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We investigate whether auditor size is associated with the disclosure of internal control exceptions among Circular A-133 audits of nonprofit healthcare organizations. Our analysis is motivated by recent growth and transparency concerns within the sector. Using a sample of 1,180 audit reports from 2004 to 2008, we find evidence that audits performed by Big 4 firms are less likely to disclose internal control weaknesses than those performed by smaller firms. Additional analyses indicate this relation only remains statistically significant for a subsample of small organizations, possibly due to greater selectivity or lower efforts by the Big 4 auditors. We discuss the implications of these findings from an audit quality, market dominance, and client size perspective. The results are relevant to hospital financial managers seeking high quality audits at low cost.

The U.S. government mandates taxpayers remit taxes through a "pay as you go" system. Research indicates employees continue to overpay interim taxes, despite the inefficiencies of this form of forced savings. Theory holds that a rational individual would choose the minimum amount of withholdings prescribed by the tax code. We adopted Kahneman-Tversky (1979) prospect theory to show that, under reasonable conditions, individuals will continue to choose excessive withholdings. This paper is not an attempt to statistically justify prospect theory however; we argue that withholdings increase when the income tax rate increases and when beforetax income increases. Our model extends the income tax withholding literature by modeling a framework to determine an optimal withholding decision for taxpayers.

This study aims to investigate workplace stress and its related patterns (sources, patient interactions, and coping strategies) among health care employees in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Academic research in this area is limited, and the globalization of health care services requires an examination of areas that have the potential to affect employee performance - which ultimately impacts health care service and quality. Based on a sample of 175 employees from both public and private health care organizations, results indicate the primary source of workplace stress is role ambiguity, while the lowest cause of stress is patients. The primary coping strategy used by our sample participants is productiveness and activity. Our findings are useful to healthcare management in order to address employee stress-related concerns, and increase the quality of health care provided.

We examine earnings management in non-publicly listed companies, with a focus on for-profit (FP) hospice organizations, and extend the accounting earnings management literature to the hospice industry. FP hospice organizations file Medicare cost reports that include complete financial statements not otherwise publicly available. Managers of FP hospice organizations have incentives to manage earnings to increase performancebased bonuses, meet or beat bond covenant requirements, or avoid public scrutiny. We find total accruals are significantly positively associated with profitability, debt, and size factors. However, discretionary accruals are significantly negatively associated with debt and size, but not profitability. Thus, monitoring and political cost factors appear to effectively mitigate earnings management in this industry sector.

In this paper we argue that public education in the United States is essentially an industrial process organized to produce a finished product. Rising government spending on public education, and the lack of an established rubric to evaluate school performance or accountability deems our analysis relevant and timely. Viewing education as an industrial process will allow policy-makers to obtain more accurate measures of costs and develop appropriate funding mechanisms. Furthermore, regulators may use managerial accounting concepts, particularly activity based costing, to establish future school performance evaluation rubrics.

This paper analyzes the impact of economic downturns on the revenue and expense sides of city financing for the period 2003 to 2009 using a convenience sample of the audited end of year financial reports for thirty midsized US cities. The analysis focuses on whether and how quickly and how extensively revenue and spending directions from past years are altered by recessions. A seven year series of Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) data serves to explore whether citiesʼ revenues and spending, especially the traditional property tax and core functions such as public safety and infrastructure withstood the brief 2001 and the persistent 2007 recessions? The findings point to consumption (spending) over stability (revenue minus expense) for the recession of 2007, particularly in 2008 and 2009.

The purpose of this paper is to rank the importance of global manager characteristics according to the views of private and public leaders in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In addition, it will establish the most important and in demand managerial knowledge for UAE managers over the next five years.

This study was conducted using a two‐part questionnaire developed by the researchers. The purpose of the 52‐item questionnaire is to assess managers' ability to work in an international business environment. The sample includes 180 managers, from different public and private organizations in the UAE. Based on prior research, the characteristics examined include the following: communication skills, adaptability, open‐mindedness to foreign environments, strong technical skills, stress management, ability to work well with others, social intelligence, and valuing diversity and multicultural teamwork. Factor analysis is used to analyze the importance of these global leader characteristics.

The study found that the sample of UAE managers feel the top five global manager skills are: strong desire to go overseas, specific knowledge of overseas culture, the ability to adapt to time differences, the capacity to deal with expatriate work assignments, and overseas experience. In terms of the future, computer skills, communication skills, knowledge of worldwide networks and contacts, knowledge of home culture, and the ability to understand cultural dynamics are the most important skills.

The results will help in defining the major characteristics of future global managers in the UAE and the Gulf Corporation Council region.

This paper examines the 2008 collapse of the US tax‐exempt auction rate securities (ARS) market, from the perspective of not‐for‐profit auction rate debt issuers.

The authors use a multiple case study methodology to examine the financial and operating impact of ARS auction failures on three US nonprofit hospitals and health systems. The analysis is based solely on information drawn from publicly‐available documents.

The three case study subjects issued more than $ 411 million in ARS. These securities were issued with bond insurance and fixed payer interest rate derivatives. The 2008 global financial crisis resulted in millions of dollars in drastically increased interest costs, costly debt refunding, and derivative‐related collateral postings. It was also found that the ability of an individual ARS issuer to respond effectively to these capital market‐related shocks is related to three key factors – profitability, liquidity and perceived credit quality.

The reliance on a case study methodology may limit the authors' ability to generalize the findings to the hundreds of other US non‐profit ARS issuers.

Nonprofit financial executives must learn to adequately assess their organization's risk exposures if innovative long‐term capital financing instruments are to be used in the future. These potential costs, as well as any ineffectively hedged interest cost exposure, must be considered and weighed against any potential interest cost saving associated with any future debt financing arrangements.

The paper measures the financial and operating impact of the highly publicized 2008 ARS market collapse on non‐profit ARS issuers.