Validity of CBTIs Essay Example for Free

Validity of CBTIs Essay Opinions regarding the trustworthiness of CBTIs vary considerably. On one extreme are those who argue that the practitioner can have a great deal of confidence in most commercially available test scoring and interpretation programs, since the testing industry usually maintains high standards for computerized assessment. At the other extreme are those who argue that for many programs there are few, if any, published reports of empirically demonstrated validity. Obviously, the validity of any CBTI system depends on the validity of the test for which it is developed: Discussion of this constraint imposed by the general status of psychological assessment lies beyond the scope of this article. Assuming validity of the measure itself, the validity of the CBTI depends on how closely the developer of the system conforms to actuarial findings for the instrument. A CBTI system is actuarial only if its interpretive output is wholly determined by statistical rules linking test scores to non test criteria. In reality, even the best CBTI systems are not fully actuarial, and many present no evidence of relying on actuarial findings to any extent. Moreland lamented that many CBTI systems are developed by individuals with no special qualifications who have never published a scholarly article on either the test in question or on the CBTI. (Forgionne 2005) Scholar noted several factors limiting validity of CBTIs. Among these are (a) unreliability of measures (including both the test itself as well as non test criteria on which test narratives may be based), (b) unwillingness to permit unclassified cases in situations of insufficient or ambiguous data, (c) inadequate attention to base rates and poorly analyzed cutting scores, (d) prediction of non test behaviors beyond those warranted by specific test findings, and (e) generalization across testing situations and populations without regard for potential moderators. Additional sources of error in CBTIs include miscommunication between the interpretation author and the programmer, as well as errors in the automated-interpretive algorithm itself. It bears noting that, with the exception of programming errors, these same shortcomings plague clinician-generated reports to an equal or greater degree. Thus, potential threats to the validity of CBTIs noted here should not be interpreted as favoring non computerized reports. Identifying potential sources of error in a CBTI system remains difficult. Consumers would be better positioned to evaluate specific components of CBTIs if interpretive rules were made available, although these are rarely presented because of proprietary concerns of the developers. Often only portions of CBTI systems have been validated. for example, restricted samples used in validity studies may activate only a subset of narrative statements in the interpretive library. Moreover, CBTIs are often rated for accuracy at the global level. rarely have discrete elements at the sentence or even paragraph level been examined empirically In addition, most CBTIs are closed systems that preclude the user from modifying or replacing either the decision rules or corresponding interpretations for specific components based on local norms, characteristics of the respondent known to moderate test-criterion relationships, or other considerations. Specific strategies for examining the validity of CBTIs vary but generally can be grouped into three approaches ranging from least to most restrictive: (a) customer satisfaction studies, (b) expert opinion modeling, and (c) external criterion studies. (Steiger 1998) Customer Satisfaction Studies In customer satisfaction studies, consumers rate one or more elements of the CBTI (eg, single ratings of the overall report vs. multiple ratings of discrete narrative elements) along one or more dimensions (eg, accuracy, clarity, internal consistency, omission of relevant information, and inclusion of trivial or misleading information). Because such studies do not rely on independent criterion data regarding the test respondent and therefore are less difficult and less costly to conduct, customer satisfaction studies of CBTI validity are more common than other types of CBTI validity research (although even customer satisfaction studies are infrequent relative to the number of commercial CBTI systems available). Several methodological considerations germane to CBTI customer satisfaction studies, among these were the need for (a) a relatively large, representative sample of users or potential users of that interpretive system. (b) Adequate sampling of test respondents both with respect to common socio demographic moderators, as well as the behavioral domains addressed by the test. And (c) specific ratings of discrete narrative elements along multiple dimensions such as those noted above. Even more critical than these are the need in customer satisfaction studies to control for various rater response sets, Considerable attention has been given in the literature to the impact of global, non differentiating descriptors or Barnum statements on ratings of perceived accuracy. As noted, various studies have shown that consumers assign greater accuracy to narratives with a higher saturation of nonspecific statements, particularly when these descriptions are attributed to persons of authority or expertise. Given this tendency, findings from the international study of computer-based MMPI-2 reports might be regarded as less than compelling, a limitation also suggested. (Martinsons 1999)

Impact Of Government Intervention In India

Impact Of Government Intervention In India In this study the impact of government intervention toward governance and performance of Indonesian state-owned enterprises was investigated, using 114 of total 141 enterprises from year 2006 to 2009 (456 observations) as sample. The study is cross-sectional to estimate how issues of intellectual property assignment, soft budget constraint and political embeddedness affect the economic performance of enterprises. Form of SOEs, number of ownership, government loan, capital injection, number of government officer seat in board of commissioners, as well as government assignment are assigned as government intervention proxies. On the other hand the firm performance is represented by ROA and ROE. The result shows that government ownership, government loan and government assignment have adverse impact to SOEs performance, on the other hand number of government officer on Board of Commissioner is the only intervention with favorable impact. The impact from the rest of government actions are unclear and need to be tested further. Finally, the paper concludes that the government intervention could be either good or bad depend on some other factors. The possibilities of the reasons are discussed Keywords: Government Intervention, Performance, Indonesia, State-Owned Enterprises 1.Introduction The importance of government intervention to the economy has become endless debate among the economist. In fact there is no single nation, even the most extreme among the pros and cons, pursues the pure economy with full or without government intervention. The difference is just the degree. The role of government in transition economies is undeniably critical, which is one of the common ways is through state owned enterprises (SOEs). It is widely known that SOEs throughout the globe have been suspected as ill-governed business entities signified by such as high level of corruption, lack of transparency, as well as severe inefficient. Many market based economist believe that the main reason of such weaknesses is government intervention. Therefore they actively promote liberalization trough privatization of SOEs. In many cases, it can be one of requirements stipulated by the donor institution such as IMF or World Bank in granting financial help to troubling developing countries. However, it may be not true for all cases. Some countries, such as Singapore and china, are example where government intervention doesnt mean harm SOEs performance. Manageable government intervention toward SOEs can lead to excellent performance. This paper aims to: 1) investigate the level of government intervention in Indonesian SOEs; 2) examine the relationship between the level of government intervention and the performance of state owned enterprises. The paper unfolds as follows. In Section 2 description of government intervention in Indonesian SOEs are presented. In Section 3 the theoretical review are described. Variables and hypothesis will be discussed in section 4, meanwhile section 5 will describe data and methodology. Section 6 contains a discussion of result and findings, and final section will conclude the paper. 