Diane Breesch

Governmental subsidies and coercive pressures. Evidence from sport clubs and their resource dependencies

Abstract This contribution aims to analyse the adoption of subsidy conditions by voluntary sport clubs in relation to their dependence on government funding. Using a sociological neo-institutional approach based upon Pfeffer and Salancik’s (1978) resource dependence theory and DiMaggio and Powell’s (1983) concept of coercive isomorphism, this paper analyses the possible use of sport clubs by governments as instruments of sport policy. Data for these analyses are drawn from the Flemish Sport Club Panel 2009 and the Flemish Local Sport Authorities Panel 2010. The results show that sport clubs display a variety of resources. Although subsidies from the local government are relevant resources for the majority of voluntary sport clubs, the significance of these subsidies in the overall budgets is limited. Nevertheless, the outcomes of a multinomial logistic regression model indicate that there is a relationship between the share of governmental subsidies in the total income of sport clubs and their adoption of subsidy conditions with regard to the qualification of the sport technical staff. In general, however, the effect of the coercive pressure of the government through its funding seems to be rather low. Nevertheless, local sport authorities consider subsidy regulations as an effective instrument to achieve policy goals. Policy implications are discussed.

Fine-grained analysis of explicit and implicit sentiment in financial news articles

In the financial domain, news has an impact on the stock markets.Most sentiment analysis methods are coarse-grained and focus on explicit sentiment.Such a method is insufficient to detect topic-specific sentiment in financial news articles.We propose a novel fine-grained method that detects explicit and implicit sentiment.This is a viable method for topic-specific sentiment analysis in financial news text. This paper focuses on topic-specific and more specifically company-specific sentiment analysis in financial newswire text. This application is of great use to researchers in the financial domain who study the impact of news (media) on the stock markets.We investigate the viability of a new fine-grained sentiment annotation scheme. Most of the current approaches to sentiment analysis focus on the detection of explicit sentiment. As news text often contains implicit sentiment, i.e. factual information implying positive or negative sentiment, our approach aims to identify both explicit and implicit sentiment. Furthermore, this sentiment is analyzed on a fine-grained level by detecting the topic of the sentiment, as sentiment is not always expressed towards the topics one is interested in.In order to test our approach, we assembled a corpus of company-specific news articles, which was manually labeled by four annotators to create a gold standard. We compare the results of our method to the performance of two coarse-grained baseline systems: a lexicon-based approach and a supervised machine learning approach that makes use of lexical features. Our fine-grained approach outperforms both baselines, and its output shows substantial to almost perfect agreement with the gold standard sentiment labels. Using our annotation scheme, we are able to filter out irrelevant sentiment expressions and detect explicit and implicit sentiment in a reliable way.

The value of human resources in non-public sports providers: the importance of volunteers in non-profit sports clubs versus professionals in for-profit fitness and health clubs

There is a growing debate on the professionalisation of non-profit sports clubs (e.g., more paid staff) and the remuneration of sports volunteers. These voluntary sports organisations are, together with for-profit fitness and health clubs, the main types of sports providers at the grassroots level in Flanders (Belgium). They both are non-public organisations, active in the same market, but differ regarding to their objectives and their human resources (i.e., volunteers versus paid staff). Hence, the purpose of this paper is to analyse and compare the hypothetical HR-cost of volunteer work in non-profit sports clubs, based on a market price of equivalency model, with the actual HR-cost of for-profit sports providers. The results show that fitness and health clubs are found to be more efficient, in terms of the unit human resources cost. However, non-profit sports clubs have a distinctive economic structure and own rationality. Hence, it seems not appropriate to transfer the economic efficiency approach of ...

How to measure the comparability of financial statements

Since 2005, listed EU companies apply IFRS to prepare their consolidated financial statements. Users might get the impression that these financial statements are comparable now. However, differences in application of IFRS still exist. These differences can have a negative impact on the comparability of the financial statements. Therefore, the implementation of IFRS has not eliminated the need for research concerning the comparability of financial statements. The purpose of this article is to assist researchers in choosing the most appropriate method to measure this comparability. First the article discusses the concept of comparability. Second, important properties of measurement methods are discussed. Next, the H, C, I, V and T index and three statistical models are analysed. Finally, the article gives an illustration of choosing a method to measure the comparability of the consolidated financial statements of the EU listed companies.

Male and Female Auditors’ Overconfidence

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine if there exists a gender difference in overconfidence within an auditor population. Studies outside the accounting domain have found that men are more overconfident than women. It would be worthwhile to know if such a gender difference in overconfidence also exists within the auditor population. Such a gender difference could have far-reaching consequences; among other things, it could explain why client firms with female audit partners have significantly higher audit fees. Because of substantial self-selection and socialization it could however be that female auditors are as overconfident as their male colleagues. Design/methodology/approach - As is common in the psychological literature, calibration tests were used to measure the degree of overconfidence of male and female auditors. Findings - The results provide no evidence for a gender difference in overconfidence within a population of auditors and warrant against generalizing findings from non-audit populations to auditors. Research limitations/implications - Consistent with previous research, overconfidence was treated as if it were a single construct. The different varieties of overconfidence may, however, not simply be interchangeable. It may be the case that one measure of overconfidence would produce a sex difference while the other would not. Practical implications - This study contributes to the growing literature that examines the effects of gender on audit judgment and decision making. An important implication is that the results clearly warrant against generalizing findings from non-audit populations to auditors. Originality/value - This is the first study to investigate if a gender difference in overconfidence exists within an auditor population.

