Rute Abreu

Corporate social responsibility in Portugal: empirical evidence of corporate behaviour

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to explore corporate social responsibility (CSR) evidence and, especially, the experience and practice of enterprises in Portugal.Design/methodology/approach – As a generally accepted principle, the corporate social report is a communication and measurement object. But there are limitations concerning availability and accuracy of the data that could create constraints and diminish the scope of this report. Thus, the methodology for this paper is subdivided into two different aspects of research: First, an individual perspective about each enterprise studied and second, a general perspective applied to CSR in Portugal. The sample used was based on the survey developed by the Instituto ETHOS, applied to a sample of enterprises carried out in Portugal, during the year 2002. It was published by Exame in a special edition – “The guide of socially responsible enterprises”. So, the authors analyze and present the results that are of interest in the area of CSR activity. ...

The Bologna Process: Implementation and Developments in Portugal

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss the implementation and developments of the Bologna Process in the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) as a new paradigm of the European system of higher education, in general, and of the Portuguese system, in particular.Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses firstly, higher education system statistics; secondly, Government and European Union documents; and thirdly, academic papers that conceptual frame the issues under discussion.Findings – Portuguese HEIs are engaged in the Bologna process, but it shows some contradictions within the higher education system. One of these contradictions is the restructuring of the degrees and cycles had led to the apparently destruction of the binary system (universities and polytechnics) which existed in for more than 30 years. Another contradiction is carry out common European priorities and, at the same time, maintaining the national culture, language, education systems and HEIs autonomy. Although, the system pro...

Environmental Disclosure

Comunicacao apresentada em 16th International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems (ICEIS 2014); Paper #: 301; 27-30 April 2014, Lisbon, Portugal

Information technology in education: Recent developments in higher education

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the importance of recent developments of Information Technologies in Education (ITE), particularly in higher education, to answer students and teachers needs, according to the real time rapidity characteristics of the process of learning and teaching. The internet, mobile computing, social networks and many other advances in human communications have become essential to promote and boost education, technology and industry [1]. In this sense, the learning and the teaching process have to take such developments into account. As a consequence the teaching profession is evolving from an emphasis on delivering information to an emphasis on creating learning environments [2]. Indeed, the new challenges related with the integration of ITE into all aspects of the learning process require revising the traditional educational paradigms that have been prevailed for last years. Thus, on the one hand, the theoretical framework of this paper is based on literature about information technologies, in general, and information technologies in higher education, in particular. On the other hand, the empirical framework reflects the best practices in this field used in the Polytechnic Institute of Guarda (IPG, Portugal). The results of the paper show that the Higher Education Institutions (HEI) are facing new challenges, not only to promote an adequate education in each field of study to the students, but, also, to develop them with skills and knowledge required to leverage information technology effectively to the workplace on firms.

Performance indicators and corporate social responsibility: evidence from Portuguese higher education institutions

This research focuses on Portugal and the use of performance indicators to assess whether or not higher education institutions (HEIs) are fulfilling their mission and reaching their goals. HEIs are able to improve their non-financial performance and overall welfare as a CSR strategy. The results show that HEI performance indicators are correlated with CSR and emphasise strategic benefits, such as efficiency, effectiveness and economy of the new public sector management that each HEI must adopt. They have a particular role to support the sustainable development of these institutions and to promote management accounting as source of indispensable and fundamental information for the decision-making process.