2. Literature Review in Government Intervention In developing countries government play three roles simultaneously; first, as an economic player that supply and demand for particular services and good [1], secondly as regulator that posses the sole role to produce, to enact, as well as to enforce regulations [2], and last but not least act as the owner of state-controlled enterprises that produce some goods and services.. Previous studies have identified some benefits of possessing connection to state such as improving the legitimacy of firm [2], getting access to government controlled resources [3], being able to affect regulation formulation [4]. Some other advantages are having opportunity over privileged treatment [5][6], and from favor of having asymmetric information state policies [7]. There are three main issue of government intervention are elaborated in this paper. They are intellectual property aspect through control and ownership, budget constraint aspect, and political embeddedness issue. Each aspect is elaborated in the following paragraphs. 2.1. Intellectual Property Aspect First, In broader scope, some ownership-related issues have been addressed by previous researcher. Those issues are state-private, dispersed-concentrated, and domestic-foreign. Those previous researches mainly investigated the relationship between ownership structures with the performance. Nonetheless, most of those researches have been conducted to test hypothesis in private-owned firms. SOEs are a business institution belongs to a society as whole therefore the benefits of it should bring benefits to the society. The problem is if everyone owns it that means no one actually own as a result no one has incentive to utilize the resources effectively and efficiently. Therefore many economists suggest assigning property right by lowering the government control and ownership [8]. The problem believed related to ownership is principle-agent problem that arises when managers act not on shareholders interest. The deviating management goal often hinders the shareholders goal in maximizing their share value. Previous study reveals that efficient information and structure of incentive as a result of the existence of private ownership is believed to able to reduce agency problem [9]. Also argued in [10] that another reason why full private or semi private enterprises are said to have less agency problem is because those firms have better both external and internal governance mechanisms. External mechanisms include market for labor/manager and capital along with all regulation and their discipline and enforcement on them. In the other hand, internal governance mechanism consists of managerial ownership, reward system, and board composition. Meanwhile both mechanism are not exist for the case of SOEs [8]. Furthermore, agency problem in the SOEs sector is worse than th eir peer in the private sector since there are two agency relationships as a breakdown of owner manager, they are owners-to-politicians and politicians-to-managers [12]. However if the portion of share owned by public is dispersed big number of individual of investors and or there is no adequate provisions of protection toward minority shareholders case of partial privatized in the SOEs may not make significant difference [13]. 2.2. Budget Constraint The template is used Another government involvement in economic activity especially in the context of SOEs is in the issue of soft budget constraint. As described in [14]: The softening of the budget constraint appears when the strict relationship between expenditure and earnings has been relaxed, because excess expenditures over earnings will be paid by some other institution, typically by the state. A further condition of softening is that the decision maker expects such external financial assistance with high probability and this probability is built into his behavior. It is also pointed out in that government in transition economies often exploit SOEs to produce public goods and services n financing the resulting social burdens on SOEs through subsidies and loan policy [15]. From several previous research, causes of soft budget constraint can be categorized into some, such as decentralized [16], paternalism [14], and public ownership in socialist economies [17], monopolistic market [18], policy burden [19]. In the context of Indonesian SOEs, two latter causes are relevant. Some particular industries have been still monopolized by one or more SOEs not because of the real competitiveness but just because the government has not liberalized the market yet, for instance seaport, airport, and defense industry. Monopoly also can rise when the industry is not lucrative enough to attract investment from private player. Normally those sectors do not give normal profit to be sustainable in the industry. Consequently, it is related to third causes, when the government wants to execute some economy or political program that may not be done unless having to involve SOE, in this case the SOEs have to shoulder political burden. It is said in [20] soft budget constraint will cause the firm become less responsive to price, technological changes, and unfavorable external condition. They all are root causes of organizational slack. In addition, another consequence of soft budget constraints is that SOEs may not efficient in utilizing their finance resources since capital market cannot discipline SOEs. to format your paper and style the text. All margins, column widths, line spaces, and text fonts are prescribed; please do not alter them. You may note peculiarities. For example, the head margin in this template measures proportionately more than is customary. This measurement and others are deliberate, using specifications that anticipate your paper as one part of the entire proceedings, and not as an independent document. Please do not revise any of the current designations. 2.3 Political Embeddedness As mentioned earlier the relationship between the state and the SOEs is more than just ownership matter. Its position as the regulator in the same time causes the situation, so-called political embeddedness that refers to technical, bureaucratic, or emotional ties to the state and its actors. It includes wide-ranging and intricate association; official and unofficial, personal and organizational ties to the state [21]. Given existence of principle-agent problem mentioned earlier, one way utilized by the shareholder to ensure the management work on owner-based interest is through supervisory board. However, it has been quiet common for the case of SOEs that the members of supervisory board mostly have been selected among bureaucrats from any departments or politicians from any political parties. As stated previously, the presence more official or politician may just deteriorates the existing agency problem because in many circumstances actually there is nothing wrong with the policy, instead the politician misbehavior. In another word, SOEs might be ideal place of rent seeking activities from the member of board of commissioner. From positive side, existence of supervisory member that represent any associated department can become an effective tool to pursue check and balance in managerial process in the company [22]. However, in the transition economy amid the absence of law enforcement toward misbehavior, the existence of more supervisory member will exacerbate the agency problem because of self-interested maximizing politicians or bureaucrats. 