In search of the invisible user of financial statements and his information needs. The (non)sense of different standards for listed and non-listed companies

In more than 100 countries, listed companies prepare their financial statements using IFRS. For non-listed companies, the situation is less harmonised. One of the arguments in favour of this distinct approach is that financial statements of listed and non-listed companies attract different users. Empirical evidence to back up this assumption is, however, rare. This article contributes by empirically exploring whether this assumption is true based on a survey of 849 individuals. We found that users of financial statements of listed and non-listed companies differ in their reasons for using financial statements (professional or private), in their profession, in their experience and in their viewpoint (e.g., suppliers, investors, …). They also differ in the number of countries they are interested in and in the degree of detail they require. The different users are, however, interested in the same type of information. Furthermore, many users are interested in both types of company.

Are Users of Financial Statements of Publicly and Non-Publicly Traded Companies Different or Not? An Empirical Study

In more than 100 countries worldwide, publicly traded, or listed companies must prepare their consolidated accounts using International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). For non-publicly traded, or non-listed companies, the situation is less harmonized. The European Union (EU), for example, does not require IFRS for non-listed companies. One of the arguments in favour of this distinct approach is that financial statements of listed and non-listed companies attract different end users. Empirical evidence to back up this assumption is, however, rare. This paper contributes by empirically exploring who the users of the different financial statements are. Our survey of 849 individuals who use financial statements reveals that not only investors and analysts, but also suppliers, competitors, customers and consultants are important user groups. We find some differences between users who consult financial statements of listed or non-listed companies, but we also find some interesting similarities. Almost half of the survey respondents are interested in both listed and non-listed companies and there are only limited differences in the desired information concerning both types of companies. Finally, our analysis shows that an average respondent spends less than 15 minutes per financial statement, does not look at the notes and is only interested in companies located in his own country.

Are Female Auditors Still Women? Analyzing the Sex Differences Affecting Audit Quality

Previous research has hinted a potential impact of auditor gender on audit quality. It appears that, for example, men are less risk-averse than women. Female auditors may, therefore, express more severe audit opinions than male auditors. This paper addresses a potential major bias underlying the gender auditing research as it is not obvious that stereotypical believes about men and women are true or that findings from literature about the general population can be interpolated to the specific context of auditors.

The uniformity-flexibility dilemma when comparing financial statements: Views of auditors, analysts and other users

Purpose - The introduction of the IFRS in the European Union, and many other countries, has not eliminated the need for research concerning the comparability of financial statements. The IFRS still offers many options. Extensive theoretical literature exists concerning the definition of comparable financial statements and the factors that influence this comparability. This paper aims to investigate this issue. Design/methodology/approach - The paper uses a survey of 426 individuals who use European IFRS financial statements. Findings - This study shows that most of the respondents (67 per cent) interpret comparability as uniformity, that is, that all companies using the same accounting methods. Comparability of financial statements over time and of companies operating within the same industry are considered to be the most important types of comparability. Both types are jeopardised because of continuous changes in IFRS and the lack of industry specific guidance. Only 41 per cent of the respondents believe that all IFRS financial statements are comparable. Not only accounting methods used, but also judgements made by preparers and interpretation differences are viewed as important factors influencing the comparability of financial statements. Research limitations/implications - As surveys are uncommon in accounting literature, often because of sampling problems, the validity of this research should be further improved by additional surveys or other empirical research approaches. Originality/value - This study contributes to the research by determining which factors influence the comparability of financial statements according to the auditors, analysts and other users and what their view is on the comparability of financial statements.

Organisational change in local sport clubs: the case of Flemish gymnastics clubs

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of the quality assurance system IKGym (Quality Management System for Gymnastics Clubs), on professionalisation, homogenisation and organisational performance in a sample of gymnastics clubs affiliated to the Flemish Gymnastics Federation. Design/methodology/approach – Data were drawn from a sample of 55 non-profit local Flemish gymnastics clubs, evaluated twice by IKGym between 2004 and 2010. Using a longitudinal analysis of quantitative data of the IKGym data set a paired samples t-test was conducted to measure the impact of IKGym on the sample of gymnastics clubs. Besides, the Pitman-Morgan test was conducted to measure if the gymnastics clubs have become more isomorphic because of IKGym. Findings – First, the results identify different levels of progression towards professionalisation between various quality and performance targets of the gymnastics clubs and depending on the structural design types of these clubs. Second, it was found that d...