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The purpose of this study is to analyse the activities of law enforcement bodies in the field of combating crime and corruption offences.

In modern conditions in Ukraine, effective cooperation between law enforcement bodies and authorities at all levels, as well as with partner organisations and agencies at the national, regional and international levels to effectively combat crimes related to organised crime and corruption is of particular importance. Improving the investigative and detective capacity of the criminal justice system, combined with efforts to intensify cooperation, contributes to a deeper understanding of the role of joint struggle in this area, thus helping to deter, detect, punish and prevent crime and corruption offences. They must be directly part of a sustainable, long-term and comprehensive strategy to reduce the scope for corruption and open the political and economic system to greater competition.

The results of this study allow substantiating that the Ukrainian leadership understands the seriousness of corruption and organised crime: the state takes decisive legislative measures based on international experience.

The obvious mechanisms for reducing the level of corruption and organised crime in Ukraine can be: implementation of measures to ensure business freedom; the formation of anti-corruption business strategies; introduction of special methods of anti-corruption education; approbation in Ukraine of positive normative legal acts and practices of law enforcement of preventive nature of the European Union for joint activity of law enforcement bodies and civil society in the field of combating crime and corruption offences.

The purpose of this paper is to critically analyse research surrounding the anonymity of online transactions using Bitcoin and report on the feasibility of law enforcement bodies tracing illicit transactions back to a user’s real-life identity.

The design of this paper follows on from the approach taken by Reid and Harrigan (2013) in determining whether identifying information may be collated with external sources of data to identify individual users. In addition to conducting a detailed literature review surrounding the anonymity of users, and the potential ability to track transactions through the blockchain, four Bitcoin exchange services are examined to ascertain whether information provided at the sign-up stage is sufficiently verified and reliable. By doing so, this research tests the ability for law enforcement to reasonably rely upon this information when attempting to prosecute individuals. Additionally, by submitting fake information for verification, the plausibility of these services accepting fraudulent or illegitimate information is also tested.

It may be possible to identify and prosecute bad actors through the analysis of transaction histories by tracing them back to an interaction with a Bitcoin exchange. However, the compliance and implementation of anti-money laundering legislation and customer identification security standards are insufficiently used within some exchange services, resulting in more technologically adept, or well-funded, criminals being able to circumvent identification controls and continue to transact without revealing their identities. The introduction of and compliance with know-your customer and customer due diligence legislation is required before law enforcement bodies may be able to accurately rely on information provided to a Bitcoin exchange. This paper highlights the need for research to be undertaken to examine the ways in which criminals are circumventing identity controls and, consequently, financing their illicit activities.

By ascertaining the types of information submitted by users when exchanging real currency for virtual currency, and seeing whether this information may be accepted despite being fraudulent in nature, this paper elucidates the reliability of information that law enforcement bodies may be able to access when tracing transactions back to an individual actor.

This study explores the benefits of accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA), according to those who are engaged in the practice.

The authors collected data through open-ended, semi-structured telephone interviews. The authors analyzed the data using an inductive methodology.

The authors found that CALEA police accreditation enhances organizational learning through the development of knowledge brokers, the creation of communities of practice, support for knowledge repositories, support for knowledge managers and greater levels of transparency.

This qualitative study, which focuses on the perceptions and experiences of those involved in the CALEA process, provides a valuable complement to the quantitative literature on accreditation by shedding light on the organizational learning resulting from accreditation.

The purpose of this paper is to present the findings from a literature review, which aimed to identify previous studies evaluating cryptolaundering from a systems thinking perspective. The aim of this paper is to first confirm that cryptolaundering systems can indeed be defined as complex socio-technical systems and second to present the findings from a systematic review of the literature to determine the extent to which previous research has adopted a systems thinking perspective.

The study involved a SLR of studies published in the peer-reviewed literature between 2009 and 2018. Rasmussen’s risk management framework (Rasmussen, 1997) was used to evaluate the extent to which a systems thinking perspective had been adopted.

The cryptolaundering process is considered to be a complex socio-technical system. The review demonstrates that no previous studies have defined cryptolaundering as a complex socio-technical system or used systems thinking framework approach to evaluate how criminals, regulatory bodies or law enforcement entities understand processes and assess risk within cryptolaundering systems. It is argued that using such an approach to the cryptolaundering process would likely improve assessing criminal risk analyses of cryptolaundering and assist law enforcement and regulatory bodies with understanding risk management during the laundering of cryptocurrencies.

Future assessments of cryptolaundering using socio-technical system analytical processes may afford law enforcement and regulatory bodies the opportunity to improve intervention techniques and identify gaps in regulations and enforcement.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate country-level and firm-level determinants of within-country accounting comparability for 16 European Union countries plus the USA in the post-International Financial Reporting Standards adoption period.

The authors use ordinary least squares regression to test the hypotheses with a correction for heteroscedasticity.

The authors find that firms in countries with rules-based accounting, higher quality public auditor work environments, stricter enforcement of accounting standards and more reliance on equity-market financing have higher within-country comparability with each other. At the firm-level, the authors find that firms which are larger, engage in less earnings management, and have lower return-on-asset volatility have higher within-country comparability with each other.

The authors use one measure of accounting comparability. Alternative measures of accounting comparability could test the hypotheses more completely.

The findings of the paper may help the regulators make more efficient policies to establish an efficient financial market within their country.