3. Government Intervention in Indonesian State-Owned Enterprises Established with a strong legal base, namely, on the article 33 of the countys constitution SOEs have been playing a considerably important role in Indonesian economic development reign. Operating in almost all fields of business, ranging from finance, banking, mining, transportation, high-tech technology to agro-industry, the enterprises have been contributing in several ways. More than 800 thousands workers have been employed across the SOEs. It accounted for % of employment. Then, more than IDR 150 billions of taxes and IDR 28,6 billions of dividend, both combined represented 3,8 % of Indonesian GDP, were paid to the state budget in year 2009. This amount has not been included community development fund allocated from firms profit for alleviating the poverty. However, mentioned contributions do not mean that the ISOEs are in sound governance and performance. Even though Indonesian SOEs is big in term of size, they are mostly weak in term of competitiveness. By employing more than IDR 2.000 billion total assets and IDR 525 billion total equity in year 2009, Indonesian SOEs proceeded only IDR 78 billion net income. It means SOEs accounted for less than 4% of ROA and 15 % of ROE. Compared to their competitors in each industry sector, SOEs has been outperformed. Further inquiry found that 20 SOEs accounted dominantly for almost 90% of the total in term of both net income and total assets. In addition, among those SOEs there are dozens of SOE suffering with huge loss in their financial statement. Revealed facts strengthen public stereotype toward SOEs as inefficient, bureaucratic, less responsive, lack of skillful management, lack of transparency institution. Even though all firms are regarded as state-owned firm, the degree of government involvement to the firms is different one with another. It can be seen from the types and the level of government actions imposed to each firm. Assuming that the form of enterprises and number of state ownership can be used to measure the level of government intervention, in year 2009 Indonesian SOEs comprises 14 government agencies, 111 limited company, 16 listing company. Meanwhile in term of ownership Indonesian SOEs consist of 112 wholly owned, 29 partially owned (not including 19 firms with state ownership less than 50% excluded from this study). Looking at the trend, the number of listing company has been increasing from 12 firms in year 2006 to 16 firms in year 2009. Even the number is supposed to be higher if privatization program was done well for during period of time. For many reason, there are many SOEs ended up with financial difficulties but at the same time unable or unwilling to find external financial resources. At such condition, government usually comes to rescue the troubling enterprises by endowing with capital injection or low-soft government loan. Government steadily poured the almost-bankrupt SOEs with additional capital injection in cash as much as IDR 1,9 trillions per year on average since 2005 to 2010 (accumulatively IDR 9.9 trillion at the end of year 2010). Some SOEs obtained non-cash capital injection, for instance in form of fixed assets transferred from associated ministries that purchased it by using annual the state budget. The latter case is not always advantageous to receiving SOEs, even it is frequently harmful since the transferred assets may be either not needed or not fit. Moreover, to meet SOEs need on working capital and capital expenditure, government also has been providing soft loan in the sense at very low rate and less rigid requirement in comparison with commercial credit rate. In the context of Indonesian SOEs, loan mainly consists of Investment Fund and Subsidiary Loan Agreement (SLA). The two types of loan principally are two step loan; foreign donor to government and then government to SOEs. The outstanding balance at the end of year 2008 is approximately IDR 49.8 trillion to 85 SOEs. Part of that amount, which is around IDR 15.5 trillion or 31%, (31 SOEs) was default at that time. Another type of government intervention is to assign some government programs to SOEs. The program is so called public service obligation (PSO). Around 10 SOEs has been involved to execute government assignment in availing food, fertilizer, energy, and transportation. In turn government transfer hundreds trillions as compensation to the SOEs which is including in it is cost of the program (acknowledge as subsidy for society) plus some percentage of margin for the SOEs. For instance in year 2009 government allocated almost IDR 180 trillion for delivering public service obligation program (PSO) with SOEs as the executor. *Identify applicable sponsor(s) here. (dispensable)4. Variables and Hypothesis To address the issue of intellectual property assignment/ownership control, two variables are employed. They are form of SOEs (FORM) and number of government ownership (OWNERSHIP). In term of form, SOEs are categorized into three groups of enterprises. Those are public agency, company limited, and listing company limited. The main difference among them is the primary goal and form of ownership. Public agency is the firm which its ownership has not been divided into a number of shares. Its main activity is to avail public goods or services as a part of government program. The second form of SOEs form is company limited which is the ownership of the firm has been divided into a number of shares. Although there is still possibility that the firms will become vehicle of government program, however, the main goals of firms are profit maximization. The only different with the last form of SOEs is the shares have been tradeable in capital market. In another hand, the way of strengthening pr operty right also can be done through releasing state ownership and control. It is conducted by inviting other parties such as employee, management, local government, or even public to posses SOEss share. It has been elaborated by some economist that a source of inefficiencies is state control over the firms. It is said that the government is more likely to distract the resources of the firm to attain its own political or socio-economic goals [23]. In addition, government control over enterprises is also suspected to have association with the absence of incentive and lack of monitoring for managers to perform better [24]. Moreover, different forms of state ownership are also associated with the level of government officials involvement in the process of corporate governance and it is likely to have different performance [25]. Form transformation and privatization can be regarded as one way of defining property right. Property right theory suggests that the clearer (more direct and unattenuated) the property rights to be defined, the better the way of utilizing the assets (governance) will be [26]. Hypothesis 1a : Form transformation from public agency to company limited and listing company limited will provide negative impact toward SOEs performance; Hypothesis 1b : Form transformation from public agency to company limited and listing company limited will provide positive impact toward SOEs performance; Hypothesis 2a : Decreasing number of state-ownership on SOEs will give negative impact toward SOEs performance; Hypothesis 2b : Decreasing number of state-ownership on SOEs will give positive impact toward SOEs performance; With regard to soft budget constraint aspect, this study employed two independent variable, namely capital injection (CAPITAL) and government debt (GOVLOAN). In most cases, if SOEs are facing severe financial hardship the state will interfere either by providing loan or capital injection as last resort sources. In contrast to the case commercial bank loan that requires some rigid requirement in obtaining credit and of course with market rate, the government frequently releases many requirements so that the SOEs will be easier to get loan at subsidized interest rate. This government loan present financial benefit to SOEs, mainly because of lower interest rate, no collateral required and lower transaction cost. In case of capital injection the advantages enjoyed by SOEs are even bigger than government loan. Nonetheless, both types of government actions can creates disincentive for managers to govern the firm