Do Personality Traits of Accountants Affect Their Performance and Ethical Judgment?

Performance has received much attention in accounting studies. Accounting academics are interested in explaining and predicting performance at the industry, organization, and individual levels. This three-paper dissertation attempts to explain three aspects of accountants’ job performance and ethical judgment with reference to their personality traits.Past literature show the effect of personality on performance. The first study adds to this line of research by testing the mediating effects of task selection on the performance of accountants as predicted by personality. Specifically I hypothesize task-selection mediates the positive effects of Conscientiousness and the negative effects of Extraversion on performance of staff accountants. As a whole the hypotheses are not supported. However, I find that Extraversion negatively affects task-selection and performance, Conscientiousness positively affects performance, and expressed preferences for technical tasks negatively affect performance. Past literature show the effect of supervisor support, abuse, and feedback on subordinate’s performance. In the second study I hypothesize that Openness and Agreeableness positively affect support, Neuroticism positively affects abuse, and Extraversion and Conscientiousness positively affect feedback. I find that Agreeableness positively affects support, Neuroticism positively affects the supervisor’s abuse and Extraversion and Conscientiousness positively affect feedback. Additionally I find Extraversion and Conscientiousness positively affect support, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness negatively affect abuse, and Agreeableness positively affects feedback. In the third study, I test the effects of two of the Big Five personality traits, Conscientiousness and Agreeableness, on the ethical decision-making process of accountants. I posit that accountants high in Conscientiousness will tend to form a commitment to act ethically (confront their superior) despite pressure in an ethical dilemma. I also posit that accountants high in Agreeableness will tend to give in to such pressure. Both Conscientiousness and Agreeableness show the hypothesized effects on intention to act ethically, subject to the elimination of responses from those who express certainty that they would confront the superior. Some complexities of observing the effects of Agreeableness in an experiment are revealed. The results of these studies can benefit accounting firms in hiring and positioning the right accountants for the right jobs. It also adds to our understanding of the ethical decision making process

Antidiabetic activity of aqueous extract of Sigesbeckia orientalis (St. Paul’s Wort) in alloxan-induced diabetes model

The current study evaluated antidiabetic and antihyperlipidemic activities of aqueous extract of Sigesbeckia orientalis L. (St. Paul’s Wort) (AESO) in an alloxan-induced diabetic rat model. Following OECD guidelines safe doses of AESO were assessed in rats for the main study. Serum/bood glucose, α-amylase, and lipids levels and histopathological evaluations were conducted to assess antidiabetic and associated antihyperlipidemic efficacies of AESO. AESO was found to be safe up to the dose of 2000 mg/kg. Significant (p < 0.05) reduction in glucose and lipids (total cholesterol, triglycerides, low‑density lipoproteins) levels was observed in AESO treatment groups. Serum α-amylase, high‑density lipoproteins, and total body weight was increased significantly (p < 0.05) in diabetic rats treated with AESO. Histopathological data showed improvement in hepatocyte and pancreatic β-cells islets architecture. HPLC analysis identified quercetin, gallic acid, vanillic acid, p-coumaric acid, m-coumaric acid and cinnamic acid in AESO which are suggested to be responsible for observed antihyperglycemic and antihyperlipidemic attributes. Further studies to standardise the extract and evaluation of safety profile in long-term toxicity studies are recommended for safe and effective antidiabetic nutraceuticals development

Cytotoxic and antioxidant potentials of ellagic acid derivatives from Conocarpus lancifolius (Combretaceae)

