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- Does Financial Crisis impact Earnings Management: Evidence from Portuguese and UKPublication . Lisboa, Inês; Kacharava, AleksandrePurpose: The main aim of this work is to analyse if 2008 financial crisis had impact on earnings management. We compare two countries with different legal forces in terms of quality of accounting to see the differences in firm’s involvement in earnings management. Finally we analyse which determinants impact management of results. Design/methodology/approach: This study focus on Portuguese and UK listed firms from a large period, 2004 till 2014. We first use the Kothari, Leone & Wasley model (2005) to calculate the discretionary accruals, a proxy of earnings management. Then we analyse the impact of six determinants on earnings management. Findings: Findings suggest that financial crisis had impact on firms’ tendency to manage financial results. Country effect is not statistically significant, even if the Portuguese and UK firms’ propensity to manage earnings is singular. Finally, firm’s size and indebt are two relevant characteristics to explain earnings management. Originality/values: This research as three major contributions. First, we not only analyse if the firms in the sample manipulate results, but we also study the impact of some characteristics on earnings management, contributing to the enrichment of the literature. Moreover, we focus on two main effects: crisis and country effect. Studies analysing both effects in simultaneous are scarce. Finally, we also believe that results are relevant to both financial investors and regulators as they may understand which factors impact manipulation of results, and can take actions that may reduce the possibility of practicing earnings management.
- Serviço social e mediação intercultural em contexto educativoPublication . Vieira, Ricardo; Vieira, Ana Maria
- On the application of the method of fundamental solutions to boundary value problems with jump discontinuitiesPublication . Alves, Carlos J.S.; Valtchev, SvilenTwo meshfree methods are proposed for the numerical solution of boundary value problems (BVPs) for the Laplace equation, coupled with boundary conditions with jump discontinuities. In the first case, the BVP is solved in two steps, using a subtraction of singularity approach. Here, the singular subproblem is solved analytically while the classical method of fundamental solutions (MFS) is applied for the solution of the regular subproblem. In the second case, the total BVP is solved using a variant of the MFS where its approximation basis is enriched with a set of harmonic functions with singular traces on the boundary of the domain. The same singularity-capturing functions, motivated by the boundary element method (BEM), are used for the singular part of the solution in the first method and for augmenting the MFS basis in the second method. Comparative numerical results are presented for 2D problems with discontinuous Dirichlet boundary conditions. In particular, the inappropriate oscillatory behavior of the classical MFS solution, due to the Gibbs phenomenon, is shown to vanish.
- Carotid body: a metabolic sensor implicated in insulin resistancePublication . Conde, Silvia V.; Sacramento, Joana F.; Guarino, Maria PedroThe carotid body is now looked at as a multipurpose sensor for blood gases, blood pH, and several hormones. The matter of glucose sensing by the carotid body has been debated for several years in the literature, and these days there is a consensus that carotid body activity is modified by metabolic factors that contribute to glucose homeostasis. However, the sensing ability for glucose is still being pondered: are the carotid bodies low glucose sensors or, in contrast, are they overresponsive in high-glucose conditions? Herein, we debate the glucose and insulin sensing capabilities of the carotid body as key early events in the overactivation of the carotid body, which is increasingly recognized as an important feature of metabolic diseases. Additionally, we dedicate a final section to discuss new outside-the-box therapies designed to decrease carotid body activity that may be used for treating metabolic diseases.
- Effects of Shot-Peening and Stress Ratio on the Fatigue Crack Propagation of AL 7475-T7351 SpecimensPublication . Ferreira, Natália; Antunes, Pedro; Ferreira, José; Costa, José D. M.; Capela, CarlosShot peening is an attractive technique for fatigue enhanced performance of metallic components, because it increases fatigue crack initiation life prevention and retards early crack growth. Engineering design based on fatigue crack propagation predictions applying the principles of fracture mechanics is commonly used in aluminum structures for aerospace engineering. The main purpose of present work was to analyze the effect of shot peening on the fatigue crack propagation of the 7475 aluminum alloy, under both constant amplitude loading and periodical overload blocks. The tests were performed on 4 and 8 mm thickness specimens with stress ratios of 0.05 and 0.4. The analysis of the shot-peened surface showed a small increase of the micro-hardness values due to the plastic deformations imposed by shot peening. The surface peening beneficial effect on fatigue crack growth is very limited; its main effect is more noticeable near the threshold. The specimen’s thickness only has marginal influence on the crack propagation, in opposite to the stress ratio. Periodic overload blocks of 300 cycles promotes a reduction of the fatigue crack growth rate for both intervals of 7500 and 15,000 cycles.