properly and efficiently including in finding needed financial resources. This may also hinder sound development of capital or financial market. Therefore following hypotheses are set: Hypothesis 3a : Government intervention to SOEs in form of government loan will give negative impact toward SOEs performance; Hypothesis 3b : Government intervention to SOEs in form of government loan will give positive impact toward SOEs performance; Hypothesis 4a : Government intervention to SOEs in form of capital injection will provide negative impact toward SOEs performance; Hypothesis 4b : Government intervention to SOEs in form of capital injection will provide positive impact toward SOEs performance; In this paper, the issue of political embeddedness is examined by employing two variables; involvement of SOEs in executing public service obligation (PSO) and number of government officers seating in the board of commissioner (OFFICERS). PSO is government program to avail the basic need of the people such as electricity, food, medicine, fuel, transportation and soon. Doing so will provide SOEs both benefit as well as cost. The appointed SOEs will financially benefit from captive revenue plus certain percentage of profit given over each particular government assignment. Nevertheless, it also implicitly grants some cost SOEs. SOEs that heavily rely on government assignment as the main source of revenue will be more likely to have unproven competitiveness compared to their private owned peers. In the long run, it also will harm financially. Moreover, too much business transaction with government and its bureaucrats may induce political rent seeking activities that undermine SOEs compet itiveness. With regard to composition of board of commissioner, most of Indonesian SOEs have active or retired officers as well politicians from ruling political parties. It also derives both benefit and cost to SOEs simultaneously. The presence official on the board can be source of legitimacy and facilitator in passing government policy to SOEs and in delivering message from SOEs in effort of influencing the policymakers that ultimately benefit SOEs [4]. Even more, this also can provide SOEs access to resources (such as government project) controlled by department or ministry which is the officials work. On the other hand, Public choice theory states that politician will maximize their interest in gaining more votes so that the firm with less political intervention will be more likely in increasing search for better governance [27]. In addition, as representative of the government, acting officials usually will act on the basis of government interest that is probably not in line with firm objective. Additionally, as argued in [28] the presences of politician exacerbate the agency problem. This means that the presence of officials on the BOC may be perceived with significant costs for the firm. The summation of benefit wrapped and cost burdened will be net impact of political embeddedness. Hypothesis 5a: Public service obligation will give negative impact toward SOEs Hypothesis 5b: Public service obligation will give positive impact toward SOEs Hypothesis 6a: Number of active or retired officers as well as politician on BOC will result negative impact toward SOEs Hypothesis 6b: Number of active or retired officers as well as politician on BOC will result positive impact toward SOEs As dependent variable, this study employs Return on Assets (ROA) and Return on Equity (ROE) as performance measures. Thanks to its simplicity in calculating as well as its explanatory power both measures were used in previous numerous researches, including for Indonesian SOEs [29]. For control variable, equity is selected as the only variable to represent the size of SOEs. 4. Data and Methodology Financial data were collected from annual report of 114 SOEs (of total 141 SOEs) for year 2006-2009 (456 observations). This sample covers almost 97% of population both in term of assets and sales. The way in giving score for independent variable as follows: SOEs is scored 1, 2, and 3 if their form is public agency, company limited, and listed company limited consecutively; Ownership (OWNERS) is represented in percentage of state ownership, range from 0 to 1; Capital injection (CAPINJ) and government loan (GOVLOAN) are dummy variables. If the SOE did NOT get additional injection in form of cash or noncash capital as well as debt to capital conversion (including debt haircut) within last five years score 0 is given and 1 otherwise for CAPINJ. Meanwhile if there is NO government long term loan balance in the SOEs balance sheet score 0 is provided and 1 otherwise for GOVLOAN; Number of officers or politician (OFFBOC) who seat on board of commissioners is expressed in the number as it is; PSO is also dummy variable which is SOEs that conduct government assignment is valued 1 and 0 otherwise; Equity value has been transformed into ln value to reduce the possibility of multicoliniarity problem; Type of industry which the SOEs operate is also valued using dummy variable, 0 for good production/manufacture and 1 for service provider. Once all data have been identified and inputted, those independent variables are tested to examine the relationship toward dependent variable using ordinary least square method. The regression equations are written as follows: ROE = ÃŽÂ ±0 + ÃŽÂ ±1FORM + ÃŽÂ ±2GOVLOAN + ÃŽÂ ±3OFFBOC + ÃŽÂ ±4PSO + ÃŽÂ ±5CAPINJ + ÃŽÂ ±6OWNERS + ÃŽÂ ±7log.EQUITY + ÃŽÂ ±8CORE (1) ROA = ÃŽÂ ²0 + ÃŽÂ ²1FORM + ÃŽÂ ²2GOVLOAN + ÃŽÂ ²3OFFBOC + ÃŽÂ ²4PSO + ÃŽÂ ²5CAPINJ + ÃŽÂ ²6OWNERS + ÃŽÂ ²7log.EQUITY + ÃŽÂ ²8CORE (2) 5. Result and Findings Table 1 shows the descriptive statistic and correlation. Average ROE of ISOEs, 0,085, is relatively low compared to their private competitor. Meanwhile, average number of government officer and politician on board of commissioner is 3.32. Furthermore, mean of state ownership on SOEs that is 92%, partly because this study doesnt include SOEs with state-minority ownership, less than 50%, but mainly it shows that majority of SOEs are still wholly-owned by the state. With respect to form, most SOEs are in form of limited corporations. In term of core business which SOEs operate, there were more SOEs doing business in service industry compared to manufacture industry. The rest of variables are dummy variable so that the means just show the relative proportion over the observation. For instance, mean of PSO is 0.12 meaning the percentage of SOE executing special government program is around 12% of population. Table1: Descriptive statistics and correlations for ROE as dependent variable Table 2: From table 2, regression run for testing the relationship between government intervention and ROE shows that using 307 observations (after omitting some outliers) roughly 57% variability of dependent variable, ROE, can be explained by all combined independent variable, this score is acceptably high. Employing Variance In ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ation Factor (VIF) and Tolerance statistic critical scores that may signal problem with multicollinearity has not been approached by both scores [30]. Looking at the significance, except GOVLOAN and CAPINJ, the rest of independent variables have statistically significant effect toward ROE. Although FORM and PSO are not significant at 5% confidential level, however, both variables are quite significant at 10% confidential levels. Therefore, in this paper both variables are still considered as significant. Table 2: cooefficients, t statistic, colinearity for ROE as dependent variable From the second equation, which is the only difference from table 1 is that the former uses ROA as dependent variable instead of ROE. The result displayed on the table 3 shows almost similar figure. The ROA score is considerably low at 3.2%. What makes slightly difference is the number of valid observation after taking out the outliers. With regard to correlation, there is no sharp correlation among variables. It support argument that multicollinearity problem is negligible. Table 3: Descriptive statistics and correlations for ROA as dependent variable The second regression results moderately high r square, 0.450. A couple outliers were identified until reaching valid observation is 270. After considering F score, Tolerance and VIF score the model is judged statistically fit. Among predetermined independent variable only CORE was not significant. Table 3: cooefficients, t statistic, colinearity for ROA as dependent variable From the result of two different equation of regression discussed above, the impact of each aspect of government intervention can be summarized as follows: Table 4: cooefficients, t statistic, colinearity for ROA as dependent variable Independent Variable Dependent Variable ROE ROA FORM Positive Negative OWNERSHIP Negative Negative CAPINJ Negative (insignificant) Positive GOVLOAN Negative (insignificant) Negative OFFBOC Positive Positive PSO Negative Negative Ln EQUITY Positive Positive CORE Positive Negative (insignificant) Overall, comparison of the result from two different tests provide strong support for Hypotheses 2b, 5a, 6a, and reject Hypotheses 2a, 5b, and 6b. However some hypotheses are left with unclear answer due to the mixed up result. 