Sistemas e tecnologias de informação e comunicação nas forças policiais

The objective of this article is to demonstrate the importance of the Systems and Technologies of Information and Communication (STIC) in the police forces, in general, and, in the European Gendarmerie, in particular. In fact, the new challenges related to the integration of STIC into the security management promoted by the police forces amplify the technological process, requiring a greater revision of the operational, strategic and management paradigms of the police forces. In this sense, the society benefits from new forms of communication, either through social networks or through the availability of online content and services, according to the characteristics of real-time speed of the information process. Thus, on the one hand, the citizen who is more exposed to the criminal reality, is also more protected. On the other hand, the police forces obtain information faster and because they have a security management tool, they can act effective and efficiently. Methodologically, in the theoretical analysis, this article is supported in the strategy of social responsibility integrated with the policy of disclosure of the police forces, in the perspective of citizenship and accountability. In the empirical analysis it reflects the good practices in this field of each police force integrated in EUROGENDFOR. The results of the article show that the police forces promote greater transparency of information to the citizen, as well as develop the proximity between the police forces oriented to their needs.

Ownership and Liability Decision

Traditionally, accounting remains focused on the actions of the firm and ignores the effects of the firm upon its external environment. However, a growing number of researchers have accepted that several effects of the firm influence the external environment and have suggested that one of the roles of accounting should be to report the impact of the firm in this respect. This paper researches the effect of ownership on the liability decision concerning the increase of the knowledge on the accounting literature.

Economic and Educational Crisis: Challenges for Students in Portugal and Croatia

The objective of the research is to conduct a comparative analysis of the student perceptions of the Croatian and Portuguese HEI and assessment their perceptions about the quality of their HEI. The methodology of the research will be based on the theoretical analysis which collects and review accessible information about higher education degree study programmes in Croatia and Portugal. Furthermore, the empirical analysis of the research, it will be validated with the reliable KVALIMETAR measuring survey instrument used among Croatian students (January–March 2014; n = 732) and Portuguese students (September–October 2014; n = 366). The results show that Croatian and Portuguese HEI have to accept several challenges made by students to improve the quality of the teaching and learning process. Also, several remarks appear from both surveys with views and thoughts made by the students in order understand their motivation. Indeed, the profile of the new curricula will get more knowledge and competences to face the exposition of students to economic crisis. The aforementioned facts should be taken into account in the process of planning the future educational programs in order to improve the quality of education in Croatia and in Portugal to meet the new demands of the modern business environment.

Disclosure of tax incentives and the corporate liabilities in Brazilian public companies: a quantitative study

This article aims to evaluate the effect of tax incentives on the liability level of firms listed in Brazilian Stock Exchange. Obtaining the tax incentives require many investments from the company. This paper contributes with the literature to identify if the companies that disclosed their fiscal incentives have any changes in their debt, because of these investments. The final sample was 382 firms, for the years 2010-2013, and with a total of 1,528 observations. We used a regression model for the panel data in order to estimate the relation between liabilities and the fiscal incentives. The results show that encouraged firms have higher long-term debt and total debt than those who are not encouraged. In addition, the authors found a positive relationship between the assets of these companies and the tax incentive.

Ethics and fraud in E-banking services

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the importance of ethics applied to everyday moral problems arising from the use of e-banking services. These services have advantages in financial transactions, but security threats and vulnerabilities must be constantly reduced. In this framework raises the “good citizen” that desires to do well and needs to avoid harmful behavior [1]. While the “bad citizen” promotes the lack of transparency, wrong attitudes and “hidden” awareness of the nature, level and scope of the financial impact which claims to reduce the social responsibility [2] and produces high level of degree of materialistic values were less likely to acquire moral [3]. Indeed, the integration of fraud on all aspects of the e-banking services requires the profound revision of the traditional commercial paradigms that have been prevailed for last years. Thus, on the one hand, the theoretical framework of this paper is based on literature about ethics and fraud, in general, and information and communication technology of the e-banking services, in particular. On the other hand, the empirical framework reflects the practices in this field of research used by banks with public data available on the Portuguese Banking Association. The results of the paper show several threats, vulnerabilities, incidents, impacts and response that face e-banking services. To mitigate these risks, the main challenge is the public discussion that will promote prevention and disclosure evidence-based incidents, not only to endorse an adequate behavior but, also, to develop guidance on practical evidence on ethics and reduce fraud.