Independent Companies Research Articles

Ranking Independent Audit Companies by Critic-Copras Methods

Ranking Independent Audit Companies by Critic-Copras Methods

Celebrating 100 Years of the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologist

In 2022, the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists (RMAG) celebrated its centennial anniversary. Founded on January 26, 1922, RMAG (called Rocky Mountain Association of Petroleum Geologists until 1947) grew out of a desire and need for petroleum geologists in Denver to come together in a collegial environment. Petroleum geology had become an important component of exploration and development, with significant discoveries in the greater Denver Basin (Florence Field) as well as east-central Wyoming (Salt Creek Field) and northwest Colorado (Rangely Field). Through the first 25 years (1922–1947), membership hovered around 50, reflecting an initial boom of World War I through the 1920s, and then surviving the Great Depression and World War II. Post-World War II through the early 1980s, the world saw a huge increase in demand for oil (less-so for natural gas), spurring the “golden years” of Rocky Mountain exploration and development of many now-famous discoveries. Denver grew as a petroleum business center with large (major) to small (independent) companies, leading to steady RMAG membership growth, which peaked at 4,524 in 1984. During this period, RMAG established a legacy of publishing (The Mountain Geologist and the Geologic Atlas of the Rocky Mountain Region, aka “the Big Red Book”), sponsored multi-day field trips and symposia, hosted weekly luncheons with 200–300 attendees at the peak, and maintained a dedicated office staff located in downtown Denver. The legacy “golden” years ended with the “crash” in oil prices in 1985–86, and membership declined about 7% per year until the mid-1990s, levelling out at 1,900 members. Within the ashes of the 1984–1995 period, however, RMAG began its On the Rocks field trip series (1986) and published several sold-out guidebooks. It inaugurated the 3D Seismic Symposium (1995) co-hosted with the Denver Geophysical Society (DGS) and hosted several successful AAPG and Rocky Mountain Section AAPG annual meetings. In the 1990s, natural gas hosted in “unconventional” reservoirs began an exploration/development revolution, spurred on by federal price supports and construction of a major gas pipeline to the West Coast in 1992. By 2000, huge natural gas resources locked in Rocky Mountain “tight gas” reservoirs became economically viable with improved hydraulic fracturing technology and increasing gas prices. RMAG membership began growing along with the increased natural gas-drilling activity, and RMAG offered multiple well-attended symposia and publications highlighting unconventional gas plays. A new boom began in 2008 with the advent of horizontal drilling for oil in the Bakken Shale of the Williston Basin and Niobrara Formation of the Denver Basin, and a massive increase in oil price. Consequently, RMAG membership reached a secondary peak of 2,978 in 2012. However, as oil prices began declining steadily in 2014, membership also decreased. By 2016, oil price decline led to the familiar cycle of company closings and layoffs. In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic shut down all in-person RMAG activities, heavily impacting the organization. RMAG pivoted to online (virtual) luncheons, symposia, and field trips. Even so, membership declined to about 1200 members in 2022. The challenges that the RMAG will face in the next 100 years will be daunting. Long-term sustainability of the RMAG will require its members and member-leaders to recognize and embrace changes as they occur.

Planning and Construction of Modern Urban Drainage Testing Laboratory

In order to implement the national green development concept and water quality improvement strategy, independent drainage companies have been set up in recent years to deal with heavy rain and heavy pollution. In order to meet the higher demand of water quality and Environmental monitoring regulation, drainage companies have set up and built their own drainage testing laboratories. In this paper, through the planning, design and construction of the newly-built urban drainage testing laboratory, from the overall ideas, design concepts and principles of construction, this paper expounds the problems, factors and the latest applicable technology which should be paid attention to in the overall layout, the division of functional areas, the configuration of construction materials, instruments and equipment, etc., in order to improve the laboratory science and technology and modernization level, promote and ensure the laboratory to meet the latest standards and application needs, for the relevant units to build similar laboratory experience.

