Lloyd Yang, Alan Dunk, Alan Kilgore, Qingliang Tang and Z.Jun Lin
China is conducting an open market policy and Chinese firms are seeking independent audit services. As a result, the Chinese accounting profession is expanding at a tremendous…
Abstract
China is conducting an open market policy and Chinese firms are seeking independent audit services. As a result, the Chinese accounting profession is expanding at a tremendous speed, and has played an important role in economic reform. However, Chinese auditing operates in a very different environment from those experienced in Western countries. Consequently, there is considerable concern about auditor independence in China. The purpose of this paper is to examine some reasons for a lack of independence in the Chinese audit profession. We critically review empirical evidence regarding auditor practice in China. We then make some suggestions that might improve auditor independence.
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Günter Prockl, Aseem Kinra and Herbert Kotzab
Container shipping is generally considered a global business. This truth may not hold from a single-company perspective. The companies’ physical operation networks show that…
Abstract
Purpose
Container shipping is generally considered a global business. This truth may not hold from a single-company perspective. The companies’ physical operation networks show that container carriers operate differently and follow different paths in their internationalisation development. Additionally, the degree of internationalisation, measured on the basis of sea-oriented operations, differs from that measured according to land-oriented front-end marketing and sales activities. The purpose of this study is to further examine the internationalisation patterns of shipping lines.
Design/methodology/approach
An examination of the front-end activities and the structures of leading container-shipping companies is conducted. The sales office networks of the sector’s 20 largest companies worldwide (by twenty-foot equivalent unit capacity) are analysed as key indicators. The numbers of sales offices are measured by analysing the websites of the sample (20 companies), as well as annual reports and other publicly available data sources.
Findings
The findings show that not all shipping companies are international, by virtue of the industry. While it is difficult to observe differences in the overall patterns of the sales networks at a macro level, some companies differ in their activities. The data set also shows that market share and total capacity are not necessarily good indicators of a carrier’s worldwide presence.
Research limitations/implications
This research is based on secondary data. Other important transactional and market-oriented considerations should be examined before drawing conclusions about the internationalisation of container-shipping companies and of the industry.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the relevant existing research, particularly by adding its view on the demand-oriented criteria as suggested by Dunning and Lundan (2008).
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Takuma Matsuda, Enna Hirata and Tomoya Kawasaki
Since the 2010s, market conditions for container shipping companies have been deteriorating owing to decreasing container cargo trade and increasing supply capacity. This study…
Abstract
Purpose
Since the 2010s, market conditions for container shipping companies have been deteriorating owing to decreasing container cargo trade and increasing supply capacity. This study aims to contribute to the empirical literature on the container shipping industry market structure. Specifically, this study aims to investigate the extent of market competition.
Design/methodology/approach
This study analyzes the market structure and evaluates the market power of shipping companies through a non-structural test.
Findings
The H-statistic for the entire period of 2004–2018 was 0.37, which is significantly different from zero. This indicates the absence of monopoly pricing throughout the entire period. For the time-phased estimates, the H-statistic between 2004 and 2008 is 0.15, which is not significantly different from zero. On the other hand, the H-statistic from 2009 to 2018 was 0.40, which differs significantly from zero.
Originality/value
As the Far East Freight Conference had released tariffs and charge rates by item for container shipping routes, monopolistic pricing is said to have appeared until the European Union abolished the European Economic Community (No. 4056/86) in 2008, before the economic crisis. However, this study indicates that pricing in the container shipping industry has been distinctly non-monopolistic; further, competition seems to have intensified since 2008. Industry competitiveness is of interest not only to academics but also to practitioners, including policymakers, especially when considering competition policies.
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The interaction of variable property convection and surface radiation ina differentially heated square cavity is considered. Effect of surfaceradiation on natural convection has…
Abstract
The interaction of variable property convection and surface radiation in a differentially heated square cavity is considered. Effect of surface radiation on natural convection has been studied from the point of view of flow structure and isotherm patterns. Wherever possible, a comparative study has been invoked between the outcome of the present work and the constant property formulation. The finite element method has been used in the present work and associated formulation schemes have been described in detail.
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ABDULKARIM H. ABIB and YOGESH JALURIA
A numerical study of a two‐dimensional turbulent flow in a partially open rectangular cavity such as a room is carried out. The turbulent flow is induced by the energy input due…
Abstract
A numerical study of a two‐dimensional turbulent flow in a partially open rectangular cavity such as a room is carried out. The turbulent flow is induced by the energy input due to a localized heat source positioned on the floor of the cavity. This flow is of interest in enclosure fires where the flow in the cavity interacts with the environment through the opening or vents. The focus is on the stable, thermal stratification that arises in the room and on the influence of the opening height. A finite‐difference method is employed for the solution of the problem, using a low Reynolds number k — ε turbulence model for the turbulent flow calculations. This model is particularly suitable for flows in which the possibility for relaminarization exists. It was found that, for high Grashof numbers and for relatively small opening heights, particularly for doorway openings, a strong stable thermal stratification is generated within the cavity, with a cooler, essentially uniform, layer underlying a warmer, linearly stratified, upper layer. As a consequence, turbulence is suppressed and the flow in the upper region of the cavity becomes laminar with turbulence confined to locations such as the fire plume above the source and the shear layer at the opening. The penetration distance and the height of the interface are both found to decrease with a reduction in the opening height. The Nusselt number for heat transfer from the source is seen to be affected to a small extent by the opening height. The basic trends are found to agree with those observed in typical compartment fires. Comparisons with results available in the literature on turbulent buoyancy‐driven enclosure flows indicate good agreement, lending support to this model and the numerical scheme.