6. Discussions From the finding described earlier form has positive impact over ROE, meaning that reducing the government control signified by transformation of SOEs form is more likely to give good impact of SOEs the performance. However, the opposite result was found for second equation which is ROA as dependent variable. The possible reason is SOEs with less control from the government will have more flexibility in raising capital either through equity capitalization (for instance, through initial public offering) or by leveraging debt. SOEs with less government control seem to finance their project using more debt rather than equity. As a result it will keep their equity low so that it can push their ROE higher. Interestingly, when performance measured by using ROA the opposite result prevails. This paper argue SOEs with less government control become less conservative in selecting project in the way that fund obtained from debt/loan have been invested in the project with low return. Not surprisingly, both equations show consistent results regarding the impact of ownership toward performance. The result show more number of government ownership will lead to poorer performance. The presence of other shareholders other than government is expected to be able to enhance governance of the firm through improvement in monitoring, transparency, responsibility, and so on. This is especially for the case of Indonesian privatized SOEs as finding of previous research [31]. With respect to capital injection, the result is mixed up. This variable is statistically significant in relation to ROA but insignificant in the case of ROE with different direction of impact. This finding need to be further investigated by employing other performance variable or by applying qualitative approach. Similarly, the impact of government loan over performance is also indecisive. It is because only one test, which ROA as dependent variable, demonstrates significant result. However, both tests show the same negative impact of such kind of government interference. It can be conclude that the cost of obtaining and optimizing government loan exceed the financial benefit that may be able to reaped. Even possible financial benefit from low interest and low transaction cost of loan acquirement may be offset by illegal transfer paid to rent seeker in bureaucracy. This finding reinforces the previous research conclusion which is soft budget constraint will create conducive environm ent for spoiled managerial behavior [20]. This managers have no incentive to run the firm efficiently, reluctant to compete fairly which will severely harm the firm competitiveness in the long run. Interestingly, the findings with respect to number of government officers occupy seats on board of commissioner appears to be different from common belief that suspect that the presence of officer on board of commissioners is likely to worsen the situation and pe

ACG 2021, Introduction to Financial Accounting, Spring 2001, Exam 3 Final :: UFL Florida Business Accounting

2021FINALSP01 5/9/2001 FORM CODE: A Page 1 ACG 2021 – FINAL EXAM SPRING 2001 NAME _____________________________________ SS# ____________________________ Instructions: NOW: Bubble in your section number on your Scan Sheet. Fill in your name and social security number on this examination and your scan sheet. 1. Listen carefully for any comments your proctor may have related to the exam. Read these instructions carefully. Failure to do so may result in your losing points. 2. This exam consists of 60 multiple-choice questions. Select the BEST answer and mark the appropriate space on the scan sheet with a #2 pencil only. You MUST keep your scan sheet face down on the desk when you are not filling it in. 3. You may use ONLY a non-programmable calculator during the exam. Use of any other calculator will be considered a violation of the honor code. Your exam will be taken from you and you will receive a grade of 0. 4. At the end of 2 hours, you will be told to stop. Put your pencils down IMMEDIATELY. Failure to do so will result in your receiving a zero for the exam. 5. The exam consists of 16 pages, including this cover, present value tables and a blank page at the end. Make sure you have all pages and all questions. 6. Have your University of Florida Identification card ready to be checked when you turn in your exam. 7. Assume the accounting entities use a calendar year unless otherwise noted. 8. Unless otherwise specified, assume a 360-day year. 9. When you are finished, turn in your scan sheet, as well as your exam. Answers will be posted on the web after the exams are handed back in class. 10. The University of Florida policy on academic honesty will be strictly enforced. When you are told to open your exam, turn to the first page and find your exam form code. Immediately bubble this in on your scantron. 2021FINALSP01 5/9/2001 FORM CODE: A Page 2 1. Which of the following is usually NOT considered to be a long-term liability? A) Bonds payable. B) Mortgages payable. C) Accrued post-retirement benefits. D) FICA taxes payable. E) None of the above is correct. 2. The effect on total assets of the purchase of supplies for cash is A) an increase in total assets B) a decrease in total assets C) total assets remain unchanged D) an increase in total assets and total liabilities E) an increase in total assets and current ratio 3. Which of the following is not normally a condition that must be met for revenue to be recognized (recorded) under the revenue principle? A) The earnings process is complete or nearly complete

The Truman Show Essay -- essays research papers

The Truman Show is a movie about a man who is held captive inside a world that revolves around him. Truman Burbank, the main character has been raised on a huge TV Soundstage filled with hidden cameras and actors who pretend to be his friends and family. This world is one where he is literally trapped in his own life by the surreal existence in which he has been forced to spend every day of his thirty years. Since the day he was born Truman Burbank's life was controlled from a huge control panel in the sky; controlled by a manipulation of how life should be, in a perfect world. At the hands of such manipulators we see how the role of media in our world persuades us into living in a way that we would otherwise not intend to. It is quite often oblivious to all of us, the effect that media has on us. However, where ever we look the effects of media have altered the coarse of living. The clothes we wear, the sports we play, the music we listen to and our political opinions, are all aspects that are influenced by the media. Advertising is the chief culprit in many cases. We often see others responding to the effects of media whether it is consciously or subconsciously. As victims of commercialism, we then respond to those who have been effected by media. An example of this is the clothes that we wear. We see people on television and else where, looking trendy and we respond to it by going out and aiming to look the same way, therefore buying the clothes. There are many devices...

