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within childbearing age, approximately 15% will experience fertility problems (Menning, 1980). Technically, infertility is defined as a lack of conception after 12 months of regular sexual relations without the use of contraception (Hudson, Pepperell, & Wood, 1980). Although approximately 50% of infertile couples eventually achieve conception, an important life goal is temporarily obstructed for these individuals. The desire but inability to conceive requires that the couple undergo often lengthy and costly treatment, pursue alternatives to biological parenting, or resign themselves to a life without children. Decisions to consider adoption or artificial insemination via donor (AID), where applicable, are often complicated by emotional, religious, or moral concerns.Although there are currently no firm prevalence estimates of emotional disturbance in an infertile population, some recent investigations have reported symptoms of clinical significance in 25 to 40% of patients attending infertility clinics (Bell, 1981;

The present study aims to contribute to an understanding of the complexity of lobbying activities within the accounting standard-setting process in the UK. The paper reports detailed content analysis of submission letters to four related exposure drafts. These preceded two accounting standards that set out the concept of control used to determine the scope of consolidation in the UK, except for reporting under international standards. Regulation on the concept of control provides rich patterns of lobbying behaviour due to its controversial nature and its significance to financial reporting. Our examination is conducted by dividing lobbyists into two categories, corporate and non-corporate, which are hypothesised (and demonstrated) to lobby differently. In order to test the significance of these differences we apply ANOVA techniques and univariate regression analysis. Corporate respondents are found to devote more attention to issues of specific applicability of the concept of control, whereas non-corporate respondents tend to devote more attention to issues of general applicability of this concept. A strong association between the issues raised by corporate respondents and their line of business is revealed. Both categories of lobbyists are found to advance conceptually-based arguments more often than economic consequences-based or combined arguments. However, when economic consequences-based arguments are used, they come exclusively from the corporate category of respondents.

This paper examines the impact on covenants in the debt contracts of companies of the impending change to international accounting standards (IAS). The primary focus of the paper is the UK debt market, but comparisons are drawn with other EU countries that will also be affected by the adoption of IAS. Existing evidence of the nature of debt covenants and the impact of accounting regulation change on such covenants is briefly reviewed. It is argued that the adoption of IAS will have a significant impact both on reported earnings and on balance sheet values. Moreover, it is argued that the adoption of IAS will increase the volatility of earnings. It is further argued that, as a consequence of these effects, there will be a significant impact on debt covenants given the widespread use of rolling GAAP. A number of cases and hypothetical examples are provided to illustrate the impact of the adoption of IAS.

This research extends recent efforts to differentiate communication in crisis negotiations (Taylor, 2002) by examining how negotiators' behavior differs across context. Data were 108 interaction episodes transcribed from 12 simulated crisis negotiations and coded at the level of thought units across 41 behavioral variables. Results of a smallest space analysis supported the hypothesized differentiation of communication behavior over 3 facets: overall orientation (Avoidance, Distributive, Integrative), motivational concern (Identity, Instrumental, Relational), and intensity (High to Low). This solution was used as a framework for identifying differences in behavior across simulated and actual negotiations. Analyses showed a systematic pattern of variations in behavior use, with simulated negotiations involving relatively more avoidance-relational and distributive-instrumental behavior than actual negotiations. Predictable differences were also observed in the purpose or function of behavior, with highlyintense behaviors showing greater uniformity in function across contexts compared to lowintensity behaviors. B y shaping dynamics such as goals, perceptions, and interdependence, the context in which a negotiation takes place plays a significant role in determining the behaviors that negotiators use (Kelley, 1997). Nevertheless, while context has been shown to modify negotiators' aggregate behavior (Folger, Poole, & Stutman, 1993), less is known about how context influences negotiators use of different behaviors to pursue different goals at different times. This dynamic aspect of communication is likely affected by the context of interaction in distinctive but predictable ways. In this article, we use a framework for conceptualizing patterns in negotiators' behavior to examine two potential context effects.The first effect we consider is whether or not context affects the behaviors negotiators use to move through the interaction. For example, hostage Paul J. Taylor (M.Sc., The University of Liverpool, UK) is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Psychology at The University of Liverpool, where he teaches on courses in applied psychology and research methodology.

This study reports the results of an empirical study of the effect of firm-specific characteristics on the voluntary disclosure in the 2000/2001 annual reports of 20 commercial banks in Bangladesh. The conceptual model underlying the study is based on economic and political incentives for providing greater detail in the annual reports and accounts. Three hypotheses have been developed and also a regression has been run to investigate the relationship between dependent and independent variables. The results indicate that size and audit firm variables to be significant in determining the disclosure Thus, the study contributes to the enhancement of knowledge regarding financial reporting and disclosure practices of financial companies under the developing countries context, and provides a basis for the conduct of future research in this area.

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