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Santiago Francisco Corzo, Damian Enrique Ramajo and Norberto Marcelo Nigro
The purpose of this paper is to assess the Boussinesq approach for a wide range of Ra (10 × 6 to 10 × 11) in two-dimensional (square cavity) and three-dimensional (cubic cavity…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess the Boussinesq approach for a wide range of Ra (10 × 6 to 10 × 11) in two-dimensional (square cavity) and three-dimensional (cubic cavity) problems for air- and liquid-filled domains.
Design/methodology/approach
The thermal behavior in “differentially heated cavities” filled with air (low and medium Rayleigh) and water (high Rayleigh) is solved using computational fluid dynamics (CFDs) (OpenFOAM) with a non-compressible (Boussinesq) and compressible approach (real water properties from the IAPWS database).
Findings
The results from the wide range of Rayleigh numbers allowed for the establishment of the limitation of the Boussinesq approach in problems where the fluid has significant density changes within the operation temperature range and especially when the dependence of density with temperature is not linear. For these cases, the symmetry behavior predicted by Boussinesq is far from the compressible results, thus inducing a transient heat imbalance and leading to a higher mean temperature.
Research limitations/implications
The main limitation of the present research can be found in the shortage of experimental data for very high Rayleigh problems.
Practical implications
Practical implications of the current research could be use of the Boussinesq approach by carefully observing its limitations, especially for sensible problems such as the study of pressure vessels, nuclear reactors, etc.
Originality/value
The originality of this paper lies in addressing the limitations of the Boussinesq approach for high Rayleigh water systems. This fluid is commonly used in numerous industrial equipment. This work presents valuable conclusions about the limitations of the currently used models to carry out industrial simulations.
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A. Raji and M. Hasnaoui
The interaction between mixed convection and thermal radiation in ventilated cavities with gray surfaces has been studied numerically using the Navier‐Stokes equations with the…
Abstract
The interaction between mixed convection and thermal radiation in ventilated cavities with gray surfaces has been studied numerically using the Navier‐Stokes equations with the Boussinesq approximation. The effect of thermal radiation on streamlines and isotherms is shown for different values of the governing parameters namely, the Rayleigh number (103 ≤ Ra ≤ 106), the Reynolds number (50 ≤ Re ≤ 5000) and the surfaces emissivity (0 ≤ ε≤ 1). The geometrical parameters are the aspect ratio of the cavity A = L’/H’ = 2 and the relative height of the openings B = h’/H’ = 1/4. Results of the study show that thermal radiation alters significantly the temperature distribution, the flow fields and the heat transfer across the active walls of the cavities.
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This paper aims to review the research on accounting professionalisation in China to develop insights into how the research is developing, offer a critique of the research to date…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to review the research on accounting professionalisation in China to develop insights into how the research is developing, offer a critique of the research to date and outline future research directions and opportunities.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper adopts a methodological approach of systematic literature review, as suggested by Tranfield et al. (2003) and Denyer and Tranfield (2009), to identify, select and analyse the extant literature on the Chinese public accounting profession. In total, 68 academic works were included in the review process.
Findings
This paper finds that the extant literature has produced fruitful insights into the processes and underlying motivation of accounting professionalisation in China, demonstrating that the Chinese experience has differed, to a large extent, from the hitherto mainly Anglo-American-dominated understandings of accounting professionalisation. However, due to the lack of common theoretical vernacular and an agreed upon focus, the extant literature illustrates a fragmented and contradictory picture, making attempts to accumulate prior knowledge in the field increasingly difficult.
Research limitations/implications
This paper focusses only on research published in English. Consequently, the scope of review has been limited as some works published in languages other than English may be excluded.
Originality/value
This paper provides one of the pioneering exercises to systematically review the research on accounting professionalisation in China. It explores significant issues arising from the analysis and provides several suggestions for furthering the research effort in this field.
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S.K. Mahapatra, S. Sen and A. Sarkar
A finite element solution on the interaction of surface radiation and variable property laminar natural convection is presented. Finite element formulation of the governing…
Abstract
A finite element solution on the interaction of surface radiation and variable property laminar natural convection is presented. Finite element formulation of the governing equations, associated with variable property natural convection, and incorporation of the radiative boundary conditions has been extensively discussed. The study also aims to highlight the limiting value of the terminal temperature difference (TTD), below which the natural convection heat transfer becomes the sole heat transfer mode, i.e. the effect of surface radiation can be neglected. The effects of variations of emissivity and TTD are also presented.
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Prodip Kumar Das, Shohel Mahmud, Syeda Humaira Tasnim and A.K.M. Sadrul Islam
A numerical simulation has been carried out to investigate the buoyancy induced flow and heat transfer characteristics inside a wavy walled enclosure. The enclosure consists of…
Abstract
A numerical simulation has been carried out to investigate the buoyancy induced flow and heat transfer characteristics inside a wavy walled enclosure. The enclosure consists of two parallel wavy and two straight walls. The top and the bottom walls are wavy and kept isothermal. Two straight‐vertical sidewalls are considered adiabatic. Governing equations are discretized using the control volume based finite‐volume method with collocated variable arrangement. Simulation was carried out for a range of surface waviness ratios, λ=0.00‐0.25; aspect ratios, A=0.25‐0.5; and Rayleigh numbers Ra=100‐107 for a fluid having Prandtl number equal to 1.0. Results are presented in the form of local and global Nusselt number distributions, streamlines, and isothermal lines for different values of surface waviness and aspect ratios. For a special case of λ=0 and A=1.0, the average Nusselt number distribution is compared with available reference. The results suggest that natural convection heat transfer is changed considerably when surface waviness changes and also depends on the aspect ratio of the domain. In addition to the heat transfer results, the heat transfer irreversibility in terms of Bejan number (Be) was measured. For a set of selected values of the parameters (λ, A, and Ra), a contour of the Bejan number is presented at the end of this paper.