enterprises, in line with the expectation of the mining sector, the operating license fee calculation methods in the previous legislation periods can be applied. This fee may not be taken before the operation permit. Or, even if the current operating license fee formula is applied, changes can be made in the critera used in the formula. Within the scope, if permit area is used instead of license area in the calculation, operating license fees will be calculated ∼50–55% deducted.