Analysing the impact of collaborations between airlines and maintenance service company under MRO outsourcing mode: Perspective from airline's operations

The practice of Aircraft Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) outsourcing has changed airline companies' decision-making processes in both operational and tactical levels. Specifically, the aircraft heavy maintenance service provided by an independent maintenance service company alleviates airlines' fixed-asset investments and daily operations regarding maintenance. On the other hand, the fluctuations in MROs service capability, availability and service level also affect airlines' fleet management and daily operations if their maintenance demands cannot be met in a timely manner. In this regard, the impact of the collaborations between airlines and maintenance service company is investigated from the perspective of airline's operations, by studying the maintenance planning problem at operational level. Afterwards, to examine and investigate the impact of collaborations between the two parties have on airline's operational performance, aircraft maintenance routing problems under ‘airlines-service company’ non-collaborative and collaborative contexts are investigated and formulated. The computational results demonstrate the effectiveness of the MRO collaboration under outsourcing mode, in view of airline company's overall operational revenue and flexibility while carrying out maintenance routing for individual aircraft in its fleet.

PENGARUH PERILAKU CEO NARSISME DAN UKURAN PERUSAHAAN TERHADAP KINERJA KEUANGAN PADA PERUSAHAAN SUB SEKTOR OTOMOTIF 2019 – 2021

The most important part that will be the handle of the Automotive company is to maximize its financial performance. The most important part to improve and achieve the goals of a company is to improve financial performance. The type of research data used is quantitative data using data that collects samples because it uses the approach explanatory reseach method to analyze and test the relationship to two variables, namely CEO behavior, Company Size being an independent variable and Company Performance being a dependent variable. The subject of this study data is to take a sample population of the automotive sub-sector & its components collected through the company's website and IDX from 2019 to 2021. Company performance is measured by ROE. The behavior of the CEO of Narcissism can be seen and assessed through the annual report of a company by posting photos. While the size of the company is calculated by natural logarithm multiplied by total sales (LnTotalSale). The conclusion was obtained that there is no influence of CEO Narcissism on company performance and Company Size on the Company Performance of the Automotive sub-sector and its components in 2019 – 2021.
 Keywords: CEO Narcissism, Company Size, Company Performance, Ln(total sales), ROE. 

Facilitation or inhibition? Impact of CEO's financial background on industrial AI transformation of manufacturing companies.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically test the impact of CEO's financial background on industrial AI transformation of manufacturing enterprises based on upper echelons theory and imprinting theory. The paper preliminarily takes listed manufacturing companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets that are affiliated to enterprise groups from 2014 to 2020 as samples, and manually collects and collates datas of CEO's financial background and industrial AI transformation. The research hypotheses are tested by stata 15.0 software. It is found that CEO's financial background significantly inhibits the industrial AI transformation of manufacturing enterprises, and when the CEO works part-time in the parent company, it will strengthen the negative impact of CEO's financial background on industrial AI transformation. Further research shows that enterprise financialization plays a partial intermediary role between CEO's financial background and industrial AI transformation; Compared with private enterprise groups, the inhibiting effect of CEO financial background on industrial AI transformation is stronger in state-owned enterprise groups; CEOs with non-banking financial background have a stronger inhibitory effect on industrial AI transformation. Firstly, based on the process of making business decisions, it verifies and clarifies the action mechanism of CEO's financial background on industrial AI transformation through internal driving mechanism, which expands the research horizon of industrial AI transformation, and further applies the Imprinting Theory in biology to the research of business decision-making, which forms a beneficial complement to the relevant research on economic consequences of CEO's financial background. Secondly, different from the research of single independent company, this paper focuses on the special situation of parent-subsidiary corporate governance, and explores the mechanism of action, deepening the research on the synergy of enterprise groups. Finally, this paper further explores the influence of CEO's financial background on industrial AI transformation, which is conducive to a deeper understanding of the heterogeneity of managers except manpower and capital factors in the industrial AI transformation practice of manufacturing enterprises, and provides a new idea and a more comprehensive analysis perspective for industrial AI transformation.

