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Evaluation of Annual Reports of Banks in Comparative Perspective
Get PDFBanks are one of the most important units of the economic structure today. From the top public authority to the smallest investor, administrators who are responsible for the economy need information about the bank's financial situation and operational results. This information, required by decision-makers, is given by the annual reports prepared by the bank. The annual reports should be presented in a clear, understandable and comparable way to meet the required information of the relevant decision-makers. The purpose of this study is to analyze the content of bank annual reports from a comparative perspective. In this framework, Introduction, Corporate Governance, Financial Reporting and Activities Analysis and Evaluation of the Annual Reports of JP Morgan Chase Bank, which is the United States' largest bank, and Is bank of Turkey, which is Turkey's largest private sector bank, were compared by total assets by the end of 2019 with this study. The differences between the banks were tried to be determined and the determined differences were evaluated according to their level of importance
Foreign Capital Participation and Tax Aggressiveness in Brazilian Companies
Get PDFThis study explores the relationship between tax aggressiveness and foreign capital participation in Brazilian companies listed on the BM & F BOVESPA from 2010 to 2015, using the concept of tax aggressiveness as a reduction of taxable income through tax management and planning (Chen et al., 2010). Observing that previous studies show a significant relationship between tax aggressiveness and ownership structures, this research seeks to understand whether this relationship is significant if there is foreign capital participation in the company. The sample was composed of Brazilian companies listed on the BM&F BOVESPA. Two metrics of tax aggressiveness were used to investigate this relationship: effective tax rate (ETR) and book-tax difference (BTD). The use of these metrics was inspired in a review on tax research by Hanlon and Heitzman (2010), who concluded that ETR and BTD could capture the reduction of taxable income through tax planning. The results showed no significant relationship between foreign capital participation and tax aggressiveness, demonstrating that the origin of equity capital is not a factor of tax aggressiveness
Exploring the EAP needs of students of knowledge and information science: A triangulated study in Iranian EFL context
Get PDFGiven the lack of a systematic and comprehensive needs analysis to inform EAP programs in Iran, the present study aimed to explore the EAP needs of students of knowledge and information science. Questionnaires, undergraduates’ self-assessment, teachers’ evaluation of undergraduates’ language abilities, and semi-structured interviews were used for eliciting data from the students (95 undergraduates and 18 graduates) and 17 teachers (9 ELT and 8 content teachers). Despite the differences between different groups of stakeholders’ perceptions on undergraduates’ present and target situation needs, the results showed that there are serious gaps between students’ present language abilities and target situation academic English demands. Moreover, the students showed difficulty with all language skills, sub-skills, components, and study skills. Low level of language proficiency made undergraduates prefer an EGP-oriented EAP course devoid of specificity. The implications provided can be used for the renewal of EAP curriculum, course design, and materials development
Terminological Field «Tourism» in English Tourism Discourse
Get PDFThe article outlines main aspects of study of the English tourism terminology, in particular, functional. General specific features of the English guides and peculiarities of tourism terms functioning in them have been viewed in the article. The aim of our work is to consider the functioning of the English tourism terminology in guidebooks to Ukraine. The research is based on the materials of these English-speaking guides on line: World Travel Guide and Travel to Ukraine (the Official Travel Website and Guide to Ukraine). In linguistics a guidebook is considered a kind of tourist discourse genre. Characteristic features of tourist guides are a high degree of generalization, precision, information and impersonality. The main functions of guides are informative (presenting factual information) and advertising (creating a positive image of a specific tourist site that aims to interest potential tourist on his visit). These features influence the choice of vocabulary of travel guides. Several micro fields are presented in the English tourism terminology. They are organization of tourism, accommodation, transport, food, leisure time. Implementing promotional and informational functions also contributes to polycodenature of the guide – the presence of illustrations, on the one hand, renders factual information (various maps) on the other – helps to create a high positive image of a particular object (photo)
The Interplay between Reflective Thinking and Language Achievement: A Case of Iranian EFL Learners
Get PDFThe present study aims at exploring the relation of EFL learners’ reflective thinking attitudes and language achievement (GPA). The association of the learners’ reflective thinking styles with their educational levels as well as their gender, were also estimated. To this end, 196 students from universities of Gonabad and Mashhad, two cities in the Northeast of Iran, took part in this study. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and correlational analysis. The results indicated among the comprising factors of reflective thinking, understanding receives the highest mean, followed by reflection and critical reflection. Habitual action, on the other hand, has the lowest mean score. Moreover, the highest correlation is observed between UND and language achievement (GPA). The second higher correlation was found between REF and GPA, followed by CREF and GPA. It was also found that there is a significant negative correlation between HA and GPA. According to the results, MA students achieved higher mean scores in UND, REF, and CREF but lower mean scores in HA in comparison with their BA counterparts. Regarding their reflective thinking, there are no significant differences between males and females. The findings of the present study may redound to the benefit of teacher educators, administrators, policymakers, and teacher training courses (TTC), teacher educators, administrators, and policymakers
