RCAAP Repository

O nº16 da série IV da Revista Estudos apresenta várias temáticas que, situadas no âmbito da Contabilidade, da Normalização Contabilística e da Gestão empresarial, realçam a natureza multidisciplinar dos estudos científicos e pedagógicos, ao serviço do conhecimento das empresas e sua inserção em contextos de crise e de mudanças normativas frequentes. (...)

O nº14 da série IV da Revista Estudos finaliza o ano de 2016 com várias temáticas que, situadas no âmbito da Contabilidade, da Educação Fiscal, da Auditoria e da Internet ao serviço da prestação da informação contábil, realçam a natureza multidisciplinar do conhecimento pedagógico e científico que nos comprometemos a divulgar – aquele que se tem vindo a desenvolver dentro e fora dos muros do ISCA e da Universidade de Aveiro.

The context of decentralization of State functions and funding of Nonprofit Organizations, whose activity replaces the direct intervention of the State in meeting the citizens' needs, is in line with the New Public Management (NPM) and Public Governance. In Portugal, in order to make the management of public resources more accountable and transparent, legal regulations on financial disclosure have emerged, and, recently, the Private Institutions of Social Solidarity (IPSS), through the Portuguese Decree-Law No. 172-A/2014 (2014) are required to publish the financial reporting on their websites.Notwithstanding the fact that this requirement must only be strictly fulfilled in 2016, the IPSS have been aware of it since November 2014. Given the diffusion of innovations and the institutional theory, based on coercive isomorphism, the IPSS may have already created the conditions to fulfill this requirement.Given this context, this work intends to address the following problem: Do the IPSS have conditions to comply with the requirement of publishing financial reporting on their institutional website?This research is an analytical study and follows an inductive approach. Methodologically, it combines quantitative and qualitative research methods.Besides the aspects that the disclosure index allows to measure and assess concerning the presence of IPSS on the Internet, this research will mainly allow us to verify, up to the date of this study, about two months prior to the first mandatory publishing financial reporting on their websites, whether the IPSS have the necessary conditions to meet this legal requirement.The results show that there is very limited presence of IPSS on the Internet, the websites do not meet maturity level one and are little sophisticated, and the IPSS which disclose financial information on their websites are a small minority.

In this thesis we intend to analyze the Portuguese market reactions to dividend changes, also considering the interaction between dividend and results changes. Additionally, we study the financial crisis effects on those same reactions. To do so, we use a sample comprised by companies listed in the Euronext Lisbon, which announced dividend distribution between 2006 and 2013. Our results didn’t allow us to find evidence for the dividend signaling hypothesis in the Portuguese market reactions. According to previous studies, we found that the market reacts in a stronger manner when dividends and results change in the same direction.  Finally, regarding the crisis factor, we concluded that the market reacts more to changes in dividends and results when facing a period of economic stability.

The current investigation work objective is to analyze the recent public administration reforms, as well as to assess the impact of those in University Education in Portugal. The New Public Management and New Governance are two of the models adopted during this period of public sector restructurings. The first model has as main goal the application of private management principles in the public sector. The second model, once the State is losing centrality, is being forced to change resources and distribute objectives and for this the direct intervention of the society is crucial. In the wake of these reforms the education was not an exception, being the University Education forced to a higher level of transparency at accountability and performance indicators, in order to gather higher amounts of investment from the State and also from other funding sources. To achieve these goals a higher level of comparability and competitiveness was stimulated among Portuguese public universities. This study was based in content analysis methodology done to 13 reports of Portuguese public universities and also in the study of a group of factors that could affect the performance indicators presented in this document. According with the results it is possible to conclude that the Portuguese public universities still have a long path to run in what concerns to provide financial information. The results demonstrate that the dimension, the web of universities ranking and the funding achieved from other sources affect the performance indicators divulgation.

The literature review has shown great interest in customer loyalty and increasingly emphasized its importance on success of a company. Simultaneously, satisfaction has often been mentioned as an important determinant of loyalty. At the same time, the relationship marketing concept has taken greater importance in terms of service delivery, supporting the idea that companies can increase their profits with long-term relationships with their customers, and the management of that relationship is associated with satisfaction and consequent loyalty.  It is in this context, the present study examines the effect of satisfaction in the formation of customer loyalty degree through a case study of a sports shop in the Aveiro region. The data collected to a sample of 220 respondents by a questionnaire support the theory that these two constructs are correlated. Thus, this research allowed the measurement of overall satisfaction degree and overall customer loyalty degree to the store, providing empirical evidence of a positive and moderate relationship between them. It was also possible to say that loyalty degree is not significantly different comparing some characteristics of customers profile, nevertheless that characteristics are important for decision making in this specific context.