Riddles :: essays research papers

1. Can you name three consecutive days without using the words Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday?†¦Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow 2. What falls but never breaks? What breaks but never falls?†¦Night and Day! 3. Wat is black when u buy it, red when u use it, and gray when u throw it away?†¦ Charcoal 4. Woman shoots her husband, holds him underwater for 5minutes, and finally hangs him. They were seen five minutes later. How is it possible†¦ The woman was a photographer, took a picture, developed it, and hung it up. 5. The word candy can be spelled in two letters†¦. C and Y 6. Name an English word of more than 2 letters that both begins and ends with the letters "he" in that order. There are two possible answers. "hehe" is not acceptable. haha!†¦ Headache or Heartache. 7. Who makes it, has no need of it. Who buys it, has no use for it. Who uses it can neither see nor feel it†¦. Coffin 8. Whoever makes it, tells it not. Whoever takes it, knows it not. And whoever knows it wants it not†¦. Counterfeit money 9. Why is six afraid of seven†¦Because seven eight nine 10. Johnny's mother had three children. The first was April, the second was May. What was the name of her third child?†¦.Johnny 11. Why is it against the law for a man living in North Carolina to be buried in South Carolina?†¦Because he is still living 12. There was an airplane crash, every single person died, but two people survived. How is this possible?†¦They were married 13. That attorney is my brother, testified the accountant. But the attorney testified he didn't have a brother. Who is lying?†¦The accountant was his sister 14. A man and his son were in an automobile accident. The man died on the way to the hospital, but the boy was rushed into surgery. The emergency room surgeon said "I can't operate, that's my son!" How is this possible?†¦The mother was the surgeon. 15. Forewards it is heavy, backwards it is not†¦Ton 16. The more you feed it, The more it grows high,But if you give it water It shall quickly Die†¦Fire 17. The Begining of eternity, the end of space, the begining of every end, The end of every place†¦.The letter E 18. What starts with P, ends with E, and has thousands of letters in it?...Post Office 19. Ten copycats were sitting on a bridge. One jumped off, how many were left?†¦None they were copycats 20. What state is inside another state?†¦Arkansas 21. What state is full of color?†¦Colorado 22. What state has 2,000 pounds of dirty laundry?†¦Washington 23. What state makes you feel bad?

Adolf Hitler’s political views Essay

After World War I, Hitler returned to Munich.[75] Having no formal education and career prospects, he tried to remain in the army for as long as possible.[76] In July 1919 he was appointed Verbindungsmann (intelligence agent) of an Aufklà ¤rungskommando (reconnaissance commando) of the Reichswehr, to influence other soldiers and to infiltrate the German Workers’ Party (DAP). While monitoring the activities of the DAP, Hitler became attracted to the founder Anton Drexler’s antisemitic, nationalist, anti-capitalist, and anti-Marxist ideas.[77] Drexler favoured a strong active government, a non-Jewish version of socialism, and solidarity among all members of society. Impressed with Hitler’s oratory skills, Drexler invited him to join the DAP. Hitler accepted on 12 September 1919,[78] becoming the party’s 55th member.[79] A copy of Adolf Hitler’s German Workers’ Party (DAP) membership card At the DAP, Hitler met Dietrich Eckart, one of the party’s founders and a member of the occult Thule Society.[80] Eckart became Hitler’s mentor, exchanging ideas with him and introducing him to a wide range of people in Munich society.[81] To increase its appeal, the DAP changed its name to the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers Party – NSDAP).[82] Hitler designed the party’s banner of a swastika in a white circle on a red background.[83] Hitler was discharged from the army in March 1920 and began working full-time for the NSDAP. In February 1921—already highly effective at speaking to large audiences—he spoke to a crowd of over 6,000 in Munich.[84] To publicise the meeting, two truckloads of party supporters drove around town waving swastika flags and throwing leaflets. Hitler soon gained notoriety for his rowdy polemic speeches against the Treaty of Versailles, rival politicians, and especially against Marxists and Jews.[85] At the time, the NSDAP was centred in Munich, a major hotbed of anti-government German nationalists determined to crush Marxism and undermine the Weimar Republic.[86] In June 1921, while Hitler and Eckart were on a fundraising trip to Berlin, a mutiny broke out within the NSDAP in Munich. Members of the its executive committee, some of whom considered Hitler to be too overbearing, wanted to merge with the rival German Socialist Party (DSP).[87] Hitler returned to Munich on 11 July and angrily tendered his resignation. The committee members realised his resignation would mean the end of the party.[88] Hitler announced he would rejoin on the condition that he would replace Drexler as party chairman, and that the party headquarters would remain in Munich.[89] The committee agreed; he rejoined the party as member 3,680. He still faced some opposition within the NSDAP: Hermann Esser and his allies printed 3,000 copies of a pamphlet attacking Hitler as a traitor to the party.[89][a] In the following days, Hitler spoke to several packed houses and defended himself, to thunderous applause. His strategy proved successful: at a general membership meeting, he was granted absolute powers as party chairman, with only one nay vote cast.[90] Hitler’s vitriolic beer hall speeches began attracting regular audiences. He became adept at using populist themes targeted at his audience, including the use of scapegoats who could be blamed for the economic hardships of his listeners.[91][92][93] Historians have noted the hypnotic effect of his rhetoric on large audiences, and of his eyes in small groups. Kessel writes, â€Å"Overwhelmingly †¦ Germans speak with mystification of Hitler’s ‘hypnotic’ appeal. The word shows up again and again; Hitler is said to have mesmerized the nation, captured them in a trance from which they could not break loose.