Flipping Microlearning-based EFL Classroom to Enhance Learners’ Self-Regulation
Get PDFThe potential benefit of employing a flipped learning approach, where learners are presented with the content preceding the class time, is to make a shift from traditional teacher-centered learning environments to more learner- and learning-centered ones. As this content delivery should be short, small, fine, and powerful, ‘microlearning’ as a new method of content-delivery in mediated environments, is suggested. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of this flipped learning approach on raising Iranian EFL learners’ self-regulation. This study was undertaken on 26 intermediate students in a nine-week course held at an English Institute in Tehran, IRAN. Of the participants, 13 learned English using a task-based language teaching (TBLT) approach in a non-flipped learning setting, whereas 13 studied English in a flipped learning setting. The data was collected in three sections: self-regulation survey flipped learning questionnaire and focus group interviews. Findings demonstrate that the latter were more aware of the learning process itself, playing a more active role in the classroom, while enjoying learning, as being more engaged in the learning progress, resulting in the development of their autonomy and self-regulated learning
An Empirical Evaluation of Requirements Prioritization Techniques
Get PDFIn today’s time and budget intensive software development market, quick delivery is the basic motive of teams. Software development teams strive to gain customer satisfaction by all possible means. Requirements prioritization is the most challenging customer input dependent task in the software development life cycle that decides the fate of a project. Selection of a well-suited requirements prioritization technique may result in customer satisfaction and on time delivery time. Literature reports on many requirements prioritization techniques in practice. However, each has its own features that can outperform the rest for a certain case. Therefore, this research is conducted to empirically evaluate the existing techniques in terms of certain quality measures (i.e., accuracy, efficiency, and scalability). The selected techniques are evaluated for the small, medium and large scale of requirements sets. For that, we selected five existing techniques that are multi-criteria-decision-making techniques and have user involvement (i.e., Analytical Hieratical Process (AHP), Analytical Network Process (ANP), FuzzyAHP, FuzzyANP and Interactive Genetic Algorithm (IGA)). The experimental results showed that among the five selected techniques, FuzzyAHP is the most efficient and accurate technique for the large dataset of requirements
Prappctices in Physics for Engineering Students
Get PDFDigital technologies are changing our communication way and are crucial and essential in our everyday lives, entertainment, study, and work. The educational sector incorporates more and more Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to create a more creative, participatory and socialising learning environment. In this challenging context, some prAPPactices with embedded use of apps have been introduced in our Physics laboratory as part of the new active teaching strategies to increase student satisfaction and motivation. We present three examples of the most representative newly introduced prAPPctices regarding acoustics, lighting and elasticity in our subjects in two different degrees (building engineering and mechanical engineering). Students become main actors in a smarter, portable, reproducible, and more exciting learning environment and the teacher role is set on a second layer. Creating a new, more exciting, personal and customised working and learning environment has improved student’s engagement and satisfaction and the quality of the laboratory reports with direct and positive consequences on the grades
The Relationship Between Efficiency, Stability, and Reputation in Fundraising and Generation of Resources in the Third Sector Institutions
Get PDFThe purpose of this study is to verify if the efficiency, stability, and reputation are factors capable of impacting fundraising and resource generation of nonprofit institutions, bearers of the Federal Public Utility Title. Data was collected from the National Register of Public Utility Entities of the Ministry of Justice, a database developed by the Brazilian Ministry of Justice in which nonprofit organizations file their financial statements. The analysis comprised the available data, from 2010 to 2014. Results indicate that fundraising and generation of resources are significantly influenced by efficiency, stability, and reputation factors. The findings highlight the relevance of disclosing financial information in generating and attracting funds from these institutions. 
Linking Corporate Culture Values and Organizational Agility: An Empirical Analysis within the Automotive Industry
Get PDFThe purpose of this paper is to analyze the link of corporate values with respect to the concept of organizational agility. The motivation has been one of discovery within corporations from the automotive industry, dealing in uncertain and turbulent environments. The paper offers an overview of literature on agility frameworks, comparing overlapping areas of corporate values from the 10 largest premium automotive manufacturers. Survey data from over 186 respondents provide quantitative validity to establish understanding of how organizational agility is translated into values and behaviors. A conceptual framework for synthesizing the relationships is proposed based on the case studies’ empirical findings. As a result, organizations can benefit from its development in two ways: (1) it helps measuring the agility‐values fit with an integrative perspective, and (2) it provides valuable insights into critical elements of their organizational culture. Moreover, a wide range of values under theoretical and practical situations is proposed. This study will enable executives, especially from the automotive industry, to identify suitable characteristics that would simultaneously improve an organization’s agile performance by considering aspects of corporate culture. Consequently, this study is more industry‐specific and less inclusive