- The computation of taxable income when accounting numbers are not reliablePublication . Martins, António; Sá, CristinaPurpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss the causes that justify the application of presumptions in corporate income taxation. The authors focus on motives showing a connection to errors or fraud in the recognition of operations by the financial accounting system. The research question can be framed as follows: How to define the frontier between reliable accounting records and unreliable information, the latter rendering presumptions as an admissible way of taxing income? Design/methodology/approach The research design of this paper rests on two analytical steps based on the legal research method. The first step enquires, at the accounting level, how to define and quantify errors that render accounting statements inappropriate to assess firms’ performance and compute taxable income. The second step explores the practical application of presumptive tax concepts by Portuguese courts, to offer some criteria that can function as guidelines to firms and tax auditors. Findings The judgment about the boundaries of accounting errors that allow the use of presumption-based taxation is often decided by litigation. Portuguese jurisprudence provides strong evidence that presumptions should only be applied if, even by correcting of errors and inaccuracies, corporate real income cannot be obtained. The level of contamination must be obvious, and tax audits must present a strong and documented claim that presumptions are a last-resort mechanism to compute an appropriate tax base. The Supreme Tax Court has been applying a consistent approach characterized by: presumptive taxation is a last-resort mechanism; tax audits must prove that a generalized contamination of accounting data is observed; it is not possible to correct accounting errors, given their extension and depth, and the taxpayer did not submit contradictory solid evidence. Practical implications Applying, in practice, legal criteria to decide that accounting manipulation is so extensive that taxation must be based on presumptions is fraught with subjectivism. However, we offer an analysis where some guidelines to this complex issue are presented in a logical way. Principles-based taxation can, nonetheless, be applied with a significant degree of fairness and consistency. Originality/value The paper contributes to the literature by offering an analysis of the criteria used by Portuguese tax courts when deciding that accounting data can be disregarded and presumptions used as a tax computation tool. Given that the rule, in many countries, is to base taxable income on accounting records (albeit with adjustments established in Corporate Income Tax Codes), presumptions are a notable exception to this well-established rule. As such, taxpayers have a significant interest in knowing how courts rule on tax authorities’ use of presumptions. In this light, the paper has also potential value to professionals in the accounting and tax fields. They are often confronted with tax audits that apply presumptions. Therefore, knowing jurisprudential trends in the judgment of such, usually complex, cases is an important issue.
- Does financial crisis impact earnings management evidence from Portuguese and UKPublication . Lisboa, Inês; Kacharava, AleksandrePurpose: The main aim of this work is to analyse if 2008 financial crisis had impact on earnings management. We compare two countries with different legal forces in terms of quality of accounting to see the differences in firm’s involvement in earnings management. Finally we analyse which determinants impact management of results. Design/methodology/approach: This study focus on Portuguese and UK listed firms from a large period, 2004 till 2014. We first use the Kothari, Leone & Wasley model (2005) to calculate the discretionary accruals, a proxy of earnings management. Then we analyse the impact of six determinants on earnings management. Findings: Findings suggest that financial crisis had impact on firms’ tendency to manage financial results. Country effect is not statistically significant, even if the Portuguese and UK firms’ propensity to manage earnings is singular. Finally, firm’s size and indebt are two relevant characteristics to explain earnings management. Originality/values: This research as three major contributions. First, we not only analyse if the firms in the sample manipulate results, but we also study the impact of some characteristics on earnings management, contributing to the enrichment of the literature. Moreover, we focus on two main effects: crisis and country effect. Studies analysing both effects in simultaneous are scarce. Finally, we also believe that results are relevant to both financial investors and regulators as they may understand which factors impact manipulation of results, and can take actions that may reduce the possibility of practicing earnings management.
- Primeira Infância, 1 caso, Texto Apoio Unidades Curriculares Curso Licenciatura Terapia OcupacionalPublication . Pedrosa, Vanda VarelaA atuação na primeira infância é e tem sido nos últimos anos uma área em expansão e crescimento. Na intervenção em Terapia Ocupacional a evolução também sido significativa pois, é uma área profissional que atua sobretudo na vertente não oncológica face às diferentes situações, com evoluções constantes e sistemáticas. Também as tendências de ensino devem incorporar as constantes evoluções e inovações nesta área, sobretudo aquelas feitas em equipa, e no contexto de vida de pessoas e famílias. O caso que se segue, foi escrito pela docente, para sustentar os exemplos, exercícios teórico-práticos tanto para a atividade letiva, em sala de aula, como para congressos, jornadas, workshops. É obvio que, e tendo como base a sua experiência enquanto Terapeuta Ocupacional (TO), em Cuidados de Saúde Primários ditam o seu olhar na situação que se passa a descrever. O caso é da área da infância, e descrito para um contexto de proximidade.
- O passaporte comunitário único – setor bancárioPublication . Estrela, Márcia Carolina Sousa; Lucas, Eugénio PereiraA crise económico-financeira de 2008 evidenciou muitas das fraquezas da União Europeia (UE), nomeadamente a nível institucional e proporcionou a emergência de vozes críticas sobre a sua sustentabilidade e a capacidade dos líderes europeus de oferecerem uma resposta adequada aos problemas, que assolavam a UE e assombravam a moeda única. Apesar de a situação se apresentar negativa, por colocar em causa todo o projeto europeu e o progresso que já tinha sido conquistado em termos de integração, os líderes europeus foram resilientes e continuaram a apostar na União e nos seus ideais e assim, em 2012, depois de um estudo intensivo, foi criada a União Bancária. Aquando da União Bancária foram introduzidos vários mecanismos que têm o objetivo de contribuir para o crescimento económico do mercado interno, a estabilidade do sistema financeiro, a vitalidade do Euro e restaurar a confiança no projeto europeu. Neste contexto existem determinados mecanismos que são providenciados pela UE e que, dada a sua índole, merecem ser estudados porque permitem perceber a forma como operam as liberdades de circulação e ainda, de que modo os fatores económicos podem afetar as opções legislativas dos líderes europeus. Na presente dissertação, o nosso foco é o Passaporte Comunitário Único (PCU) desde a sua génese até à forma que tem atualmente, pois este reflete todo o esforço e investimento feito no desenvolvimento da UE e no mercado único. O PCU conta com duas décadas de história e permitiu o florescimento do sistema financeiro da UE e por conseguinte do mercado interno. Pois introduziu a possibilidade de uma instituição de crédito ou sociedade financeira se estabelecer ou providenciar serviços noutro Estado Membro (EM), que não o seu de origem, tendo por base uma única licença ou autorização que é válida para todos os países da UE. Assim, na presente dissertação apresentamos os requisitos que têm de ser verificados para que o PCU seja concedido e analisamos a forma como a passagem à União Bancária consistiu num marco, que modificou alguns dos aspetos que lhe estão associados, sobretudo em matéria de supervisão, refletindo os efeitos da crise.