Should I stay or should I go? Benefits of crowd-checking technology for a face-to-face shopping experience

Purpose Long sales periods (i.e. Christmas time, Black Friday, etc.) and the risk of contagion while shopping (i.e. during pandemics like COVID-19) showed the extent to which crowded shopping environments have negative effects on consumers’ behavior. Hence, using terror management theory (TMT) and stimulus–organism–response (S–O–R) approach, the authors aims to develop a new model to investigate the effect of crowd-checking technology on shopping anxiety, the perceived value of shopping experience and willingness to pay. Design/methodology/approach Using a cross-sectional research design and with a help of an independent research company, the authors collected 1,000 valid responses from individuals residing in the UK. Findings Results showed that crowd-checking technology cues reduce shopping anxiety, improve value perceptions and increase willingness to pay. In addition, the efficacy of technology in reducing shopping anxiety is moderated by customers’ shopping orientation. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first one investigating crowd monitoring systems used at the initial stage of consumers’ journey to show the number of consumers in-store in real-time. It contributes to the literature on technology applications in retailing by providing evidence that technology cues reduce shopping anxiety, which in turn enhances customer-perceived value from the shopping experience and increases the willingness to pay in stores with embedded crowd-checker technology. The study also extends the application of TMT in a new context.

A Management Procedure to take Advantage of Minorities

A group of companies is often formed and controlled by a single entity, namely the holding or parent company. The holding company has administrative control over the entire group, directing all investment and management decisions. The control can be either direct, meaning the parent company holds the majority of the voting rights of another economic entity of the group, or indirect, through intermediaries holding shares to a third company, and the parent can direct them to vote in its favor. The group has the same strategic mindset, and all decisions are made with the group’s overall growth in mind. Subject to the fact that the companies belonging to a group are being controlled and directed by another entity, a portion of their common stock k is often owned by third parties outside of the group. In accounting and consolidation processes these parties are referred to as the non-controlling interest and their rights as minority voting rights. Usually, such rights exist when a company is open to public offering and independent investors or external companies acquire part of the equity common stock, or when a partial takeover has taken place and the majority of the target’s capital is acquired by the group, in any combination. Minority rights in an economic entity cease at the percentage of the company’s share capital attributable to them. For the group as a whole, minority interests refer to the proportion of the group that is held by third parties. From the holding company’s point of view, the objective is to maximize the value of the group and, by extension, to maximize its shareholders value. In this article, we present a method where the holding company redistributes group’s shares. In addition, by allowing its own shares to trade, resulting in a greater decrease in holdings’ integrated control and a higher increase in its cash inflows.
 Keywords: group, participations, minority interest, CF, optimization

Determinants of Tax Avoidance

The purpose of researchers in carrying out research is to: Analyze how much managerial ownership influences Independent Commissioners, Audit Committees, Financial Distress, and Company Size, and Analyze how much Company size can moderate the independent variables. Researchers conducted research on all manufacturing companies that were listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange from 2016 to 2020. In determining the research sample, the researcher used a purposive sampling method. From this sampling method, there were 54 companies for 5 years, which totaled 270 sample data. Researchers used multiple linear regression analysis and moderated regression analysis for research data analysis methods by utilizing EViews software version 11. The results showed that independent commissioners & audit committees had an influence on tax evasion. In addition to these findings, it was also found that managerial ownership and financial distress had no effect on tax evasion. For testing moderation, the results obtained by the researcher prove that company sizes are able to moderate managerial ownership, independent commissioners, and audit committees on tax evasion. Meanwhile, the company has been unable to moderate financial difficulties on tax avoidance.

THE EFFECT OF INDEPENDENT COMMISSIONERS, COMPANY SIZE AND PROFITABILITY ON TAX AVOIDANCE IN COMPANIES LISTED IN THE IDX80 INDEX OF THE INDONESIA STOCK EXCHANGE

This study aims to analyze the Effect of Independent Commissioners, Company Size and Profitability on Tax Avoidance in Companies Listed in the IDX80 Index of the Indonesia Stock Exchange. The research method used is a quantitative method with secondary data obtained by collecting the annual financial statements of IDX80 companies on the Indonesia Stock Exchange page. The research sample was 57 IDX80 companies selected using a purposive sampling technique. The data analysis technique used is descriptive statistics, analysis prerequisite test, classical assumption test, multiple linear regression test and hypothesis testing. The results of this study indicate that independent commissioners have no effect on tax avoidance, company size harms tax avoidance and profitability has no effect on tax avoidance. The coefficient of determination in this study is 6%, indicating independent commissioners' ability, company size and profitability to affect tax avoidance. At the same time, the rest is influenced by other factors not examined

