Panayiotis Tahinakis

The contribution of e-government to the modernisation of the Hellenic taxation system

The taxation system exerts substantial influence to the economic activity. Taxes, among others, influence work, saving, investments and the undertaking of business activity. This paper constitutes a study with regard to the issue of the e-government and its evolutionary course during the new era of Information Technology (IT) and the internet, and more specifically the role that it plays in the modernisation of the Hellenic taxation system. Moreover, the influence of the e-government to the application of modern information systems that support direct and indirect taxation is examined and the respective tax controls procedures as well. Furthermore, certain proposals are outlined with regard to the technological reform of the taxation system and the transition to the digital era on the basis of the adoption of new methodologies and practices. The easy-to-use operation systems and the low-cost communication channels (internet), the function of electronic tax processes (TAXISnet) and the increased participation of taxpayers will create a socio-economic environment, which is predicted to satisfy both the tax administration and the taxpayers.

The incremental information content of audit opinion

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to examine the incremental information content of audit opinion while considering opinion determinants, such as auditor and auditee size, or a firm’s financial state. Design/methodology/approach - – A market valuation model is employed using US firm data collected over 30 years. The model relates stock returns to earnings and incorporates as additional variables auditors’ opinion types, opinion determinants and their interactions with audit expression. Findings - – The findings suggest that audit opinion has a significant market impact. The estimated positive or negative information content of the audit opinion types is associated with certain opinion determinants, such as auditor and auditee size and a firm’s financial state. Research limitations/implications - – Additional firm-year observations regarding certain opinion qualifications could benefit future research. Practical implications - – This study offers useful insights by demonstrating the importance of auditing profession to the users of financial statements. It examines investors’ perception of each audit opinion type and the conditions under which this expression has the most serious effects. The results demonstrate the role of audit opinion and its cause-effect relationship with various economic events, allowing regulators not only to track the efficiency of various audit policy changes but also act preventively and amend the regulatory framework. Originality/value - – This paper empirically supports the significance of the auditing process and audit opinions by examining investor perceptions. It employs a value relevance model, in contrast to market-based research that adopts an event study methodology.

The entrepreneurship reality in the field of supply chain management systems: the Hellenic market paradigm

Supply chain management constitutes a relatively new and promising field of management science, affecting greatly the efficiency of Greek enterprises. The objective of this research is to detect the range of SCM applications in Greece; the trends and views of Greek enterprises in relation to efficiency, difficulties, costs, benefits and necessity, as these were generated from the implementation of one or more SMC applications. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) has now proven to be an indispensable backbone for most Greek enterprises. Enterprises on the whole have stated that they have proceeded to a combination of ERP and Best of Bread systems. However, despite the valuable benefits featuring the selection of Application Service Providers - ASP (leasing of SCM applications), it has been found that this solution has not matured yet in the consciousness of Greek companies. The great majority considers it either unattractive or slightly attractive.

Attributes of audit quality and weak fiscal sustainability countries

This paper seeks to examine the effect that audit quality has on audit opinion expression in the context of the recessive Eurozone environment. Based on a sample consisting of all the European Monetary Union countries for a period of nine years (2005-2013) our findings suggest that the size of the auditing firm and auditors expertise in an industry continues to be a proxy for audit quality and impacts audit opinion during the recession. However, this finding does not persist for audit tenure. These findings provide evidence with respect to audit quality differentiation in a monetary union, with a common currency and accounting standards in the presence of an economic recession. It attempts to provide useful insights for auditors, accountants and regulators concerning the regulatory framework and the efficiency of various audit policy changes especially in periods of fiscal distress.

The Safety Issue in a Web Travel Booking Services Scenario Based on Business Process Execution Language

In the Business Process modeling area, the Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) seems to be gaining ground in favor of its other competitors. The simplicity of the protocol coupled with its ability to hide the complex mechanisms that lie underneath along with advanced control features and integration with other concrete standards as XPath and XSLT have contributed to its acceptance. BPEL has been thoroughly investigated in literature as a solution to workflow management in an enterprise environment. In this paper, an intrinsic property of BPEL, related to compensation handling, is investigated as an alternative approach to two-phase commit used in distributed transactions. The applicability of the proposed solution is demonstrated on a travel booking scenario and interesting conclusions are drawn regarding the system’s response in cases of service failures.

Sales schedule optimisation in an agent-based technology

This paper presents a formalised negotiation methodology for distributed sales schedule optimisation. The purpose is to solve the optimisation problem, taking into account constraints such as the salesmen capacity and income increase in a uniform way and the companys turnover increase. In this approach a sales schedule is developed dynamically by all of the concerned participants. The negotiation methodology used allows agents to negotiate with other agents in a certain geographical area based on their sales capacity, commission percentage and the areas sales turnover. A simulation model based on Repast3 has been developed to evaluate the algorithm accuracy and the systems convergence. By executing this prototype with various utility functions, interesting results have been achieved showing a convergence in total companys turnover, salesmen capacity and salesman income.

Segmental identification of research and development costs in investment decisions by the Greek banking sector

The growth and expansion of firms into foreign markets have resulted in the aggregation of financial information that includes non-homogeneous elements. This paper seeks to investigate the difficulties of reporting on segments of a business. Emphasis will be laid on analysing the existing accounting recognition and measurement difficulties deriving from reporting research and development (R&D) expenditures in the light of investment decisions by the Greek banking sector. In conclusion, this study indicates that there are accounting and auditing problems of defined, measured and disclosed R&D to users of financial statements. Despite these difficulties, the importance of R&D expenditures will increase, as the capital market grows and there is a constant need to supply reliable accounting information.