†[94] Historian Hugh Trevor-Roper described â€Å"the fascination of those eyes, which had bewitched so many seemingly sober men.†[95] He used his personal magnetism and an understanding of crowd psychology to his advantage while engaged in public speaking.[96][97] Alfons Heck, a former member of the Hitler Youth, describes the reaction to a speech by Hitler: â€Å"We erupted into a frenzy of nationalistic pride that bordered on hysteria. For minutes on end, we shouted at the top of our lungs, with tears streaming down our faces: Sieg Heil, Sieg Heil, Sieg Heil! From that moment on, I belonged to Adolf Hitler body and soul†.[98] Although his oratory skills and personal traits were generally received well by large crowds and at official events, some who had met Hitler privately noted that his appearance and demeanour failed to make a lasting impression.[99][100] Early followers included Rudolf Hess, former air force pilot Hermann Gà ¶ring, and army captain Ernst Rà ¶hm. Rà ¶hm became head of the Nazis’ paramilitary organisation, the Sturmabteilung (SA, â€Å"Stormtroopers†), which protected meetings and frequently attacked political opponents. A critical influence on his thinking during this period was the Aufbau Vereinigung,[101] a conspiratorial group of White Russian exiles and early National Socialists. The group, financed with funds channelled from wealthy industrialists like Henry Ford, introduced Hitler to the idea of a Jewish conspiracy, linking international finance with Bolshevism.[102] Beer Hall Putsch Main article: Beer Hall Putsch Drawing of Hitler (30 October 1923) Hitler enlisted the help of World War I General Erich Ludendorff for an attempted coup known as the â€Å"Beer Hall Putsch†. The Nazi Party used Italian Fascism as a model for their appearance and policies. Hitler wanted to emulate Benito Mussolini’s â€Å"March on Rome† (1922) by staging his own coup in Bavaria, to be followed by challenging the government in Berlin. Hitler and Ludendorff sought the support of Staatskommissar (state commissioner) Gustav von Kahr, Bavaria’s de facto ruler. However, Kahr, along with Police Chief Hans Ritter von Seisser (Seißer) and Reichswehr General Otto von Lossow, wanted to install a nationalist dictatorship without Hitler.[103] Hitler wanted to seize a critical moment for successful popular agitation and support.[104] On 8 November 1923 he and the SA stormed a public meeting of 3,000 people that had been organised by Kahr in the Bà ¼rgerbrà ¤ukeller, a large beer hall in Munich. Hitler interrupted Kahr’s speech and announced that the national revolution had begun, declaring the formation of a new government with Ludendorff.[105] Retiring to a backroom, Hitler, with handgun drawn, demanded and got the support of Kahr, Seisser, and Lossow.[105] Hitler’s forces initially succeeded in occupying the local Reichswehr and police headquarters; however, Kahr and his consorts quickly withdrew their support and neither the army nor the state police joined forces with him.[106] The next day, Hitler and his followers marched from the beer hall to the Bavarian War Ministry to overthrow the Bavarian government, but police dispersed them.[107] Sixteen NSDAP members and four police officers were killed in the failed coup.[108] Hitler fled to the home of Ernst Hanfstaengl, and by some accounts contemplated suicide.[109] He was depressed but calm when arrested on 11 November 1923 for high treason.[110] His trial began in February 1924 before the special People’s Court in Munich,[111] and Alfred Rosenberg became temporary leader of the NSDAP. On 1 April Hitler was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment at Landsberg Prison.[112] He received friendly treatment from the guards; he was allowed mail from supporters and regular visits by party comrades. The Bavarian Supreme Court issued a pardon and he was released from jail on 20 December 1924, against the state prosecutor’s objections.[113] Including time on remand, Hitler had served just over one year in prison.[114] Dust jacket of Mein Kampf (1926–1927) While at Landsberg, Hitler dictated most of the first volume of Mein Kampf (My Struggle; originally entitled Four and a Half Years of Struggle against Lies, Stupidity, and Cowardice) to his deputy, Rudolf Hess.[114] The book, dedicated to Thule Society member Dietrich Eckart, was an autobiography and an exposition of his ideology. Mein Kampf was influenced by The Passing of the Great Race by Madison Grant, which Hitler called â€Å"my Bible†.[115] The book laid out Hitler’s plans for transforming German society into one World War II Early diplomatic successes Alliance with Japan Main article: Germany–Japan relations Hitler and the Japanese Foreign Minister, YÃ… suke Matsuoka, at a meeting in Berlin in March 1941. In the background is Joachim von Ribbentrop. In February 1938, on the advice of his newly appointed Foreign Minister, the strongly pro-Japanese Joachim von Ribbentrop, Hitler ended the Sino-German alliance with the Republic of China to instead enter into an alliance with the more modern and powerful Japan. Hitler announced German recognition of Manchukuo, the Japanese-occupied state in Manchuria, and renounced German claims to their former colonies in the Pacific held by Japan.[195] Hitler ordered an end to arms shipments to China and recalled all German officers working with the Chinese Army.[195] In retaliation, Chinese General Chiang Kai-shek cancelled all Sino-German economic agreements, depriving the Germans of many Chinese raw materials.[196] Austria and Czechoslovakia On 12 March 1938 Hitler declared unification of Austria with Nazi Germany in the Anschluss.[197][198] Hitler then turned his attention to the ethnic German population of the Sudetenland district of Czechoslovakia.[199] On 28–29 March 1938 Hitler held a series of secret meetings in Berlin with Konrad Henlein of the Sudeten Heimfront (Home Front), the largest of the ethnic German parties of the Sudetenland. The men agreed that Henlein would demand increased autonomy for Sudeten Germans from the Czechoslovakian government, thus providing a pretext for German military action against Czechoslovakia. In April 1938 Henlein told the foreign minister of Hungary that â€Å"whatever the Czech government might offer, he would always raise still higher demands †¦ he wanted to sabotage an understanding by all means because this was the only method to blow up Czechoslovakia quickly†.