Purpose: Isolation, characterisation and structure elucidation of compounds obtained from Conocarpus lancifolius and screening of their pharmacological effects in vitro.Methods: After collection, authentication and extraction from whole C. lancifolius plants, screening for secondary metabolites, thin-layer  chromatography and subsequent open column chromatography were performed for phytochemical analysis and subsequent purification of the compounds. The chemical structures of the isolated compounds were elucidated using spectroscopic (UV-visible, infrared and mass) spectroscopy, and nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR, 13C-NMR including BB, DEPT-135, 90 and two-dimensional correlation techniques, including HMBC and HSQC). The cytotoxic and antioxidant potentials of extracts and compounds obtained from C. lancifolius were evaluated using in vitro models.Results: Two ellagic acid derivatives, 2,3,8-tri-o-methylellagic acid (A) and 3-O-methylellagic acid 4-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (B), were isolated. Both compounds (A and B) were cytotoxic in a variety of cancer cell lines, including murine lymphocytic leukaemia (P-388, half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) =3.60 and 2.40 μg/mL, respectively), human colon cancer (Col-2, IC50 = 0.76 and 0.92 μg/mL, respectively) and human breast cancer (MCF-7, IC50 = 0.65 and 0.54 μg/mL, respectively). Moreover, both compounds showed significant antioxidant potential in vitro.Conclusion: C. lancifolius extract and isolated ellagic acid derivatives (compounds A and B) possess cytotoxic and antioxidant properties. These findings suggest that C. lancifolius contains bioactive compounds that can be potentially developed as natural cytotoxic and antioxidant compounds. Keywords: Conocarpus lancifolius, Ellagic acid, Combretaceae, Cytotoxic activity, Antioxidan

Biallelic Variants in Seven Different Genes Associated with Clinically Suspected Bardet-Biedl Syndrome

Bardet-Biedl syndrome (BBS) is a rare clinically and genetically heterogeneous autosomal recessive multi-systemic disorder with 22 known genes. The primary clinical and diagnostic features include six different hallmarks, such as rod-cone dystrophy, learning difficulties, renal abnormalities, male hypogonadism, post-axial polydactyly, and obesity. Here, we report nine consanguineous families and a non-consanguineous family with several affected individuals presenting typical clinical features of BBS. In the present study, 10 BBS Pakistani families were subjected to whole exome sequencing (WES), which revealed novel/recurrent gene variants, including a homozygous nonsense mutation (c.94C>T; p.Gln32Ter) in the IFT27 (NM_006860.5) gene in family A, a homozygous nonsense mutation (c.160A>T; p.Lys54Ter) in the BBIP1 (NM_001195306.1) gene in family B, a homozygous nonsense variant (c.720C>A; p.Cys240Ter) in the WDPCP (NM_015910.7) in family C, a homozygous nonsense variant (c.505A>T; p.Lys169Ter) in the LZTFL1 (NM_020347.4) in family D, pathogenic homozygous 1 bp deletion (c.775delA; p.Thr259Leufs*21) in the MKKS/BBS5 (NM_170784.3) gene in family E, a pathogenic homozygous missense variant (c.1339G>A; p.Ala447Thr) in BBS1 (NM_024649.4) in families F and G, a pathogenic homozygous donor splice site variant (c.951+1G>A; p?) in BBS1 (NM_024649.4) in family H, a pathogenic bi-allelic nonsense variant in MKKS (NM_170784.3) (c.119C>G; p.Ser40*) in family I, and homozygous pathogenic frameshift variants (c.196delA; p.Arg66Glufs*12) in BBS5 (NM_152384.3) in family J. Our findings extend the mutation and phenotypic spectrum of four different types of ciliopathies causing BBS and also support the importance of these genes in the development of multi-systemic human genetic disorders

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection

Personality Types And Accounting Subfields

Accountants have been categorized as Conventional among the six well-known Holland's personality types (Holland 1997). We argue that the personality type of successful accountants depend on their respected subfield. In this paper we have subdivided the accountants into three categories; Financial Accountants, Managerial Accountants, and Auditors. We hypothesize that while Conventional individuals are likely to be successful Financial Accountants, Enterprising and Investigative individuals are more likely to be successful Managerial Accountants and Auditors respectively. We find support for our hypothesis that enterprising students perform better in managerial accounting classes but we fail to find support for the other two hypotheses. Implications are discussed.qscienc