Owners' nonfinancial objectives and the diversification and internationalization of business groups

AbstractResearch Question/IssueStudies on business groups, a collection of legally separate firms operating in unrelated industries under common control, tend to compare the behavior of firms affiliated with business groups and firms that are independent companies. Unfortunately, this ignores the diversity among business groups based on their controlling owner. Hence, in this conceptual article, we study how the types of controlling owners impact the diversification and internationalization of business groups.Research Findings/InsightsBuilding on agency theory, we separate business groups into five types based on their ultimate controlling owners (state, labor, family, mutual, and bank) and identify their nonfinancial objectives. We argue that their nonfinancial objectives result in diverging levels of diversification and internationalization of business groups across owner types. Specifically, we propose that state‐owned and bank‐owned business groups have a relatively high level of diversification, labor‐owned and mutual‐owned business groups have a relatively moderate level, and family‐owned business groups have a relatively low level. We also argue that state‐owned and labor‐owned business groups have a relatively low level of internationalization, family‐owned business groups have a relatively moderate level, and mutual‐owned and bank‐owned business groups have a relatively high level. We add depth to these ideas by proposing that pro‐market reforms alter owners' ability to achieve their nonfinancial objectives, leading to diverging changes in business groups' diversification and internationalization across owner types. Specifically, we propose that following pro‐market reforms, state‐owned and bank‐owned business groups experience a large decrease in their level of diversification, labor‐owned and mutual‐owned business groups see a moderate decrease, and family‐owned business groups have a small decrease. We also argue that pro‐market reforms lead state‐owned and labor‐owned business groups to have a small increase in their level of internationalization, family‐owned a moderate increase, and mutual‐owned and bank‐owned to experience a large increase.Theoretical/Academic ImplicationsTo the business groups literature, we highlight the importance of controlling owners and their nonfinancial objectives as the drivers of business group diversification and internationalization, complementing the usual focus on market imperfections. To agency theory, we highlight the diversity of owners' nonfinancial objectives and explain how these affect strategy, complementing the traditional focus on differences in objectives between owners and professional managers driving strategy.Practitioner/Policy ImplicationsManagers can defend decisions based on the often‐unstated nonfinancial objectives of the controlling owners, countering external investors' criticisms of managers misbehaving by not aiming to maximize profits.

Orchestration capabilities in circular supply chains of post-consumer used clothes – A case study of a Swedish fashion retailer

In a circular economy environment, resources in various supply chain loops need to be continuously developed and coordinated across an ecosystem of independent companies. The purpose of this study is to explore the orchestration capabilities of an ecosystem-leading company in circular textile supply chains. The study takes an interactive research approach at a Swedish fashion retailer and describes the three overarching orchestration capabilities of (1) managing circular consumer offerings, (2) managing circular supply chain activities, and (3) partnering. Based on the emergent theoretical lens of orchestration capabilities, this research increases knowledge on how to manage circular practices across organizations. In particular, the findings signal the importance of how to organize resources in conjunction with consumer offerings and how an ecosystem-leading company can do this. The circular ecosystem context also draws attention to the need for collaboration. Collaboration is considered a major characteristic of successful ecosystem performance, and the orchestration capabilities developed in this research provide a useful perspective and guidance for designing such collaboration.

The Moderating role of Organizational Tenure on the Relation between Job Crafting and Job Boredom: A Study on Accountants

The aim of this study is to examine the moderating role of organisational tenure on the relationship between job crafting and job boredom. For this purpose, a sample of 315 professional accountants from 82 independent audit companies listed on the Public Disclosure Platform was used. The data were analysed using hierarchical regression in addition to slope analysis. Analysis results show the negative relationship between job crafting and job boredom is significantly stronger for short organisational tenure. Additionally, strong job crafting is more likely to disengage accountants from job boredom when they have short tenure compared to long tenure.

