Literature earnings management aims to determine what causes/motivates managers to disclose earnings close to zero and to use this as an instrument to influence users' decisions. However, limited research has been carried out on this subject in the public sector. Therefore, the main purpose of this paper is to evaluate whether local politicians (in Portuguese municipalities), aiming to demonstrate their high level of competence and skills, engage in earnings management in such a way as to ensure that earnings are positive but close to zero. We examined whether political competition is a determining factor of earnings management close to zero and if managers use discretionary accruals in order to do this. Results indicate that, in order to report positive net earnings close to zero, discretionary accruals are used. This study identified the overriding tendency to avoid the reporting of losses in those municipalities where political competition is greatest. Key wordsPublic accounting, agency theory, public choice theory, earnings management, municipalities, political competition 2013 Taylor & Francis Vol. 15, No. , -, http://dx

Background:The International Ovarian Tumour Analysis (IOTA) group have developed the ADNEX (The Assessment of Different NEoplasias in the adneXa) model to predict the risk that an ovarian mass is benign, borderline, stage I, stages II–IV or metastatic. We aimed to externally validate the ADNEX model in the hands of examiners with varied training and experience.Methods:This was a multicentre cross-sectional cohort study for diagnostic accuracy. Patients were recruited from three cancer centres in Europe. Patients who underwent transvaginal ultrasonography and had a histological diagnosis of surgically removed tissue were included. The diagnostic performance of the ADNEX model with and without the use of CA125 as a predictor was calculated.Results:Data from 610 women were analysed. The overall prevalence of malignancy was 30%. The area under the receiver operator curve (AUC) for the ADNEX diagnostic performance to differentiate between benign and malignant masses was 0.937 (95% CI: 0.915–0.954) when CA125 was included, and 0.925 (95% CI: 0.902–0.943) when CA125 was excluded. The calibration plots suggest good correspondence between the total predicted risk of malignancy and the observed proportion of malignancies. The model showed good discrimination between the different subtypes.Conclusions:The performance of the ADNEX model retains its performance on external validation in the hands of ultrasound examiners with varied training and experience.

This paper investigates the reform of public accounting in Portugal through the IPSAS adoption highlighting the perception of different stakeholders. Two competing theories (NPM and the institutional theory) are used to understand public accounting changes within the Portuguese context. In general, different stakeholders agree with the favorable moment and the context of the reform. The context of financial crises and the great external pressures to cut public deficits and to improve the quality of financial information seem to be the most important factors to stimulate changes in public accounting. In addition, stakeholders recommend the use of different strategies to ensure success.

SummaryThis observational study assessed the frequency and risk factors of dental damage after classic direct laryngoscopy for tracheal intubation in 536 adult patients. The patients' sex, age, height, weight, dental condition, dental mobility, Mallampati class, interincisor gap, thyromental distance, neck circumference, and head and neck extension were recorded. From anaesthesia records, the difficulty of intubation, the number of attempts, type of neuromuscular blocking agent used and duration of anaesthesia were recorded. After anaesthesia, examination revealed that 134 patients (25.0%) had dental damage affecting 162 teeth (147 maxillary; 15 mandibular). Enamel fracture was the commonest injury. In tooth number 21, the interincisor gap (OR 2.5 (95% CI 1.0-5.9)) and in tooth number 22, the number of intubation attempts (OR 5.3 (95% CI 1.3-22.0)) were considered a risk factor for dental injury. Conventional direct laryngoscopy is associated with a strikingly high incidence of dental damage, although specific risk factors remain unclear.