O nº13 da série IV da Revista Estudos inicia o ano de 2016 com uma miríade de artigos que, situados no âmbito da contabilidade, das finanças empresariais, da auditoria e do setor bancário, realçam a natureza multidisciplinar do conhecimento pedagógico e científico que nos comprometemos a divulgar – aquele que se tem vindo a desenvolver dentro e fora dos muros do ISCA e da Universidade de Aveiro.As variadas abordagens - centradas nos domínios da investigação em contabilidade, da cobertura do risco financeiro, da determinação da materialidade em auditoria e dos fatores explicativos da rendibilidade do setor bancário - convidam a comunidade científica e a pedagógica a reflexões que, podendo conduzir a uma renovação de estratégias pedagógicas e de investigação, serão geradoras de novas publicações. (...)

Society faces severe difficulties caused by the current economic climate, which provided a negative impact on several levels. In this context, it raises the question about the need to revise the existing model, in a way that a new reality, the Social Economy, to affirm categorically. The sector of the Social Economy is considered by its importance, as an emerging and with each passing day becomes more essential before the new challenges of society and the economy. Thus, research, accounting turns out to be a basic instrument to complement the knowledge in an increasingly predominant social and economic sector. In this context, the main objective of the study is to describe and analyze the progress of accounting research in the Social Economy in the last five years, based on a content analysis approach. The results obtained in the study confirm the presence of a shortage in accounting research in the Social Economy sector, although in recent years, it has been proved to be a progressive advancement and a strong interest. Although considered a promising area, this subject still represents an object little explored in accounting literature. Due to the growing importance of the organizations belonging to the Social Economy, it highlights the need for the existence of investigations in the historical and contemporary context, on matters related to accounting.

The aim of this theoretical paper is to analyze the school learning through the conflicts of the prism of the epistemology of thought collectives of Ludwic Fleck, in order to elucidate how evolution in generations X, Y and Z influence in generating new perspectives learning from constitutive of social relations and cultural elements. For this article it is assumed that school learning suffers influence of intervening factors of the context in which we live, and these factors coming mainly from artificial revolution of man derived from the impact of information technologies on human nature. Upon the assumption of the influence of technology on human learning, would also be useful to consider the evolving generations in learning, understanding that teachers need to develop the capacity of exercising their job through hipertechnologies, to overcome the factors of inequality and dehumanization and also in the realities facing a new world that emerges from virtual technologies and communication. This theoretical and analytical context of learning will be represented in different styles of thinking, in which the integrated management of different existing generations should be considered from a systemic perspective of school learning characterized as both an exoteric circle, which would be the education system as a whole, as did the different thinking styles that make up this system, students, teachers, parents and school administrators, all of them characterized by Fleck as esoteric circles, that being connected and sharing knowledge need to contribute effectively in the formation of new youth through a collaborative and distributor of information, improving the provision of school organizations seeking to meet the current contexts of hypermedia services.

This study aims to identify the main determinants of corporate bankruptcy in Portugal, based on a sample of small and medium sized enterprises. To do so, we analyze several financial and economic ratios, estimating a model that evaluates the business performance. The main results show that the determinants of mortality of small and medium sized Portuguese companies are debt and performance management.

This work aims to identify the main determinants of the leverage of Portuguese SMEs, as well as their behavior to diverging economic periods, such as financial prosperity and recession. Through the methodology of unbalanced panel data, we analyze a sample of 1,444 small and medium companies in the period between 2004 and 2012. The evidence corroborates the existence of a significant relationship between all the explanatory variables and the level of debt. The results show a positive relationship between tangibility of assets, the firms’ size and growth rate of the asset, and the level of indebtedness of the company. The results also show a negative relationship between profitability, the tax advantages non resultant from debt and the cycle of life, and the level of indebtedness of the company. Contrary to our expectations, the results show the existence of a positive relationship between business risk and debt. Finally, the subprime financial crisis influences negatively the levels of indebtedness of Portuguese companies, a result of rationing and enhancement of bank credit. The robustness test corroborates with conclusion obtained in general.

O nº10 da série IV da Revista Estudos fecha o ano de 2014, com um conjunto de artigos que, pelo seu alargado âmbito e diversidade mostram, claramente, a natureza multidisciplinar do conhecimento que pretendemos divulgar – aquele que se desenvolve e progride em ambientes abertos onde prolifera a motivação para aprender e ensinar. (...)

This paper analyzes the influence of the profile of university students in relation to their individual values, using the model proposed by the Multi-value item (MILOV) of Herche (1994), which points to nine dimensions scales personal values: safety, self-respect picture, requirement, belonging, excitement, fun, relationships and accomplishment. We conducted a quantitative survey of 216 college students at the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM). Within the research results, it was found that the sample consisted mostly of women, unmarried, doing sports; and the most important values for the respondents are the dimensions of self-esteem, relationships and accomplishment. The work presents contributions to the discipline of consumer behavior when using Milov scale in the Brazilian context. Among its limitations, it is suggested to expand the sample to other consumers, not just college students.

