Using Malmquist Indexes to measure changes in the productivity and efficiency of US accounting firms before and after the Sarbanes–Oxley Act

There have been many criticisms of the Sarbanes–Oxley (SOX) Act passed in July of 2002 to correct business accountability and performance practices. The act has a major emphasis on accounting and its practices. This paper attempts a response to these criticisms by investigating changes in productive efficiency for 62 of the largest US public accounting firms between the periods (2000–2001) and (2003–2004)—the periods before and after enactment of SOX in July of 2002. DEA is used to calculate Malmquist indexes of productivity and efficiency changes. This index is used because it can distinguish between changes in technical efficiency, which limit the possibilities, and changes in the performance efficiencies for each firm. Contrary to many of the criticisms, results indicate that accounting firms have exhibited significant post SOX growth in productive efficiency which is better than pre-SOX performances.     

Finding the maximum efficiency for multistage ranked-set sampling

Multistage ranked-set sampling (MRSS) is a generalization of ranked-set sampling in which multiple stages of ranking are used. It is known that for a fixed distribution under perfect rankings, each additional stage provides a gain in efficiency when estimating the population mean. However, the maximum possible efficiency for the MRSS sample mean relative to the simple random sampling sample mean has not previously been determined. In this paper, we provide a method for computing this maximum possible efficiency under perfect rankings for any choice of the set size and the number of stages. The maximum efficiency tends to infinity as the number of stages increases, and, for large numbers of stages, the efficiency-maximizing distributions are symmetric multi-modal distributions where the number of modes matches the set size. The results in this paper correct earlier assertions in the literature that the maximum efficiency is bounded and that it is achieved when the distribution is uniform.     

Successful prevention may not be enough: A case study of how managing a threat triggers a threat

This case study examines student perceptions of a university's management of an alleged threat against their campus that was posted on Facebook. The timeline of events describes how the university's threat prevention response triggered a rumor crisis due to incomplete and poorly timed official information dissemination. A convenience sample of students completed questionnaires assessing perceptions of informal and formal communication about the alleged threat, satisfaction with threat prevention, and perceptions of the emergency text message system. Satisfaction with the university's response varied by students’ feelings of information adequacy. Some students resisted registering for the emergency notification system.     

The Slope of Change: An Environmental Management Approach to Reduce Drinking on a Day of Celebration at a US College

Abstract

Objective: This research extends the literature on event-specific environmental management with a case study evaluation of an intervention designed to reduce student drinking at a university's year-end celebration. Participants: Cornell University undergraduates were surveyed each May from 2001 through 2009. Sample sizes ranged from 322 to 1,973. Methods: Randomly sampled surveys were conducted after a large, annual spring campus celebration. An environmental management plan was initiated in 2003 that included increased enforcement of the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) law. Results: In the short term, drinking at the campus celebration decreased while drinking before the event increased. Over time, the intervention significantly reduced high-risk drinking on the day of the event, especially among those under the age of 21. Conclusion: These findings are contrary to the argument that enforcement of MLDA laws simply leads to increased high-risk drinking, and therefore have implications for how colleges approach the challenge of student alcohol misuse.     

PRIMITIVE ACCUMULATION,EMINENT DOMAIN,AND THE CONTRADICTIONS OF NEO-LIBERALISM

Abstract

This essay addresses the institutional conditions of cultural studies, especially those bearing on cultural studies teaching. It does so by reviewing the history of the Open University Popular Culture course from an insider's perspective. Whereas most published accounts of this course have related it closely to the concerns of the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, this essay suggests that the two projects — while overlapping in certain respects — are more usefully thought of as distinct. Having disentangled the history of the Open University course from that of the Birmingham Centre, the author goes on to advance a more general argument concerning the politics and practice of cultural studies pedagogy. The essay's main contention in this regard is that a conception of cultural studies teaching which connects it to the cultivation of resistive practices in the classroom is incoherent. It is suggested that this now influential current of thought is best assessed as a negative outcome of the encounter between the projects of cultural studies and US liberationist philosophy.     

Perceived Family Functioning and Family Resources of Hong Kong Families: Implications for Social Work Practice

This article reports the results of a telephone survey (n = 1,015 respondents) that aims to identify the perceived general family functioning and family resources of Hong Kong Chinese families and their linkage to each other in a rapidly transforming society. The perceived general family functioning of the respondents was average, and the five types of family resources—time, income, human capital, psychological capital, and social capital—of the respondents ranged from average to good. The following family resource domains, in descending order, have accounted for significant variance in perceived general family functioning: income, time spent with family, stress coping efficacy, religion, and satisfaction with the living environment. Our findings provide empirical support for policy formulation and social work practice.