[200] In private, Hitler considered the Sudeten issue unimportant; his real intention was a war of conquest against Czechoslovakia.[201] October 1938: Hitler (standing in the Mercedes) drives through the crowd in Cheb (German: Eger), part of the German-populated Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia, which was annexed to Nazi Germany due to the Munich Agreement In April Hitler ordered the OKW to prepare for Fall Grà ¼n (â€Å"Case Green†), the code name for an invasion of Czechoslovakia.[202] As a result of intense French and British diplomatic pressure, on 5 September Czechoslovakian President Edvard BeneÃ… ¡ unveiled the â€Å"Fourth Plan† for constitutional reorganisation of his country, which agreed to most of Henlein’s demands for Sudeten autonomy.[203] Henlein’s Heimfront responded to BeneÃ… ¡Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ offer with a series of violent clashes with the Czechoslovakian police that led to the declaration of martial law in certain Sudeten districts.[204][205] Germany was dependent on imported oil; a confrontation with Britain over the Czechoslovakian dispute could curtail Germany’s oil supplies. Hitler called off Fall Grà ¼n, originally planned for 1 October 1938.[206] On 29 September Hitler, Neville Chamberlain, Édouard Daladier, and Benito Mussolini attended a one-day conference in Munich that led to the Munich Agreement, which handed over the Sudetenland districts to Germany.[207][208] Jewish shops destroyed in Magdeburg, following Kristallnacht (November 1938) Chamberlain was satisfied with the Munich conference, calling the outcome â€Å"peace for our time†, while Hitler was angered about the missed opportunity for war in 1938;[209][210] he expressed his disappointment in a speech on 9 October in Saarbrà ¼cken.[211] In Hitler’s view, the British-brokered peace, although favourable to the ostensible German demands, was a diplomatic defeat which spurred his intent of limiting British power to pave the way for the eastern expansion of Germany.[212][213] As a result of the summit, Hitler was selected Time magazine’s Man of the Year for 1938.[214] In late 1938 and early 1939, the continuing economic crisis caused by rearmament forced Hitler to make major defence cuts.[215] In his â€Å"Export or die† speech of 30 January 1939, he called for an economic offensive to increase German foreign exchange holdings to pay for raw materials such as high-grade iron needed for military weapons.[215] On 15 March 1939, in violation of the Munich accord and possibly as a result of the deepening economic crisis requiring additional assets,[216] Hitler ordered the Wehrmacht to invade Prague, and from Prague Castle proclaimed Bohemia and Moravia a German protectorate.[217]

Men vs. Men Women: Nature or Nurture Essay

It’s amazing how men ad women can be considered the same but yet be so very different. On the outside they may look alike- two eyes, two ears, a nose, mouth, hands, and so on, but they could not be more different. So the saying goes, â€Å"men are from Mars and women are from Venus†. The question is why though? Is it because of nature or because of nurture? One difference is that men are extremely more aggressive than women due to higher testosterone levels. It was believed that how your raise the child and the role of society were the main factors that determined the outcome as male or female. However, with the case of David Reimer this proved to not be true. David was going through a routine circumcision when he was eight months old that went terribly wrong. Doctors decided to turn him into a girl as an experiment, to prove that reassigning a sex was easy because nurture determined their psychological make-up. However, today being thirty-seven years old, the angry David is proof of how wrong they were. He had a tortured childhood, and has had to go through many surgeries to try to gain back his manhood. The biological sex of a child will always prevail, now matter how they are raised. Though aggression is due to testosterone in men, it is not the only reason. The aggression in men is further implied in he way they are raised and how society teaches them to act. From childhood, boys are taught to be tough- to â€Å"be a big boy† and not cry. They are taught that boys should play sports like football, wrestling, and other violent sports. Men relate to each other through physical interaction. For men, words are less important in developing relationships; they are all about taking action. Our society teaches men to think that â€Å"actions speak louder than words†. On the other hand, women do relate with words. One of the most important things to a woman in a relationship is being able to talk about problems. Women care more about the thoughts and feelings behind the action. Emotional intimacy, and closeness, is the most important goal. Being honest and open is what shows love. Though the case with David Reimer shows that you can’t change the biological sex of a child, a child could pick up some characteristics of the opposite  sex. For example, if a girl, with multiple brothers, is raised by her father with no mother figure around, things such as football and fighting would be of more interest to her, and she would be considered a ‘tomboy’. She would want to be one of the guys. Men and women are different in many more ways than the obvious physical ones. I believe that the differences are both nature and nurture, and that you can’t have one without the other. However, I do believe that a majority of the difference depends on nurture, due to the fact that society today has set so many standards as how men and women should act. â€Å"ED and Intimacy† http://www.allabouted.com/english/relationships/intimacy.html â€Å"Boys Will Be Boys: Nature vs. Nurture†. Ninemsn, 60 minutes. Copyright 1997-2003 http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au/60/stories/2000_05_07/story_158.asp