The paper is the first, to the authors’ knowledge, to identify country-level and firm-level determinants of within-country accounting comparability. It contributes to the accounting literature by completing the theory of international accounting comparability from the within-country perspectives, as prior literature focuses on the cross-country perspective of international accounting comparability.

The purpose of this study is to examine changes in firms’ level of information asymmetry in emerging market of Malaysia for the period of 2000-2016. Specifically, the study focuses on changes in the quoted spread and quoted depth following the fraud announcement.

The study uses a unique set of fraud sample using enforcement action releases (EARs) identified from the Security Commission of Malaysia and Bursa Malaysia. To estimate the result, the authors use event study methodology, OLS regression and simultaneous model on a set of 67 fraudulent firms.

The results of event study, OLS regression and simultaneous equation models suggest that information asymmetry increases on fraud discovery. The authors also use the analysis on subsamples classified by the type of regulator (who issued the enforcement release) and type of fraud committed. However, the authors find no evidence of a difference in information asymmetry across these groups. Overall, the results support the reputational view of fraud that it damages the firms’ reputation and increases uncertainty in the capital market.

These findings provide valuable insights into understanding the information asymmetry around fraud announcements, especially for Malaysia, where the majority of the public-listed companies are family-controlled and under significant state control. The results of this study call for the active role that regulators can play to achieve a transparent and liquid capital market.

The research has practical implications. Specifically, for Malaysia, fraud is the primary area for National Results Areas (NKRA) in the Government Transformation Program (GTP). Therefore, for regulators and policymakers to ensure a liquid and transparent capital market, identifying the factors that elicit the fraudulent behavior and improving the related governance mechanism are necessary steps to prevent the fraudulent practices.

Due to increased information asymmetry on fraud announcements, the demand for equity decreases that may affect not only the fraudulent firms but also results in negative externality for non-fraudulent firms, thus impairing their ability to fund equity.

A significant majority of studies have focused on corporate frauds in developed countries such as the USA that is characterized by dispersed ownership system and a strong capital market. One of the vocal critics of the agency theory is that it neglects the social and institutional framework within which companies operate. In emerging markets, such as Malaysia, the published academic papers on fraud and information asymmetry are very limited. As emerging markets practice different cultures, corporate governance mechanisms and market regulations, the study is significant to investigate the behavior of investors in such markets.

Arguments prevail in Bahrain over whether to establish a body for setting local accounting standards or to continue to encourage the application of international accounting standards (IASs). This debate is driven by the opinions and attitudes of various concerned groups, including auditors, corporate accountants, and public accountants. This study examines the perceptions of accountants regarding whether or not local accounting standards should be set in Bahrain and, if so, which would be the most appropriate agency to achieve this aim. In addition, the study examines whether organizations in Bahrain should continue to comply with IASs. It provides empirical findings on these issues based on a questionnaire of 52 accountants. The study concludes that organizations in Bahrain should continue to comply with IASs, but that the application of these standards needs to be regulated. Differences in the socio‐political environment do not make IASs of less significance to users in Bahrain. Further, it is found that the need for compliance with IASs will better enhance users' understanding of accounting concepts and financial statements. The study recommends the establishment of a body of professional accountants who will act as the interpreters of IASs in Bahrain's environment.

The purpose of this paper is to review the extant of the published literature on body-worn cameras (BWCs) in policing, specifically in the context of how BWCs affect both citizens and officers.

The current study is a narrative review of the impact of BWCs on police and citizens generated through a search of four repositories (Google Scholar, Criminal Justice Abstracts, EBSCO Host, PsychInfo).

The current narrative review identified 21 articles that matched the selection criteria. In general, this body of research demonstrates that: the police are supportive of BWC adoption; the evidence from BWC evaluations suggests that the use of BWCs can have benefits for police-public encounters.

The practical implications derived from this narrative review suggest police administrators that the adoption and effective implementation of BWCs are one mechanism that can strengthen police-community relationships and decrease police misconduct through enhanced legitimacy and accountability.

This study is useful for researchers who wish to further examine BWC issues in policing, for police managers/administrators who are currently utilizing BWC technology, and for those who are considering adopting BWC technology.

This paper aims at illustrating how the local and the decentralized temple management bodies were made governable and governed through law.

This paper examines the implementation of Chinese Temples Ordinances (the Ordinance) and the activities of the Chinese Temples Committee (the Committee) in Hong Kong during colonial times by analyzing official archival records from 1920s to 1970s.

This paper delineates how the local and decentralized temple management bodies were made governable under the Ordinance. The Ordinance and the Committee translated Chinese temples into financial resources for Chinese charity activities managed by the elite merchant class. Chinese temples were also sometimes translated as obstacles for land development. Though there existed different representations of Chinese temples in practices, the Committee and related officials provided legal reasons under the same legal framework suggested by the Ordinance.

This paper suggests that folk religion as a research topic is not only relevant to studies of religious doctrine, belief and ritual performances. A study of the history of temple management bodies is also highly relevant to the study of colonial governance in Hong Kong. It adds value to the discussion on the trajectory of the development of local communities.

This paper investigates the factors influencing the future of the IASB, using as the point of departure, a review of its historical progression towards becoming the global accounting standard‐setting authority. It concludes that the IASB is an organisation vulnerable to (1) political lobbying of influential institutions, (2) US accounting authorities decision makers, (3) potential accounting scandals, and (4) cultural differences resulting in the misapplication of its standards around the world. Such factors should be borne in mind when charting the next steps for the IASB and in evaluating the comparability and quality of accounts produced under IFRSs around the world.