ESG concept as a tool for optimising spare parts stocks in car service centres in the Republic of Cyprus

The article proposes a comprehensive analytical study of the potential for the use of the ESG concept as a tool for optimizing spare parts stocks in car service centers of the Republic of Cyprus. The study is based on the materials of the Statistical Service of the Republic of Cyprus, on the information provided in the relevant scientific literature, as well as on the results of the empirical research. An analysis of the management accounting data of 12 car service centers of the Republic of Cyprus was carried out, including 4 dealer networks, 4 independent multi-brand companies and 4 family businesses. The directions of implementation of the environmental part of the ESG concept at car service enterprises of the Republic of Cyprus are specified. A comparative assessment of the profitability of stocks and CO2 emissions in the business processes of managing auto parts stocks has been clarified. Expert assessments of the state of ESG management in the spare parts inventory management system in the analyzed car service centers are presented. It is recommended to conduct optimization of spare parts inventory management in car service centers of the Republic of Cyprus to multiply the economic and social effects from the development of the elements of the ESG concept based on the author’s CDMD model: Systematism - Decentralization - Monitoring (measurements) - Digitalization. The introduction of the proposed CDMD model should provide economic benefits, expressed in an increase in the profitability of inventories and various ESG gains.

Study of technical reasons for fire-burning vehicles

The article presents the authors’ methodology for studying technical ignition causes of cars, with the establishment of the initial fire based on the signs and nature of temperature damage. What is more, subsequent development of the main scenario of fire occurrence is introduced. Modern control system is becoming larger and more complicated day by day and probability of system outage increases with it, so people urgently need to personalize the system of failure diagnostics to conduct real-time monitoring and malfunction diagnosis in production system and take necessary steps to improve its overall reliability and maintainability. According to the presented method of fire research, determination of the ignition causes is carried out by the method of successive elimination. Based on the functional features of the researchable object (a motor vehicle), established by expertise as an initial fire, the ignition of flammable liquid because of leakage from the fuel system, thermal development of the processes accompanying the emergency operation mode of the power grid could be possible ignition causes of the car. The authors pay special attention to the fire hazard of the electric system of a vehicle, which is determined by the fact that its individual elements can serve as a source of burning in case of an emergency in some functional chain. Establishment of initial fire causes increased complexity in connection with relatively small size of cars (especially light cars), fleetness of fires in vehicles and in case of failure to take recovery measures for burning in the initial stage and its development for the entire volume of the car. The results of applying the methodology were positively evaluated by independent expert companies.

КОМПЕТЕНЦІЇ ЯК ОСНОВА КОНКУРЕНТОСПРОМОЖНОСТІ ІНСПЕКЦІЙНИХ ПІДПРИЄМСТВ НА МОРСЬКОМУ ТРАНСПОРТІ

In the article, the nature and entity of inspection activities on marine transport were reviewed.The foundations and methods of forming the competitiveness of independent inspection organisations were analysed. The cognitive forming of competitive advantages is highlighted as the main form within inspection services competitive market. Independent inspections (or analyses) as services were distinguished as an inspection companies product. The inspection services market of Ukraine was analysed. The primary reasons for the new companies providing surveying services emergence were identified.Factors that force inspection companies to expand the scope of their activities were defined. The categories ofthe KVED (economic activity classifier), under which independent inspection companies in Ukraine are registered, were inspected and priority categories were determined.The concepts of "competence" and "competencies" of surveying companies were defined and the correspondence between two terms was revealed. The reasons for the formation of high competition among inspection companies and the motives for scope ofinspection services expanding were described. The principles of the formation of certain competitive advantages of independent inspection organizations were studied and the criteria of competencies of inspection bodies were highlighted. Indicators of the company's ability to perform professional activities in order to ensure the quality of performance of production tasks and productivity, which ensure the effective and competitive activity of independent inspection enterprises, were proposed. The pyramid of competitiveness formation in the inspection services market was formed and the potential factors of attractiveness that set priority, i.e. the primacy of the company in the inspection services market, were considered.The main factors of competitiveness formation were chosen as followsbased on the basic competencies as follows: competence, quality management system (QMS), compliance with the standards of industry and authority within industry.Keywords: inspection services, inspection operations, inspection organizations, competitiveness, competence, competencies