The development of society, the increasing education and consciousness of individuals about taxes and fiscal measures leads to changes in taxpayer’s behavior regarding tax compliance and tax perception. In this paper, we present a literature review in order to understand which variables have impact on these behaviors, using a synthesis methodology that allows an interpretation of social actions from previous studies.The results show that either the tax audit as the penalty rate are deterrents of tax evasion, although there are divergent opinions about which one is most effective. Regarding equity perception of tax system, it have been observed that the level of knowledge and social factors affect that equity perception, when the taxpayers believe that noncompliance is consistent with in-group expectation and norms.On the other hand, it was found evidence that in the presence of a high level of education, there are a great acceptability of income taxes and corrective taxes. Nevertheless, taxpayers are often moved by self-interest. We concluded also that it is interesting to consider political factors. In particular, the analyses of taxpayers’ perception concerning on the activities of the tax administration and the fiscal changes to not induce a noncompliance behavior.

Over the past 10 years has seen an increasing number of students in higher university system, both in the traditional courses and in technological courses. This new group has quite different behaviors in relation to what was established as a student "model" to the university system, pushing constantly the institutions of higher education to meet this new demand, not only with technological innovation processes, but mainly new teaching methods and contents that attract the interest of the new group.What people expect is that the more IES has being aware of the need for change, better it will be prepared to implement programs and services that meet the expectations and perceptions of students. Governments, on the other hand, with their regulatory models and their proposals for review and supervision, insist on indicators that are not always perceived by students as references to their perceptions of educational quality.Given this situation, the aim of this article is to make a comparative study which evaluates the importance degree of what students, considered "digital generation", attribute seconded by official instruments as indicators of quality in higher education factors.

The aim of this study is to expose a significant relationship between the level of participation in sports events experienced by the consumers, and their psychological commitment, loyalty and involvement with the club. Furthermore, it proves that, as the intensity of participation increases, lasting psychological connections between fans and their favourite clubs are created and strengthened, with significant impact on clubs’ corporate image and financial assets. As a further result, it is revealed that there’s a higher level of participation in sports events among male and younger fans. Finally, this paper plans to contribute to a better understanding of human behaviour in sports’ context, specifically the phenomenon of internalization experienced by the consumer regarding marketing stimuli that encourage loyalty and club involvement.

The CIT reform, that intended to attract foreign investors to Portugal, making it a capital exporter country, had as its main banner the creation of a participation exemption regime, on the grounds that there was a lack of competitiveness in the area of dividend and capital gains taxation. This paper focuses on analyzing the changes introduced by the CIT reform in Portugal under this participation exemption regime, thru a comparative study between the previous and the new regime. Initially, we show the system in force up to the end of 2013. Afterwards a chapter where we describe the new regime brought by the CIT reform. And we end with a comparative example between the regime pre-reform and the regime post-reform. We finish concluding that the new participation exemption regime is, in fact, more advantageous and appealing than the previous one, not only for bringing less complexity to the tax system (by extending to all entities the specific arrangements applicable to the holding companies), but also for reducing both the tax base and the CIT rate.

The globalization of economies is characterized by a strong external pressure on companies that leads to an increased international competition. The market price is strongly influenced by competition and by the price the consumer is willing to pay for a particular kind of good. The Target Costing strategic management tool responds to this issue. This tool establishes the maximum amount allowable for a given product, when it is still in the development phase, rather than the usual "cost plus costing" procedure which the calculation of the selling price is made after all the costs incurred. This tool has been used in several countries of Europe, America, Asia and Oceania. This paper presents a comparative analysis of foreign countries, but the essence of the study is the use of Target Costing by Portugal’s largest companies.

Throughout the years Management Accounting has emerged as an important information system for the management and support of decision-making processes. From an historical perspective, the term Industrial Accounting constituted the first reference to this branch of accounting, focused on the determination of industrial production costs, later known as Cost Accounting or Analytical Accounting. This last designation has prevailed in most Higher Education Institutions in Portugal, Polytechnic included. Although in Portugal there are no references on the objective distinction between the concepts, it is believed that the inclusion of certain contents when teaching the subject may explain the evolution of the term. Today it is less focused on the determination of the manufacturing costs and more concerned with complex, updated issues. It is within this framework that the purpose of this study lies. Our goal is to analyze the different approaches taken by Higher Education Institutions regarding this branch of accounting. To accomplish this, we conducted an analysis of the syllabuses that comprise the curricular units (CU) of CostAccounting, Analytical Accounting or Management Accounting present in 110 first-cycle degrees, officially accepted for enrollment at OTOC, the Portuguese Order of Chartered Accountants, for the school year 2012/2013. Results indicate that, according to the inclusion of certain topics in the syllabuses, the approach followed by each curricular unit varies, evidencing differences related not only to the degree chosen by students, but also to the institution in which it is held.

Kaizen has become increasingly used when it comes to improve performance of organizations. Kaizen means continuous improvement. Therefore, the question posed is what improvements are achieved with kaizen application and whether the achieved results will continue throughout time or tend to stagnate soon afterwards. For that purpose a case study was realized on the company “Porcelanas da Costa Verde, S.A.”, assessing what were the changes, the outcomes and the continuity or not of the improvements.