Search results for "Health services"
showing 10 items of 626 documents
Drivers and barriers of inter-municipal cooperation in health services – the Norwegian case
2018
Inter-municipal cooperation in service delivery is widespread, as is the notion that this type of cooperation is primarily driven by economies of scale. However, the empirical results appear to be ...
From political controversy to a technical problem? Fifteen years of opioid substitution treatment in Finland
2013
Abstract Background The aim of the article is to analyze changes in opioid substitution treatments (OST) in Finland. OST spread in Finland in the late 1990s and early 2000s (Phase 1). Since then, OST has become an integrated part of Finnish drug policy and is provided in various substance abuse treatment units as well as in municipal health centers (Phase 2). Methods The paper analyses the policy around the implementation of opioid substitution treatment in Finland, focusing on identifying the key factors and the relations between them that have contributed to the implementation of OST in Finland. Results OST has become accepted in Finland during the past ten years as a crucial element of a…
The Social Nature of Chronic Noncommunicable Diseases and How to Tackle Them Through Communication Technology, Training, and Outreach
2011
As world leaders prepare for the United Nations High Level Meeting on Noncommunicable Diseases, to take place in September 2011, international organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and economic and business fora have created new alliances and initiatives to accelerate research, advocacy, and political commitment. This article argues that the time is propitious to reflect on the social nature of the most common behavioral noncommunicable disease determinants, including tobacco and alcohol use, physical inactivity, and unhealthy diet. Evidence is presented related to the fact that these diseases are profoundly rooted in social and community ties and points to the need for a modern com…
Consequences of the Abandonment of Mandatory Joint Audit : An Empirical Study of Audit Costs and Audit Quality Effects
2016
Abstract This paper focuses on the unique Danish setting in examining the consequences of abandoning a mandatory joint audit regime. We study the effects on audit costs (measured by audit fees) and audit quality (measured by abnormal accruals) of the abandonment of the mandatory joint audit in Denmark in 2005. We perform our analysis on non-financial listed Danish companies for the 2002–2010 period. Our results show that a joint audit is associated with higher fees, but that the association between joint audit and abnormal accruals is insignificant. This suggests that the higher audit fees cannot be explained by higher audit quality. Our results are robust to alternative measurements of fee…
IFRS adoption and audit and non-audit fees: empirical evidence from Spanish listed companies
2015
We analyse trends in inflation-adjusted audit and non-audit fees from 2003 to 2009 with the aim of identifying the impact of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in Spain, where (a) the shift from national to international accounting standards represented major changes and (b) the implementation process was conducted in 2005 for group accounts of listed companies and 2008 for the individual accounts. To that end, we build a well-tested audit and non-audit fee model based on 2003 and compare the actual with the predicted values had the accounting reforms not taken place. We report unexpected higher audit fees for the group accounts model in the years 2004, 2005 and 2006. A plau…
Nonaudit services provided by incumbent auditors and earnings management: Evidence of auditor independence from an EU country
2011
ABSTRACTThis paper examines whether the joint provision of audit and non-audit services undermines auditor independence by testing for an association between the provision of consulting services and auditor independence measured by discretionary accruals. For the most part, previous literature has studied the issue in countries with an Anglo-American business environment. This study analyzes the possible impairment of auditor independence in the context of a continental European Union country (Spain). A cross-sectional regression is estimated to test the relationship between non-audit fees and reporting quality. Based on publicly available information for Spanish listed companies, the evide…
Are Audit Firms’ Compensation Policies Associated With Audit Quality?
2020
We examine how compensation policies of audit firms are associated with audit quality. Specifically, we investigate the effects of the ratio of variable to fixed compensation and the size of the basis for profit sharing (i.e., whether partners share profits in a small or in a large profit pool). For our analyses, we use detailed mandatory disclosure of the compensation policies in German audit firms. We document that compensation policies vary considerably across audit firms. We find that profit sharing in a small profit pool and high variable compensation are two characteristics of auditor compensation associated with lower audit quality. We also find some evidence suggesting that audit qu…
Audit fees and earnings management: differences based on the type of audit
2020
In spite of the extensive research about the impact of audit fees on audit quality, there is no research examining if the association between voluntary audits and audit pricing affects audit quality. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to empirically examine whether the effect of audit fees on audit quality, measured by the level of earnings management, is affected by the type of audit (voluntary vs mandatory), as well as whether the effect of audit fees on audit quality is different depending on the type of audit. Using a sample of Spanish SMEs composed of both voluntarily and mandatorily audited companies, we find that voluntary audits have higher quality when audit fees are lower, but th…
Audit fees and cost of debt: differences in the credibility of voluntary and mandatory audits
2019
Despite the extensive research on audit fees, few studies have examined the effect of audit fees on the cost of debt. Based on the credence goods theory, we examine whether the effect of audits on the cost of debt is affected by the type of audit (voluntary or mandatory) and the audit fees, as well as whether there is a combined effect of voluntary audits and audit fees, so that the effect of voluntary audits on the cost of debt is affected by audit fees. Using a sample of Spanish SMEs, we find an asymmetric effect of audit fees on the cost of debt: higher audit fees are associated with a lower cost of debt for voluntarily audited companies, while the association is not significant for mand…
Experiences of participating in individual placement and support: a meta‐ethnographic review and synthesis of qualitative studies
2019
Aim To provide increased understanding about how work applicants, employment specialists, social workers in the welfare service and clinicians in mental healthcare service experience participating in individual placement and support (IPS). Methods We searched in several databases and identified 17 studies published from 2007 to 2017 in Sweden, USA, Canada, UK, Australia and Denmark, and applied meta-ethnographic reinterpretation and synthesis. Results The employment specialists followed the core ideas of IPS, where work is seen as a way to recover. They saw the work applicants' preferences and needs as important for health and well-being, and crucial for successful work rehabilitation. In o…