Clustering and routing in waste management: A two-stage optimisation approach

This paper proposes a two-stage model to tackle a problem arising in Waste Management. The decision-maker (a regional authority) is interested in locating sorting facilities in a regional area and defining the corresponding capacities. The decision-maker is aware that waste will be collected and brought to the installed facilities by independent private companies. Therefore, the authority wants to foresee the behaviour of these companies in order to avoid shortsighted decisions. In the first stage, the regional authority divides the clients into clusters, further assigning facilities to these clusters. In the second stage, an effective route is defined to serve client pickup demand. The main idea behind the model is that the authority aims to find the best location–allocation solution by clustering clients and assigning facilities to these clusters without generating overlaps. In doing so, the authority tries to (i) assign the demand of clients to the facilities by considering a safety stock within their capacities to avoid shortages during the operational phase, (ii) minimise Greenhouse Gases emissions, (iii) be as compliant as possible with the solution found by the second stage problem, the latter aiming at optimising vehicle tour lengths. After properly modelling the problem, we propose a matheuristic solution algorithm and conduct extensive computational analysis on a real-case scenario of an Italian region. Validation of the approach is achieved with promising results.

Rapid Sterility Test Systems in the Pharmaceutical Industry: Applying a Structured Approach to Their Evaluation, Validation and Global Implementation.

The current compendial sterility test has a 14-day incubation time and is often the time-limiting step in the Assess and Release Process of pharmaceutical products. There is an ever-increasing number of technologies available on the market that have benefits in addition to faster Time to Result, such as standardization and automation of readout (eliminating analyst subjectivity) and improved data integrity (including eliminating the need for contemporaneous verification of the result by another analyst). Regulators have been encouraging the pharmaceutical industry to adopt these innovative systems; however, it has taken a considerable time before receiving the first approvals from various health authorities (including both the European Medicines Agency and Food and Drug Administration) for the use of an alternative and rapid sterility test for the release of sterile drug product lots. This article describes a systematic 9-step approach to the evaluation, equipment qualification, validation, and deployment of alternative sterility tests that can be applied by pharmaceutical companies wanting to take advantage of the numerous benefits of alternative sterility tests. Two case studies are presented to illustrate the validation and implementation approach, including statistical methods. Although most of the steps toward implementation are aligned, the validation and transfer have been approached differently for each of the case studies because of differences in the chosen technology as well as independent company internal decisions to comply with validation guidelines. However, both case studies show successful implementation of an alternative sterility test for sterile drug products with an ∼50% reduced incubation time.

Imagining diversity

Recent international challenges to the hegemonic structures in the media industries—particularly regarding gender, sex and class—have resulted in a range of institutional-level responses. In Ireland, state bodies such as Screen Ireland and the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland have developed gender action plans. Funding incentives in screen production are now tied to increasing women’s participation. The national broadcaster, RTÉ and various independent companies have published diversity and inclusion strategies. The Irish media workforce today, it seems, should be open and inclusive to all. However, contemporary scholarship on media work suggests that structural barriers remain (O’Brien and Kerrigan; French). Media work is still a site of privilege, with working conditions and cultures reproducing class and gender hierarchies. (O’Brien et al., “Are”; Malik; Banks and Oakley). Our article proposes to add to this body of knowledge by prioritising the relatively neglected point of view of aspirant new entrants to industry. Generation Z graduate entrants articulate how graduates conceive of diversity and equality in the workplace, whether they believe they will experience structural or cultural exclusions, and how they interpret organisational efforts to achieve change.

Are Video Streaming Platforms Stifling Local Production Creativity? The Spanish Case

Abstract International streaming platforms have broken into the European market and are partnering with local production companies to produce content. Online consumption generates a huge database on the tastes and consumption patterns of viewers. Although the business of video streaming platforms is to attract subscribers, all this data could be used to produce content adapted to the different sensibilities of the audience. We want to investigate to what extent entry of the streaming companies has impacted the creativity of the production process in Spain and how creativity may be affected by this. We carried out semi-structured interviews with creative workers who produce for both linear television channels and video on demand platforms. The sample focuses on four workers from independent production companies with years of experience working for the television channels that have started working for new streaming companies. Their responses imply that big data does not appear to reduce uncertainty and is not applied to make decisions in the first stages of the production process. However, production of local shows has changed significantly.