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Examines whether two key audit committee characteristics combined, activity and independence, reduce likely fraud or aggressive financial statement actions. Utilizes evidence on potential of Blue Ribbon Committee (1999) recommendations regarding composition of audit committees, and further involves a sample of 156 firms — 78 subject to SEC Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Releases and 78 similar sized non‐sanctioned firms. Closes by stating future research may be required regarding young and mature firms ‐ that could affect monitoring.

Compares the selective European information services in France and the UK, stating that whereas France gathers information from official documentation and its representations in the EC in Paris and Marseille, the UK got its European information from three surveys, including two degree surveys. Maintains that French academic librarians are Civil Servants employed by central government and have limited access to European Documentation Centres (EDC), unlike their British counterparts whose libraries, over hundreds of years, have evolved into a self‐governing institution, much better funded and able to provide information at local authority level where European responsibility has been significantly added to since the signing of the Single European Act in 1986.

Details the results of a study of the provision of European information to the academic community in university libraries, via a case study in a European Documentation Centre (EDC). A literature search revealed a lack of research in this area. Results relate to the operation of the EDC, covering the services offered, the provision of information, finance and funding, marketing, challenges and the nature of communication with the Commission and other networks and relays. The needs of the academic community of users of the EDC are discussed, considering aspects such as the service’s target user profile, the nature, frequency and subject coverage of use, enquiries received and users’ satisfaction with the results of enquiries. Major challenges facing the case EDC are identified as: the need to improve marketing; and the impact of likely future changes, such as the reduction in materials provided by the European Commission free of charge, the focus on the EDC as a deposit collection rather than an information service and the move to a greater dependence on electronic media in the publication of European documentation.

This study investigates the association of various corporate governance attributes and financial characteristics with the survival likelihood of distressed firms. To address the manner in which firms evolve over time, we employ survival analysis techniques by incorporating Cox Proportional Hazards regressions. We longitudinally track an ex ante sample of 176 financially distressed firms. The results suggest that firms that replaced their CEO with an outsider, were more than twice as likely to experience bankruptcy. Furthermore, larger levels of blockholder and insider ownership over the sample period are positively associated with the likelihood of firm survival.

For employers, like many members of the general public, mental illness is a scary subject — the more so that they don't know who to turn to if a member of staff starts to show signs of abnormal distress. Susan Scott‐Parker argues that if employers are going to be persuaded that it is in the interests of their business to take on people with mental health problems, then mental health professionals and support workers must pay more attention to what employers actually need.

This article outlines the details of a British Library Research and Development Department funded project on the provision of European Union information in public libraries in the UK. It explains how European Union information is currently being provided to the public in the EU Public Information Relay and emphasises the issues involved in providing European Union information electronically.

When making going concern assessments, Statement on Auditing Standards No. 59 (Auditing Standards Board 1988) directs auditors to consider the nature of management's plans and ability to mitigate periods of financial distress successfully. Corporate governance factors reflect attributes of control, oversight, and/or support of management's plans and actions intended to overcome financial distress. Correspondingly, this study investigates the impact of certain corporate governance factors on the likelihood of a going concern modification. Using survival analysis techniques, we examine a sample of 161 financially distressed firms for the time period 1988–1996. We find that auditors are twice as likely to issue a going concern modification when the CEO is replaced. We also find that going concern modifications are inversely associated with blockholder ownership. We also confirm Carcello and Neal's (2000) findings with respect to the association between an independent audit committee and an increased likelihood of modification. In a repeated events setting, we find that insider ownership and board independence are inversely associated with repeated going concern modifications. Our study concludes by proposing implications for the current financial reporting environment (including the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act of 2002) and future research avenues.

European Union (EU) education policy encourages the integration of a European dimension across the curriculum to prepare young people for participation in the EU. This article discusses the findings of a survey investigating the European information needs of secondary school teachers in relation to the teaching of the European dimension. Interviews were undertaken with a small sample of teachers and school librarians in selected schools of Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire. The article discusses three main issues: inconsistency in the implementation of the European dimension at school level, ambivalent perception of what it actually means, and need for appropriate resources to enable teachers to include the European dimension in their teaching. The European Commission Representation Office in the UK has responded to the needs of the school sector by establishing a network of European Resources Centres for Schools and Colleges. Further research is required to assess the impact of these developments.

As part of the research underpinning an Honours dissertation a study of the agencies providing European information in Scotland was carried out in the spring of 1994. The aims of this study were to investigate the nature of the services offered by the existing agencies, to consider their accessibility and geographic spread, and to determine the extent of the interaction which took place between these agencies. The study sought to provide a broad picture of provision across a physically large geographic area. Given the relatively few agencies involved, visits were made to each and structured interviews were carried out with staff.